Shimano Caenan Review

I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I picked up the Caenan.  I had used the previous version a few years ago and didn’t really like it. The newest version looked and felt like a great improvement. At $99.99 it is good price and has some great components and features.

Casting

I mostly pitched with this reel and it worked great. The breaking and adjustments are easy to use and you can dial it in pretty quickly. I fished it with both braided line and fluorocarbon and had no complaints at all when pitching short distances.

I also fished this reel spooled this reel up with fluorocarbon and did some deep cranking with it. It worked, but would not be my top choice for these techniques. While lightweight, the big crankbaits I used made it feel like the reel was flexing and stressing. It may be preference, but I liked the reel much more for short casts and pitching to cover.

Features:

The reel is offered in some pretty standard retrieves: 6.3:1 and 7.2:1. These are enough to cover most of the basis and the Caenan comes in both left and right hand retrieves. It is also about average for line capacity (110 yards of 12-pound) and bearings (4BB + 1RB) for a reel in this price level. No complaints here.

Shimano adds three of their own features that are designed for better casting and breaking. They are as follows:

HEG: High Efficiency Gears - for exceptional strength and rigidity, by increasing the size of the drive gear and pinion gear, and also reinforcing the frame, Shimano was able to greatly increase the Caenan’s leverage and power.

VBS: Variable Brake System and S3D: Stable Spool Design - deliver outstanding cast control for a wide range of lures and baits, and also significantly dampens spool vibration for increased casting distance an productivity.

It feels like a solid reel and looks similar to Shimano’s more expensive offerings. The Caenan is definitely worth the money. It can be found at many retailers including TackleWarehouse.com.