The offshore reel news for 2026 is a bigger Stella, a cheaper Daiwa that won its category at ICAST, a Shimano trolling lure you can change the depth of without changing lures, and two live sonars from Garmin and Lowrance built for bass boats. What matters when you troll from a cruising catamaran is different from a sportfisher: you fish at sailing speed, the boat does not stop, and the fish comes up a sugar scoop, not over a gunwale with a fighting chair behind it. We run lines on passage and the yellowfin and crayfish on the adventures page are ours. We have not used any of the gear below.
Shimano Stella 25000 SW D
Shimano added a 25000 size to the Stella SW D spinning range in January 2026 and put an XG gear ratio into the 6000. The press release is thin on numbers. On sizes 14000 and up the XXTOUGH drag is paired with what Shimano calls HEATSINK drag, which it says reduces spool surface temperature by up to 30 per cent during a long fight. No test conditions are given for that figure. The gears are a new tooth design, the drive uses a low friction bushing, and X PROTECT and X SHIELD are the seals against salt. Shimano pitches the 25000 at tuna, giant trevally and deep jigging, alongside its Ocea Plugger BG rod.
What Shimano has not published for the 25000: maximum drag, line capacity, weight or gear ratio. On The Water's Shimano 2026 round-up puts the Stella SW D range at USD 1,049.99 to 1,549.99 and the Ocea Plugger BG A rods at USD 849.99 to 1,099.99, without saying which size costs what. Shimano's Australian pages blocked our checks, so there is no AUD price here. A Stella is a lot of reel to leave in a rod holder in salt spray for 1,100 miles, which is the question to ask before buying one for a cruising boat rather than a day boat.
Daiwa BG SW: the ICAST winner
The reel most cruisers will actually look at is the one that took the saltwater reel category at ICAST 2026, the US tackle trade show held 14 to 17 July in Orlando. Outdoor News' ICAST 2026 report has the show at more than 850 new product entries across 39 categories, judged by media and retail buyers. The BG has been the budget saltwater workhorse for years. The 2026 version, on ICAST's winner page for the Daiwa BG SW, gets an oversize PowerDrive gear and rotor, a gasket-sealed frame for heavy salt use, and a new egg-shaped power knob. The page gives no sizes, no drag figures and no price. The saltwater hard lure award went to the Shimano lure below.
Shimano Ledge Runner: a trolling lure that changes depth
This is the one piece of 2026 kit built for what a cruising cat does, which is drag something through the water for hours. The Ledge Runner is a deep diving trolling lure in 6.3 and 7.9 inch sizes that dive to 24 and 42 feet, with a spring loaded bill you adjust to change the running depth without swapping lures. A 3 mm solid plate body and a wing on the bill are there to keep it tracking straight at speed. USD 39.99 to 49.99. The depth figures are Shimano's and will be for a given line and speed we have not seen stated, so expect less at 8 knots of boat speed on a loaded line.
Live sonar: Garmin LiveScope 2 and Lowrance ActiveTarget 2 XL
Two live sonar launches made the ICAST and Miami awards this year, and neither is a cruising cat product. Garmin's LiveScope 2 release of 7 July 2026 lists the LVS44 at 25 per cent more range than LiveScope Plus, out to 250 feet, and the LVS42HD at 50 per cent more detail out to 125 feet, at USD 1,999.99 to 2,199.99. The transducers plug straight into a compatible Garmin display and ship with a trolling motor barrel mount. Marine Industry News on the ActiveTarget 2 XL has the Lowrance unit at a 180 degree field of view from one transducer, Forward, Down and Scout modes, USD 1,399 for the transducer upgrade, and a list of compatible displays that runs HDS PRO, HDS Live, HDS Carbon and Elite FS. It needs the existing ActiveTarget 2 module.
Where that leaves a sailing cat: Mā Tori runs Raymarine at the helm, as the Fusion 40 review sets out, the same problem we hit with Garmin's OnBoard tags in the safety kit post. Either sonar means a second brand of display and a transducer hung where a trolling motor would go, and at 7 knots on passage, watching a fish come up to a lure 40 metres astern on a screen is not something you can act on. Anchored off a reef with the dinghy, maybe. On passage, no.
What matters when you troll from a cat
You fish at sailing speed. A cruising cat on passage sits at 6 to 9 knots and nobody is slowing the boat down to suit a lure. So the lure has to swim clean at that speed, which is why skirted lures and deep diving plugs like the one above get a look and slow trolled softbaits do not. It is also why the drag matters more than the gear ratio. A strike at 8 knots of boat speed loads the drag before anyone has reached the rod, and a reel that cannot give line smoothly at that moment loses the fish or the lure. Shimano's heat claim is aimed at exactly that, and it is the one claim here we would want to see tested.
The boat does not stop. On a sportfisher the skipper backs down on the fish. On a cat under sail you ease the main, furl the headsail and let her slow to 3 or 4 knots, and that takes a minute with one person on the helm. Short-handed, the person on the rod is often the person who should be on the sheets, so sort out who does what before the line goes out.
Beam is your friend. Seven metres between the quarters means two lines can run far enough apart that they do not tangle on a gybe, with each lure outside its hull's wake rather than in the foam between them. Rod holders need to be through bolted with a backing plate; a rail bracket from a bay cruiser will not hold a 20 kg tuna loading up at 8 knots.
Landing it. The fish comes up the sugar scoop steps, which puts it at your feet rather than at waist height over a rail. A gaff, a short club, a bucket of seawater and something to kneel on. Bleed it in the bucket, not on the deck, because tuna blood on white gelcoat is an afternoon's job, and stow the gaff before the next squall.
Fish early on the trip south. Our Fiji to New Zealand passage guide says it plainly: fishing is excellent for the first half of the passage south and stops being the priority in the second, when the water cools and the weather gets your attention. Pull the lines in before the front, not in it.
Rules. New Zealand's recreational limits and sizes are set by area in MPI's recreational fishing rules, and Fiji and Tonga have their own, so ask when you clear in. Check the current official source before you keep anything inside a country's waters, because the limits change and the fines are real.
If you would rather stand a watch and a rod on that passage than read about it, we take crew on the Fiji to New Zealand passage.
What we don't know
- Drag, capacity and weight for the Stella 25000 SW D, and any Australian or New Zealand price. Shimano has not published them and its regional pages blocked our checks.
- Sizes, drag and price for the 2026 Daiwa BG SW. Not on the ICAST page.
- What line and speed the Ledge Runner's 24 and 42 foot dive depths are rated at.
- How any of it holds up after a season in salt on a cruising boat. Every figure here is a maker's claim or a show award.
Prices and specifications change, and we have quoted them in USD with the source and date. Check the maker's page and the fishing rules for the waters you are in before you rely on anything here.
Questions people ask about offshore reels and trolling from a cat
What is new in the Shimano Stella SW D for 2026?
A 25000 size at the top of the range and an XG gear ratio in the 6000. Sizes 14000 and up pair XXTOUGH drag with HEATSINK drag, which Shimano says cuts spool surface temperature by up to 30 per cent on a long fight. US pricing across the range is USD 1,049.99 to 1,549.99. Shimano has not published drag, capacity or weight for the 25000.
Is the Daiwa BG SW worth a look for offshore trolling?
The 2026 BG SW won the saltwater reel category at ICAST 2026. Daiwa's entry lists an oversize PowerDrive gear and rotor, a gasket-sealed frame and a bigger power knob. The winners' page gives no sizes, drag figures or price, and we have not fished one, so treat it as the budget reel to look at rather than a verdict.
Can you run Garmin LiveScope or Lowrance ActiveTarget on a sailing catamaran?
Only with the right display. LiveScope 2 plugs straight into a compatible Garmin multifunction display, and ActiveTarget 2 XL needs the ActiveTarget 2 module and a Lowrance HDS or Elite FS. Both are built around trolling motor mounts on bass and sportfishing boats. On a cruising cat trolling at 7 knots on passage neither tells you much you can act on, so we would not fit one.
How fast do you troll from a cruising catamaran?
At whatever speed the boat is sailing, which on a cruising cat on passage is usually 6 to 9 knots. You do not slow down to fish. That rules out lures that only swim at slow trolling speeds, and it is why a reel's drag matters more than its gear ratio: a strike at 8 knots of boat speed loads the drag before you have touched the rod.
Keep reading: the other kit we would put on a cruising cat this year is in the Southampton 2026 gear post, the safety side of a night watch with lines out is in the whale strike post, and the boat the lines go out from is our bluewater catamaran for sale.