ABU GARCIA's Fixed-spool Centre-drag Reels
Suverän, CD-6 and CD-4 Models

by Brian Barwell

The launch of Abu's flag-ship centre-drag fixed-spool reel, the Suverän, created a lot of interest and since then it has received a lot of well-served accolades. I've been using one for nearly a year now, and, after replacing the original grease used on the internal components, by a totally synthetic visco-static high-performance oil, it's been a dream to use — by the way, very many thanks indeed to Nick Caine and John Worzencraft for that piece of advice, and to ace race engineer "Clever Trevor" Chinn for supplying the perfect oil for the job!

Unfortunately for a lot of anglers the price of the Suverän has been a bit of a dream too, so Abu's launch of their alternative centre-drag CD-6 (5 ball-raced bearings and one needle-bearing) and CD-4 (3 ball-raced bearings and one needle-bearing) reels has been very much welcomed.

Here I've taken a quick Out-of-the-Box look at the nice-looking Abu centre-drag CD-4 1000 model that I've just been sent to review. At the outset, I must declare that I favour rear-drag fixed-spool and multiplier reels for my lure fishing.

But unfortunately, up 'til now, as far as many rear-drag fixed-spool reels that I've used are concerned, because of design, space and size limitations and restrictions, from an engineering point of view, they inevitably suffered from smaller drag washer frictional areas than front-drag reels.

While front-drag reels do have this intrinsic advantage of larger drag frictional area compared with their rear-drag counter-parts, I've always found rear-drag reels much easier to adjust while the line is being stripped off the spool during a tussle with a hard-fighting fish. What's the solution?

Centre-Drag's the solution ?!
Well, Abu's centre-drag concept is one very good solution — I nearly said compromise but that would be inaccurate — it's far from a compromise, more of a leap forward in technology and innovation. The two fewer ball-bearing races of the CD-4 compared with the top of the range Suverän with its five ball-raced bearings and one needle-bearing don't seem to have made all that much noticeable difference to its performance, alomost unnoticeably in fact I'd say — of course, only time will tell if there are any more longer term differences as the reels wear. What is much more noticeable is its much lower price!

Half-price !
At around £75, it's about £80 cheaper than the Suverän and what's more, the CD-4 has the same nice centre-drag, anti-twist bail-arm line-roller and instant anti-reverse as the Suverän ! How their comparative performances will pan-out in the longer term is another matter and one which only time will answer !

OK, so with the CD-4 you don't get a nice polished alloy spare spool but the graphite one supplied is perfectly adequate. Loaded with line, this beautiful little reel only weighs around 13 oz (that's about 370 gm) and the line-lay is pretty-near perfect.

The spool of the CD-4 1000 holds about 100 metres of 0.2 mm diameter line — there are bigger reels and spools in all the Suverän, CD-6 and CD-4 ranges of course i.e. the 2000, 3000 and 4000 models. Check them out if you need greater line capacity.

SUMMARY
So, to summarise things, I'd say that Abu's centre-drag CD-4 series of models offers some but of course not all the same features and performance as the flag-ship Suverän Centre-drag reel and at about half the price.

OK, so it doesn't have all the nice accessories that come with the Suverän but if you fancy grabbing some centre-drag technology and performance at a much more reasonable price, then the Abu Garcia CD-4 has got to be a reel to try. And if you can afford something slightly more expensive, in between the two models there's the CD-6 to choose from as well. Whichever you choose, you're not going to be disappointed but I'd rate the CD-4 very highly in the all-important value-for-money stakes.

Brian Barwell

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