I tried two other trolling reels before I decided to go for this one. I should have just ordered it right from the start.

It's a solid reel, accurate counter (in feet), excellent drag control and no slop feeling like the other reels I tried. It feels like it will last to hand down to my daughters.

SPOOLING TIP: I was running 12lb lead core, which has a 20lb mono equivalent diameter. I had some 17lb red monofilament I was going to use as backing. For 20lb line, the reel holds 210 yards.

I read some other reviews that said to run the wire first, then the backing until the spool is full, then offwind the spool and reload it backing first. I read that and thought "what a pain! I'll just run about 100 yards of the 17lb mono and then the lead core.

First spooling I had about 30 yards of lead wire still needing to load. Wound it back up, took off what I figured was about 30 yards of mono. Nope not close. So rewinding the lead core again.

So here's the tip if you are going lead core and backing. Just buy a 100 yard spool of mono for backing and then your 100 yard spool of leadcore and call it a day. No guessing or respooling.

Wish I had thought of that in the beginning.

Great reels for striper fishing. No more guess work about how much line is out to get a bait at a certain depth. Iv'e caught catfish and this reel handled them fine. Drag doesn't seem to tighten down as much as it should but that hasn't been a problem yet. In fact, it will probable keep me from losing a bigger fish as I tend to get a little aggressive with the drag on bigger fish.

This reel does feel very easy to pull, however it may not as easy as 200-300 bucks reel, but still I can feel it's much easier to pull the line up compare the one my friends get.

The Okuma 303D is a serious reel! Of all the linecounter reels out there, this is clearly the best. Clear view, doesn't fog, and control location prevents accidental reset. These reels have held up fish after fish. The drag system is also unique. So many reels take extra tensile to start the drag slipping. Not these, they start slipping easily and predictably. The drag adjusts with positive clicks, making it easy to increase a click or two or back off. You want to manage big fish with lighter line, this is it.

This reel is just what the doctor ordered. Lake Erie walleye killers. Only thing bad is they did away with the click as you reel. It's now silent and my 3 other reels make a sweet soothing click while reeled. I liked the click because I could tell if people were reeling to fast even if I wasn't watching them.
Reel still works perfect other then that little minor change.