Defective Saragosa 4000

White Knight

Senior Member
I was recently very disappointed after purchasing a shimano saragosa 4000 reel after taking it on its first trip off the point to look for some yellow tail. I found some fish in front of bellows and cast a small snake into some fish on the surface. A beautiful tail smashed me hard and ran, the drag seemed to be running off smoothly then all of a sudden the rod jerked and the braid snapped. On inspection the drag was self tightening as the fish peeled off the braid, untill it obviously reached max and the big fish just snapped the line. After testing it you can actually see the drag slipping and tightening up as you pull line off against the drag.

A friend of mine has had exactly the same problem with his saragosa 4000. Does anyone out there had a similar experience? They are expensive reels and shimano usually produce quality products. I spoke to a guy at tuckers tackle shop and he said he had heard that a lot of shimano products were being made in china so the quality control has dropped?
 

Dingleberry

Senior Member
I have seen 2 Saragosa's recently doing the same. What the issue is, I don't know but I reckon it shouldn't be too difficult to remedy. I will try and find out if the bloke came right and let you know what was up.
 

Seeker1

Senior Member
For the last year or so I have been using a Stradic 6000 for yellowtail, and out of the box the drag was not very smooth.

This was not to much of a problem, as I fish with 50lb braid and a 60lb mono leader,and fish with a fairly tight drag, and pull the fish hard, so they seldom run more than 5m at a time, this is done to prevent the tail cuting me off on the reefs.

Anyway after a couple of months of this abuse the drag seized-up, on stipping the drag I found that everything was covered with black layer of dust/grime, and the drag washers where sticking together,it took half an hour of scrubbing with a tooth brush to remove this grime layer from the spool and the washers.

Before re-assembly, I put a small amount of graphite on the washers, the result was a much smoother drag than the reel had out of the box.

It would seem that the washers fitted to the Stradic are not of the best quality, the dust/grime build up comes from the washers, and it may be be a good idea to look for better quality replacements.

I've had to strip and clean the drag twice more.

I'm not sure where the Saragosa fits in the Shimano's line up of reels, but going by price it seems to be below the Sustain and about on par with the Stradic.

I also have a pair of 4000 Stradic's that I use mainly for leervis, and these drags are a lot smoother than the 6000, but then I dont work the smaller reels as hard.
 

White Knight

Senior Member
Appreciate the feedback. The shop has asked me to return the reel as I am not the first one to have problems with it. I paid over R2000 for that saragosa so it is meant to be high quality.

By the way Alan I have met you before. I am Steve, a friend of Alan Smart and have fished with him a few times on his Z-Craft, "Last Fling". We saw you out one afternoon off Buffels and he came over to say high. He has told me what a legend yellow tail fisherman you are, so appreciate the feedback from a pro!

By the way for your interest as I did not see you out on the water today, I was off the point today, water was 16-17deg, colour was not great. There were fish but they were not on the surface. Guys were getting them on bait. I know Rebel Rouser got 30 and I saw Tommy on Eureka pulling up quite a few just around the point close in before dias beach. Apparently yesterday they guys did very well at Rooikranz with at least 35 fish coming out.

Got my eye on Monday with the SW set to blow for the day. Cheers
 

Mombakkie

Senior Member
Did a bit of reading up on a number of international forums and it seems their is a "drag" issue with the saragosas. Said to be a faulty design on the drag knob itelf. A bit about the dartanium versus carbontex washers as well.
A number of posts mentioning drags tightening up on fast fish. Not just on the 4000 but all the saragosa models.

Evidently first release reels were recalled and the problem has been attended to by Shimano.
 

Echo7

Senior Member
Guys please get more info as to the cause of the failure if possible. I'm sure it would help other Saragosa owners in case they experience the same thing. Touch wood nothing happened to mine yet!!
 

Echo7

Senior Member
Why are you on the net? shoudnt you be driving to me to collect something? If you not here buy 2mrw I'll be selling pieces of it as dental floss!
 

Striker1

New member
As this is a very old post from 2009,has there been any out come to this problem. As i just got myself a Gosa 20 000 and its doing the exact thing.As the braid is peeling off the drag knob turns and the drag gets thight.
Thanks.
 
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