Daiwa Spins Favorites: New Ballistic, Tatula, Fuego, Exceler and Saltiga Spinning Reels

Introduction: It was a big year for spinning reels at the Daiwa camp with updates to both the Ballistic and Saltiga spinning platforms. Both reels get performance boosts thanks to use of Daiwa’s latest materials and Magseal which prevents water and debris intrusion.

Daiwa redefines their spinning lineup starting with the Ballistic LT

Get Ballistic: The Ballistic Series has always been a good blend of performance and value and that doesn’t change this year. The new reels look like more refined versions of the previous reel, and are both sleeker and feature a more compact profile.

The foundation of the new reel is the Zaion housing, hence the LT moniker which stands for “Light” and “Tough.”

The new reels have beefed up digigear design but are now lighter and smaller profile

Inside the new reel anglers will find a machined A7075 aluminum gear which is designed to be both light and smooth. The main shaft utilizes Magseal to protect the components from the elements, making it an even better choice for inshore and offshore applications in addition to the freshwater fishing for trout and largemouth that many anglers will use the Ballistic for.

Curt Arakawa, head of marketing for Daiwa shows us the new Tatula LT

There will be a complete range of new Ballistic LT reels ranging from 1000 to 6000 sizes and each comes with 7 bearings (1 CRBB, 5BB, 1 RB). As an example of how light the new reels are the 1000 size weighs only 5.8oz. and the 2500 size most anglers will use for bass fishing is only 6.3oz. in weight. The new Ballistic LT reels will retail for $229 to $249 dollars depending on model and size.

The Tatula LT is all murdered out with a black Zaion Body

Redefined Spinning: The Daiwa Ballistic was not the only new spinning reel to get completely updated.

Daiwa basically redefined how they make spinning reels throughout the lineup, reducing weight and delivering new profiles that not only look more modern and compact but are designed to offer higher performance from cast to retrieve.

The other spinning reels that got the new LT (Light Tough) reel treatment which makes the reels smaller, lighter weight, and incorporates a larger digigear included the Tatula LT for $79 dollars.

The Fuego LT features the same design concepts but with a carbon light body

Marc shows us the low flex of the Zaion material versus carbon

Even the Exceler now gets the LT treatment and has a carbon frame

Saltiga ditches screws: On the salt spinning side Daiwa introduced the new Saltiga Bay Jigging Reel. Besides being one very slick looking saltwater fish fighter the most interesting thing about this new reel is that it incorporates a one piece aluminum frame and a one piece threaded side plate. What the heck does that mean? Because screws are not utilized to attach the sideplate and hold the main gear the interior space within the body is greater allowing for a larger more powerful gear held in place by the lighter and sturdier body, rather than relying on a traditional bolted down sideplate.

The Saltiga Bay Jigging reel features a monocoque one piece frame design

As an added benefit the threaded 360 degree support system side plate is designed to increase the integrity of the body as a whole and reduce water or contaminant intrusion.

The overall strength to weight ratio is better on this reel than previous generation Saltiga reels and the guts have also been souped up with a harder brass main gear, what Daiwa calls their “Hyper Digigear.” Similarly to the Ballistic reels the main shaft on the Saltiga is also Magsealed to reduce saltwater and debris intrusion.

A look at the frame design, no small screws necessary to hold this reel together

Bryan shows us the complete Saltiga lineup
 

The Saltiga Bay Jigging reels will be available in 5.7:1 (3500 size) and 4.9:1 (4000 size) gear ratios and all reels come loaded with 13 bearings (2 MBB, 9 CRBB, 1 BB and 1 RB). As you might expect with a reel that bears the legendary “Saltiga” name these reels are not cheap and will retail for $799 dollars each. Spin aficionados will have plenty of Daiwa options to choose from this year with new reels spanning light line freshwater applications all the way to jigging the iron down deep.