The Daiwa Coastal TW 80 is designed for inshore saltwater use. The sealed drag and reduced bearing count are supposed to make it less susceptible to water intrusion and bearing failure over time, and multiple drain ports should allow any water that does infiltrate the body to escape easier. Magnetic Cast control with 20 settings and the t-wing system allow for a wider (and lighter) range of baits to be casted with fewer backlashes and minimal resistance. 11lbs of max drag, and a extra long handle (for an 80 size bait caster) give this reel its cranking power. Overall, all the design features point to a reel made to cast a range of small-medium baits, in salty environments, to “smaller” fish. $249 from tacklewarehouse.com
Now to my review. I purchased this reel with one fish in mind: spotted bay bass. I fish spotties 100+ days per year, on my boat, in both San Diego and Mission bay, with the occasional jaunt elsewhere in Socal. In an effort to cover more water, and reduce casting fatigue, I recently upgraded my workhorse rod to a Phenix Black Diamond 906L (9’, fast action, custom wrapped, review to come soon!), and wanted a reel to match the improved performance. Having owned and fished several other Daiwas, I bought into this reel, as it seemed familiar and purpose designed for my typical load case: 1/4-1/2 oz lures, with low diameter braid, and 6lb leaders, for targets mostly under 5lbs in the salt. Typical bay-bassin’.
I purchased the 80HL model; Left handle, 7.1:1 ratio. The reel arrived and right away you can tell the form factor is smaller than my previous workhorse, the tatula ct. For sure easier to palm. the free spool and t-wing were smooth, and out of the box the drag was buttery, with a decent number of clicks (8-12) to start to get some solid drag. Spooled up with seaguar tactx 20lb braid, and a 6lb flouro leader. With the magnetic cast control off, the spool never had that forever spin. I did not do any pre-fishing maintenance (oiling, greasing, etc.). Now to the fishing!
The reel worked well out of the box. Casting 1/4 oz owner ultraheads with 3” AA curly tail shrimps (my go-to spotty bait), I was able to get 50+yard casts pretty easily, and the magnetic cast control compensated for the change in wind speed and direction well, although it was very hard to turn. The drag holds nice and tight for good hooksets, and is smooth, even when cranked up toward max. The extra long handle cranked up 1/4lb spotties through 5lb halibut with ease, and the drag adjustment is easy/reliable to access (you have to be able to drop it down 25% when a halibut gets to the boat and makes its final run, and an adjust of 4 clicks does it well; some reels require far to many turn to get an appreciable change, others a couple clicks, and you have no drag). The reel was fishing well, and always rinsed with freshwater.
3 months in: The reel is starting show wear, internally. I did the first service, (after 20-30ish sessions) because it sounded like it absolutely needed it. The main spool bearing was screaming like a banshee on casts, and the drag was loosing its smoothness on startup. No other problems were present. I did a 95% teardown of the reel (everything taken apart except for taking the bearings themselves apart) and found a few things:
the reel was not draining well. there was visible evidence where water was gathering and drying/oxidizing, both in the reel body on some components like the main gear, and in the left spool bearing cup.
the cast control wheel was still tight and no adjustment of the side plate screw would help
the reel was generally pretty dry of grease/oil
The reel was cleaned, all parts lubricated, the internal body and frame coated with a light sheen of cals grease, and the drag greased and re-assmebled. all bearings were drip lubricated until they ran clear with clenzoil. Back and ready for more fishing. The service helped and the bearings quieted down. everything was smooth (as it was before), and the start up drag back to normal. the reel was back to fishing well, and cast distance maintained. From this point on, the worm was oiled regularly, and the whole reel was always rinsed after each session, just as it was before.
11 months in, the reel is still fishing good/not great, and has landed 100’s of bass. the spool still does not like to spin forever (the bearings never quite feel broken in); I dont feel like it sacrifices casting distance, but if you turn the cast control off and just drop your bait, it feels like the bait should be falling faster. the ergonomics are great (palmability, drag adjustment, handle length), except for the cast control adjustment, the ridges need to be deeper if its going to be that hard to turn. I am less impressed with the draining. Final key points:
good ergonomics in an purpose designed reel for inshore fishing
great drag range and adjustability (having to service and grease a drag is part of maintenance, I can’t ding Daiwa for that)
just OK saltwater resilience despite being purpose designed for inshore fishing
While I am not going to sell the reel, I dont think I would buy another. I dont think the casting/fishing performance is $110 better than my tatula ct’s ($139 at tacklewarehouse.com), and it is clear it requires just as much maintenance to operate in saltwater as my tatula ct’s. Save your dollars for grease, and oil; youre going to need to buy them anyways!