Daiwa Luna 300

Ok, so my girlfriend bought me a Daiwa Luna 300 baitcaster for Christmas. Way to go babe! :)

Anyway, this is a great fishing reel. It is machined aluminum all around and solid as a rock. This fish-catching machine is very sturdy and all metal inside and out, but for the rubber handle knobs and plastic thumb-bar. The retrieve is silky smooth and powerful, and has a solid feel to it. Since in free-spool it disengages completely from the gear-train, it casts incredibly far, though you still need a trained thumb for casting because the Centriflex control's effectiveness is limited for lighter lures. The 10 disk drag is very powerful (rated at 15.4lbs), but more on that later.

So far the reel's been tested with many respectable pier-caught fish such as a big snook, and much worse, a stingray of about 50lbs. Believe me, nothing tests a fishing reel like a stingray! This reel is mounted on a Redbone offshore rod, and loaded with 30lb Suffix braid. The combo proved itself very capable of muscling these powerful fish away from the pier pilings with the Luna set at a near max drag. While many snook fisherman use a heavy 4/0 outfit on piers, this light, powerful combo is such a pleasure to use and gets the job done at a fraction of the weight.

On the negative side, perhaps the worst weakness with the Luna 300 though, is its stock drag. While it no doubt generates the 15.4lbs that Daiwa claims, out of the box it was not smooth. The composite fiber disks needed a thorough cleaning and need to be kept that way in order to stay smooth. However, you can always replace them with a set of Smoothies Carbontex, which cost $15 a set for this reel, along with some Shimano or Cal's drag grease. The upgraded drag will be smooth and powerful and will make this already great reel, simply awesome. The Daiwa Luna 300 is currently the top pic of my favorite fishing reels. Tight lines!
This was a review of the Daiwa Luna 300 fishing reel.