The Saltiga Workhorse

By Mark Gercovich

It was a tough day to be at work. The sun was shining, there was little wind, and the temperature was climbing. If it wasn't bad enough that my son was sending me images of his successful day at sea, my focus was further diminished by seductive ads announcing that the new model Saltiga was on the way. Get me out of here! 

I noticed that, despite the presence of 2020 Saltigas and SW Certates on board, it was the Old 2010 Saltiga that was screaming in the short video I had been sent. Later that evening when cleaning up and discussing the session, we laughed about how the old Saltiga,” always seems to get bit," and how many big kings it’s knocked over in its lifetime. With the impending arrival of a 2025 model, it made me think of how old the reel was and how it was still performing well enough to get a run in the arsenal. 

My 2010 Saltiga has spent most of its life living in open boats in the Southern Ocean targeting kingfish and school tuna. It's been a tough life being subjected to salt spray and plenty of crashing and bashing. It's also been subjected to more stupid things like hooking big sharks off Queensland jetties, GT’s and even the sandy rigors of surf fishing. Multiple plane journeys coping with the Russian roulette of the baggage handling, and it still survives, with only two returns to the service centre. 

The 2010 does not usually make the team if the target is big tuna. However, one day though when Luke was out targeting school tuna with some mates, he messaged me to say they could see big fish jumping. I glanced at the 14K 2020 Saltigas all rigged nicely on the wall next to me at home and thought, “Of all the days not to take the heavy gear.” However, he did have the trusty old 2010 with him and, taking time to rerig and upgrade the leader, saw the boys knock over a 70kg fish. When targeting such brutes as kingfish and GT’s or big, unusual things that come along, it's always handy to be able to rely on the quality of a Saltiga. 

So, if you are agonizing over whether you need to bite the bullet and purchase one of those flash new Saltigas tempting you on your Instagram feed, do it! You know you are going to have a reliable, hardworking fishing partner for a long time. I know I do.