Question? Tallica *II, Avet SX Raptor, or Daiwa Saltist LD30

JSR · Nov-01-2009, 04:07 PM

screw em both
one vote here for the ld out of that crowd

Steve K · Nov-03-2009, 08:10 AM

And a more affordable one. I already have a Tyrnos12II, loaded with nearly 300 yards of 60 lb JB Hollow. I fish this one with 25' pre-made fluoro wind-ons. Freespool is great and it casts nicely. I used it on both the school sized Bluefin, (35 lbs) and the 50-55 lb Yellowfin at Lupe in August. Killed 'em quick.

Fishing the last trip was for the trophy sized Yellowfin at Alijos, and for me at this time of year, that's a 50 lb application. My go to 50 lb reel has been a TLD20II that I upgraded with a Topless Tiburon Frame and a T-Bar Lite handle. Not very good freespool with the stike drag set at 15 lbs for 50 lb. Anyway, I had a guide go wrong at the tip of my 50 lb rod and decided to try 50 lb on the Tyrnos. I got great freespool with the drag at 15 at strike. Only problem was on the long soak, if you get picked up by a bigger fish, like 100+ lbs, you're going to need line capacity for the long run.

Just ordered a Tyrnos16II that I'll fill with 80 lb JB Hollow and use for fishing the short 50 lb fluoro wind-ons. Got a great deal on the reel on eBay, $75 off list, no tax and free shipping. It's not as pretty as a Talica, but at about half the cost, not a bad way to go. I won't have a chance to use it until June, but I'll get back to you with a report.

For what it's worth, here's a shot of Larry on the August 4 day on Searcher, doing his damage on the Yellowfin with a Daiwa Saltist LD 20. He did very well.

Old&In The Way · Nov-03-2009, 12:10 PM

Easy choice, the Raptor is better in every way, stronger, lighter, higher quality, etc.

djd35de · Nov-03-2009, 02:10 PM

I think its a bit early to tell the better reel.
Everybody has a favorite but iam going to get a Talica 10 sometime soon i hope. I'll report back when i do. The one thing i do like about the Shimano is the cranking power. I feel the Avets that i owned lacked there.
Also tuff to cast lite weight as the spool has a lot of mass. Not hating on Avet as i still have one. But for 2 sp reels i was'nt that impressed. Hence the sale of a MXJ 2sp and MXL 2sp.

bass_blaster · Nov-03-2009, 02:37 PM

For those of you that do have a Raptor, or any of the small two-speeds for that matter, what is generally the best way to rig them with line then?

It seems as if the Raptor has plenty of drag for 40lb line but might be a little on the small side as far as torque goes. If I we're to do 40 lb on it I would probably fish it full of 65lb braid and just do a 40 lb leader. If I end up wanting 30 lb line on it, I might move to 50 lb braid with a longer top shot of 30 lb.

KeyWest1 · Nov-03-2009, 02:56 PM

I have 2 Raptors both are spooled differently.
One has straight 30lb mono, the other has a short mono backing then spooled with 65lb braid and a short mono leader.

bass_blaster · Nov-03-2009, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KeyWest1

I have 2 Raptors both are spooled differently.
One has straight 30lb mono, the other has a short mono backing then spooled with 65lb braid and a short mono leader.

Why do you have the 2nd one spooled with Mono, then Braid, and then Mono again? What is the purpose of the Mono on the bottom? Thanks for the info.

KeyWest1 · Nov-03-2009, 03:44 PM

I use the mono as a backing to prevent the braid from slipping on the spool.
Some use tape I use mono.

HTA · Nov-03-2009, 05:38 PM

Have 2 Raptors and the first is set up with 50lb spectra and room for a 100ft topshot of mono while the other is all 50lb spectra and a short 4-5 foot fluoro topshot. Even with the higher drag capacity 50 lb spectra will land pretty much anything upwards of 100 lbs. Using 65 lb spectra takes away from the line capacity in my opinion. and I would rather have the capacity that closely fits within the reels actual limits. A 1 piece solid aluminum frame and sideplates is far more superior than a precast machined framed reel. Avet has some great customer service and the maintenance on the reels is very simple, Where as Shimano also has great customer service, but every time I take one of their reels apart I cringe from so many parts and the high maintenace I had to put in to keep then in tip top shape. I have an LX 6/3 that is 6 years old and with basic maintenance still works flawleeely and have yet to make a single repair on the reel. I average 75+ days a year on the water between sport and private boaters working the piss out of the reels, so I know they hold up well and will continue in the future.

Steve K · Nov-03-2009, 07:49 PM

Dave Hensley was fishing with us on the Shogun 8 day in October. Tangles on the long soak were nauseating, and Dave got in a couple of them and lost some of his spectra. I had a reel that was topped with 30 lb and we stripped that off to splice on some 65 lb Power Pro from my reel onto his. Twice! He had just bought the reel and wanted to catch a big fish on it. He finally hooked one, and he landed it. His comment was, "This is not a big fish reel." He then put it away for the remainder of our time at Alijos and fished more suitable reels with better line capacity and better cranking power.

The reel might be OK for fishing full of 50 lb spectra topped with a short 40 lb topshot of mono or fluoro for that touchy bite on the long soak at Lupe. But it just did not seem to have the balls that Dave wanted.

Avet should be coming out with more Raptor Models, and perhaps they will be better at handling larger fish. I found it curious that they chose to introduce the Raptor series using the SX as their first model. I think they would have been better off using the JX 6/3 and the LX 6/3 for their launch.

bass_blaster · Nov-04-2009, 10:40 AM

Seeing what you guys are saying I think I'll just fill the reel up with 50lb spectra, and then use whatever short fluoro top shot I want to. Most likely I'll use 40 lb, but i will also have the option of going to 30 lb if I want to. If I get out of work on time I'll be going to squidco today to order the Raptor. I don't think they stock it in purple so I'll post up some pics once it comes in next week maybe.

And also, while I want this reel to be capable of landing larger fish, 90% of my time on the ocean is in a 17' CC going out of S.D. We have about 120 mile range so there aren't many opportunities to catch the big 100+ lb tuna. This reel will see most of it's use fishing for yellowtail, WSB, dorado, and the school-sized tuna that we normally see around here. I also want to take it on a 4 or 5 day next year but I also have some bigger gear if I'm going to knowingly get into the larger fish.

Knowing that it can catch a 100lb tuna, even if it isn't perfect for it, is plenty for me. I'll be happy as shit when I hook up something like that no matter which one of my reels it's on.

afraser · Nov-05-2009, 01:11 AM

For smaller fish, say school sized tuna up to 35-40#, I'd say you probably don't need a 2 speed reel. So if you are only putting on 30# test, save some money and get a single speed reel. Personally, I go with at least 60# braid on both my single and 2 speeds (otherwise, I'd have like 900 yds of line on a reel).

I also wondered why the sx was the first reel raptorized. Seems like there are better options.