Saltiga 10, 6500 or 6500H?

[Greg Wiseman]

[Marco Slotboom]

Hi Greg,

If you mean  you're considering the 2010 Saltiga, you also could consider the 2012 Daiwa Catalina. Alan Hawke states it is just as good  as the Saltiga, but not as expensive.
As for the retrieve speed, i cant help you, i have the same questions .  Im told that for poppers/stickbaits you need the high speed retrieve. I cant tell you with any amount of certainty if the high speed reel is also suitable for jigging.

If i had to guess, i would say that these reels are that strong the would  be able to be used for jigging, but the again, it could turn out to be an expensive wrong guess.

Good luck
Marco

[Greg Wiseman]

Thanks for the response Marco,

That's an interesting point... I might have a look at the Catalina.

The strength of the Saltiga will no doubt be fine for jigging it's just weather or not the retrieve ratio makes fighting the fish significantly harder.
The other thing I wonder is the rhythm when jigging - does the high retrieve ratio make it harder to get the rhythm right?.... this could just be practice I guess.

[Mark Richie]

Hi Greg,

No matter which way you try to go, you're going to be working your ass off when it comes to the reels non-specialised task.

With the low speed, awesome for jigging but a real workout on the top water. You have to wind heaps faster when bringing in your slack line after a pop or sweep. Trust me, your arms feel the difference at the end of the day!

With the high speed, heaps less tiresome on the top water stuff but an absolute chore while trying to bring up a 300-400g jig from the deep. I've fast burned a 400g jig from about 200m deep with a 6500H to chase a tuna school in the distance and it's not fun! Not as much of an issue when actually fighting a fish as long as you've got your pump and wind technique well oiled but will definitely be a disadvantage on BIG doggies etc. But when is it not a chore bringing in a massive doggy

As for which is the lesser of the 2 evils, my personal preference is to go high speed due to my preference for top water fishing but if I were to do both equally, I'd go low speed and adjust my technique to suit. like big pops with plenty of pauses, walk the dog style sticks or pencils/gt ice creams.

Rich