Shimano Saragosa - 8000 F

[HowieGee]

This is the first Shimano Spinning reel I ever bought. I have been extremely impressed with their offshore conventional reels.....the TLDs. They beat my Penn Internationals Hands Down and cost a third the price.

Hopefully their workmanship in their spinning reels compares to their conventional reels. It is the smoothest reel I ever wound....with absolutely no resistance, which I really like because you dont have to fight the reel to feel the plug swimming.

Did not want to go for the Van Staal nor a Zeebaas due to the high cost....PLUS I do not fish underwater and I do maintain my tackle and clean and grease them all the time. I have had Penns, Luxors and Cracks for over thirty years and they all still kick butt.

[FormerUser]

I'd take a Spheros over any other reel.Best bang for the buck by far.

I have both a Saragosa and a Stradic FI.Performance wise the Stradic wins hands down and the spare spool doesn't hurt.But like Mike said the Saragosa is simple,and its very functional.

I would avoid the bailess kit.....its junk.

In the end if you want to spend the least for the most than the Spheros is the way to go.

[piemma]

[QUOTE=HowieGee;743179]This is the first Shimano Spinning reel I ever bought. I have been extremely impressed with their offshore conventional reels.....the TLDs. They beat my Penn Internationals Hands Down and cost a third the price.


The charter guys in West Palm all use TLD 25s for Sailfish. I fish off Tony Risso's 46 Hatteras and took 3 Sails, one estimated at close to 100#. We never weighed any as the rules are the fish never comes out of the water. The mate gets the fish to the leader and it's considered a catch.

In any event, I too, was impressed with the reels. I fish Calcutta 400 in the surf and on my boat but this was my first experience with the TLDs

[HowieGee]

Had a set of TLD 20s on 30# graphite rods on my boat. Loaded them both with 80# braid. Cranked up the drags to 20#s. Great light weight outfits for chunking. Also used them for flat lining deep diving hard bodies in the typical canyon spread.

These reels took a real beating. Great when chunking as they were as light weight as a baitcasting outfit. And on the troll, they always were in the action because the fish love those deep down hard bodies.

Never had to send them back for service like I had to with the Penn Internations even though they were not rated for the 20#s of drag. These were the best reels for the money for sure.

If I were to build another canyon spread I would use TLD 25s instead, and never purchase a Penn 30 wide again. Just wish they made them larger to knock out the 50 and 80 class reels.