Okay, so a slight alteration to my post above re: the Daiwa Fuego baitcaster. Though Daiwa did talk about releasing a 5.8:1 version of this reel, it never happened. They stuck with the 6.3:1 gearing as their "power" version. I guess in these days of 8:1 and even 9:1 reels, 6:1 is considered "low and slow." Given the ginormous-sized gears in today's modern baitcasters, that 6.3:1 ratio would probably get the job done for us.
Most of us. Most "normal" of us. Not me though. I am old school and want the most torque available. So what I will do is to shop the heck out of the reel, irrespective of the original ratio, and then order a set of the 5.8:1 brass Tatula CT 100P gears - available from Daiwa or, I would think, thetackletrap.com. The parts needed would be main gear: H99-2301 and pinion gear: H99-2201. They are a direct "drop-in" swap. Nothing fancy going on there at all.
Daiwa is pretty fair with their part prices, so I'm thinking the gears would run around $25 or so. So its still do-able at under $100 for a quality reel that will be banging fluke for you for the next 10 years, at least.
BTW, anyone that likes to tinker around with baitcasters should visit the Tackle Trap website, as they carry all sorts of reel upgrades, larger handles, different drag stars, and various other goodies that a reel ho would like.
I'll tell ya what, anyone that wants to make this happen, but is a little intimidated by the procedure - get the reel and the gears and I'll do the swaperoo for you - and give the reel a proper lube job for the SW fishing we do. Offer only open to members of this site, of course! :cool: