NZ Fishing World

Tica Talisman - Drag King

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After months of testing by some of New Zealand's most committed fishermen, Tica have released the Talisman, a heavy duty reel designed to deal with some of the toughest pelagic around.

Tica claim that this very solid reel is capable of putting out a shade over 30kg of drag, a mammoth amount in anyone's book for a spinning reel. This makes it an ideal candidate for targeting big kingfish or tuna and giant trevally up in the tropics. The Talisman is available in two speeds; 4.3:1 or 5.2:1 so covers the needs of both jiggers and topwater fishermen.

This reel is made virtually entirely out of stainless steel and as a result is reasonably heavy. But it is this weight and the drag rating that gives you a genuine feeling of confidence. This is not a reel for the faint-hearted, especially with the drag cranked up and an angry kingfish on the other end of the line, as I found out while testing it near Whakatane one afternoon recently.

I had the Talisman spooled with 50lb braid and attached to a Synit Venom 450g jigging rod, a very impressive and hearty piece of equipment in itself. These two together are a formidable combination and I had no doubts that if something big was to grab my jig, I would have a pretty good chance of landing it.

So with the drag cranked up, I dropped the 300g Kilwell Broken Arrow jig over the side of the boat and watched it dart its way down to the depths. When the jig reached about 50m below the surface, where I had been instructed there were some fish seen on the sounder, I flipped the bail arm over and began the jigging session. The whole set jigged reasonably well but was slightly clunky at times and because of the weight of the reel, really takes its toll on your arms after a while. It wasn't until a fish struck that I was able to understand just what this reel was capable of.

On about the fourth or fifth drop my jig was hit pretty hard by something and I was on. With the rod bent I was able to stop the fish dead in its tracks. The drag on the reel was relentless, evil almost! The poor fish didn't stand a chance and I soon had a 16kg kingy floundering around on the surface. Wow! I was impressed at the power of this thing. It is clearly more than capable of dealing to fish much, much bigger than this one. But it had proven itself to me, this is a serious reel.

I also got an opportunity to test out its casting performance over in Vanuatu a little while later and, while we didn't have any luck on the giant trevally we were targeting that day, it cast the poppers and stick baits a long way and was comfortable to use.

Simply because of the amount of drag this reel puts out, I would recommend the Tica Talisman for anybody targeting big kingfish, giant trevally or other pelagics up in the tropics. It's probably a little heavy for comfortable inshore use, but definitely has a place in New Zealand's kingfish scene.

Name: Tica Talisman 8000

Speed: 4.3:1 or 5.2:1

Capacity: 200m/30lb braid

Ball Bearings: 14+1

Max Drag: 30kg +