Daiwa Sealine 50h vs 350H

[jerconte]

Hi,

I randomly bought a Daiwa Sealine 50h at my local tackle shop as a back up reel without knowing anything about it except that it looked solid. After getting it home, checking it out, fishing it, stumbling on posts about it on here, I've found myself kind of obsessed with what a great reel it is. I got the handle from Alan and upgraded the drags to Ht-100s. I've also picked up another 50h just because it was on Craigslist. Now I'm looking at maybe getting a really nice looking 350h and putting the 50h gears in it... but I'm wondering if there is any discernible differences between a Daiwa Sealine 50h and a Sealine 350h? I've looked at the specs that was posted into a spreadsheet on here somewhere and it doesn't seem like there's that much of a difference between the two reels ( slightly lower gear ratio, slightly larger capacity, slight increase in weight) but it's hard to tell when I don't have it in my hands. So can anyone tell me that has first hand knowledge what the differences between these two reels are?

Thanks!
Jer

[Porthos]

The 50H has the profile of a Jigmaster. The 300H/350H frames are slightly beefier. The latter are also slightly taller, making them relatively more "square" in overall profile and handling.

The 50H, IMHO, is suitable up to a 50lb reel, as with the 300H. The 350H can bump up to as a "small" 60lb reel with its larger capacity (have a 400H covering as the "big" 60lb reel). 65lb braid main on the 50, 300, and 350.

I am a practitioner of "old school" fishing and prefer the 300 and 350 for long range duty even though 50lb is currently, IMHO, the entry point to consider switching over to 2-spds for 50lb+ duty.

YMMV...



50H upper left, silver 350H lower left, 300H upper right, silver 300H lower right. Camera angle makes the lower right 300H look wider than the 350H which is ~ 3/8" wider.

[jerconte]

thanks, that helps a lot. So the 350h, in your opinion, is bumped up to 60lb reel due solely to having a larger line capacity?

[Porthos]

Yes. The extra line will help if something bigger hooks up. No guarantees if the 18 lbs drag (+2 lbs from the rod) won't stop a YT from rocking you or a BFT from spooling you.

The 300H with a 50lb mono top shot and ~15 lbs drag from full top-of-spool was fished at Cedros (before the closure to LR boats) with a dropper loop. Went all the way to the bottom, and then 4-5 cranks up (~ 9.9'-12.5'). Hooked up and must have:

• been in a sandy area, or
• hooked to a "dumb" 25lb YT

...'cause I didn't get rocked being that close to the bottom. It did make runs away from the boat in multiple directions...far enough to get to bottom had it gone straight down, but it apparently didn't because it came over the rail 15 mins later.

YMMV.

[Bryan Young]

Jer,

Porthos knows those reels and how they are fished.  He is a madman with those reels.  I've switch to my nice 2-speed for 40# and up.