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The Sahara 750FB, a quality pint sized spinning reel for
under 60 dollars (continued)
 Casting:
Fishing in the Eastern Sierras
is just phenomenal. There are times when you can lose count of how many fish you
catch, and without knowing it you can easily find yourself immersed in the
beautiful scenery. The last thing you want to worry about once your up there is
having a reel fail on you. Some anglers don’t believe in spending a lot of money
for a premium ultralight reel, after all you are not fishing Tuna on these
outfits, how often do they fail? Others feel that stalking trout in the rivers
is just about the most refined fishing you can partake in, and wouldn’t think
about going out armed with anything less than a premium reel sporting a double
digit bearing count.
JIP field testing the Sahara right
outside Eastern Yosemite
The Sahara rests in the lower
middle section of that spectrum. It isn’t the cheapest reel, and it certainly
isn’t priced like a premium offering, but it does offer plenty of the same
performance found in it’s more cultured siblings. Casting however is one area
where the Sahara is just as good as reels costing over twice as much. With
Kastmasters tied on this reel casts very well, and for the applications this
reel is intended for anglers will not be disappointed. With a combination of
slower than normal oscillation and an oversized roller line is wrapped evenly to
reduce line twist. The reduction of line twists not only makes it easier to
manage your line while fishing, it increases overall casting distance. This reel
casts so well I cast completely over streams entirely when I wasn’t careful in
the backcountry. The inclusion of a spare aluminum spool was very useful for me
out in the wilderness, enabling me to spec down to 2lb test when total stealth
was necessary.
The free switch is located directly behind
the rotor under the reel, this makes it easy to engage in between casts
Retrieving: It
took a little while for me to really get a feel for the Sahara’s retrieve. It
isn’t silky smooth like a Sustain, but it isn’t rough either. I could feel some
resistance in the retrieve but it is so slight that it actually feels like the
gearing feedback is being translated through the handle. When I compared it to
the Sedona I could definitely feel less friction in the Sahara. Spool wobble is
definitely a bigger concern with larger reels, but suffice to say, the 750FB was
perfect. Part of this is because of Shimano’s “Dyna Balance” engineering, but
the other part is that the 750 size is the only Sahara that
features “slow oscillation,” to lay line in a uniform
parallel pattern so it more easily spools off during outcast.
The oversized Power Roller II is a
nice addition to this tiny reel
In rivers much more
than lakes the trout would snap up our Kastmasters and Panther Martin spinners
no more than a second after splashdown. In an effort to preserve fish we pressed
all our barbs, but this meant we needed a decent hookset at times. With the
Sahara obtaining positive hooksets was easy thanks to the implementation of
Shimano “Super Stopper” which eliminated just about all backplay in the handle.
Once a fish was on I noticed how powerful this little reel was. With a
relatively slow retrieve ratio of 4.7:1 I found plenty of muscle in a reel of
this size.
The Sahara comes with 2 cold forged aluminum
spools, which really came in handy in the Sierras
The handle shank is ported to reduce weight
as well. The knob is ergonomically shaped, but it isn't Septon
Testing alongside our new friends
at a sweet honey hole
Drag: In our lab we were able to get
6.7lbs of drag pressure out of our test reel; this is quite close to the
published spec of 7.0lbs. This is also more then enough drag pressure for any
trout short of a steelhead, panfish, and even some bass fishing. In our tests
the drag was smooth and can be adjusted in reasonably fine increments. No
complaints here.
Next Section: Moving
on to Ergonomics and
Ratings
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