According to the guys at Ollie Damon, the suitability of a light casting reel for salt water is inversely proportional to the number of ball bearings in the reel. Those bearings are very susceptible to salt water corrosion. The Penn reels have mainly bushings for that reason, the Calcuttas have 2 ball and 1 roller bearing. The more exotic freshwater baitcasters (including the Shimano Curados and Quantum PR600s) have even more bearings and should be avoided for salt water use (according to Ollie Damon again).