The Saragosa is built for heavy-duty saltwater use.
Offshore Spin: The Shimano Saragosa 1800 F
Some guys prefer spinning gear to conventional gear, and in many cases I’m one of them. But if you try to take pelagics on the spin, your gear has to be top notch. Enter the Saragosa, Shimano’s latest spinning model designed for offshore gamefish and speed jigging.The Saragosa is a heavy-duty spinner designed for the salt, and the 1800 is the king of this hill. Rated to hold 380 yards of 20-pound test monofilament, squeezing on 400 yards of 60-pound braid was no problem. Any you can crank down that drag to take the kind of pressure such heavy test deserves, too. Shimano claims the drag can be torqued all the way to 44 pounds of drag; our test reel was tuned to 20-pounds, and it was enough to nearly yank my arms out of their sockets. And although we didn’t hook any 100-pound monsters we did use this rig to reel 30-pound wreckfish up from the bottom in 600’ of water—a feat most spinners wouldn’t be able to accomplish. Of course, this reel isn’t designed to be a light-weight for light-weight duty; in fact, it weighs in at a whopping 28.4 ounces. That’s over three ounces more then the stand-by Penn 750 SS and over 12 ounces more then the high-tech (and excruciatingly high price) ZeeBaaS SX2.5.
The Saragosa’s anti-reverse is another feature worth mentioning. While fishing deep with heavy jigs, kick-back will ruin many reels. But the anti-reverse in this one is instant, so there’s no slamming of metal on metal as you jig. I also took note of the handle shank, which is machined aluminum. On many spinners this is one spot where the manufacturer tries to save money, and if you stress the shank from side to side, it’ll bend… until the day it breaks, of course. But this one’s sturdier than the norm and didn’t give one bit when I stressed it.
Speed-jiggers will like the 4.9:1 gear ratio, which allows you to rip in 41” of line with every revolution of the crank. They’ll also like the titanium-rimmed machined-aluminum spool and the Power Roller III line roller. Put these features together, and you have an offshore-capable reel you can cast and retrieve, without mass tangles. Do you like to use spinning gear whenever possible? If so, the Saragosa 1800 will let you do it for fish that used to require conventional gear—and we’re not giving you a bunch of… well… spin. Price: A hair over $300 The Highs: A spinner that can put out as much drag as a conventional 30-weight. The Lows: Some won’t like the elimination of an anti-reverse switch. Others, us included, think that’s a good thing. Who Wants It: Spinning gear fans who want to go after pelagics without switching into conventional mode. Contact: http://fish.shimano.com
Contact FishingGearGuru by e-mailing lr@geareduppublications.com. All rights reserved by Geared Up, LLC, 2009
