There are still plenty of them for sale cheaply on various websites... I plan on putting mine back into use once again to relive the "vintage" old days...
But for now let me tell you guys about a new reel that I can still find for sale on the web, but I am not sure if the brand is still in business or not. As a reel technician I get 99% of my reels from the scrap pile of broken reels which I rebuild to like new. So I rarely buy brand new reels, but this next one was the exception because I had to get my hands on a rare new innovation coming out of China by a brand called Tokushima.
As with all spinning reels we are all familiar with how the spool oscillates in and out so fishing line can be laid down across the spool hopefully evenly. But, the majority of reels made today have what I would describe as a high speed oscillation meaning the line is laid down in more or less a crisscross pattern which can leave air gaps in the X patterns in layer after layer of line on the spool.
So a few years ago I came across a Tokushima spinning reel with something described as a parallel line lay on the spool. I had never heard of this before and so I immediately ordered myself on these Tokushima reels from China and immediately took it apart to do a complete tear down, examination, bearing treatment, and rebuild it and fish with it.
I was pleasantly surprised for once with a Chinese reel. This one was well made. A solid aluminum frame, well designed inside and out, smooth as butter operation. But one thing I noticed right off the top was how slowly the spool moved in and out so the line was laid down on the spool more or less like a baitcast reel does it smoothly and evenly across the spool back and forth with no crisscrossing of the line. This Tokushima reel did the same thing. So in examining the oscillation gearing I found that Tokushima engineers had added a 2nd gear to the mechanism which completely changed how the reel operated.
Other quality additions to this reel is that the pinion gear is supported on both ends by ball bearings. Usually, only higher end spinning reels come with a double bearing supported pinion gear, and yet my $38 Tokushima reel with free shipping had it.
The rotor spinning was smooth and balanced and well supported. The tolerances were much better than cheaper mass produced Chinese reels. And it came with triple felt drag washers in the spool. And a smooth bearing supported handle grip. This reel touts 14 ball bearings in the sales pitch.
So honestly, this reel was a pleasant surprised for a Chinese reel. I tried contacting the company in China to see about parts availability, but was unable to communicate with anyone at the company because of the language barrier. Today I can not find their website tokushimafishing.com any longer so I am assuming Tokushima is out of business as I really don't know.
I have fished with this reel and had no problems with it. Works great and is smooth to use. Bottom line is I am not recommending this reel, but I am also not bashing it for being sourced in China. I spent $38 on it and so far it has been money well spent as I actually like the reel and consider it one of the best reels I have ever seen come out of China. It was good attempt by the Chinese at making a quality product.
And I really have to give this company credit for doing something no one else has ever done before in slowing down the spool oscillation to lay line on the spool much better than all other traditional well known brands do. I wish some of them would take a look at this nifty little innovation and maybe incorporate it into some of their reels.
Here is the double gearing for spool oscillation unique to this brand:
Technically, there are actually 3 bearings supporting this pinion gear... you have a stainless steel bearing on each side of the AR bearing. A solid pinion mounting for sure. No wobble to this reel. Solid and smooth and actually well built.
The frame and structure of this reel is nothing like any other reel. This company went above and beyond to really try and make a decent product. Shame they are now more than likely out of business, but some of their reels can still be purchased from time to time but the price has gone up some
