OPUS 1 - EVERGREEN

Introduction: In the tackle collector's macrocosmos, there exists, once every so often, the opportunity to grab hold of a unique, rather exclusive, limited run piece of tackle so eloquently executed, it truly deserves the label of "special". We are reminded of the Mephistopheles-esque TD-Ito suite of reels and the Millenium Edition Shimano Stella. Late in 2006, the year of the Daiwa Steez and Shimano's Antares/Calais DC, and amidst eager anticipation from dedicated customers, another Japan tackle Giant, Evergreen International, made its first foray into the fishing reel segment. That product? The limited run, uber-expensive Evergreen Opus-1.

Impressions: Evergreen International's Opus-1 is the first reel we can recall that has made a lasting impression while still in the box. This is because the box itself is truly part of the presentation. Looking more like of something out of a television game show, the packaging of the Opus-1 is half the fun. It is delivered, housed in its very own custom aluminum attaché.

Inside the attaché are two, soft sided, black, zippered pouches: one designed to hold the reel safely and securely; the other to house a spare spool and a bonus tool set for assembly and disassembly of your reel. A very carefully thought out and masterfully executed presentation. All that's missing really, is personal courier to hand deliver this prize and ensure its timely and appropriate receipt.

Lift the reel out of its luxurious housing and you are met with a product that more or less defines the term "retro" in a fishing reel. Borrowing from a shape and styling symbolic of the classic Mitchell reels of decades ago, but with a modern industrial machined parts twist, the Opus-1 combines classic styling cues with contemporary feel.

From the hex wrench screw heads to the custom tailored metal knob to the knurled drag adjustment screw to the trick handle securing mechanism, the Opus-1 screams of careful ground-up implementation and design rather than custom tweaks, adjustments, and color schemes of an already existing product. With the Opus-1, Evergreen International takes aim at the true definition of "Limited Edition".

Carry that thought over to the second soft pouch in the Opus-1's case and we find a touch almost forgotten in today's exclusive, high end spinning reels - a spare spool! The Opus-1 comes with two spools: A shallow version for light line, finesse applications; and a deep version for standard applications. The overall size of the reel can be likened to a 2000 to 2500 series reel from Shimano or Daiwa, so it's a good general purpose freshwater reel.

Before taking the reel out for some time on the water, we took a look at the drag assembly to investigate the makeup of this relatively light 6.5 pound rated drag. What we found, in both the shallow and deep spools of this reel was an assembly of two keyed metal washers and one felt washer. There seem to be no provisions in this reel to guard against water intrusion into the drag stack - one of the few oversights we found in this reel. Maybe their felt of choice mitigates against this eventuality. We'll have to find out on the water.Back on the positive side of things, we found on the spindle supporting the spool, an assembly of two plastic bushings together with two bearings no doubt intended to deliver ultra-smooth spinning performance during drag play. We've seen upgrades available for existing reels where the existing plastic bushing is replaced by a bearing, but this is the first implementation this editor, at least, has seen of this particular combination of support elements.

The Field Tests: But enough with the stories, sidelights, mechanics, and Mz Jov's teasings, it's time to spool up this bad boy of a reel and see what all the engineering and design has delivered. Being mindful of the potential conflict, I matched the Opus-1 with my Megabass F3-610DG Aaron Martens Limited - the only rod in my arsenal that came close to matching the styling cues of this black and silver reel. Fortunately, when I matched these two products from rival companies up with each other, no catastrophic failures ensued.I fished the Opus-1 on several trips this past spring in pursuit of spotted and smallmouth bass in some of the clear water reservoirs we have here in Northern California. The goal was to get into some aggressive, hard fighting fish and test the reel's performance in these light line situations.

Casting: I've yet to meet a spinning reel whose casting capabilities I did not like. Line flowed off the spool of the Opus-1 clean and easy. I found nothing extraordinary nor lacking in its performance in this regard. Feathering of the spool was easy to perform and the bail moved back and stayed out of the way during a cast rather effortlessly. 

Retrieve: Turn the handle of the reel over nice and easy after a cast and the internal trip flips the bail over very effectively with a rather quiet click. Minimal effort is required to trip the bail. Of course, if you trip your bail manually before beginning your retrieve, all this is moot. The Opus-1 does demonstrate a bit of that machined gearing feel found in some of the uber-high end, heavy duty saltwater reels when you turn the handle but it is not enough to where it is bothersome. Quite the contrary, the slight bit of "geariness" in the Opus-1 connotes power and precision in a similar fashion as a Van Staal offering.

Drag: The rated drag for this reel is 3.3 kg or roughly 6.5 lbs. We were able to test in our lab, an effective, smooth pulling drag all the way up to just over 7 lbs of pressure with both spools. Unfortunately, I was unable to hook up with any good sized spots or smallies to really give the drag a true test on the water, but I did get into some smaller fish that allowed me to get a sense of the Opus-1's drag performance. Nothing I experienced was anything short of confidence inspiring and the double bearing support results in unbelievably smooth pulls.

But since there were some unanswered questions and I was unable to hook into a nice sized, hard pulling fish to help answer them, I did the next best thing and asked JIP to grab hold of the end of the line while we were in the parking lot cleaning up the boat. In these manual pull drag tests, the Opus-1's drag proved smooth and reliable with an easy startup and consistent, non-studdering performance throughout. In other words, no surprises.

To further our tests, I walked over to the launch area and dunked the Opus-1 underwater for a few minutes. Pulling it back out of the water, we repeated our manual pull drag tests and to my surprise, there was no change in performance. The felt drag washers of the Opus-1 are somewhat reminiscent of those in the Daiwa Pixy. Those in the Pixy have developed a reputation of becoming more or less useless once contaminated with water or oil. Something is obviously different with the material in the Opus-1's drag for at least in this short term test, there was no effect on performance with a wet drag.

Ergonomics: The one real design decision I questioned on the Opus-1, ergonomically, was the metal knob. It shares a similar shape to that of the Daiwa knobs only with a bit more contour. Despite the form fitting design, I was skeptical as to the comfort this knob would offer, but I am happy to say, after several trips with the reel, I never even noticed the knob was metal - well, except after picking the reel up when it had been sitting on the deck exposed to the hot sun - ouch!Other than that, the weight of the reel, though no Daiwa Exist, is very respectable and the spool is a comfortable enough distance from the rod to afford easy feathering of the spool. The drag adjustment knob is comfortable to grip, easy to turn, and amazingly painless to remove. The bail moves and holds in open position easily and securely and even the anti-reverse device is solidly implemented with a cross-cut metal knob that is easy to turn and almost indestructible as opposed to a plastic lever that can easily chip or break if the reel is dropped.