Saltiga C EXPEDITION

The travel entry in the Saltiga casting line. Every model is a three-piece that packs under 90 cm, short enough for airline baggage without a full-length rod tube, which is the point of the series: fly to a GT or tuna destination carrying a rod that still loads like a one-piece offshore blank. The fishing is boat-based casting at surface-feeding pelagics, throwing plugs of 130 to 200 g at giant trevally, hiramasa and tuna. American anglers do the same thing on offshore topwater trips for tuna, usually with heavier line-class gear than a bass or inshore rod can carry.

Five models run 7'7" to 8'2" (2.31 to 2.49 m) at 340 to 390 g, rated PE MAX 6 through PE MAX 10 with maximum drag from 12 to 16 kg. Those numbers are how the rod is specified: the digits before the hyphen give length in feet and inches, the digits after give the PE line class, so 82-6 is 8 feet 2 inches to PE 6 and 710-8 is 7 feet 10 inches to PE 8. Japanese offshore rods use that scheme in place of the American power scale, which is why no medium-heavy or extra-heavy label appears. Blanks are HVF Nanoplus at 98 to 99 percent carbon with X45 Full Shield and V-Joint Alpha ferrules. The ZERO Seat power-hold reel seat accepts several grip positions; an RV guide sits at the butt and stainless guides handle the rest.