Okuma Ceymar HD Spinning Reels | An Innovative Powerhouse

February 23, 2023 Admin

If you are familiar with Okuma spinning reels, you are familiar with the Ceymar Spinning Reel lineup. These little reels have been around for several years and have performed well for the Taiwanese company. The Ceymar lineup includes standard spinning reels as well as their popular baitfeeder style reels.

For 2023 Okuma has introduced an update to those popular little reels. The new Ceymar HD Spinning Reels.

In this article, I will go through the Ceymar HD spinning reels component by component, from top to bottom to hopefully give you a deep look at these new little reels.

Okuma Ceymar HD Spinning Reel Review

As mentioned above, I will take a deep look at the new Okuma Ceymar HD spinning reels. The exact model I will be reviewing is the Ceymar CHD-3000A reel. This model falls right in the middle of their five-size lineup. The full family of reels feature a 1000, 2500, 3000, 4000 and 5000 size reels with a high-speed option available in the 2500, 3000 and 4000 if that is what you are looking for.

Let’s take a look at the specs.

Unboxing the Okuma Ceymar HD

The first think I like to do in all of my reviews is take a look at the packaging. Afterall, this a lot of times can be our first impression when viewing a product. Shelf appeal is super important.

For the Okuma Ceymar HD, Okuma went with their Okuma “motif” color box. They use a few different options in their packaging, and this is the one they use for more of their standard items. It is a nice standard box that has some specs and stats on one of the sides.

When you open the box, you will find warranty into and the reel itself wrapped in a poly bag. Nothing super exciting in there. Nice touch is that the new metal screw in handle is wrapped in bubble wrap keeping it safe from scratching up any other parts in the box.

Pulling the reel out of the box, you will notice that there is a bit of assembly required. Nothing major, just attached the new screw-in handle into the body of the reel. We’ll get into that more, but this is a very nice feature of the new HD version of these reels.

Okuma Ceymar HD from Top to Bottom

At this point, let’s go ahead and dig into the reel. I’ll start at the very top of the reel and work my way down to the reel foot.

Let’s begin with the very top, the drag knob. The drag knob is pretty sharp looking on these new reels. It has a great edgy feel to it with a unique looking design. As I click it back and forth, I notice that there is a nice positive clicking feel to it giving me the feel that I can really dial this drag into my own personal specifications.

Here is another look at a bit more of an angle.

Unscrewing the drag knob, let’s take a look under the cap and at the drag area. The first thing I notice on the underside of the drag knob is a rubber gasket attached. This is what Okuma calls their Hydro Block Gasket. It is not a completely sealed design, but this gasket keeps water from entering the drag system. Or at least it helps to prevent it.

That’s a Drag

Okuma reels have been touted as having very smooth drags on most of their reels. The new Ceymar HD is no different.

Here is our first look into the drag area.

The Okuma Ceymar HD utilizes a Multi-Disc, Oiled Felt drag system. These reels are certainly smooth. I didn’t completely disassemble the drag stack. Maybe I’ll do that in another article. This testing model has a max drag of 13 pounds for the 3000A size reel.

Getting Spooled

The spool on the Okuma Ceymar HD is a machined aluminum, two-tone anodized spool. Very sharp looking as well.

The spool has a cool ported design. There is no functionality to that, but it does reduce a bit of weight and gives it a nice look. The Capacity is listed right on the spool. This testing model is the 3000A size and has a monofilament line capacity of 240yds/6lb, 200yds/8lb and 165yds/10lb or 160yds of 13lb braided line and features a 5.3:1 Gear Ratio with a line pick up of 30.7″ per turn of the handle.

As you can see from the underside of the reel, that it does not feature Okuma’s Dual Force Drag system. That is ok as this is built to be the ultimate in freshwater and even light inshore reel touting a respectable 20 pounds of drag on the larger size reels.

Down to the Core

In getting to the internal workings of this reel, you can get a look at the spool shaft.

In this photo, you can see the clicking mechanism that sits right below the spool giving it that nice loud clicking sounds when a fish pull drag.

Here is a better look at the spool shaft itself.

For the main shaft, Okuma uses their frictionless design providing smooth operation day in and day out. The precision cut brass pinion gear is supported by ball bearings on both sides of the pinion. And Okuma uses their HDG- Oversized High Density Gearing material for the gears. They say that they Ceymar HD has a 3mm larger gear than their standard spinning reels giving it more power.

The Ceymar HD features 8 total ball bearings. That includes 7 of Okuma’s HPB (High Performance Bearings) as well as 1 Roller Bearing.

Frame, Rotor and Side Plates

The Frame, Rotor and Side Plates are corrosion resistant carbon on the Okuma Ceymar HD reels. This gives it its light weight feel, and starting at just 6.9 ounces, they are certainly light.

Here is a look at the Cyclonic Flow Rotor that Okuma uses on the HD reels. The theory behind this design is that as you turn the handle, it helps to pull water out from within the reel.

Moving down to the end cap, they have a sleek, electroplated design that really ties in the look. In this shot, you get a look at the screw in handle as well.

Here is a look at the Rotor, Side Plates, Frame and Reel Stem.

And in looking at the back of the reel, the Ceymar HD does have a switch to let you reel backwards if you so desire.

Moving down to the reel stem and foot, you can get a full look at the design below.

Screw In Handle Design

Another really nice feature of the new Ceymar HD reels is the Machined Aluminum screw in handle design. The screw in handle screws forward on either the left or right side of the reel giving it a very solid feel.

Here is a look at the handle arm itself and the threading on the handle. This is a one-piece arm with no folding. Very rigid and strong.

As mentioned, this is a one-piece handle design. Here is a look at the connection.

And the cross threading gives it a nice tight and strong feel when wound onto the reel.

The backside of the screw in handle has a nice solid screw on cover.

Getting a Handle on It

For the Okuma Ceymar HD, Okuma uses a new Soft Touch T-Bar handle design. This handle is very comfortable and has a great grip to it. The material feels the same as their other rubber handle designs.

Strong Arm

These reels also have a new feature for Okuma for 2023 called the DLC – Diamond Like Coating. This is featured on the Bail Arm Roller. This system is called the Even Flow Roller System with DLC. This system is designed to keep your line flowing smoothing onto your line as you wind in.

And speaking of bail arms, the new Okuma Ceymar HD spinning reels are designed with a solid aluminum bail arm.

Okuma Ceymar HD Highlights

This reel seems to be very solidly built. I know they have been on the market for a few months now, and I have heard nothing but good things when doing my research. The oversized gearing is certainly a benefit as is the additional stability offered by the dual support on the main shaft. Another key benefit is the solid one-piece screw in handle. This gives it a very solid feel for a graphite reel. The other key item that I haven’t mentioned yet is that this reel only retails for $89.99.

As far as downsides go, I have yet to find one. Usually, a few months into a reel being in production and on the market, you start to hear negatives or failures out on the water. Haven’t heard any of that yet. I have been fishing mine since I got it at ICAST and wanted to give it a few solid months of work before doing this review. I can honestly say that I really like this reel. And having the 1,000 size it’ll be perfect for either the ice fisherman or panfish fisherman, and the bigger 4,000 and 5,000 sizes are great for that light inshore action.

Check out the full lineup of Okuma Ceymar HD Reels at Okuma Fishing USA.