[geyssonh]

Shimano America will release these reels in March. They are not Stella but they are pocket friendly.

Spheros 14000FB & 18000FB $179.99
Saragosa 14000 & 18000 $299.99

Have anyone seen these reels?

Spheros FB http://fish.shimano.com/catalog/fis...<>ast_id=1408474395181270&bmUID=1202321252886

Saragosa
http://fish.shimano.com/catalog/fis...<>ast_id=1408474395181270&bmUID=1202321252886

This post edited by geyssonh 01:09 PM 02/06/2008

 

[bretabaker]

I just played with an 18k Saragosa yesterday (yes in the US). Seemed very nice and I'm thinking about buying one.

 

[KILSONG]

The reels look good, but we have to wait until someone review the reels after using intensively.
I hope the reels are economic version of Stella as they introduced Torium, economic version of Trinidad years ago.

 

[bretabaker]

KILSONG wrote:
The reels look good, but we have to wait until someone review the reels after using intensively.
I hope the reels are economic version of Stella as they introduced Torium, economic version of Trinidad years ago.

Yeah I'm trying to convince people to buy one for that reason

 

[KILSONG]

bretabaker wrote:

Yeah I'm trying to convince people to buy one for that reason
OK, I'll buy one and test it myself.

 

[chinookhead]

Okuma?? 99lbs drag

I know that many claim to have had bad experiences with okuma, but my experience has been that nearly the entire range of conventionals are not so good in terms of durability(heard that the catalina is not bad), but I have had excellent luck with the spinners...especially the "high" end ones. The VS system and my favorite, the salinas have serious drag capability!! The Salinas are solid and not overly complex (a reasonable amount of bearings), but the VS comes with a 5 year warranty, so why not give it a shot?

Maximum Drag Pressure Ratings
Vsystem and Salina Maximum Drag Ratings with DFD
Size Max Drag (LBS)
Size-15 25-lbs
Size-20 25-lbs
Size-30 45-lbs
Size-40 45-lbs
Size-45 65-lbs
Size-55 70-lbs
Size-65 99-lbs
Size-80 99-lbs

 

[KILSONG]

chinookhead wrote:
The Salinas are solid and not overly complex (a reasonable amount of bearings), but the VS comes with a 5 year warranty, so why not give it a shot?

Maximum Drag Pressure Ratings
Vsystem and Salina Maximum Drag Ratings with DFD
Size Max Drag (LBS)
Size-15 25-lbs
Size-20 25-lbs
Size-30 45-lbs
Size-40 45-lbs
Size-45 65-lbs
Size-55 70-lbs
Size-65 99-lbs
Size-80 99-lbs
Can you buy one and test it for big tuna ?
Okuma has bad reputations as their initial products failed so badly. It will take time until they get the recognition from users.



This post edited by KILSONG 04:30 PM 02/08/2008

 

[chinookhead]

Kill, I'd be glad to try it out for u, but u would have to take me offshore to test it out.

In this area, I only fish the surf or PB's and have jigged plenty of blues and bass with them which is obviously no comparison to a tuna, but others have caught tuna on them. I'm not sure if i can post a link, but check out stripersonline "okuma salina" to see tuna caught on the salina. And 90 dollars for a Salina 80 would be nothing compared to the reels that u and other Tuna anglers buy...like 1/10th.

This post edited by chinookhead 04:46 PM 02/08/2008

 

[KILSONG]

I promised to buy a Shimano Saragosa spinning reel and test it though I don't need the reel, but not Okuma. I've seen so many junk Okuma to convince me to try it.
You got to test reels for extended time to see whether there is any problem or not. My torium was perfect until I caught a dozen of yellowfin before I found the weak anti-reverse prawl problem.

This post edited by KILSONG 06:43 PM 02/08/2008

 

[FishWisher]

Is this for real? $90.00 for 90lb of drag eggbeater? Something doesn't add up. Kil, you know how I feel about Okuma conventionals, so I don't need to repeat myself. The one Okuma spinner I have has been chugging along for about five years now with minimal maintainence. There was that one incident when I spread it's spool

by filling it with 15lb mono under a little bit of tension, but it came with a spare, so that was ok. I may have to drop a hundred bucks just to try and destroy a Salina. Of course, if it proves to be usable, I'll need to build a rod for it. Or maybe two rods - one for jigging, one for popping. Which could get expensive...

Forget it - minimal research reveals that Salina has felt drag. That's just not being serious. V-system's description conspicuosly doesn't mention the drag material. I was hoping to see words like "graphite" or "woven carbon" which would go a long way towards convincing me that this reel has a big boy drag system. The drag numbers are not to be found anywhere, eaither, I don't understand where that 99lb stuff came from. The old addage rings true yet again - if it sounds juts too darn batsh1t loco to be true, it probably ain't true. As always, you get what you pay for.

This post edited by FishWisher 07:27 PM 02/08/2008

 

[chinookhead]

I got the info from here:
http://outdoorsbest.zeroforum.com/zerothread?id=692913
I assume that he got it from okuma, but he may be wrong. It is best to confirm this first. I am e-mailing Okuma and I'll report if they confirm this. You can see on that site that there are guys using them in Florida for grouper with the drags locked down. Like Fishwisher, my spinner is going on strong for 4 years on boat and surf.

 

[KILSONG]

chinookhead wrote:
I got the info from here:
http://outdoorsbest.zeroforum.com/zerothread?id=692913
I assume that he got it from okuma, but he may be wrong. It is best to confirm this first. I am e-mailing Okuma and I'll report if they confirm this. You can see on that site that there are guys using them in Florida for grouper with the drags locked down. Like Fishwisher, my spinner is going on strong for 4 years on boat and surf.If they use spinning reels for groupers, I don't pay much attention to what they use and what they do no matter they are charter boat captains. Jigging and popping with spinning reels are totally different.
On the other site, they praise Fin Nor Offshore reels.

This post edited by KILSONG 08:14 PM 02/09/2008

 

[FishWisher]

Thanks for the link. That's pretty interesting. They are talking about Okuma VS having more drag than Stella. I like the part about bail arms getting torn off reels by grouper, I'd buy tickets to see that. Well, if people are really catching the kind of grouper where "45lb of drag is not enough" on these reels, they may well be worth a closer look.

 

[FishWisher]

KILSONG wrote:
If they use spinning reels for groupers, I don't pay much attention to what they use and what they do no matter they are charter boat captains.

I suspect that they kind of have to. Most charter and party boats in FL provide spinning gear because majority of their clients wouldn't know what to do with a conventional.

 

[mrbill1]

FishWisher wrote:
these reels, they may well be worth a closer look.

You might look for them in container's like below.

 

[KILSONG]

Is there any competition among reel/rod manufacturers ?
Shimano advertizes inshore rods as capable of using 200 lbs braided line and Okuma claims the spinning reel's max drag is 99 lbs.
I really hope the Okuma reel can hold 20 lbs drag for long.

I have a good feeling that the Sarasoga reels can be a big hit among tuna popping fishermen. As soon as I get one, I am going to test it.

This post edited by KILSONG 10:25 PM 02/09/2008

 

[chinookhead]

I guess this is where that Salina drag info came from...an okuma admistrator:
http://okumafishingforums.com/showthread.php?t=445
Here is a guy who caught tuna with it...it seems that he added some smoothies:
http://okumafishingforums.com/showthread.php?t=551

Ok, I'm going to stop now as I know nothing about tuna and offshore fishing, although I'd love to catch one, one day. I just thought that it was interesting the price of these reels and they're supposed capabilities. I leave it up to u guys to determine if its for real.

This post edited by chinookhead 12:38 AM 02/10/2008

 

[KILSONG]

chinookhead wrote:
I guess this is where that Salina drag info came from...an okuma admistrator:
http://okumafishingforums.com/showthread.php?t=445
Here is a guy who caught tuna with it...it seems that he added some smoothies:
http://okumafishingforums.com/showthread.php?t=551

Ok, I'm going to stop now as I know nothing about tuna and offshore fishing, although I'd love to catch one, one day. I just thought that it was interesting the price of these reels and they're supposed capabilities. I leave it up to u guys to determine if its for real.
Thanks for posting the info here.
I have been looking for a decent, reasonably priced spinning reels for tuna, but most cheap reels have problems in the end.

 

[FishWisher]

Seems to be some conflicting info there. Still, if I were given a choice between Okuma VS and Fin-nor Offshore, I think I'd go with Okuma. Lots more bearings and a warrantee, and it looks like you can get at least 30lb of drag without stressing it. That's about all I'd want from a spinner.

 

[KILSONG]

FishWisher wrote:
Seems to be some conflicting info there. Still, if I were given a choice between Okuma VS and Fin-nor Offshore, I think I'd go with Okuma. Lots more bearings and a warrantee, and it looks like you can get at least 30lb of drag without stressing it. That's about all I'd want from a spinner.Mike, can you buy the Okuma spinning reel and test it. It cost only $100.
I got to spend $300 to buy a Saragosa reel and test it.