View Full Version : Daiwa has done it! (and some stuff on Harnell rods)


Patrick
07-07-2001, 11:39 AM
That's right. Daiwa, the company that used to be rubble just a few years back has joined the ranks of the Shimano Stella and Van Staal reels.

Looking through what Daiwa has to offer, they now have a reel in the 400-500 dollar range. Is it just me or is this becoming an alarming trend? Do you think these reels are really worth the money or are companies looking at the prices people will pay and figuring they can get away with murder.

Pretty soon, we'll be telling our kids or grand kids about the cheap days of fishing where you could get good gear for under 700 bucks.

On another note of the Daiwa reels, I'm looking at these Emblem reels. I see those fish that nice guy Sergio catches and if they can put up to a 30lb weakfish, I figure they can handle some stripers. The main thing that I see different to these reels is the spool design. Most of our standard spools have a deep lip but the Diawas are different. Large shallow spool design. Looks interesting to say the least.

Now onto the Harnell catalog. I ordered it a few days ago from their website and they sent it out personally addressed by hand with three stamps in the corner. I know I'm young but I think that says a lot about the company. You look at Cabelas and BassPro shops, as much as I love flipping through their catalogs, but it's all too sterile, too mass produced. I'm quite impressed on the personal service they put into just sending me the catalog!

Oh yeah, one more thing. I've seen a lot of stuff on Great White sharks lately, you know, just around the net ;). My hobby since I was a little guy has been sharks and I can say I've seen just about every shark video known to man. Probably more than once. A great white wouldn't swallow you whole, in fact just about any shark alive today wouldn't. The only shark I know of that could do that of any era is the Megalodon. The Megalodon is an ancient relative to the Great white that is believed to be extinct. The tooth of a large white shark is about the size of your middle finger. The size of a megalodon would start from the tip of your middle finger past your wrist. This was a massive shark, feeding on giant squid and whales like you would toss back popcorn shrimp.

Anyways, if you were to be attacked by a white shark, it would come up and clamp down on you and then release you. If it liked your taste, he would come back around and hit you from beneath. It's lights out from there. You figure the average male weighs around 170lbs and white sharks can weigh a ton or a ton and a half, it's lights out if he comes back.

The shark I would fear on the east coast is the bull shark. They are very aggressive. They are also known to go up rivers. A few years back, a large bull shark weighing either 200 or 400lbs (a fish of that size, does it really matter?) was caught quite a few miles from the saltwater in the ChopTank river, a tributary of the Chesapeake I believe. Being on the way from OC, MD back to Baltimore, I pleaded with my parents to pull over for a few casts but no luck.

It's rare that a white shark would travel into freshwater but it has happened. In the early 20th century, a white shark went up a river in NJ and wound up killing 5 people.

If you do get attacked by a shark while wading, chances are it's going to be a brown sandbar shark. Dangerous but not a threatening species. He will just be going after your eelbag or stringer. Whack him one in the snout and he should swim off. Sharks have strong sensory pits in their snouts and will be deterred if whacked.

TheSpecialist
07-07-2001, 01:05 PM
A bull shark was caught last week from the shore on South beach in Falmouth. Another shark was caught off of a seawall in Hingham Mass hte other day, it was 6" long but I don't know what kind it was. By the way the shark in question in NJ in the early 20th was not a Great White, it was a bull shark. It was caught in the creek. I saw pictures from then, people walking around in their sunday best, carrying sticks of dynamite. A great white was responsible for an attack in New Bedford Harbor, in the 40's or 50's though. A man and his son were swimming out to their moored boat when the son was attacked by the white. A guy who was rowing in a skiff heard the screams and rowed over to help and he observed the shark. Sharks are often fished for off of the south cape beaches. There was an article in On the Water about it not too long ago.

TheSpecialist
07-07-2001, 01:05 PM
A bull shark was caught last week from the shore on South beach in Falmouth. Another shark was caught off of a seawall in Hingham Mass hte other day, it was 6' long but I don't know what kind it was. By the way the shark in question in NJ in the early 20th was not a Great White, it was a bull shark. It was caught in the creek. I saw pictures from then, people walking around in their sunday best, carrying sticks of dynamite. A great white was responsible for an attack in New Bedford Harbor, in the 40's or 50's though. A man and his son were swimming out to their moored boat when the son was attacked by the white. A guy who was rowing in a skiff heard the screams and rowed over to help and he observed the shark. Sharks are often fished for off of the south cape beaches. There was an article in On the Water about it not too long ago.

Roccus
07-07-2001, 08:34 PM
specialist (07-07-2001 14:05):
A bull shark was caught last week from the shore on South beach in Falmouth. .

Specialist,
Fish biologists have identified that shark as a Tiger, not a bullshark...dunno that it makes a whole lot of difference...both are labeled "very dangerous" to humans.
A couple of teens used to fish back in the 50s for sharks from the rocks at Falmouth Heights...theyd hook up a live eel, whack it on a rock to knock it out and put it on a slab of wood, then float it out about 200 yards on the outgoing tide...then they'd jerk it off the wood into the water which wuld revive the eel. The two boys then adjourned for a few beers at the old Casino Club leaving the rod jammed in the rocks...when they saw the rod go over they'd run down and fight the shark til they landed it. Cool, huh?

Mike P
07-08-2001, 07:20 AM
A couple of days after the NJ attacks, a white was caught that had human remains in its stomach, and it was widely believed at the time that it was the one responsible for the attacks. However, there is a building feeling nowadays that it was a bull shark, which have been known to travel up rivers as far as Lake Nicaragua in Central America. Unquestionably, worldwide, the bull and tiger have accounted for more human deaths than any other species of shark. The are common in the inshore areas of tropical and sub-tropical regions, where sharks and humans commingle, but in a year where water temps rise so quickly as they have this season, you'll find them close to home here, too. The so-called "mackerel sharks", whites, makos and porbeagles, are becoming more common inshore as the seal population continues to grow. Makos appear to be the most pelagic of the three, but I recently saw a photo of one caught from the surf in Texas.They have a replicated jaw of megalodon in the Museum of Natural History in NYC, and there's a famous photo of 3 men seated comfortably in chairs within those jaws.

Back to the tackle topic---I thought the VS was worth the money when it cost $300, after I had a peek inside (the early ones had removeable side plates). I thought it continued to be a good value at $450, when the annual service was still $20. Now that they cost $650 and the annual service is pushing $50 when you factor in either the cost of driving to Stratford or sending it UPS, they're not such a great buy any more. I would not pay $650 for either a Stella or any of the Daiwas. The best Daiwa reels for the buck are the ones they've made for years, the BGs and SS Tournament, and the Sealine conventionals. The original Millionaires were great reels, too.

Harnell is a real "mom and pop" outfit. Still family run. Their rods may be old-fashioned, but so is the way they do business.

Bob Senior
07-08-2001, 11:09 AM
I recently bought the lighter 12' 6" Breakaway conventional for fall surf casting, from an outfit in N. Carolina (Mike said he was backordered so far that he wouldn't quote me a price). I asked the guy there what they recommended for reels in order to maximize casting distance. Now he carries every brand of reel that's on the market, but he recommended the Daiwa Sealine-X series in the 20 or 30 SHV sizes. They're quite a bit cheaper than just about everything else. In other words, by recommending it to me, he lost about $150 in revenues if I bought it instead of a Morrum, other Abu, Calcutta, Penn International.

He explained that his son competes nationally in distance and accuracy casting competitions and he and other competitors have found this Daiwa reel to be the longest casting reel available.

Will it hold up, and can I control it? ...we'll see. But I got one and it's beautiful. But it has no levelwind. Following recommendations from some west coast guys I loaded it with Magibraid Spectra that they claimed was head and shoulders above fireline and other braids common around here.

One last thing. The Daiwas, on the Sealines, Sealine-Xs, and Millionaire series (this is the one with all the bells and whistles) with levelwind, have a system which disconnects the spool from all the mechanisms that drive the spool, when it's cast. I like that feature because it should reduce the drag otherwise caused by mechanicals and generate somewhat longer casts.

I'm now seriously considering replacing my traditional and very troublesome "other brand" conventional with a Daiwa Millionaire high capacity Z300. Anyone used one?

Jaiem
07-09-2001, 07:37 AM
I once read in a book about a shark attack in Lake Michigan! It supposedly happened back in the 30's. Was kept very quiet at the time. It was presumed the shark worked it's way up (down) the St. Lawrence sea way. The book also said shark attack in the freshwater rivers and lakes of the middle east and eastern Med are not uncommon too. Can't recall the name of the book unfortunately.

Patrick
07-09-2001, 10:24 AM
That's freaky but I don't doubt it for a minute. Fish will go to where the food goes. As long as they can tolerate the salinity or lack of it, it's fair game.

In Africa, shark attacks in freshwater happen a lot. The main culprit is the Zambezi shark, named after the Zambezi river. We know them as the Sand Tiger sharks.

Personally, I'm not scared of any sharks. I find them more fascinating then threatening. There are 350 or so species of sharks. A handful are known as man eaters and just a few of them are actual "predators".

The animals that scare me are ticks and snakes. Ticks are just nasty little bugs. I hate them. Snakes are cool but so many of them look the same and I can't tell which ones are dangerous or not.

Blitzseeker
07-09-2001, 12:10 PM
I posted this story last year, but since we're on the topic of sharks:

Was in Blackbeard's out on the Cape last year one morning talking to the guy working the register. He said that one of their regulars had been at Coast Guard beach towards sunset the previous night and had seen two large sharks(the guy estimated them at 12 feet very conservatively, saying one might have been up to 15 feet) feeding viciously on a group of seals. Blood in the water, ripping the seals up, like you see on Discovery channel. All this only yards off the beach. All this second hand, but he said it was a regular customer and I'm not sure why anyone would lie about something like that. Also, I'm no shark expert but there are only a few sharks that get that big in these waters.....I guess maybe whites & makos? Not sure if bulls get that big or not.

Anyway, I've only recently started wading out as far as I was the day before I heard that story.

Jaiem
07-09-2001, 12:36 PM
Patrick (07-09-2001 11:24):
Personally, I'm not scared of any sharks. I find them more fascinating then threatening. There are 350 or so species of sharks. A handful are known as man eaters and just a few of them are actual "predators".

A healthy, respectful fear of sharks of any type isn't such a bad thing. Even nurse sharks can inflict an injury. Not common and rarely serious, but it can happen.

I just got back from a week of diving in the Caribbean. I encountered many 5-6 foot caribbean reef sharks during the week. Many on night dives too. And several came awfully close. On the last day of my trip, while trying to get my fins off to climb back onto the boat one came up and "kissed" my fin (bumped it with it's nose).

Almost certainly they were more curious than aggressive, but I still wouldn't taking any chances.

schoolie monster
07-09-2001, 01:44 PM
Sharks are definitely cool. I can't get enough of the specials on Discovery and TLC. I've read a couple books... good stuff. The shark exhibit in Sea World was actually pretty cool when I was down in Florida last fall.

My uncle was in Sarasota in May for Tarpon and when they were out, one of the guide's pals got on the radio. They were fishing about a mile away and his client had a 150+ lb. tarpon on... an 18 foot hammerhead showed up and bit the tarpon in half. My uncle and his guide arrived to see the carcass, but not the shark.

The two fisherman were sitting in the middle of the boat and wanted to go back to the dock... they were from Chicago or something and hadn't spent much time near the ocean and probably wouldn't ever again.

I'd say anything that can turn your lights out that quickly deserves respect... I'm not afraid of sharks either (when I'm in a boat or on land), but I wouldn't go bogie (sp?) boarding around any seal colonies either. Let's just say that if I was in the water and bleeding, I'd be very afraid. They also sense your electrical field and can sense your heart beat and can tell when your panicking.

Wading in the surf? I've never heard of anyone being attacked and I don't go much past my waste, I don't put fish on a stringer, I don't thrash around, and by the time my hooked fish are near me, I'm usually on the beach... so, I don't do much that might attract 'em.

Oh, by the way, my first DVD bought... JAWS.

Patrick
07-09-2001, 11:07 PM
I respect sharks so I guess that does mean I fear them. I just don't have that overwhelming fear of them where I'm always watching my back.

I think sharks are the coolest animals ever. When all the young kids liked dinosaurs, I liked sharks. I still can't understand why so many kids like dinosaurs. They didn't even survive!

The thing I fear about ticks is lyme disease. Those things can attack you without you knowing it and months later, you can wind up with permanent joint pain and neurological damage. My brother had lyme disease and it basically ruined his life. Couldn't play football anymore, his true passion. He got better thank God but still, that must have been hell for him.

The thing about snakes is once you're tagged, there is nothing really you can do to get rid of the venom. You can suck the wound but that only gets rid of any excess venom and you can put constrictive band on but that cuts the blood off. Once you are tagged, your only real hope is getting anti-venom. I guess I fear spiders and scorpions and the platypus but I don't run into the last two often. And spiders don't bite unless provoked. Snakes though. Man, they bother me.

Jaws is a GREAT movie. It's one of my favorites. I don't care for the fear it instilled in people afterwards. People were all out to kill any sharks. Saw videos of divers going around Austrailia with bang sticks killing nurse sharks. Nurse sharks can be dangerous if tempted but usually they just stick to themselves. Sharks are a marvel of nature. Even Peter Benchley said if he knew the outcome would be the destruction of sharks, he would have had doubts about making it.

They are beautiful animals. Even the white sharks which I think are the ugliest of the sharks with their torn up gums, fat belly, and scars from seal fins have a certain beauty to them. My favorites to look at are either the blue sharks for their color, or the makos for their speed but all of them have beauty to them.

schoolie monster
07-10-2001, 12:48 PM
We don't have too many dangerous spiders and snakes up here... the brown recluse doesn't get up this far does it? I think you have more to worry about from bees than spiders and snakes... unless you travel out west or down south.

Ticks are scary. I find those damn things in my yard. Those aren't the deer ticks, but it still creeps me out. I left a shirt in my truck last year and threw it on to shoot hoops one day. I hit the showers an hour later and there was a tick digging into my chest. I'm pretty sure it was in the shirt. I barely noticed it and never felt it, accept when I was lathering up.

Then you have mosquitos carrying new stuff all the time... mosquitos and ticks are something we can't avoid as surf fisherman. I know I am terrible at using bug repellent consistently.

Yeah, I know the buzz about how peter benchley is responsible for the demise of the sharks. Ya know, do dumb-ass people go rob a bank everytime they see Heat, do they blow up planes after seeing a movie about terrorists. Benchley takes alot of heat, but its those stupid people that kill the sharks, not him. I saw Jaws and never killed a shark though I've caught several. People write fiction and the public reads it. Then they react how they react. Has anyone read Tom Clancy? If anyone did some of the things he writes about like creating viruses to wipe out mankind... would he be to blame? Its called creativity and Benchley took a frightening, powerful creature and wrote a cool book about it. Then Speilberg made it into a movie. Then a bunch of mental morons took the obvious next step and started slaughtering sharks for sport and profit and fear.

Being a creative, intelligent person myself (In my opinion, though I cannot get verification of this except from my daughter... when I give her ice cream), I cannot blame the author. I have to blame people who carry out the mayhem and who aren't analytical enough to realize that they have no right to wipe out sharks to stroke their own ego or to calm their own fears.

Patrick, I'm not ranting against you... you didn't say you blame the movie... I've had this argument with my cousin who is a shark freak and big environmentalist. This is just a raw nerve with me and it goes beyond sharks or even the environment. It seems like we always want an easy scapegoat. Its not the fishermen's fault, its the book Jaws. Its not the kid's fault when he shoots 12 classmates, its the guy who gave him the gun or his bad family life. What happened to responsibility for our own actions?

Oh well, there was another bull shark attack in Florida in the past few days. An 8 year old kid had his arm severed by the shark right in front of his dad. The dad grabbed the shark and dragged him onto the beach. A nearby cop killed the shark and they were able to get the arm back... the kid wasn't doing too well though. Not sure if the kid is doing better or if they were able to save the arm.

I guess florida is having alot of attacks this year. Mostly bulls. Lot a people going in the water these days. Just when you thought it was safe...

Jaiem
07-10-2001, 01:08 PM
Sharks are very common in FL waters but attacks like this are relatively rare.

Small plane pilotss who drag banners through the sky over the beaches often report seeing big sharks swimming just a few feet from bathers. Many times the attacks are just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The sharks are trying to feed on mullet or jacks or something else and in the frenzy grab a swimmer.

I've seen shows where they are experimenting with using electric fields to repel sharks. There's a portable battery system for divers I've seen demo'd. They're experimenting with laying cable on the bottom offshore of bathing beaches and the electric current would form an invisible barrier for sharks (as long as someone remembers to switch it on! :) ).

Carl
07-10-2001, 01:17 PM
I agree, JAWS was a very cool movie. I remember the very first time I watched it. I was probably six or seven years old and watched it at my neighbor's house at night. I remember going to bed holding my knees to my chest and not moving my legs most of the night because if I did, JAWS was going to bite them off. :D

schoolie monster
07-10-2001, 03:32 PM
People aren't on the shark's menu. Most attacks are mistaken identity, or as stated before, just curiousity. We are definetly the clumsiest animals in the sea and no doubt seem like a distressed animal... They can only explore with their mouths. Generally, they ignore us, sometimes they bite then let go... rarely, they keep going.

All fish are sometimes just on the feed and they eat anything in front of them. Sharks get notoriously frenzied... bluefish have attacked swimmers in the surf during frenzies, but blues don't get over 10 feet long.

The story of the attack on that boy is on cnn.com. Pretty scary... his uncle, not his dad, was right there. Can't imagine that being my kid.

TheSpecialist
07-10-2001, 09:18 PM
There are Rattlesnakes in Mass. Specifially in the Blue hills and the Berksheres. People have not only been attacked by sharks wading in the surf, but a couple of years ago someone on the cape was in ankle or knee deep water walking and was bitten on the leg by a shark. I believe he dragged the thing up onto the sand while it was still latched on.

Patrick
07-11-2001, 02:57 AM
Well Brown Recluse spiders do come into CT but attacks aren't common. There are also documented attacks from Black Widow spiders in just about every state. The black widows can't survive the winter in the cold. Most likely, they came up in shipments of south american produce. Still, I don't like them and I avoid all spiders.

There are rattlesnakes in CT. I've seen them and heard them. The good thing about both the snakes and the spiders is they aren't looking for a fight. Most the time, they bite because they feel they are being threatened. When I'm hiking, I just watch where I step and listen for the rattles.

I don't blame Jaws for the killing of sharks. I blame people's ignorance. People assumed that all sharks are a menace. It has been proven that shark killings went up after Jaws came out. People are stupid, what can I tell you?