Received my new (to me) Daiwa CA-80XS reel yesterday (thanks to @MN Fisher I bought a new (also to me) spool of Sufix Advanced co-poly mono on Friday. Spooled the line on 20 minutes ago. Spooled great- nice and even. Meticulously set the spool tension and the drag. Tied on a Whopper Plopper 90 and saw the pool in the backyard and figured “let’s give ‘er a few test casts!” First cast and 😱. Bird’s nest like a mofo. Spool tension. Check. Drag. Check. Brake. Che…brake? Oops! Forgot to set the brake and it was in free spool lol.

Took five minutes to get it out, but after reeling in the line and setting the brake, it casted great. Better at home than on the water.

I love my CA80!

It’s a very smooth and quiet reel. Very easy to palm (no Seinfeld man’s hands here lol). And looks good, too. I know the Fuego is supposed to be a better reel, and I guess time will tell, but initially I’d say very comparable.

@BrianMDTX Your Seinfeld comment made me laugh out loud as I can relate seeing as I have Fred Flinstone fingers according to my wife 🤣 As far as comparing to the Fuego I would say the Fuego has the upper hand in terms of the braking system.

I have to agree with Eric on brakes - the Fuego has the Magforce-Z while the CA-80 has the 'plain' Magforce.

To be honest, I don’t reset brakes all that much. I use my thumb more than the brake system. I set it about 1/2 and let it fly and it was good to go.

I will say the line laid on the spool absolutely perfect. So kudos to Daiwa, MN Fisher or both lol.

I put it on a Daiwa Aird-X MF, but now the BM is whispering that Kistler is just a 20 minute drive lol.

I've been there!! I was working on a reel one time and got it all cleaned up. Set the brake to zero to check free spin before spooling it up.

Got it all spooled up and threaded on a rod to go make a couple casts....

First cast... Oh Oh!! I had forgotten to set the brake. I do the same and typically start with about half brake and zero spool tension.

You know it's bad when you hear the backlash go "Pffffffttt!!! And feel it under your thumb. I immediately realized what I had done.

Don't remember if I was able to pick it out or had to result to scissors and starting over, but remember it being one of the worst I had experienced! 😜

52 minutes ago, FrnkNsteen said:

Pffffffttt!!! And feel it under your thumb

You feel that in your stomach….” Oh no” screams in our brain. ….. and why do we just stare at for about 5 seconds.

Anyway…. That’s a nice looking rig @BrianMDTX my father was a Daiwa fisherman. Been looking at some reels.

5 minutes? That's nothing. I spent about an hour one time.