Daiwa Dogfight - what is it good for?

[Brandon Khoo]

I liked the big ball handle so much i replaced all the handles on my Stellas to the Fisherman ball

[Jon Li]

Jon - hang on - they asked whether you had upgraded the drag to carbontex? Why?! Were they wanting to argue that the carbontex resulted in two much drag and that was why the reel snapped at the stem?! HUH?

Brandon ,

I think they were at a loss of words in trying to explain what had happened but in the end they came good , they repaired those 2 reels after 6 months . Had to send them the videoclip of how it happened for without that I doubt they will replace the body of those reels F.O.C. , I had to pay for the shipping charges still !

Jon .

[Luke Wyrsta]

Luke - to be fair, the Dogfight can't have the track record of the Stella. As a new reel, that just can't be the case. Time will tell as to its longeivity.

That's exactly the point i'm trying to convey. These claims simply aren't justified since the Dogfight is in it's infancy. Only time will tell if it can meet and/or surpass speculation that is better than another reel comparitively.

[Brandon Khoo]

what I have found interresting is that at this end of the market, neither Shimano or Daiwa ever refer to the competition in a comparative sense. It's almost like at this price, we haven't got any competition!

Of course, you also have the Van Staals and Accurates which are even more expensive but I have no experience with these apart from 20 minutes with a Twinspin which nearly killed me!!

[Luke Wyrsta]

what I have found interresting is that at this end of the market, neither Shimano or Daiwa ever refer to the competition in a comparative sense. It's almost like at this price, we haven't got any competition!

Of course, you also have the Van Staals and Accurates which are even more expensive but I have no experience with these apart from 20 minutes with a Twinspin which nearly killed me!!

Sure Brandon, but it seems to me what all these 'claims' are implying.

[Greg Burt]

 After two jigging sessions with the Acc Twinspin 30 I went back to my Stella, the Acc feels mighty powerful but the 6.0-1 ratio made it very hard work. I first used it on a Samurai 6' rod which didn't help the problem and it impoved a bit when put on a T-C 400. They need a bit of running in but recon they would be good for heavy popping.
 Had a small warrenty job done, a screw that holds inplace the internal 'unbreakable' parts broke/undid. Went to the USA from NZ and back in two weeks all fixed and with a box of goodies, they were very helpfull.
 I was waiting [but couldn't] for the ACC Twinspin 20 to be released so got the Stella 8000 instead.

[Jon Li]

Wise move , Stella 6000/8000 is my choise of reel for all but the biggest GT . I fondled SR12 prototype and it's still a long way behind Z4500 let alone Stella , in smoothness . I think Accurate did not realise how steep a learning curve it is to compete with Stella n Saltiga in high drag setting game .

Jon .

[Brandon Khoo]

what I have found interresting is that at this end of the market, neither Shimano or Daiwa ever refer to the competition in a comparative sense. It's almost like at this price, we haven't got any competition!

Of course, you also have the Van Staals and Accurates which are even more expensive but I have no experience with these apart from 20 minutes with a Twinspin which nearly killed me!!

Sure Brandon, but it seems to me what all these 'claims' are implying.

I think the claims seem to have been driven more by the Daiwa enthusiasts than Daiwa itself. We've all seen posts on sportsfish where people make absurd statements.

[Sachin Chaudhry]

I use a Stella 20000 and my friend uses Saltigas. (6000gt and Dogfight)
On occasion we swap reels just for an opinion.
He feels that the Stella is markedly heavier than the Saltiga which it is.
I feel that the Stella is MUCH smoother than the Saltiga and the Stella drag out of the box blows the Saltiga away.
The Saltiga does feel as though it has slightly tighter manufacturing tolerances but then again this could be due to the higher gear ratio compared to a SW20000 PG. I have used a FA10000 which as you know is a faster retrieve reel than the 20000 and the FA10000 did feel smoother than both Saltigas.
I personally feel that for the premium you pay over a Stella the Dogfight should blow the Stella away but it does not.
For those that use the Twinspin, how does it compare to the Saltiga and Stella?
For a mid priced reel (and I have used many) try the Quantum Cabo 80 (310 yards of 17 pound mono). I am in awe of the overall smoothness, corrosion resistance and drag on this reel and I use the smaller 60 size model which can only hold 210 yards of 14 pound mono although I run 65lb Tuf Line XP on it.

[Cam Foley]

got a stella and a accurate sr 30 find the stella alot easier to use the accurate is good but hard to work and not quite as smooth a real stump puller looks awsome to i love both and just swap around my dad uses tha accurate alot because of the 6to1 ratio seems to allways hook up first although he does have a wicked jigging action.

[Brandon Khoo]

I took both my Dogfight and 10000 along for the trip to Shoalwater runnng the Dogfight on my Komodo Dragon and the 10000 on my WV. The reason why is I have a popper on one and a stickbait on the other so I can swap the type of lure I use anytime I like. Both reels feel different but I really cannot say i believe one reel performs better than the other. There are trade-offs. For example, I have maintained for quite some time that I believe the 10000 spool casts better but on the other hand, I also get noticeably more wind knots with it in comparison to the Dogfight. The line comes off the spool of the 10000 more smoothly but if you have loose loops, they also come off more easily.

The Dogfight with an upgraded carbontex drag is very smooth on high drag settings.

Both are great reels to me and I will happily use either anytime.

[Peter Lowe]

Hello Brandon

Yummy "runnng the Dogfight on my Komodo Dragon " what a dream combo, can you tell me what the biggest / best catch on that outfit would be to date, I dream of having such a combo and am saving hard for it?

 The Shimano/ Daiwa thing concerns me but my personal preference is Saltiga - I have used the Shimano and think its great, just like a Ford -but I'm a Holden person. Silly I realise but.......

What line do you run on the Dogfight?

I agree with your last comment - happy to use either anytime.... Thanks

[Greg Burt]

I too would drive a holden, if I had to!

[Brandon Khoo]

The biggest GT I have on the outfit would still be under 40kg, Pete. This is still a relatively new outfit. Unfortunately for me, I've hooked onto some real beasts with this outfit but just haven't had the luck. Really big GTs in tough country need a fair bit of luck. I thought I had it at Shoalwater - we got one huge fish around the 50kg mark out into deep water - and then it broke my bloody lure.

The biggest (decent) fish I have on it is a nice black marlin about the 80kg mark which I got very late last year. I love fishing for marlin on threadline and while it is a unfair on the fish using 80lb braid, it's great fun. The biggest fish all round was a shark caught the same day as the marlin. The stupid thing snaffled a dorado which had taken a marlin lure. We then took some 1.5 hours to bring it in close enough for us to recover the damn lure. I don't know how heavy it was but the shark was about nine to ten feet long. The shark got hooked right in the nose! I would have simply cut it or busted it off but my mate is a bit tight and wanted to try to recover his expensive skirted lure!

Don't get too bothered about the Daiwa/Shimano thing - I'm a little sick of it myself. Certainly, I understand guys who trust a product expressing a preference but some guys out there really just talk a load of hogwash and of course, we never know whether they actually have an affiliation with a particular product.

The reality is they're both quality products but you should be aware of any relevant weaknesses. If you do want to get a Dogfight, about the only thing I'd suggest would be to upgrade the drag washers to carbontex If you're in Sydney, I can do that for you pretty easily as I usually have a couple of spare sets of washers around. The other problem that has occurred with the Saltigas is the handle snapping off. Last week at Shoalwater, one of  the guys managed to snap off the t-bar handle on his 6000GT. Unfortunately again, not an unusual occurrence as this is a known weakness. I have not heard of that happening to a 6500 series reel like a Dogfight or an Explorer so I don't know if they fixed it. I've been checking to see if I can find an full aftermarket handle for the reel but I haven't had any luck to date.

In terms of the rod, the Komodo Dragon is an excellent rod and is regarded as the heaviest rod in the Smith range. That said, when I sit it next to my Carpenter WVs, it looks positively light! All of these rods are rated to PE12. This of course has its advantages and disadvantages. The KD is comfortable to use all day whereas I think an WV83 would be bloody hard work! The WV80 though would be fine over a day.

I have a number of spools on the Dogfight and I fish everything from 50lb to 130lb on it

Hello Brandon

Yummy "runnng the Dogfight on my Komodo Dragon " what a dream combo, can you tell me what the biggest / best catch on that outfit would be to date, I dream of having such a combo and am saving hard for it?

 The Shimano/ Daiwa thing concerns me but my personal preference is Saltiga - I have used the Shimano and think its great, just like a Ford -but I'm a Holden person. Silly I realise but.......

What line do you run on the Dogfight?

I agree with your last comment - happy to use either anytime.... Thanks

[Peter Lowe]

That is fantastis feedback Brandon Thanks, you sure do know your stuff -RESPECT....

Gt's breaking lures  now that is shattering, especially when you manage to drag them to the deep. Marlin are a fish that elude me to date, not that I target them but throwing poppers around enough I have raised quite a few, but my action must bore them, they just have a look then casually swim off.

Upgrading to a noas is always fun though, I was taught about drag pressures on the sharks off Ocean Beach Umina half way to Lion Island as a kid, used to hire the Andersons put puts and go out their even though it was a bit beyond the allowed limits. Sharks varied from 5 foot bronzies to terrifying sized Hammerheads - ah happy days.

It is interesting what you said about handles as recently my expedition had the handle fail ( costing me a nice GT     ) but it was just the bearings collapsing and the ball comming clean off mid fight with 15kg of drag  . I tryed to push it back on but no good, this real does get a good work out. I since have sent it back to Daiwa and realise they are flat out at present so am eagerly awaiting it's return - soon I'm sure.

That is generous about the washer upgrade thanks but I live in Brisbane-Hopefully we will meet up on a Nomad trip and trash a few washers togehter so I can take you up on it.

What you have said about the KD and Dogfight just makes me want it even more, a local tackle shop owner has the combo sitting their on display and I drool every time I see it but on my income it will take me a while to save for it - we got to have goals don't we.

Regarding the other spools you have for the dog fight, are they stock or a fancy aftermarket job? I am keen to get a spare for the expedition and DF for the Nomad trip and again your feed back would be great.

Thanks