Some curious responses there. Here's the facts: the Dogfight spool is identical (apart from colour) to the Expedition spool and the non-standard 6500 spool; they have the large face, small core, cost about $240 in the 6500 version (more for the Expedition and Dogfight) and take 300m PE8. They come with the standard drag, of course, and I've used it in my Expedition since they first came out (three years?) on a few hundred samsons and a handful of GTs, tuna, sails and wahoo, and have never had to do anything to it. It still has the original washers in it and has never even been pulled apart. It's as smooth as the proverbial and always has been.
Others have not been so lucky (though my four other Daiwa Saltiga spools have all been fine), and have replaced the fibre washers with
Carbontex, which works fine too.
My two popper reels are both Saltiga 6000GTs (which accounts for two of the other four spools), but both are mostly used with
Studio Ocean Mark 6500 spools, if only so that I could have a pretty red spool and a pretty silver spool to go with the custom handles. They both have original, untouched drags in them, have both caught a heap of good fish, and the drags have always been perfect. I'm pretty fond of fixing dodgy drags and have Carbontex in several reels, but I've never had to do it to any of those spools.
Andrew, if you want a spare spool for the DF, why not get a
6000 GT spool? It's a better size for lighter PE (the 80lb belongs on the DF spool) and a better diameter for working minnows and smaller stickbaits... casts better... just not quite as fast or as roomy, but you have the DF spool for that.
