Daiwa Saltist 6500H review

It was a pretty loose arrangement – if we were going on a specialist fishing trip and didn’t have the appropriate ‘tool’, Brittain and Wynyard Ltd, the Daiwa wholesale agents (amongst many other top brands), would try to provide that ‘tool’.

So when called upon to do some heavy-duty rock fishing for snapper and kings with lures and big baits (then participate in a boat-based stick-bait session in the northern Hauraki Gulf later on), I seized the opportunity. I already had a lovely 15-24 stickbait/popper rod made for me by Offshore Custom Sportfishing Rods, but no matching reel – until John Elliot handed over a mattblack Daiwa Saltist 6500H spinning reel with electric-blue trims.  

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The Saltist certainly looks really smart, and by simply giving the reel’s handle a casual spin, then cranking the drag knob up and rotating the spool, any potential structural concerns are largely removed. In both cases the result is the same: super smooth and powerful-feeling performance.  

Next, I loaded the 6500 up with 37kg braid. This theoretically overloads the Offshore rod it’s attached to, but the big reel’s also well suited to heavy duty live-baiting and jigging on shorter, more powerful rods, and the extra thickness and power of the line can be handy when fishing for big fish in unforgiving territory, which tends to be the case with the type of fishing I had in mind for it.  

The first rock-fishing session turned out to be a bit of a dud, with the visiting kings being too small to trouble the big spinning outfit at all. But a trip out with Josh Darby and Max Christensen a couple of weeks later provided a much better idea of its capabilities, thanks to unseasonal runs of baitfish near Kawau Island, which in turn attracted some equally unseasonable kingfish around the 11-18 kilo mark.

It’s a bit harder to evaluate a reel’s features when your buddies are yelling and shouting as kings and giant kahawai swirl and crash while chasing baitfish and excited anglers’ stick-baits. However, a couple of things were instantly apparent. First, the 6500H’s bail-arm is manually operated – something that’s hard to miss after casting, winding … and nothing happening! But this is a very good thing. I can’t tell you how frustrating (and scary sometimes!) it can be to wind up for the cast, whip the rod over – and hear the bail-arm clunk shut at the explosive release point! At best the lure may fire back into the boat’s superstructure, but it may also whack into a fellow fisher or crack right off. If your lure’s hooks have their barbs squashed down, the second scenario may not be a hospital job, while the third outcome may see a very expensive/valuable lure gone (especially if overseas) and some time-consuming re-rigging required.  

The other obvious feature was the firm, chunky bail-arm, making the manual engages very simple to perform and quickly converting me into a fan.

Back to the action. Fortunately, my blue-silver Starwalker stick-bait proved as good as the others being used, so got its share of kingfish and kahawai action – which the Saltist handled effortlessly.

I marvelled at the drag’s smoothness. Set at around 11/12 kilos pressure – slightly less than its 13-kilos maximum, in deference to the lighter rod involved – the braid released in a silky stream at all times, fast or slow. It’s also a level of drag pressure that can realistically be exerted by most anglers and is more than enough for the majority of situations. However, one big king smashed the lure boatside in the shallows, just as I was about to lift it out, with the resulting bulldozing run forcing me to add extra manual pressure to the spinning spool’s skirt in a bid to gain some control – and ended in a comprehensive, and loud, mid-line bust-off. When kingfish are concerned, sometimes even the heaviest lines and drag pressure aren’t enough!

Prior to the trip I had no idea how fast the reel’s retrieve was – and if I had, I might have been slightly concerned. While 6:1plus ratios are common amongst free-spools, they’re much rarer in big spinning reels, thanks to this design’s already large spool circumference enabling reasonably quick retrieval rates to be achieved with lower-ratio gearing. Fast retrieves are particularly important to anglers who speed-jig or like casting and retrieving metal lures and pencil-type poppers for kings and tuna. However, crank the ratio up too high and it can come at the cost of diminished low-down grunt – a big minus when dealing with the powerful species of fish typically encountered.

I had no idea the big Saltist’s ratio was an eye-popping 6.2:1 – testament to the clever people at Daiwa somehow reducing this potential downside to make it barely noticeable. Consequently, I hooked my fish, fought them, and brought them in – no worries!

I looked everywhere on the internet for some mention of the gearing composition. One gentleman believed the main gears to be stainless steel, but some of his other comments left me dubious as to his credibility. Suffice to say, whatever the composition, the gears mesh beautifully smoothly together, aided by an aluminiumalloy body that prevents torque keeping everything nicely in alignment under pressure for reduced wear and a longer life. Daiwa calls this its ‘Digi-gear drive system’ and is justifiably proud of it.

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Some people will no doubt want to know the number of bearings, which I can understand, as a few well-positioned ball bearings can greatly affect the reel’s performance and longevity. However, I must also stress that having lots of low-quality bearings is actually a liability. In this case Daiwa has incorporated five specially-treated CRBB roller bearings and one roller bearing – so not too over the top – which are reportedly 12 times more resistant to corrosion than those made from standard stainless-steel.

I’m in two minds about the handle. Under normal circumstances while just winding lures in, it feels sturdy and reasonably nice to hold, but once hooked up and the pressure’s on, the knob end contains a recessed metal plate with sharp edges that aren’t ideal. I have to be honest and say I didn’t notice any discomfort at the time, but adrenalin can mask such things. A long battle with a big yellowfin would no doubt reveal whether this aspect is actually a negative or not!

All in all

I’m impressed by this reel. While most of the critical components may appear to be relatively straight-forward, this is deceptive. In fact, Daiwa has utilised its vast experience and technology to subtly improve the Saltist’s capabilities and performance to provide what’s likely to be a tough, strong and practical reel for a realistic price. Nor does it hurt that it looks pretty damn smart, too! 

   This article is reproduced with permission of   
New Zealand Fishing News

October 2016 - By Mark Kitteridge
Re-publishing elsewhere is prohibited

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