It came as a very pleasant surprise when Leeda allowed me to preview their Salt reel last year. This year the Salt is in production. It is still white, still machined from barstock aluminium, still fitted with plastic interchangeable cassette spools, still has a captive nut attaching spool to body, and still has a small plastic drag-knob. Gone, however, is the small, plastic-housed drag. This has now been replaced by a sleek, sealed blue-anodised unit at the heart of the Salt. The only other noticeable change is a larger, more finger friendly handle – it is now shaped and rubberised.

Take a step back. Wychwood’s design team had to work through the purpose of this reel. For example, they looked at how fast a reel turns when playing a saltwater fish, what amount of drag will be applied and what effect will friction and speed have. The product designer eventually decided on carbon-fibre drag-washers. These have no danger of melting because they’re housed in a sealed aluminium case, which should absorb some of the heat and radiate away, and the surfaces are secure from contamination.

The drag does indeed seem rather smooth, and the range seems fair to me. As I type this, I have in front of me, the larger 8TEN model, a size I would use for larger bonefish – maybe edging into baby-tarpon country – and I can set a drag which suits me for those fish. For larger tarpon I doubt I would use a cassette reel, and it seems to me this drag can’t be cranked up tight enough for those giants anyway.

Wychwood’s sales-speak talks about the white finish keeping the Salt cooler in tropical sunlight – possibly, fractionally. To my eye, in a crowd of black, silver and gold reels the Salt simply (and refreshingly) stands out because it’s white. I see no reason why much of our fishing tackle should be dour and conservative and if fish can see my reel then, well, I’m too close.

The smaller 6EIGHT model handles a WF8 and 100 yards of 20lb backing. The 8TEN model holds up to WF10 line with 250 yards of 30lb backing – easily enough capacity for light tropical saltwater fishing and enough for heavy fresh-water use. That capacity is for conventional lines, the 8TEN could easily suit one of the current generation of short double-handed rods or Switch rods, but I would want to fit the line I intended to use and check the backing capacity.

As saltwater-proof reels go, at 7.7oz and 8.8oz these are not heavy and these are large arbour cassette reels – exceptionally light LA saltwater-ready cassette reels. However, unlike the heavy reels I have used when saltwater fishing, I see no reason why Salt reels should be confined to saltwater. Nicely put together large arbour reels, of reasonable weight, with a good drag and the convenience of cassette spools – why not get as much service from them as possible?

Salt reels come in a fitted case with two spare cassette spools.