Saltigas have arrived

[Pete_G]

Thanks for digging up that old thread; after reading it I do sort of remember that post. It's good I guess.

It's like I tell customers trying to decide between various flyrods though; it's not what modulus graphite it's built of, it's the end result and how it casts. You can pour all the best engineering you want into a reel it won't necessarily make it a great surf reel.

A example of that is the thin titanium lip on a lot of these reels and the fat lip of "the reel with the historic internal spool design (AkA: trouble maker)". Is the thin lip higher performance? Tough to say, the reel manufacturers tell me so and the writer of that article is of the same mind.

I'll take that fat, tough lip on the rocks any day though even if I lose a few feet on my cast. I've had to sand down the lip on one of my VS's from bouncing it off the rocks so hard and I've done it to several others as well. The same abuse would result in the need for a new spool on most "modern" reels. Ideally you don't fall and bang your $600 reel off the rocks of course, but it happens...

Especially for the surf I've always tried to find gear that will just leave me alone and let me fish. I don't want to agressively maintain it or have to worry about it (or myself) doing something stupid in the middle of the night. Aquaskinz and the new VS plug bags are a perfect example; the tubes won't break from overloading or falling on them, the stitching is built for a lifetime, and most importantly they've got GREAT velcro that won't fly open and throw all your favorite plugs into the waves when you get hit by one.

I think I'm done getting riled up about surf reels. For now. I guess it always has my interest since I often get to see the results of reels used hard in the surf when they come back to me to be serviced or sent in for service.

[ProfessorM]

I agree with Pete G. Time equals money. Quality equals time, and it definitely is a hell of a lot harder than it looks. I understand why they cost so much after seeing up close the workmanship of a VS at the MSBA show. Very impressive. I do not have a problem with them charging that much. I am sure they have a lot of R+D money to recoup. To my eye it is a beautiful piece of workmanship and engineering but still too expensive for a machinist to afford .I do think some of the quality aspects of those expensive reels can be adapted and retrofitted to the lesser priced more abundant reels out there now. I guess we will just have to see if it is possible. Good discussion. Paul

[rhodyflyguy]

how much drag does the standard saltiga 4500 make vs. the saltiga blast 4500? my blast maxes at just under 30 lbs, i'm curious to know.
p.s. these small saltigas will be killer bft reels with 40 lb. power pro and a 20-30 lb. cape fear

[leptar]

Originally Posted by rhodyflyguy

how much drag does the standard saltiga 4500 make vs. the saltiga blast 4500? my blast maxes at just under 30 lbs, i'm curious to know.
p.s. these small saltigas will be killer bft reels with 40 lb. power pro and a 20-30 lb. cape fear

both offer 22lbs of drag

the blast doesn't have all the bells and whistles such as the cam driven ball bearing supported oscillation, waterproof knob, drag, and gear box, and it also doesn't have a titanium twist buster line roller.

once you get into the 5000 series they boost the drag rating to 66 pounds...

you can all find the mechanical differences here

SALTIGA-BLAST 4500

SALTIGA-Z 4500

[Pete_G]

Those are some pretty insane drag numbers. I feel like something would break first.

I'm not sure how they're measuring the drag, but I usually test drags with the reel on the rod. I've seen more then a few spin reels get into the teens, only one or two of which I'd actually consider usable and smooth in that range.

My VS200 and 250 can develop drag pressure into the upper teens, but they start to get a little jerky then. Low teens is smooth. If the Saltiga 4500 can develop 20+ pounds of drag on a rod and be smooth while doing it I'll be impressed. A BFT killer for sure rhodyflyguy. I wish I didn't misplace the pics of my Stella 6000's drag after several BFT encounters though. There was nothing left of the drag stack but metal drag washers and some fur from the destroyed felt washers. Maybe they've finally made an improvement, but the previous generation Stellas had the same drag as the Spheros.

I'll have to take a few minutes tomorrow to do some testing...