Stella Blowing Up

[Jigsrule]

Hi all

Was at the tackle warehouse last week enquiring about high end jigging reels.
Was advised to steer clear of the stellas after they witnessed them blow up on several of their jigging trips. They also added that they had saltigas on board which, not only did not blow up, but the fact that they've never heard of anything negative about them.

Does anyone have a stella that they use for heavy jigging chasing big fish and have experienced problems? Or maybe you've had a saltiga blow up while onto a trophy fish. I'm not starting another stella/saltiga debate. Just really want to know if anyone can confirm the above. Please share your experiences with us jigging fanatics.

Thanks in advance
Josh

[banshee]

I personaly use a Saltiga Z40 'Ishidae' overhead and find it better than anything Shimano has on offer for jigging.Having said that,my mate uses a Stella and has caught a shit load of seriola on it (in excess of twenty fish some outings),over a period of four years he has had a handle bearing failure (not corrosion) as the only mechanical problem.It does however suffer from chronic corrosion under the various plates that adourn the reel inspite of a warm water rinse after each use.
Daiwa have done/are presently doing some prety good deals with various tackle stores........this could be the basis for the catastropic failure rate of the Stellas.....if you get my drift.

[bluefin59]

I have a saltiga s-extreme 4500 and it has caught many good fish over the last 2 years and is as smooth as the day i bought it and my mates dog fight is still going strong after 4years of heavy fishing and no service ,so i would give them a big tick . But i was always under the belief that most of the boys like nomad and the likes all give the stella a better wrap but maybe i am wrong. I read recently that alan alanti did a pull down on the new saltiga spins and was a little disappointed in some of the things he found inside but still said they where a great reel . Hunt down his site and have a look at his report on them ,but i give the saltiga a big thumbs up but i am a daiwa fan myself so i am probably a little biased in that regard ,i am sure you will find good and bad in all of them it will come down to what is your preference but i have not heard of any amount of stellas blowing up .I take it you mean stripped gears and the like ,i think they are all made very sturdy these days ...Matt

[Jigsrule]

I have a saltiga s-extreme 4500 and it has caught many good fish over the last 2 years and is as smooth as the day i bought it and my mates dog fight is still going strong after 4years of heavy fishing and no service ,so i would give them a big tick . But i was always under the belief that most of the boys like nomad and the likes all give the stella a better wrap but maybe i am wrong. I read recently that alan alanti did a pull down on the new saltiga spins and was a little disappointed in some of the things he found inside but still said they where a great reel . Hunt down his site and have a look at his report on them ,but i give the saltiga a big thumbs up but i am a daiwa fan myself so i am probably a little biased in that regard ,i am sure you will find good and bad in all of them it will come down to what is your preference but i have not heard of any amount of stellas blowing up .I take it you mean stripped gears and the like ,i think they are all made very sturdy these days ...Matt

Hey Matt, yes I am talking about the stellas striped of their gears while fighting big fish under heavy load with repeated hard runs.

I'm leaning more towards a saltiga more than a stella now but after you mentioned Alans website, I will check it out before i commit to anything.
Josh

[Chamelion]

Was chatting to a tackle store owner (well known sunshine coast store) and he was saying the opposite.. Saltigas were blowing up, stellas were fine.

Heh...

[shanejohnson]

Obviously a daiwa fan . I wont swap my stellas for anything.

[maimai]

We run both Stellas and Saltigas, both outstanding reels, both have there problems, Stella with a weak shaft and Saltiga with poorish Drag spike ( new ones are far better)

Either way you go Josh, you wont go wrong, happy fishing

[sleepygreg]

Its the old Falcon v Commodore debate. Each has there own pros and cons, and each has there own diehard suporters who wont be swayed. My personal preference is the Saltiga, but I would be happy with the Stella. Daiwa gears seem a little stonger in that level reel, though Shimano drags probably edge them in that level reel. For the average jigging fisho...its probably six of one, half a dozen of the other. For hard arsed serious, day in day out brawling with BIG fish - then its hand bags at 10 paces.

[NAGG]

How many of us have questioned the viability of spin reels for jigging - Saltiga or Stella ..... whatever !
Does the design of a spin real really lend itself to the riggors of up and down fishing , locked heavy drags & big fish - obviously not .... and at any price.
Over the last few years I've heard of multiple high end jig spin reels of both brands giving up in catastrophic failures .
Technology & design it seems has still not got there ........... So stick with good quality overheads I reckon

[Jigsrule]

Hi Nagg

So what makes a good quality overhead reel for jigging? Will overheads with the levelwind feature do the job?

[Micadogs]

Hi Josh, I wouldn't use a level wind for jigging. Too much stress and chance of failure of the LW. Daiwa have a Saltist over especially for jigging. It has a retrieve speed of 7.1 and the 35 size has a narrow frame to aid stability. Accurate reels also have a narrow body reel for jigging and these come with dual drag systems.

The overhead type of reel can accommodate larger gears and larger drag surfaces, hence that is why some are saying they are better.

I use both Daiwa Saltiga's and Saltist in both overhead and spinning and also have Shimano Stella's in spinning. All great reels. I dont have an alligance to one brand or another, if i did then i would simply be missing some great features on great reels.

(I dont own an accruate yet, but might some day!)

Regards Adam

[reggy]

How many of us have questioned the viability of spin reels for jigging - Saltiga or Stella ..... whatever !
Does the design of a spin real really lend itself to the riggors of up and down fishing , locked heavy drags & big fish - obviously not .... and at any price.
Over the last few years I've heard of multiple high end jig spin reels of both brands giving up in catastrophic failures .
Technology & design it seems has still not got there ........... So stick with good quality overheads I reckon

Hi NAGG
Start up shock from a less than perfect, and very highly set drag that has caused bail arm and reel stem breakages in spin reels is their most common failure, (from what I have read)
An overhead reel does not have either of these 2 elements, (reel stem or bail arm), so evolution of the spin reel design still has a way to go yet, it seems, at least for such tasks as jigging. I think I just double quoted you.

[banshee]

Hi Nagg

So what makes a good quality overhead reel for jigging? Will overheads with the levelwind feature do the job?

My take for what it's worth is simplistic design with the main emphisis on build quality and premium materials used in the product.Unfortunately good quality jigging reels (spin or overhead) don't come cheap and while some mid range products give great service,if used regularly for jigging they tend to 'age' quickly and fail prematurely.
As for level winds,it's just something else to fail,not to mention the disaster that can happen if it inadvertantly gets out of sync.
Something to keep in mind if your planing on doing a lot of jigging is that all gear will fail at some stage and spin will cost a lot more to repair/rebuild than overhead.Spin is a little more convenient to use than an overhead due to the ergonomics of not having to lay line etc but is also prone to 'kissing' the gunwale in the heat of battle.It's an old adage but never more true when talking of jigging.....buy the best you can afford.

[banshee]

............ Daiwa have a Saltist over especially for jigging. It has a retrieve speed of 7.1..............

Probably the biggest misconception with regards to deep water jigging is that you need speed,my experience has been the faster the jig the smaller the fish.

[Smithy]

Nomad Sportfishing are all Stella. Saltigas don't cut it long term. I reckon that is saying something.

Also one of my regular jigging charter guys had a notchy Dogfight or Expedition there at one stage.