Okuma Cortez Graphite Star Drag High Speed 6.2:1 Reel

Review of the Okuma Cortez CZ-12CSaThe reel arrived in a sturdy cardboard box.Unboxing revealed the reel, a parts schematic, a warrenty paper, a guide for operation, a bag of parts to attach it to a surf rod, anf a small tube of reel oil. Not bad but missing the usual reel tool, and a storage bag that sometimes accompanies better (more expensive) reels.The reel appeared well built and sturdy. Loosening the spool tension knob and setting the magnetic brake to zero I put the reel in free spool and gave it a spin. (4 sec).Comparing this to similar reels the Penn Squall 30 and a Torium 30 I got two minutes for the Squall and 15 sec for the Torium.A litttle quick surgery and the removal of the magnetic​ brake got ten seconds. The reel has a thick greasing of all moving parts and thought cleaning and adding a premium reel oil might improve this.The reel was then filled with 25 lb Berkley Big Game Line. The manufacturer claims 400 yards and it took 405.The drag was set to 10 lbs and a pull test was conducted by walking with a scale to the line and varing the speen of walk over 25 yards three times. The difference did not move by more than two pounds this compares to the Penn Squall and the Torium. All have excellent smooth drags.The drag was set to maximum and a pull test to it moved was conducted. The Squall maxed out at 26 lbs, the Torium at 28, and the Cortez had a line break at 27. Not bad seeing Okuma claims only 18 and I had 25 on the reel.The reel was mated with a 12 foot Diawa Beefstick Casting Rod and then taken to a field for a cast test.A six ounce pyramid sinker was choosen for this cast test.I was unable to tighten the spool tension to stop the sinker from falling. The Squall 30 had the same issue and I had to spend an extra $60 to add a 12 mm magnetic brake to control it. The Torium did not have this issue.Setting the magnetic brake to maximum my first cast went 65 yards. I backed it off on successive casts to zero and my distance imoroved till I was able to make casts 150 to 170 yards without a bird'snest.This 150 to 170 compares to the Torium 30 on the same rod. I made five more attempts with a 178 yards being the best I could do. The Squall 30 with $60 extra invested got 195 yards. None of my efforts could get a cast over 200 yards with any rod and reel combo.It should be noted that the Squall 30 was unusable without a magnetic brake added and the best casts were with 20 lb line.Over all at $114 this reel is a bargain.Bocca Ceramic Bearings are available for this reel and it certainly has more distance casting potential with a few modifications.The Cortez name doesn't sit real well with me being of Native American decent but the reel is an excellent product and should perform adequately for many years.I am really looking forwad to having a go at a big bull redfish or jack crevall with this reel.

i bought this in hopes of being able to use it for beach fishing. It is difficult to cast for distance even with a 3oz weight. Th spool just doen't spin freely enough even on the max setting to get any distance. However the strength of this reel is amazing. The retrivel is amazing and very smooth. If your looking for a trollig reel or something you don't need alot of distance on this is a great reel for that you can haul them in. I really liked the still and features but it just isn't a long caster which i need.

I have another Okuma reel and I bought this one because I was to be fishing in deep waters along the central coast of California (Monterey, Ca) and needed a reel with the capacity of over 600 feet. I added 30 lb braid--300 yards and 20 lb flourocarbon on top of that and had plenty of spool left over when fishing in 700 feet of water. Also caught my Personal best Pacific Ling cod 17 pounds with no trouble at all. This reel may be a bit of overkill for some, but I prefer to error on the side of a bit extra than not enough. Bringing up heavy fish, two at a time over 4KG each was done with ease given the gear ratio. Overall, a solid purchase and the price point of $130 was within my budget. I plan to have this reel for many years to come.

I bought this reel in search for a budget surf casting conventional reel Found it less than 100 bucks on Amazon warehouse and it was a great deal.It has good line capacity, mag brake control, high drag, power handle and slick design. So before take it to the surf I decided to test it out in the field first. Paired w Okuma 12 ft longitude casting, 15lb mono main line w 40lb mono shock leader, 5-6 oz weight. OTG style casting.The first few casts was a disaster I set the mag to half and the spool tensioner to where there's just a tiny bit of wiggle room. It birdnested almost instantly in mid air. After a few try found the sweet spot is setting both mag and spool tensioner to max and cast with 70% force. Measured distance is about 80-90meters (270ft). Tried with full force on that setting and it birdnested again...In desperation of this Okuma reel I switched to the good old Daiwa sl30sh (2 white brake blocks), cast 120meters (400ft) straight a few times with absolutely no worries nor birdnest. Seems the slosh is more optimal for casting imo.Idk maybe a more experienced caster can handle the Cortez better but this ain't the reel for me.

I put it on a 12 foot okuma longitude surf casting rod then Spooled it up with 17lb suffix tritanium and tied an alberto knot to a few yards of ande 60lb mono as shock leader. First cast was with a 6oz sinker and no bait. I adjusted the spool tension and maxed out the breaks. I barely put any effort and got some good distance. I switched out for a 8 oz sinker and a chunk of squid and adjusted the spool tension and left the breaks on max and gave it a good cast. The cast was smooth and it went flying. I continued to back down the breaks as I got more used to it. Eventually it was easily getting out to 100 yards plus. It handled small sharks and skates like nothing. One thing to note about this reel is you have to use your thumb to control the spool during the cast because the breaks are a bit too weak. Despite this its still a great overall reel.

This is a great little casting reel. I only wish it had a level wind feature.