Daiwa Legalis Review

This is a review of the Daiwa Legalis. We applied a series of tests to this reel while fishing on the Cornish coast. Of all the reels we’ve used, this is one of ones that has stayed with me for its luxurious feel, silky smooth retrieve and lightness when paired with a light modern lure rod. We usually sell the reels we buy after we’ve tested them, but Will is keeping this one for himself…

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Daiwa Legalis Size Guide

We used the Daiwa Legalis 4000 with a 9ft Major Craft Ceana. This is a Japanese lure rod and has a lightweight build despite being 9ft. This balanced perfectly, as if they were made to be used together.

The Legalis 2500 and 3000 size would balance well on light rods around 7-8ft. The 3000 will just give you a bigger spool and a couple of extra inches of line retrieve per turn of the handle. The 2500D-XH however offers a bit of extra retrieve without adding any extra size. If you’re looking at the 2500 size, you’ll be wanting an ultra light rod to pair with it – something casting less than 25g as an upper limit. The 1000 size is an LRF or micro perch or trout fishing reel for a rod casting under 15g as a maximum.

Look how small the 4000 is in Will’s hand here… The 4000 will be the most useful size for the majority of people. It’s similar to the Penn Pursuit in the 3000 size, if that reference point is of any use.

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Perfect line lay out the box

Unlike some reels from Penn such as the Penn Pursuit and the Penn Spinfisher, this reel had perfect line lay immediately. This means that the line sits flat in the spool and doesn’t wind back on itself. This means you’re much less likely to get wind knots or tangles, and your casting distance will be increased as there is less friction as the line leaves the spool.

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Super lightweight, balancing beautifully with lighter rods

You could pair the 4000 size with a range of lure rods on the market, but you’ll want to make sure it’s nothing too clunky. For instance, the Penn Squadron series has rods with relatively thick blanks compared to other lure rods. I wouldn’t reach for the Legalis first on that rod, due to its supreme lightness.

The build quality is stunning

The reel has a carbon-based composite frame, with an aluminium handle, aluminium spool and additional metal plating in multiple places. The metal has a different feel to that of the Penn Spinfisher, in that it’s not so thick and heavy feeling. This reel is more sleek and refined. Despite being so light, the reel has a solid feeling. We found there was very low flex in the handle and low flex in the spool, too.

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One turn of the handle on the 400 size retrieves 32.5” inches of line

The 4000 size spool holds 256m of 20lb breaking strain J-Braid

That’s a lot of line – one of the features of this reel is a larger than usual spool. The line capacity is impressive for its size. This is an advantage if you’re off on a trip and don’t bring spare line with you, as it means lost line from a wind knot or line damage isn’t going to end the trip.

The max drag in the 4000 size is 12kg apparently…

The max drag on this reel sounds pretty crazy, so we’re going to test this to double check once the instrument arrives. That’s way more than I’d expect from a reel of this size and is of course far more than we’ll ever need when sea fishing in the UK.

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