DAIWA RANT

[LTM]

I hope this is the right place for this,

Just posted some very positive comments regarding the stainless side plates for the jigmaster. I wonder why when Daiwa made the cast aluminum Sealine series of reels that the reels were not sought after by the general public and the after market parts manufacturers? After all; Daiwa produced ALL metal frames, stainles and chromed steel factory parts, machined spools and numerous sizes to fit all applications.  The Sealine 300H-900H were in fact better built Penn 3/0-9/0 reels from the factory "hands-down". The Saltiga's were better built than the Trinidads. The same for other Daiwa's. Daiwa introduced the free floating spool. Thel Luna's are fantastic, but the Calcutta's probably sell three times as much. The old Sealine's come with SPRUNG STAINLESS dogs, eccentric jacks, and RATCHETS (on naval bronze gear sleeve) etc.

You may think Im a Daiwa fan and you would be WRONG!. I happen to have more Daiwa star drag conventional reels than other brands, 'cause the ones I own are just built better. Im a fan of well made things PERIOD! Which ever manufacturer makes a good product that I may use, Im a fan of that particular product. At one time I WAS A PENN FAN. Until I started cracking-open some reels early on and speaking to reel mechanics, early on in my fishing experience.

A lof of the older Daiwa reels have PROVEN RELIABILITY AND PERFORMANCE and the aftermarket parts manufacturers just seem to OVERLOOK them almost completely. Adam/Threese7ns has an insert for the 600H and 2nd dog that makes this reel "ABNORMAL" and has a handle arm coming out for this reel. If there was a stainless steel gear sleeve and gear it would be "GAME OVER" in this class of reel for the competition.

This site is about maintenance/repair of fishing reels with the added bonus of "upgrading" your reel too. WHAT HAPPENED TO UPGRADING DAIWA REELS?

My two cents and first rant,

Leo

PS I also want to acknowledge Dawn/smoothdrag, Bryan Young for his drag kits for some Daiwa's and gstours/Gary for his experiments with dogs/pawls and drag systems.

[Rancanfish]

Dead on Leo.  So much for keeping my secret stash secret.   

It would be great to get a couple of stainless sleeves for sure.

[LTM]

Dead on Leo.  So much for keeping my secret stash secret.  

It would be great to get a couple of stainless sleeves for sure.

Sorry Randy, I was looking at pictures of the ss side plates for the Penn 500/501 and couldnt contain my thoughts any longer.

My-Bad Ran,

Leo

PS The Penn aftermarket parts industry has Daiwa to thank for their existence. For if it werent for the fact that the Daiwa's were so well built and the penn aftermarket crowd making parts to compete with the factory sealine reels, the aftermarket parts wouldnt exist.

[johndtuttle]

Dead on Leo.  So much for keeping my secret stash secret.  

It would be great to get a couple of stainless sleeves for sure.

Sorry Randy, I was looking at pictures of the ss side plates for the Penn 500/501 and couldnt contain my thoughts any longer.

My-Bad Ran,

Leo

PS The Penn aftermarket parts industry has Daiwa to thank for their existence. For if it werent for the fact that the Daiwa's were so well built and the penn aftermarket crowd making parts to compete with the factory sealine reels, the aftermarket parts wouldnt exist.

Pretty sure Carl Newell got his start hot-rodding Penns in the early 70's and he wasn't the first by any means. You can find older Daiwas that are also straight up Senator 4/0 clones that predate the Sealine series etc so no, in fact, Daiwa and Shimano owe everything to Penn for the fundamental design of the star drag reel, to Carl Newell for making a higher performance reel and to America for the creation of a middle class market for fishing equipment after WW2 that created the fishing gear industry as we know it.

Daiwa and Shimano learned everything they know from Penn and Newell. If you look inside one of those reels today all you see is a Penn 4/0 dressed up with bigger gears and more bearings.

Regardless, there is no question Daiwa makes great stuff, if incredibly poorly marketed (it seems to be a cultural issue with this old and conservative Japanese company). Famously Daiwa head guy said once "we put our money into our reels instead of hats".

Then again, Shimano probably has 10x the sales that Daiwa does and it isn't a better product that makes that so...

[LTM]

Yes my original PS was WRONG in regards to the aftermarket parts industry. However, they did provide the market with a "better-built-mouse-trap" based upon the Penn senators specifically and the public didnt seem to accept them for the most part as one would expect. Also, they (Daiwa/Seiko)do seem to be very conservative in their marketing. I like Seiko watches and their upper end Noblia line of watches as well, just excellent.

Well, I think Ive got the rant out of me now. Too bad more people dont see them for what value they offer as an alternative to other upgrade paths.

Thanx for your time,

Leo

[Cortez_Conversions]

Dead on Leo.  So much for keeping my secret stash secret.   

It would be great to get a couple of stainless sleeves for sure.

Shouldn't be that difficult. Let me know if there is any interest. I don't know anything about Diawa, much like Newell. So it's difficult to de plop products for these reels. I'm a Penn guy...

[1Forecon]

I sorta feel the same way. When I lived in San Diego and worked on the boats and fished myself 2-4 days a week, I found myself gravitating towards my 50h's and 400h for 3/4 YT and 1 day schoolie tunas, replaced my Penn 500 with a Newell 338-5G(have 2 now), because I was always breaking my Newelled out 501's, squidders, 500's etc. and fixing them up.

I bought one new reel when I was about 10yrs. old(Penn 500) and bought and traded Penns, Newels, Daiwas, since getting on the boats. I hated that the Daiwas didn't have the aftermarket support in the late 80's-'96 when I bailed Cali. to upgrade. So I kept my daiwas and stuck with settling on what they where. Workhorses that broke down less, had slower gears, weren't pretty, but I was a cheap and poor deckhand/student, then a poor Marine, then a poor deckhand again, then left. I still fish those same Daiwas now(Florida). Sold off a bunch of Penns though. Just picked up a Acc/501 and Acc/99 only after coming back to this site to trick out. I could have bought three(3) new reels but will probably spend more money upgrading than what I could have spent new! Guess common sense and stubbornness don't go hand in hand.

Man, if I could have steel gears, faster gears, steel sleeves in my 50h, it would have stayed on my jig stick too! I would yo-yo off the Islands for YT and schoolies with it and even a couple big Mako's(Hint-never fish a 7'plus Jig stick/30#mono with wire leader for Makos unless your in your twenties-ouch!)

I remember buying my first TLD 15(around '92), hated it. I suspect someone tightened the drag at the store, cranked it and crushed the pinion bearing before I even picked it up. Sold it off and finally bought my first lever drag(Omoto 12n Tripple-hint, don't over grease!) since '92? (I live in TN so I dumped almost all my gear except a few old Penns and my three(3) Daiwas, 2 Newells 338-5G'sand a couple sticks when I left Cali. in '96) so haven't bought many reels for salt since '96. I picked up an old Pro Gear 3000 while stationed in Central Cali from 2010-'12-it needs same SS everything!

I never fished fancy, pretty stuff. But always had fresh line, smooth drags and a fresh bait. I always did better than fine compared to the "tackle boys".

I took my Tib/Penn 6/0 and a Daiwa 400 bottom fishing in Panama City, just got back last night. My Daiwa 400 reel has no more badges, stickers or anything left on it. It's just light gray with 60# mono, fully serviced with really smooth greased drags and has never given up. Got the itch myself to upgrade them but all there is is drag kits. I would love some steel gears and sleeves, custom cranks, to really put some pressure on too.

I feel ya!

[Rancanfish]

I've a small fortune in Penn reels. They are slowly being upgraded to bullet proof.

But it would be nice to have the ultimate confidence in a reel like my 900h or Smf170h because they were SS geared and sleeved.  These reels have large drags, lg. sleeves, solid frames & lots of SS so your upgrades would make them super reels.  

Sorta like what you did for the squidders & jigmasters I missed out on. (not quite).

[LTM]

Tom/CortezConversions PM sent.

IForecom, this is the passion thats needed to get some parts made.

Leo

[1Forecon]

Sounds good. I'm kind of a minimalist I suppose. Now, I've spent way to much on freshwater gear since moving to TN for sure. What 15-20 reels and too much tackle for sure, but gotta keep getting more. I think it's a man's unwritten rule or something.

I picked up a SS-Double Dog bridge from Blackpearl last week for the 501 rebuild/upgrade. Now I need SS 4:1 gears, SS sleeves too if I can ever find 'em(ever) for it and the 99 also. I will add as I go I guess. I like you I hope to see a something for the old Daiwas but will probably never see it since I think their time has passed. Maybe if I learn some decent machining skills at gunsmithing school next spring I can resurrect the Daiwas.

[LTM]

1ForeCon,

You will definitely pick up the skills at gunsmithing school to make some personal parts, but thats the problem. I guess some parts beats none for the time being. Hopefully Tom/Cortezconversions will come thru with some gear sleeves to get some more momentum.

Fingers crossed,

Leo

[Capt Ahab]

Good stuff - I switched most of my spinners to Diawas and have never looked back - same sort of stuff - just a better built reel

[Shark Hunter]

I am late to the game starting a Daiwa collection. They are fine reels, but not near as plentiful as penns.
That's the problem. The 900H is basically a beefed up Senator, too bad that is where they stopped.
My favorite reels are the bigger senators. 10,12,14 and 16/0. Daiwa never made them any bigger than the 900. I wish they would have.

[ez2cdave]

I am late to the game starting a Daiwa collection. They are fine reels, but not near as plentiful as penns.
That's the problem. The 900H is basically a beefed up Senator, too bad that is where they stopped.
My favorite reels are the bigger senators. 10,12,14 and 16/0. Daiwa never made them any bigger than the 900. I wish they would have.

Yes . . . My "secret wish" was for DAIWA to make a SEALINE 650H and a 950H reel but, unfortunately, they didn't . . .

Then, there are the "Dream Reels" . . . 1200H  . . . 1400H . . . 1600H . . . They would have been GLORIOUS ! ! !

[jonnou]

Just wanted to Bump this as I agree