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Looking for some advice...

I am going to Fiji for a 10 day fishing trip in March & am thinking of buying a Stella 18000SW & maybe a Shimano GT Special.

I live in Sydney & fish from both rocks & boat both inside & outside harbour, mainly for kingfish.

Now this is a lot of cash to outlay but I think I'm in need of a treat and never really splurged on fishing gear too much before.

I'm sure the combo above would be great for the 10 days in Fiji but overkill for my usual fishing here in Sydney.

So, I thought maybe I could get away with the Stella 10000SW in Fiji, which would also be more usable at home.

The other factor which makes it hard is that there is little difference in price between the 10000 & 18000.

Any thoughts/advice/past experience much appreciated!

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i got a mate who has lots of stellas

they way he sees it is

they come with 10yrs warranty so thats a little over $100 a yr for a top reel and worry free for 10yrs

ends up being pretty good value if you look at it that way

theres kings out there that will still be stoppable even with a stella

worse comes to worse use the reel in fiji then come back and sell it to me :)

Edited by Framedtrash
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do much the same fishing as you and actually just plumped for an 8000 after similar umming and ahhing between that and the 10000. the 10000 will be far more suited in my view. the 18000 is much heavier and would feel unmatched to the rods I'd imagine you'd team it up with. there is no meaningful difference in drag or line capacity (for your type of fishing; i got 350 yards of 50lb braid on the 8000) and the 10000 is far more of an all rounder.

owned a smaller stella for some time now and it's streets ahead of any other reel i've used. whichever you buy you won't regret it.

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thanks Bentos thats reassuring info and I agree the 10000 would be better for the majority of my fishing.

Can anyone tell me if the 10000SW would handle the fishing in Fiji, mainly trolling and GT popping.

Obviously the 18000 would be much better but would I get away with the 10000?

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personally i would steer clear from these reels and the daiwa saltiga they both claim to achieve great amounts of drag pressure which they cant achieve and secondly i have personally seen them tested on motor bikes trying to pull 15kg of drag to find bail arms snapping, shafts snapping and so forth, have a look around and find something that can actually do the job.

regards Jack

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey Jack,

If you feel a Stella or a Saltiga isnt up to the task, can you suggest a reel you feel is capable ?

Chris

mate have a look at the big Diabalo it has the same internals as the saltiga but upgrades on all the saltiga faults for half the price,

Aero depending on what type of fishing you are doing, as im talking about the bigger size reels, what type of fishing are you doing?

i ve got the smaller stella the 2500 and love it but my 20000 is another story, i wont even get started on the saltiga

If you need any help pm me and i can guide you in the right direction.

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HI There, I am with Greg, i would go for the 18000k over the 10000, the 18k opens up a whole new world with big fish ie cubing for tuna and even for small marlin fishing. It also depends on what your main type of fishing is as the 18k and 10k are a high speed reel which us more designed for the high speed spinning and GT fishing in mind, if you into jigging and enjoy fishing the deep stuff then I would consider a 20k as the low gears on the 20k make crank up fish from the deep much easier. But then there is no saying you can’t use high speed to jig or lowspeed to spin, but it is just that the correct gears just make that form of fishing a little bit easier. Also with the 18k have the option to fish high line rating such as PE8 (100lb) and still get approximately 300m on the reel, where as for the 10K I would not go more then PE6 as you will loose out on the line capacity.

Also with the 18k it opens up to the option of getting the yumeya super max spool which can hold 600m of Pe6. Although this are not cheap at around $300+, but if you into chasing big fish then this is some to keep in mind.

In regards to Stellas and Saltigas failing, there will always be reel that is going to fail and the Stellas and Saltiga are no exception! However the two metioned reels tend to fail less and have been proven against time to be the bench mark for quality and reliability.

With regards to the Diablo reel I would stay clear of these, I recently came back from a week of jigging from Perth and one of the charter I was one had the smaller reels on board, the reel seems to have a real lumpy drag system which resulted a few fish lost. Although as stated this are on the smaller 9000 models so maybe the larger model has improved.

I think in the end of the day it comes down choosing a reel that will suit your type of fishing as the outlay on one of these reel are not cheap. If you only chasing the kings in Syd then a 10k will do the job both here and Fiji. However if you into chasing big fish then I would go the 18k or 20K (same body size different gears) and don’t forget you can still use this larger reels on the kings as there are some big kings around.

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Thanks for all the advice guys, much appreciated.

Jim, thats some report & some huge fish you caught, great to see the stella in action.

I have just bought the 18000SW, $900 delivered from the states so very happy.

Now for the rod, the GT special is the obvious choice for popping but again I'm trying to maximise the use & considering a shimano bluewater spin 10-15kg or 15-24kg in the hope they will enable me to cover more types of fishing.

any ideas?

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Thanks for all the advice guys, much appreciated.

Jim, thats some report & some huge fish you caught, great to see the stella in action.

I have just bought the 18000SW, $900 delivered from the states so very happy.

Now for the rod, the GT special is the obvious choice for popping but again I'm trying to maximise the use & considering a shimano bluewater spin 10-15kg or 15-24kg in the hope they will enable me to cover more types of fishing.

any ideas?

eather of the bluewater spin rods are great i have them both , i mainley use th 10-15 kg one for spinning for tuna but i have caught plenty of reef fish on it and a few jew fish it would also make a good snapper rod if the length doesent bother you. for a 10-15 kg rod it has a lot of grunt. there is not to much differance between the two rods. go to a local tackle shop and check them out.

jim

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Hi Jack,

I was just curious as to what reel you would deem better than the two main contenders.

I have heard similar stories about the diablo's as SZ1, and considering how few of these reels are out there (Compared to stella's and Saltiga's) it doesnt rate very high on my list. Only got knows many Stella's and Saltiga's are out there.

We've just upgraded out baitcatching reel to a 20000SW Stella, we'll use this to jig slimies in 80-100fthms as well as pitch baits at Marlin, cube for tuna etc.

What model 20000 do you have and what are the issues you've encountered?

Chris

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With regards to the Diablo reel I would stay clear of these, I recently came back from a week of jigging from Perth and one of the charter I was one had the smaller reels on board, the reel seems to have a real lumpy drag system which resulted a few fish lost. Although as stated this are on the smaller 9000 models so maybe the larger model has improved.

mate as of this year all Diabalos will be made with complete Australian components so those first few whcih had minor hicups will be ironed out.

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Hi Jack,

I was just curious as to what reel you would deem better than the two main contenders.

I have heard similar stories about the diablo's as SZ1, and considering how few of these reels are out there (Compared to stella's and Saltiga's) it doesnt rate very high on my list. Only got knows many Stella's and Saltiga's are out there.

We've just upgraded out baitcatching reel to a 20000SW Stella, we'll use this to jig slimies in 80-100fthms as well as pitch baits at Marlin, cube for tuna etc.

What model 20000 do you have and what are the issues you've encountered?

Chris

ive got 2 sw 20000, and yes they are ok for cubing and the old struggle with a beakie as your not exerting huge amounts of pressure normally set drag to say 5 8 or 12kg.

We are talking about a reel which would last a trip heavy jigging or throwing poppers in shallow water, i have done it and seen what a Gt or heaven forbid a dogtooth does to these reels after a short period of time under heavy drag.

I personally am not a big fan of paying overs for a reel that offers not much more than a $259 Fin nor, if i had my time again i know what i would be doing and thats not buying one of these reels hence why i tried to give some advice its amazing what advertising does to us,

ask any retailor that sells these reels to test the reels as what the manufactor speks suggest and they will not, as they no it s not achievable.

Regards Jack

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First,

Cantab, sorry for taking your thread on a tangent, Jack's just raised some concerns I've never really come across before.

Jack,

Surley the operators of these big jigging/popping ventures, like the one visited recently by Swordfisherman, the ones up in north queensland, Fiji and New Cal who have to cater for 100 odd clients a year a not fishing with inferior gear? All I've ever seen on these top knotch operations is Stellas and Saltigas.

With a 10 year warranty, and the claimed capabilties, these reels can be thrown back in the manufacturers face the moment it does not live up to is capabilties.

In how shorter period was your 20000SW damaged? What went wrong? Its sill well within warranty period so what did shimano say about it ? What drag pressure do you consider heavy?

Cheers

Chris

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Hi Cantab, i am sorry as well but am really interested in what Areo has asked.

I am with Aero, if you look around the net for jigging and Popping you will see Stella's and Saltiga's being the norm.

Hi Jack, I note you have stated a fin nor off shore, but what other reels are you using currently for your heavy work? Or can you please advice on what is more capable of heavy fishing, as any angler can agree, to go on trip and have gear failure will definatley be a bummer.

Aero, I have to say stella 20k SW for bait fishing that is pretty extravegant :1prop:

Cheers,

Sz1

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I have to admit I'm also trying to work out what eggbeater outdoes a stella 20 000 or Saltiga 6500? Diablo???? :074::074: Tuff tackle are having a go and I respect that but they have a long way to go to get up to the strength and reliability of those two and the fin nor is a reasonable reel but really not up to having 200m ripped off in 5 seconds flat against 20kg drag by a big keg of yellowfin.

In answer to the original post have a think about the 18 00, they are a bigger reel but the line capacity and drag capability is a lot better than a 10 000 and there sin't a lot more coin involved. The challange is to find something big enough to sort it out when you get back to oz, good luck with that! :1prop:

Oh and be careful not to tie it to a post and scream off on a motorcycle, apparently they don't like that! :thumbup:

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After just tangling with GTs for the first time,I am going to get the stella 20000 and that reel handled those Gts without any serious hiccups and we were running around 10 kgs of drag at a guess.

Man !!!! I am addicted to that type of fishing :yahoo:

Cheers Stewy

things blow up when you're fishing 13kg+ of drag, theres no other reels other than acurates, van stalls, stellas, and saltigas that will consistently handle these ammounts of drag. Personally the stella is a better reel than the saltiga, theres plenty more bail arm failures on the saltiga, and sticky drag. Drag much more smooth on the stella.

If you want versatility, have a look at the old stella fa 10000 and get a 16000 and 20000 spool for them. if not, i advise you go for the stella 18k if you are fishing pe 8 or more, otherwise capacity will be an issue if you're using the 10k

ps- i have a shimano kaibutsu gt rod in the for sale section rated pe 6-8 if you're interested.

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ah thanks Hodgy, I thought I was loosing it...

I ended up getting the 18000 & am glad I did, it isn't as big as I first thought & enables me to get heaps of line on.

Any hints on spooling it up?

I have been told to do it myself rather than at a tackle store & make sure I apply HEAPS of pressure when winding on.

Also to wrap the spool with a few turns of insulation tape then uni knot to spool & tighten the braid hard enough to just cut into the tape to prevent any slippage.

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HI Cantab,

Nice choice on the 18k I am sure you will enjoy every moment of using it.

AS for spooling it up what I did with my 20K SW was use about 15-20m or so of mono backing with a uni knot connection to the spool along with a strip of the tape that comes with the Reel, then reel this onto the spool under tight tension then I would connect the backing to the main line via a double uni. With the main line what I did was get the Mrs to let line out whilst I walked back the length of the longest part of the apartment and walk the line back to the Mrs, who is now holding the spool tight. I found by using this process I was able to get the correct tension onto the spool. But I have to say it does take a little bit longer then normal. I was able to get exactly 350m of PE8 onto the spool.

Cheers,

SZ1

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i connect my backing to the reel using the same method as above

but as for the braid i first connect the braid to a large alvey i have i then wind the full spool onto the large alvey

i then connect the braid off the alvey to the mono backin on the new reel and put the alvey on a reel and put it in a rod holder on the boat i then tighen up the drag on the alvey then just simply wind on the line using the reel

takes a little longer but gives you the perfect tension and you can do it by yourself

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