Daiwa Tierra Baitcaster Review

[Backwater Charlie]

Around, eh, 3 or 4 months ago I bought a slightly used Daiwa Tierra for $70. This is a 8/10 cosmetically and 10/10 mechanically. Let me start off with saying, this is my first Daiwa Baitcaster and that I'm not very experienced in their line of reels. I fished with it numerous times the first two or three months I had it, but never caught a Bass on it. Yeah, I was in a pretty bad slump. That, and the weather was horrid. Cold one day, hot the next. I have no idea how and what to fish when the weather gets bi-polar, but I still try to figure out some kind of pattern. I finally found out what you Daiwa guys call that "tight" feel in a Daiwa. Surely not butter smoothness (although it is very smooth), but more, eh, tight. If that makes any sense. At the moment, it's spooled with 12LB Berkley Big Game and fitted on a 6' M rod. I'm STILL in the hunt for a good "budget" rod for it but at the moment, I don't have much cash so I stick to this rod.

BUT, how does it cast lighter lures?
I'm no long-cast afficiondo, and most of the areas I fish aren't rather wide in length at all, but I can cast weightless lizards a fish-able distance, and I can SLING a 1/4oz Spinnerbait a mile. I wouldn't call this reel a light-weight specialist, but if you so happened needed to use some lighter stuff and didn't need to cast it a long-distance, it will work. The drag on the reel is only 8LB's (a disappointment) but my fishing is usually open water casting and it works great for my purposes. To test the drag, I went on a trip fro some Carp to see what it could handle. I only got into 3 or 4 that were around 4 or 5LBS, but I set the drag loose and played the fish all the way into the bank. Very fun.

My first bass I caught on it was just a few days ago, one of my first true fishing trips in a month or so. An 18-incher hit a Spinnerbait and the reel handled it well. I bulldogged the fish out of some weeds/trees, even though it was hard with the soft rod. Afterwards, I hooked up to a fish about the same size but lost him close to shore after a leap out of the water. I was heartbroken

My consensus? The Tierra is a great all-purpose reel with someone on a budget (like me ) and has influenced me to check out more Daiwa products in the future..