Reel problems

[Garth Welsh]

G'day,
I'm looking for a bit of advise pre-purchase as to the size of reel required.

Previously have been a shimano team sort of guy but after seeing the the diawa expedition,I don't think I could bring my self to buy a stellar.

To my question, is the 8000h overkill as a solely purposed GT popping/stickbait reel? At this time still matched with an averagely priced stick, but you have to start some where!

Is the 5500 adequate?

Thanks, Garth

[Trevor Skinner]

Garth,

Depends.

Where will you be fishing and what size of fish will you be likely to catch? That will determine what breaking strain braid you will want to use and that should give you some idea which size of reel would prove suitable.

Although I own Stellas, the new Expedition seems like a very fine reel.

Regards,


Trev

[David Lumanauw]

Expedition 8000H has the same body/machine as new saltiga / catalina 6500H with bigger spool capacity. Same as Expedition 5500H and new saltiga/ catalina 5000H.
8000H has bigger gearing than 5500H.
In drag section, 8000H has 5 drag discs, 5500H has only 3 discs.
For GT Popping, we will need that 5 drag discs for more stopping power, but we dont need that much spool capacity, unless for tuna fishing. More PE line also means more weight, not good for all day casting.
My solution is using 8000H with RCS6000GT spool. More friendly for all day casting, still have 5 drag discs inside the spool, more than  200m of PE8 ( which is more than enough for me/ my popping style). Can also use 6500 spool for PE10 setup.

[Garth Welsh]

Thanks for the responses guys,
Mainly used a few times a year around Exmouth/Gascoyne region. Do a bit of traveling though and intend on visiting a few GT hotspots over seas in the next 12 months.

So the 8000h has a heavier drag setup than the 5500h?

Really didn't want to fork out another $250 on another spool after I throw $1500 at the reel and line,

Maybe the Stella 18k would be a better idea? Thoughts?

Thanks, Garth

[David Lumanauw]

5500H usually enough for most GT. Can use extra hand braking
Really? Its about $1000 in here.

[Garth Welsh]

Got a price of 1,299 (plus braid).

What do you mean by in here David?

Thanks,

[Brian Maccarone]

For those local waters you are fishing I would go the bigger Saltiga option or as I use the 18k and run pe10. There have been plenty of times that I have been freight trained on pe10, some fish just pull harder than others.

[Alex Gomez]

For a start I think the title of your post is misleading, it's not a problem if you're looking at acquiring one of the best reels ever made!
Yeah the 8000H is pretty big! For it's size though, it is still very light compared to say a Saragosa of similar size.  It is rated by Daiwa to have double the drag capacity (30kg) of the 5500H (15kg). I was going to keep mine for tuna but interesting to hear about the RCS spool David, I will hunt for one.

You can get the Daiwa's cheaper if you hunt for them there are some tackle buy/sell groups on here and FB.

Good luck!
AG

[Alex Gomez]

Expedition 8000H has the same body/machine as new saltiga / catalina 6500H with bigger spool capacity. Same as Expedition 5500H and new saltiga/ catalina 5000H.
8000H has bigger gearing than 5500H.
In drag section, 8000H has 5 drag discs, 5500H has only 3 discs.
For GT Popping, we will need that 5 drag discs for more stopping power, but we dont need that much spool capacity, unless for tuna fishing. More PE line also means more weight, not good for all day casting.
My solution is using 8000H with RCS6000GT spool. More friendly for all day casting, still have 5 drag discs inside the spool, more than  200m of PE8 ( which is more than enough for me/ my popping style). Can also use 6500 spool for PE10 setup.

Hi David,
Do you know if it is possible to put the RCS 6000 GT spool on the 5500H to increase drag capacity?
Appreciate your expertise

AG

[David Lumanauw]

5000 series spool wont fit in 6500 series body, the bottom neck of the spool wont fit the center flange of the 6500 rotor.
Vice versa, 6500 series spool (including 6000gt) wont fit 5000 body, 5000 series rotor wont accomodate that size of spool.

[David Lumanauw]

Roughly, 6000GT spool capacity is very close to 5500H spool capacity, the difference is the drag capability (3 drag sheets VS 5 drag sheet)

Saragosa 8000SW also have big gearing. Being HG (5.7:1), Pairing this reel with JM16K spool make it quite a descent popping setup.

[David Lumanauw]

Saltiga Expedition 8000H with standard spool, Z6000GT spool, SOM6000 spool, SOM6500 spool.
For getting maximum performance when using older spool (saltiga Z spool or older SOM spool), replace the whole orginal dragstack (aluminum golden drag plate and carbon flake drags) with stainless dragplate and carbontex friction drag)

[Mark Richie]

Expedition 8000H has the same body/machine as new saltiga / catalina 6500H with bigger spool capacity. Same as Expedition 5500H and new saltiga/ catalina 5000H.
8000H has bigger gearing than 5500H.
In drag section, 8000H has 5 drag discs, 5500H has only 3 discs.
For GT Popping, we will need that 5 drag discs for more stopping power, but we dont need that much spool capacity, unless for tuna fishing. More PE line also means more weight, not good for all day casting.
My solution is using 8000H with RCS6000GT spool. More friendly for all day casting, still have 5 drag discs inside the spool, more than  200m of PE8 ( which is more than enough for me/ my popping style). Can also use 6500 spool for PE10 setup.

Hi David,
Do you know if it is possible to put the RCS 6000 GT spool on the 5500H to increase drag capacity?
Appreciate your expertise

AG

I think this would be a waste of money!

The 5500 is a perfectly adequate pe8 reel the way it is and the 8000 is possibly the best pe10-12 reel out there in it's standard form also. Why muck around with near perfection? Yes it's a fairly heavy thing but the claimed weight by Daiwa is the exact same (875g) as the 18,000 Stella. Read in to that as look like though because manufacturers claims are usually pretty inconsistent. The extra 100 meters or so of pe10 will obviously make the expedition heavier than the Stella but we're only talking grams here.

For pe8 work, the standard 15kg drag is more than ample. Read any one of Brandon's posts regarding fishing high drag settings stand up and you start to get the picture that 25kg (shimano) and 30kg (daiwa) max claims are merely for brand bragging rights and not achievable in the real world by 95% of anglers with 8' casting rods. Unless you like water skiing with half a rod after it's snapped! I'd be dubious about any other lesser reel with only 15kg max drag as the washers and rest of the reel are likely not going to hold together at close to max drag but with these super spinners, screw it down and hold on with confidence.

If you are going to go down the Daiwa path, look at either the 8000H Dogfight or the Expedition if you want to run pe10. They're essentially the same reel now after the 2015 upgrade except for the drag knob and the colour scheme so look for which one of the two is cheaper. And if you're only looking to run pe8, get the 5500H because drag and line capacity are ample for pe8 work. If you want one reel to be able to do both, get the 6500H and a spare spool (either a Daiwa 6500 spool or an RCS 7000 spool). The 6500H holds 300m of pe8 and the 7000 spool has the same capacity as the old dogfight so expect about 250-275m of pe10.

Rich

[Garth Welsh]

Thanks all for the advice, wound up going with the 8000h expedition.

Can't wait to get it on the water.

Thanks,

[David Lumanauw]

RCS 6000GT spool