Why You Should Or Should Not Buy a Van Staal (A Comprehensive Review of the Van Staal Fishing Reel)

What are y'alls opinions on these reels?

Bom dia.🎣💯👏👏👏👏👏👏👏Esses molinetes são os melhores 💯🎣💯👏👏👏👏👏👏👍👍🆗

Im the biggest klutz there is, I’ve literally dropped 7 reels. Sand and all , somehow i broke a rod as well. Ive probably paid hundreds in repair. BUT when i fish, i get good big ol fish. What do you think ? Should i pony up n get it?

i have quit a number of reels several bailes ,one is a silstar ET 80 and it is over 40 may be over 50 yrs old made in aluminum body ,and it served me since day one until now nevr failed me and it has seen realy ruff conditions ,ya wanna know the joke ,it costed in tody prices les than 75$ so one can buy 10 silstars for the price of one van staal and they will perform just as wel

What model vanstaal do you recommend when fishing for spanisg mackerel?

I kayak and beach fish. I beat reels up. I bought a Spheros 4000XG SW for like $140 and I bought a 4000 saltwater Seaknight reel for $35 on Amazon at the same time. The seaknight out lasted the spheros by a mile. My spheros rusted in 2 different spots and the drag clicker broke all in 2 years. It was light and nice n all but…that seaknight boy. Love it. Bought 2 more and if they went bigger than 6000 I'd buy those too. Highly recommend if u want just a punching bag/workhorse of a reel. I disrespected that thing and it's still smooth as ever.

They aren't even that good in salt and sand. My alveys will always last longer

My comparison is the same I use for any product of high quality. If you spend $20 on a zippo lighter vs $1 on a Bic. You throw the bic away when its empty. You use the Zippo forever, maintain it and change the wick and flints. It lights in wind and lasts forever.

I'm of the opinion to spend the money. Not only will it last forever, but the feel, fit, finish etc. are of the best.

My next purchase is a VR150 or 175 Gen 2. I service fishing reels for a living at Reel Quality SRQ. I've had them all open. I prefer the better to best rather than entry level product based on opening up hundreds of reels and seeing how they are made. Sure a $20 Walmart reel will work but will it work and not break when you have that catch of a lifetime on the other end of the line?

Again, My opinion only.

Your right, for the Noreast or any type of rough water or chance of reel submersion. The reason (& u probably know this) is the shaft seals that keep the water & sand out create a resistance on the shafts. I own a brand new original VS200 sitting on a lammy 2 piece Ron Ara pro 11',1-3 oz rod. Purchased a few years ago & hurt my back. Haven't been fishing since. I might casting my smaller St Croix rod to loosen up first. If all goes good after I get my casting muscles in shape. If not, someone will get a bargain on a great combo. Out on LI,NY, they (mostly younger men) swim out to the rocks & some just swim out to no rocks with wet suits & fins to fish for the Stripes.

Thanks for the vid. You talked me out of it.
I've been striper fishing for 48 years. I own lots of Shimano Stradics and Sustains. I've landed tens of thousands of stripers and a few hundred between 30# and 53# all on plugs and plastics with no problems. The ONLY issue is I tend to get my reels wet. SO, I thought I'd break down and get a VS. After watching this video, I'm thinking it's overkill and more importantly, SMOOTH cranking and SMOOTH drag are EXTREMELY important because I'm trying to present lures with a smooth cadence in a river and I'm battling big stripers in often fast river current with relatively light tackle so I can't have a herky-jerky drag. Anyway, thanks again for sparing me a lot of disappointment…

This is a good video. Solid explanation on the pros and cons of a VS. I had wanted one for 2 years and saved up to get 2 of them. VS150 & VS200 purchased a few days ago. The manual pickup is awesome. I can get pinpoint accuracy and super soft lure landing once I learned control. However, just last night I was fishing a popular bridge in SE FL when the 150 completely seized up. Doesn't move at all. The spool and pinion had separated from the reel and if I had not been looking down when it happened the whole assembly would have gone for a swim. Today it was shipped to Saltwaters Tackle in NY. Looking forward to what they have to say and I'll keep you posted. I work in the industry and understand that there are defectives and failiures for no apparent reason sometimes. It's just bad luck. Hopefully Van Staal will approve of the warranty work as I can't imagine a $700 reel owned for 5 days, and fished with 5 times, wouldn't be covered with a failure like this. I absolutely love the reels! I just hope this insn't a sign of things to come since I know many people with these reels old and new and never had this issue.

I own them both, Stella SW and Van staal. I completely agree with every comment you made. Great review

I bought the black and gold for my Daiwa BG400 and love it>>>allabout.wiki/j93v so much I got the red and black for my Kastking Sharky 3 and the black and silver for my cheap Daiwa Strikeforce. Love 'em all! The Daiwa's I had to drill out but the Kastking was just a screw. I was afraid to drill but it was pretty easy. Just take your time to get the center. The BG had to be widen a little but that was easy too. Follow the directions and work up the drill sizes and install per instruction. No binding at all. Everything is super smooth. I got the 35mm at first and that was too small for my hands. Returned and got the 38 which works but I might of preferred the 41 but didn't want to risk it being too big where I would have to grip harder to reel. That would tire you out fast. So the 38mm works fine for me.

To be fair the slow gear ratio is great for when you’re working plugs in the surf

What sizes do they come in? Are they good Walleye and pike reels?

Hey bud I am trying to figure out what van stall I just had obie build me a Thrasher 8104. It's 8'10 I was thinking of a VR150 or the VR200 what do you think and see you out on novar pier

Music why why.

Really stupid buy unless you actually swim while reeling, I don’t see why you would do that just get a boat or a speargun

All shimano models have smaller spools so there always gonna hold less line then other company's but what u get out of shimanos is better drag numbers in my opion I also fly fish so I fish shimano for spinning I use reddington for flyfishing cause I just started but I'll tell u most saltwater fly reels are usually anywhere from 400 to 1000 dollars it has to do with the fact that most saltwater fly reels are sealed so there pricey I paid 100 on sale for my reddington behemoth now it's not sealed but had a guard around the drag to keep water out

Should i stick to spinfishers if i know how to service it myself

Pensacola here. Vanstaal vm 150 black cyber monday deal 40%off

(Not Henry/ Henry's Dad) using his computer) I grew up fishing Navarre and Pensacola Beach Pier in the 70's. I was only in middle but it was very competitive. At that time all the good fishermen used Penn706 or Mitchell 302 with Manual. The Van Stall is a logical progression and I'm sure many of the good fishermen there now use them… indeed they are cool well made reel. Your Cobia at the gaff brought back many memories, I once caught a 48 lb Cobia on a jig from the Pensacola Beach Pier on my Mitchel 302 with 17 lb lest, on a custom 8'6" gold lamiglass I wrapped myself…got the blank at Wrights tackle shop. However, Penn still makes two Spinfisher models with a manual. I have used those to catch hundreds of small yellowfin tuna on the west coast (where spinning reels are despised) and surf fishing in mexico and costa rica. Your video was useful and honest, Well done. I'd own one if i lived inN florida…..or move . to mexico one day. For now my Penns and shimanno's suffice.

Why you shouldn’t buy a van stall because there shit and ugly why buy one of those when u could get Stella or a dog fight

Da moose knuckles 🤔🤔🤔

At least you gave us the option to call you an idiot, a dumbass, and other fantastic names. I'm playing. Another great video. These reels are for fishing yuppies. Spending that much money on a reel is equivalent to what these pond yuppies do, when they purchase $300 setups for bass fishing.

How do you clean your reels when coming back from fishing

best VS tip 12:18

Hi
I have questions about fishing reels?? For North East (Cape cod canal) , what reel u prefer…drag,light and good cast. Plzz tell me. I like ur show.

Penn Slammer 3 is the best all around reel. I have 2 Torques and Daiwa Exist. It’s night and day in types of fishing. Torques and pull anything out of your mothers snatch while the Daiwa’s can pull any Bass and crappie. VS, is cosmetically gorgeous but not my flavor.

I have 2 Van Staals a 200, and 250 it is a INVESTMENT. It depends on your style of fishing. Any fish in the northeast or pacific coast of gulf of Texas I would recommend one. If your catfishing on a lake I wouldn’t. But you left out 2 important things! Drag pressure on the van Staals are high. They put out at near 30lbs of drag pressure which is why tuna fisherman use them. I’m not sure why your VS has issues but it shouldn’t be sticky my Van Staal drags are not. The other thing was you mentioned. The reason why they don’t move like a shimano is due to the seals which are thick and have to be broken in. But again there not shimano smooth. Overall if you want durability and power and a lifelong reel! Van Staal is it! If you want a super smooth reel that you don’t mind getting serviced or taking care of there are better 200 dollar penn and shimano options out there. Just my feelings! But drag pressure on the Van Staals is a major pro which is another reason why Northeast Fisherman use it.

I really like cadillacs? Really expensive and break down all the time period.

No reel is worth 700 outside of the reels ment for deep sea 1000lb fish

I dont care what works better id way rather a stella coz that thung there is uglyyy

Get yourself a daiwa bg they are about a 100 dollars on average and they feel as good as 500 dollar reel

PENN SLAMMER FOR ME !!!! I own 2 slammers a 5500 And a 3500 also I own a spinfisher vi with a slammer handle and I own a penn fierce 2 liveliner with a gomexus matching handle LOVE PENN !!!!!!! Super tough USA made and smooth super tough drag

At 4:46 you say that the striper fisherman probably fish harder than anyone else in the world. ?????? Whhhhaaatttttt rubbish u talking. You need to travel and fish the world some more. The US is not the world! Whahahahhahaha. Always interesting to watch your guys fishing techniques. Amazing how each country fishes differently. Tight lines.

Dont use krazy glue it dissolves in wtaer

lousy drag-looks very clunky expensive expensive service – not for me -and i like quality reels poor drag does it

They are good reels. I've owned one. But I'm really impressed with the new Penn Slammer III too. If you fish as you said in very wet conditions then maybe yes. But I don't fish in conditions where I have to reel underwater. I've dunked my slammers a few times and they didn't get wet internally. And I wouldn't dare turn the crank underwater as u can with the VS. Slammer vs Stella, I honestly like the slammer better. If nothing else the line capacity. I see no advantage of a Stella verse a Slammer. Again, my humble opinion. Good review thx. And yes always manually close the bail especially with braid.

I don't know anyone who is really good at fishing that owns one. How many commercial guys do you see with one?

They are like the Rolex of the fishing world. Its a statement reel lol!

Not worth it if you’re paying $100 for a service every three years

Hmm my new stella 5000 takes 360 yards of 29 pound braid and its not even full….

Gosa all the wayy!!! XD

That thing cost more than my rent…

I have one and a Stella but I do prefer a Stella tho

They are good reels, but I would never ever choose one over a Stella or saltiga

Oh ok I was wondering about that and even contacted Van Staal. I bought a x series vs 100 and out of the box the resistance when reeling scared me. Thought a bearing was bad right away.

Oh for the love of God, knock it off with the 40Hz. low frequency monotonous droning beat. Makes your video completely unwatchable, unless, I guess you want to watch it on a crappy cellphone. Jeez, WTH?

you got that shit serviced 3 times in 7 years… That shit ain't worth its price point then wtf… It looks like a tank, but it aint built like 1