Sonik Tournos 8000 reels

I purchased some new Sonik Tournos 8000 reels for this coming season. These reels are "quick drag" style versus the bait runners I've been using. Hopefully it won't be too much of an adjustment.

I found myself fishing with a very loose drag and then adjusting tighter when fighting the fish. That's exactly how a "quick drag" reels works, so I bought some.

Sonik Tournos 8000 reels

A guy on one of the fishing discussion groups was razzing me about buying a "knock off" reel. I did a little research and it does appear that the Sonik Tournos 8000 is a "private label" version of the Akios SCORA 80. I'm not quite sure what he was hoping to do by pointing that out. Perhaps he wanted to tarnish my purchase in some way, but "private label" manufacturing is quite common. I haven't confirmed it one way or another, but if it's true it doesn't bother me at all. Also, I paid much, much less than the $189 retail price via Carolina Cast Pro. One could make a good argument that buying a "private label" is a shrewd way to get quality for a lower price.

Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac; Ford, Mercury, Lincoln; Toyota, Lexus; Nissan, Infiniti are examples of "private labels" and there are many, many more I could name (motor oil, gasoline, food products, etc.). Private labeling and leveraging brands in that way is very common and a way for small companies (and big companies by the way) to compete in the market place.

Sonik 6000 FS Reels One Year Later

I purchased the Sonik 6000 reels on a promotional sale last year and have used them for 1 full season at this point. I thought I'd post my impressions of them after catching 140 carp on them this season.

I agree that the sales information posted on Carp Kit is accurate. Here it is again in case you need it:

A superb new bait-runner style reel, with a super smooth trouble free operation and sleek black cosmetics. Supplied with two spools, they feature S-curve Oscillation for even line lay, instant anti-reverse, front and rear drag, balances twin handles, thick Aluminum black bail arm, Titanium coated anti-twist line roller and a 4.6:1 gear ratio, which recovers a full 87cm/34 inch of line per turn of the handle.  

• 5+1 Stainless Ball Bearings
• High Strength Composite Body/Rotor
• Instant Anti-Reverse
• S-Curve Oscillation for even line lay
• Line Recovery Per Turn of Handle - 34inch/87cm
• Balanced Rotor
• Balanced Twin Handle
• Titanium coated
• Anti-Twist Line Roller
• Thick Aluminum black bail arm wire
• Free spool feature
• Sensitive sealed drag
• Gear ratio 4.6:1
• Supplied with 2 graphite spools, capacity of mm/m 0.30-460 0.35-340 0.40-260/lbs/yds 15-375 18-340 22-225.
• Reel Weight - 460g

These are sturdy reels. They look good and they produce as advertised. I have snagged hooks with them occasionally and jerked, yanked and ripped to free the snag and the reel did not falter. I even tightened down the drag once reeled until my hook bent with no obvious ill effects, although I don't recommend you do what I did.

I like the black finish on the reels and it has worn well with minimal scratches. The only reason there are any scratches at all is because occasionally I got a little excited and dropped the reels when unhooking fish.

I'd buy them again if I needed new reels. I think they are a good intermediate reel for people who are getting serious about catching lots of carp on a regular basis.

Sonik 6000 FS

New Sonik Carp Fishing Reels

Update 11/22/14 : UPS delivered the reels 3 days after I placed the order at Carp Kit International.

I have been shopping for new reels for a few months. I started carp fishing with some inexpensive Okuma ABF-50's. I used them for two seasons and decided to move up to something a little better. I considered the Okuma Trio and Epixor. I like Okuma a lot, but I was hoping for something a little better.

Many may wonder why I didn't consider Shimano or Daiwa. I have nothing against either brand. Shimano is out of my budget range and most everyone I know has Daiwa reels, so I wanted something different.

Carp Kit International had a promotion today for 20% off all reels. I took advantage and purchased 3 of the Sonik 6000 FS bait runner reels. Here's a description from the website:

A superb new bait-runner style reel, with a super smooth trouble free operation and sleek black cosmetics. Supplied with two spools, they feature S-curve Oscillation for even line lay, instant anti-reverse, front and rear drag, balances twin handles, thick Aluminium black bail arm, Titanium coated anti-twist line roller and a 4.6:1 gear ratio, which recovers a full 87cm/34 inch of line per turn of the handle.  

• 5+1 Stainless Ball Bearings
• High Strength Composite Body/Rotor
• Instant Anti-Reverse
• S-Curve Oscillation for even line lay
• Line Recovery Per Turn of Handle - 34inch/87cm
• Balanced Rotor
• Balanced Twin Handle
• Titanium coated
• Anti-Twist Line Roller
• Thick Aluminium black bail arm wire
• Free spool feature
• Sensitive sealed drag
• Gear ratio 4.6:1
• Supplied with 2 graphite spools, capacity of mm/m 0.30-460 0.35-340 0.40-260/lbs/yds 15-375 18-340 22-225.
• Reel Weight - 460g

Sonic 6000 FS photo courtesy CarpKitInternational.com

I got 3 reels for $258 with shipping included. The Epixors would have been $220 and change with shipping included.

Now I just need to spool them up with some Power Pro braid.