Happiness is.......a new reel

I mentioned the fact a while ago that I had come across a new shore fishing multiplier that I reckoned was plain awesome for our fishing here in the UK, and having threatened a purchase, I duly went ahead and indulged myself !! How could I not ? The Daiwa Saltist 30H seems to me to be the perfect 7000 size reel for much of our shore fishing, to use when we up the ante a bit and fish with 0.40mm (20lb) and even 0.45mm (25lb) mainlines. Check out the photo above of my new reel, loaded with 0.40mm Sufix Tritanium and an 80lb Sufix Zippy shockleader - these are fantastic lines, check them out here.

Anybody who knows me knows how highly I have rated the various Daiwa SLOSH 20, 30, 40 and even 50 models for many years now, indeed I have a lot of them here (SVs and originals) and they have done me proud for ages. I have two original SLOSH 20s, at least eight SLOSH 30s, one SLOSH 40, and we have used the SLOSH 50s a lot out in Namibia for the big sharks that are taken off the beaches. The secret to these reels is to set them up correctly - if you do that, they are about the safest, most reliable multipliers we can get our hands on.

And what about these new Saltist 30H reels I have gone and bought ? In my mind they are basically what the various SLOSH models were going to become one day with a bit of thought - and that day has arrived. The SLOSH has always suffered slightly from ropey handles (I have broken loads) and a gearbox that gets in the way a bit when you cast, indeed I know of some anglers with small hands who simply can not use the reels for distance casting. The Saltist though is a real breakthrough - essentially it is the size of a Penn 525 Mag or even an ABU 6500, yet it has a true 7000 or SLOSH 30 size spool and strength to size ratio that we need. The gearbox is now slightly forward and out of the way and the handle is far better. Of course the reel has a 6.1 retrieve ratio and masses of cranking power to get fish up fast.

And it casts like a dream as well - set it up like a SLOSH 30 and you'll cast trouble-free all day. Make sure there are two red brake blocks in there (mine came with them already in place), slightly under fill the spool (very important) and allow a little play to the spool via the end cap. I have not touched the bearings, but in time I will flush them out and put some Red Rocket Fuel oil in them. Mine cast very well with no trouble at all, but I had to take a bit of line off one of them as I had overfilled it initially.

I reckon these reels are fantastic, and perhaps the next generation of them will see an adjustable magnetic braking system to really keep them up to date. There really are very few fish swimming in our waters that you could not catch on these reels.

What about the stunning weather on Sunday ? I was over in North Cornwall with my family and some friends and we had lunch outside !! It was an incredible day and it was just great to see the sun shine for so long. It made me think of plugging for bass in fact.......