worth every dollar

I finally bit the bullet and got the Saltiga SA30 conventional reel. In Asia it is more commonly known as a conventional jigging reel, which are used for jigging and high speed retrieving heavy metal slabs and diamond jigs for offshore fish. I got it secondhand since the previous owner never manage to get his sea legs, thus the reel was quite new (only 3 trips fishing in water depths of 150 feet or more).

Basically the reel is an open-faced conventional reel without the line guide and is machined out of one piece rigid aluminum. These two key features make it suitable for offshore duty hauling big fish. No line guide gear to fail, no line guide to interfere when strong fish runs and solid no flex frame when the battle begins. Weighs about 17.5 lbs loaded with 50 lb braid (I out in about 300 yards of FINS PRT 50 lb braid as mainline), with a good gear ratio of 1 : 5.4, picking up about a yard of line with each turn of the handle. Finishing is superb and strong long handle with non-slippery oversized handle knob is great for demanding situations.

The grease impregnated drag is super smooth and very reliable. I don't have the box for my second hand reel, but testing it using a weighing scale, I can set the drag to about 22 lbs (10 kg). With 6 BB and 1 roller bearing, it is super smooth and I can cast live baits a considerable distance for a reel this size. A handy well design tool comes with the reel for servicing and another good feature is the aluminum rod clamp that secures the reel to the rod. While the graphite clamps like those for PENN reels are good, it just looks better. More of feel good factor here rather than functionality.

I have raised quite big strong fish with this reel, so far the best catch is a 42lb Giant Trevally while jigging heavy metal lures. When doubled as a livebait reel I have caught garoupa up to 35 lbs and the speedy line pickup helped to haul this big reef dwellers up.

All in all, I think Daiwa has put a winner whcih is worth every dollar even though it is expensive. Really expensive for me, at about US$390. For those of you wanting to buy this reel, I seriously suggest you take a look at the newer Daiwa Saltist. It is a cheaper version but is as strong and reliable as my Saltiga ( same size Saltist sells for about US$185 )and can do everything the Saltiga can do. I might grab the Saltist too especially the high speed version. Perhaps epinions should stock on that too.