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The Daiwa Millionaire Tournament 7HT |
The
Daiwa Millionaire Tournament 7HT was, and still is, used by a small
select group of South Island salmon anglers to cast the long distances
required for surf fishing.
The
Daiwa 7HT is designed solely for out and out distance casting. To that
end Daiwa has done away with the level wind mechanism, which reduces
casting performance, so you have to lay line evenly across the spool
with your hand. This isn't as difficult as it sounds. You just move
your thumb, on your hand holding the rod, slowly back and forth as you
wind the handle. With a little practice you don't even think about it.
The
Daiwa 7HT was designed as a greyhound. It was built for speed and
distance. To that end a clicker has no place so Daiwa did away with it!
The Daiwa Millionaire was a hot
seller in the United Kingdom during the 1990s, where it was used both
for surfcasting and dry-land distance casting competitions. It was
developed specifically for such events by Daiwa and casting expert Paul
Kerry. It became even more popular when a bloke named Neil Mackellow
became world champion using a Daiwa 7HT.
The
7HT has some interesting features. These include: a titanium main
shaft, solid one-piece duralium frame ( three times stronger than
standard aluminum), duralium spool, changeable brake collars, and three
stainless steel ball bearings.
The spool sits very low in the frame so you can get a good grip of the rod during the cast.
There
are several variants of the 7HT. The original had a gear ratio of 5.2:1
while a later model increased this to 6.1:1. There is also a much later
variant the Daiwa Millionaire 7HT Turbo. This modern version features
five ball bearings, and a new “floating” spool design.
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The Daiwa Millionaire Tournament 7HT Turbo |
The
Daiwa 7HT holds around 340 m of 15 lb monofilament. For surfcasting,
and tournament distance casting, a heavier leader of 40 pound or even
60 pound mono is generally used to avoid bust-offs! The centrifugal
brake system can be “tuned” for best performance.
Some
anglers don't like the small paddle handles that come with the 7HT but
these are good for salmon angling where a high-speed retrieve is
unnecessary or even a disadvantage.
All in all a true classic of design excellence. A reel that would take pride of place in any salmon anglers' tackle box.
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