Electric fishing reels are a simple concept. They use a small motor to turn the spool and retrieve line. Reels are either battery powered or they can be plugged into a boat’s power, and many are programmable to automatically retrieve and deploy line. Some electric reels can even be programmed to jig a lure for you.
Especially for deep-water applications, electric reels make fishing easier. They have the power to haul up fish from depth faster without breaking the fishing line. They are useful for retrieving the heavy weights used for deep-dropping, for flying kite-fishing rigs, manning teasers, dredges and more.
Here are some things to consider if you’re in the market for an electric reel to fit your style of fishing.
Micro Electric Fishing Reels
Jigging is one of the hottest tactics in saltwater fishing. From slow-pitch jigging to speed-jigging, vertical jigging techniques are catching a variety of species on all US coasts. In deep water, electric-assist reels can make jigging a lot more enjoyable. The industry has taken notice. PENN’s Fathom Electric reels, Daiwa’s Seaborg and Tanacom series, and Shimano’s Forcemaster and Beastmaster lines all have features that appeal to deep jiggers.
Daiwa Seaborg 500
The biggest news for 2026 is a larger electric reel for vertical jigging. Building on their 300 and 400 Seaborgs, Daiwa released the larger Seaborg 500 with some exciting new features.
The Seaborg line is the standard for deep-jigging with micro electric reels. Anglers looking for the convenience of electric retrieval with the excitement of hand-cranking a fish get both options with the hybrid Seaborg.
The reels have pre-set jigging modes to automatically work the lure. Drop the lure to the bottom, stick the rod in the rod holder, hit a button and the reel does the work. When the fish bites, switch the reel into manual mode and crank in the catch.
To meet the needs of anglers fishing deeper water with larger jigs, the Seaborg 500 holds 440 yards of 50-pound braided line with 50 pounds of drag pressure to fish deeper and catch bigger fish.
When fighting a fish under electric power, the angler works a thumb dial to adjust the retrieve speed as the fish pulls drag. By modulating the retrieve, the electric motor plays the fish to avoid pulling the hook.
To winch a stubborn fish off the bottom, the Seaborg 500 has an industry-leading 166 pounds of momentary winding power. Chris Martin, Daiwa field marketing director, explains, “Momentary winding power refers to the maximum, short-duration torque or line-retrieval force an electric reel can produce.” At 50-pounds of drag pressure, without load, the reel pulls at a maximum 166 pounds of force. “When that fish turns and starts to dig down, the motor continues to send the load to the drive gear, but the added pressure will not exceed 50 pounds,” Martin says.
Martin puts the number in context, “Compared to the Tanacom S500J, which has 72 pounds of momentary winding power, the Seaborg 500 is more than double.” With the rod in the rod holder and the motor retrieving line, the reel automatically balances pulling power and drag pressure to fight a fish without ripping off its lips.
A Rod to Match an Electric Fishing Reel
Slow-pitch jigging utilizes willowy rods that don’t seem like they would stand up to hauling fish from the depths, but they do. Other deep tactics, with heavier lures or heavy weights to get bait down to the bottom, require alternate rod choices. There are also rods specialized for flying kites. PENN has released a new line of rods, Ally II, to perfectly complement its Fathom Electric reels.
PENN Ally II Rod and Fathom Electric Reel Kit
Last year, PENN’s new Fathom Electric Reel Kit shocked the fishing world with a high-power electric reel powered by an integrated rechargeable battery. Ben Joyce, engineer at PENN explains, “The beauty of the Fathom Electric is the reel can be used without connecting to the boat’s power or a 12-volt battery.” Anglers have the freedom to move the rod around the cockpit without tripping over wires and batteries.
To complement Fathom electric reels, PENN released the Ally II fishing rods. Available in kite and fishing models, the rods are built on a composite graphite blank with an aluminum rod butt and reel seat. The kite model has a Sea Guide kite tip-top guide while the fishing models use roller or swivel tips.
Ally II rods are designed to match the Fathom electric reels with a bent-butt for rod-holder fishing or a straight-butt to fight fish by hand. The rods are available in three weights: medium, heavy and extra heavy. “We have a rod choice for 3, 5 or 8 pounds of weight,” Joyce says. Matching the rod to the weight of the sinker allows the rod to remain horizontal while fishing. “Match the rod to the sinker weight so the rod allows a slow bounce relatively horizontal to the water,” Joyce says. When the slow bounce is interrupted, Joyce knows he is getting a bite.
The Ally II rods include premium features and custom design for an approachable price. Combined with the Fathom Electric reel, anglers get one of the most advanced electric rod-and-reel setups for less than most electric reels cost.
Heavy-Duty Electric Fishing Reels
For years, offshore anglers used heavy-duty electric reels to retrieve and deploy dredges. A three-tiered dredge pulling 50 rigged mullets creates tons of drag, and a powerful electric reel is capable of pulling a grocery cart through the water. Most captains are using small electric reels to deploy and retrieve their squid-chain teasers.
“An electric teaser reel is like an extra deck hand,” Carl Huffman says. Huffman is President of Elec-Tra-Mate, one of the oldest names in the electric reel business. The company recently released two smart teaser reels. The TD-2000 powers two pancake reels to control the teasers and the system can be installed on any boat’s hard top. The reels have a line-out alarm so if a sailfish grabs the teaser the captain immediately knows. For teaser and dredge control, Elec-tra-mate’s TD-4000 features four pancake reels: two 8-inch reels for teasers and two 10-inch winches to run the dredges. “The dredge reels are so powerful they will pull a 200-pound guy off the dock,” Huffman brags and then laughs when I ask how he tested this claim.
One of the most popular dredge reels is Lindgren Pitman’s SV1200. These monster electric reels are used for everything from bottomfishing to swordfishing and dredge reels. Tom Pickett, an engineer at LP says, “Every boat that fished the Skip Smith Custom Boat Shootout had two things in common: diesel fuel and Lindgren Pitman dredge reels.”
Owners like the versatility. “Mount the reel on a bent butt and switch out blades for swords, bottomfishing or dredge,” Pickett explains.
This year, LP released a DTX version of the reel in a hardtop mount. The system can be mounted to the underside of a hardtop or in a pod on top of the hardtop. To make the teaser reels easier to operate, LP partnered with Garmin. “I can control my teaser and dredge reels from my Garmin multifunction display,” Pickett says. The network can also program the reel with custom line settings to retrieve and deploy the dredges and teasers at a set distance from the boat.
With electric motors replacing human power in so many sports, don’t be surprised if everyone is using electric reels in the future. As batteries and reel components are built smaller and tougher, anglers will find more applications for electric reels. Before long, no one will call electric reels cheating, they’ll just call using these reels fishing.
