Here is another reason it is a big deal. When you slow troll a live sardine, without this feature, you stand there, sometimes for an hour or more, with the bail open, holding the line in your fingers, waiting for a pick-up as you want the fish to run with the bait a few seconds before you set the hook. WITH THIS system, you put the rod in the holder--huge difference. If the fish gets picked up, (don't know if it has a loud clicker or not--which is even better) the line tearing off the reel with minimal drag alerts you, so you pick it up and engage by turning the handle, the main pre-set drag. There are a few reels out there already that do this, the most well know and still the best as far as I know is the Shimano Baitrunner or top of the line "Thunnus". Daiwa makes a great product but would love to see a comparison with the top baitrunner reels from Shimano. One Thunnus reel I know of went overboard--down 100 feet, and it was hauled up by a jig--fished the rest of the day and that night, taken apart--not one drop of water inside. How is that for "sealed"?
Nice to have another option for a Japanese baitfeeder, aside from the Baitrunner & Thunnus. Would you guys say the Daiwa would be closest to the Baitrunner D, as far as overall performance & build quality?
Probably the closest match the Baitrunner in terms weight and price point (Thunnus with the Ci4 is a little lighter and about $100 more), but Daiwa has highlighted more features geared at surviving splashes and dunkings in the surf in the Free Swimmer. One of ours got an unintentional "shake 'n bake" treatment in the sand while packing out one night, and it recovered fine after a good rinse.
@on the water media what rods would you prefer for the two different reel sizes for the Daiwa free swimmer reel. What rods are you guys using in the video with the free swimmer reels? Just curious because I’m looking to buy a Daiwa free swimmer reel in the future. I was curious what would be a good rod to go with it ?
We had them both on Emblem Pro Rods. The 10000 Free Swimmer was on the 12' Daiwa Emblem Pro, the heaviest in that lineup. The 8000 was on the 10' 1-6. The 12' Emblem Pro is rated 1-8, but the sweet spot is more like 3-6. It had a moderate action and was light in hand, but had good backbone fighting the shark. It might be overmatched with really large sharks, but for a striper setup, and for most of the brown sharks you encounter, in situations where you wouldn't need more than 5-6 oz and bait, it's great. At $110, it's a mid-range rod for Daiwa. There's good matches for it in the St Croix Seage line also, with 3-8 and 6-16 ounce rods at $340 and $410 respectively. Lamiglas Carbon Surf another worthy "Price Point" option for soaking bait. If you wanted to go higher end, but stay in the Daiwa Family, their surfcasting "Flagship" Rod would be the Ballistic Surf, which has a "heaver" option, rated 5-16, is 13' and carries a price tag of $499. I don't have any experience with the current Ballistic Surf, but the older model I used once or twice a long time ago was relatively fast action, and with someone who knows the proper distance casting form (I don't!), will launch the bait a long way. Depending on how much you plan to fish, and if you'll be using it exclusively for bait fishing with weights under 6 ounces, you could be very happy with the Emblem Pro Surf. After using it this summer, I don't see a need to upgrade the rod for shark fishing here on the Cape and for striper fishing with clams, worms, chunks in moderate surf. Jimmy
Will be putting this to the test next season. Baitrunner d haven't failed us yet.
Here is another reason it is a big deal. When you slow troll a live sardine, without this feature, you stand there, sometimes for an hour or more, with the bail open, holding the line in your fingers, waiting for a pick-up as you want the fish to run with the bait a few seconds before you set the hook. WITH THIS system, you put the rod in the holder--huge difference. If the fish gets picked up, (don't know if it has a loud clicker or not--which is even better) the line tearing off the reel with minimal drag alerts you, so you pick it up and engage by turning the handle, the main pre-set drag. There are a few reels out there already that do this, the most well know and still the best as far as I know is the Shimano Baitrunner or top of the line "Thunnus". Daiwa makes a great product but would love to see a comparison with the top baitrunner reels from Shimano. One Thunnus reel I know of went overboard--down 100 feet, and it was hauled up by a jig--fished the rest of the day and that night, taken apart--not one drop of water inside. How is that for "sealed"?
Nice to have another option for a Japanese baitfeeder, aside from the Baitrunner & Thunnus. Would you guys say the Daiwa would be closest to the Baitrunner D, as far as overall performance & build quality?
Probably the closest match the Baitrunner in terms weight and price point (Thunnus with the Ci4 is a little lighter and about $100 more), but Daiwa has highlighted more features geared at surviving splashes and dunkings in the surf in the Free Swimmer.
One of ours got an unintentional "shake 'n bake" treatment in the sand while packing out one night, and it recovered fine after a good rinse.
Not japanese probably Malaysian or Thailand
@@OnTheWaterMedia not considering price what would be the better reel if you want to buy a one and done reel? FS or Thunnus?
How loud is the drag with line peeling off?
What is the retrieve rate, how much line does it retrieve to one turn of the handle ? Not having a longcast spool i'm guessing only
about 80-90cms
Is 22lbs of drag enough if I were to also use this for tuna off the boat?
@on the water media what rods would you prefer for the two different reel sizes for the Daiwa free swimmer reel.
What rods are you guys using in the video with the free swimmer reels?
Just curious because I’m looking to buy a Daiwa free swimmer reel in the future. I was curious what would be a good rod to go with it ?
We had them both on Emblem Pro Rods. The 10000 Free Swimmer was on the 12' Daiwa Emblem Pro, the heaviest in that lineup. The 8000 was on the 10' 1-6.
The 12' Emblem Pro is rated 1-8, but the sweet spot is more like 3-6. It had a moderate action and was light in hand, but had good backbone fighting the shark. It might be overmatched with really large sharks, but for a striper setup, and for most of the brown sharks you encounter, in situations where you wouldn't need more than 5-6 oz and bait, it's great. At $110, it's a mid-range rod for Daiwa.
There's good matches for it in the St Croix Seage line also, with 3-8 and 6-16 ounce rods at $340 and $410 respectively. Lamiglas Carbon Surf another worthy "Price Point" option for soaking bait.
If you wanted to go higher end, but stay in the Daiwa Family, their surfcasting "Flagship" Rod would be the Ballistic Surf, which has a "heaver" option, rated 5-16, is 13' and carries a price tag of $499. I don't have any experience with the current Ballistic Surf, but the older model I used once or twice a long time ago was relatively fast action, and with someone who knows the proper distance casting form (I don't!), will launch the bait a long way.
Depending on how much you plan to fish, and if you'll be using it exclusively for bait fishing with weights under 6 ounces, you could be very happy with the Emblem Pro Surf. After using it this summer, I don't see a need to upgrade the rod for shark fishing here on the Cape and for striper fishing with clams, worms, chunks in moderate surf.
Jimmy
What size is the reel compared to penn reel?
7500
Zinc gears??
Why not just set the fighting drag really loose?
So you don’t have to fiddle with the drag after the fish strikes. Just start reeling and you’re at your desired drag.
@mreli204 covered it. Leaves less margin for error when switching between bait drag and fighting drag.
No mq which is really dossapointing a bg has it but this doesn't? That's a big miss.
Tuna killers