More fishermen are tuning into the effectiveness of bottom fishing with spinning reels. Once exclusively the province of conventional tackle, there are certain styles and aspects of bottom fishing that are best done with spinning tackle, such as bucktailing for fluke (or using jigs for tog). Recognizing the growing popularity of these tactics, Tsunami designed the Evict spinning reel for bottom fishing.

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Made with an all aluminum body, the reel eliminates flex, which ensures the internal gearing stays aligned when a big tog is digging for the rocks. The 5.8:1 gearing ratio provides a good balance of retrieve speed and cranking power. The reel comes with a ball-shaped “power knob,” which I love for the tog fishing I’ve been doing with the reel, but a traditional “paddle” handle is included in the box for anglers who don’t like the feel of the power knob, or want to use the reel for a different application.  If I switch the reel over to an albie rod this fall, I’ll probably switch over the paddle handle as well.

I’ve had the Tsunami Evict 2000 on several kayak tautog and black sea bass trips this spring, and it’s performed perfectly. It’s matched to a Tsunami Slimwave rod, and the combo has been perfect for dropping 1/2 to 1-ounce jigs to tog and big sea bass in 15 to 30 feet of water. I’ve had a few tog test the drag on me, and it’s been smooth. The cranking power has been excellent at getting tog out of the danger zone quickly after the hookset.

VIDEO: BUCKTAILING FOR FLUKE

I cringed the other day when I dunked the reel while landing a fish, but the reel hasn’t suffered any ill effects from the dunking. When I sat down to write this review, I learned why. In addition to the aluminum body and spool, the Evict has sealed bearings designed to keep sand, water, and salt out of the bearings.

The reel is definitely heavier than the spinning reels I use on my albie/weakfish/schoolie rods, but that extra weight helps balance the heavier bottom fishing spinning rods that I plan to match it with. This summer, I look forward to switching The Evict over to longer rod for bucktailing fluke as I increasingly use spinning tackle for targeting bottom fish.