| Saltist vs Torium Field Test
"The Saltist versus The Torium........at Colonett"
I thought I would post this up for info purposes
Just got back from a 1.5 day on the Indian and wanted to report back on my field test between the "New" Daiwa Saltist and the Shimano Torium. I spooled the Saltist 40 and Torium 30 (Both New) with 30# Magnaflex and fished them both on Seeker G970 rods. I DID NOT do anything to the bearings on either one of these reels so that they were as stock as stock could be. Normally I degrease the bearings on my reels and then add my special blend to make this bad boys spin for a day but both of these reels come from the box ready to go. The Saltist 40 and the Torium are almost the same as far as size and line capacity goes and the gear ratio is a bit higher with the Torium at 6.2:1 versus the Saltist at 4.9:1. I Set the drags to 8lbs per reel and had plenty of room to spare.
We had made the decision to run inside to Colonett because the offshore was looking so bad and we figured some Salmon Grouper, Reds and Lings would make people happy and then look for some of those Colonett Yellowtail.
Dropped the first line at about 9am after running all night, had the Saltist up first. Ran just a single dropper loop with a 16 0z. weight and a huge 7 inch Sardine to the bottom.......50 to 60 fathoms and the Saltist spun like a top going down......very smooth.
Hit the bottom and bounced it a few times and ...."Hello", fish on. I just started to crank as fast as I could and up comes a very nice Salmon Grouper in the 7-9 lb range. Dropped again and hooked up with a nice Red. The Saltist was so smooth and it had some umph to it. I think the 4.9:1 had something to do with that.
Next up was the Torium......made a drop and again.....Salmon Grouper, but this guy runs bigger and puts a nice bend on the rod and is a bit more active. The Torium doesn't skip a beat and the 6.2:1 made the 300 plus ft of line magically reappear on my reel.
I drop again with a mackeral on and now we have something going on.......a Big Ling and it is taking some line.......no problem. The Torium just ate him up and he is on the deck. Grabbed the saltist again and dropped another Mackeral and .....another Ling. The thing I like about the Saltist was the torque.....this reel has some shoulders to it and the retreive is almost as fast. The reel had nice balance to it.
I continued to alternate between the Torium and the Saltist the rest of the day. We went outside paddy hopping and I got a chance to throw some good sized sardines.........I give the edge to the Saltist by the narrowest of margins on the flyline. I wish we would have seen a few more kelps so I could throw some iron but no luck. I should have just hooked some up and tossed a few in the bay when we got back but I was bushed.
All in All........these reels are keepers for sure. The handle on the Saltist is the same shape as the Saltiga but it is made out of a different material (plastic) and it feels that way. The Torium has a much nicer handle and it gives it that finished feeling. The Saltist has a better torque but gives up a little in line retrieve. I checked the drag when I got home and both of the reels held at 8 pounds.....no drag creep to speak of. The Torium is just a solid reel that plays stronger than the 6.2:1 should allow. I took both of the reels apart and there was nothing to indicate any problem so I degreased them both, put a new blend back in and now they are ready for their next adventure.
I know that I am going to take them both on a 5 day in June on the American Angler so hopefully they will get the chance to either beat up on some tuna or get beat up BY some tuna......regardless of how it goes, I think that both of these reels are going to stay in my collection.
Take the time to really check both of these reels out and then just pick one.....you won't go wrong with either one but we already knew that
Next field test........the Saltiga versus the Trinidad
Jim
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