I decided to put this in the rod forum. Rule bender.
Have any of you thrown a daiwa SL or GW reel? The sealed drag washers seem like a good idea to me. Especially when wade fishing. I've dunked abus before, and afterward the drags bound down pretty good with a running fish. And when i get home I have to--or feel then need to--strip the reel down and clean the salt out of the bearings. Is the daiwa fully sealed?

Also: what about the Trinidads? These reel are out of my price range, but the guys that I know who own them love them.

I've been using abus and penns for years now, am use to them, can take them apart fast, tune them, have spare parts, and can put up with their idiosyncrasies.

Just wondering about the daiwas and shimanos.

I've got an SL 30. The drag is fantastic, altho I've never dunked it. It isn't sealed, that much I can tell you.

Abu drags pretty much suck even when you DON'T dunk them :smash:

Abu drags have really gotten under my skin. I must have a place in my heart for Ambassadeurs, for I still use and buy them.

I looking into the 20 class dawia. The new Grand Wave Z has caught my eye. Light, narrow spool, holds plenty of line: 210 yrds of 20Ib. The gear box looks big, bigger than the 525. That may hit the trigger on the rod?

Originally posted by goosefish
Abu drags have really gotten under my skin. I must have a place in my heart for Ambassadeurs, for I still use and buy them.
have you put HT-100 704Z size in the 6000 size abu's? that is the best sollution i have done. never really had much trouble with the 7000's. probably should figure out which penn washers fit in those, though.

Toby--never used the penn washers. What I use is the Xtreme Smooothies, in both 6000s and 7000s class reels. The 7000s, with this washer upgrade has been good to me.

Have you tried these? and if you have and still like the penns better let me know.

For me, the drag issues with the 6500s has usually come from a dunked reel. Once the reel gets good and wet the grease on the main gear shaft and the main gear ends up in the washers. I go real easy with the grease and oil in abus. I also don't wash these reels with a direct blow from the hose. Wipe them down that's all.
With the washer upgrades any drag issue is usually my error and not the reels.

i tried both smoothies and extreme smoothies in 6000 abus. the HT-100's are WAY better. i can lock down the drag completely on my mag elite now. i thank JohnR, i think, for first letting me in on that one. i did put smoothies or extreme smoothies in one of my 7000's, but now i can't remember which one i did it to. they are all very strong. one isn't better or worse than the others.

I love learning:bounce: something new.

Question ----when you replaced the 6500 drag with the ht100*s did you use the whole penn 704 kit or just the fiber washers and how many of each is required?????thanks

trade out one HT-100 fiber for each stock drag disc in the reel. i think it is either 3 or 4.