Delaware Valley Tackle

The drag dial may be sold only as an assembly. You may be able to service the bearing in place. If you don't have a schematic for this reel abandon ship until you lay your hands on one. Neither heat nor excessive force should ever be needed to disassemble a reel.

There's nothing special about the Ardent products. If running a greased drag you need specific drag grease (Cal's, Shimano...) which can serve on gears as well. If not, a marine grease will lubricate, resist emulsification (water contamination) and fight corrosion. Perfect Solution cleaner is the best I've found for total reel cleaning including bearings. If you can't find it, settle on Simple Green for the reel and acetone for the bearings. Ceramic bearings and a minimal upgrade over properly treated quality stock bearings. A new reel will benefit from deep cleaning but I recommend fishing a new reel hard right out of the box to eliminate any warranty covered issues.

It's almost impossible to diagnose without seeing it. Is there a mechanical AR in that reel? The fact that it happens under load may mean the fit of the spool in the frame is not good. Since you've had it apart all you can do is double check the schematic and be sure everything is there and seated correctly.

When designing a rod build, you match the guides to the line and connections, not vice-versa. A size 3 guide will pass any of the common lines used for bass fishing but my guess is that leader knots are a no go. All you can do is try.

I'm having trouble visualizing what a "high speed start stop" means, but it doesn't sound good. If the spool spins freely with the clutch disengaged and the clutch re-engages with a turn of the handle then it's working properly.

The only fix is to replace the tip top. It's easy to do and there are kits available. There are a couple tricks like anything else. Let me know if you have any questions.

The first thing to look at is your rod. Make sure it loads easily and generates the speed needed to skip. As far as the reel goes, a shallow light spool starts up easy due to it's low mass making it helpful to cast light lures. The trade off is that the spool holds less inertia and slows quickly when the bait hits to skip. I'd go the other way and try a tuned 200E or something like that. Even a Tuned 200B will spin forever when spooled. Bearings aren't going to do anything for you in this case. A 5" Senko is not "weightless" by any stretch and doesn't require a finesse reel or anything special to cast.

Action and stiffness may have a correlation but it's not causal or definite. In general a longer rod casts further and a shorter is more accurate, but that's more apparent in 6" increments. If this is the same rod with the same specs except for length and the faster action of the longer rod, my guess is that the butt of the blank is a little longer. If I'm right, in use you won't see much difference at all. Handle both and see which feels better to you and go with it. FWIW, Fenwick and St Croix would be my first stops if in the market for a production rod.

A full spool of the lightest, softest line you can get will help maximize casting but you can only do so much within the limitations of the rod. In the grand scheme of things a second setup for ultra light fishing is probably one of the least expensive yet useful additions you can make. Nothing sucks the fun out of a project quicker than not having the right tools.

Try a smaller reel. If the spool arbor is throwing off big loose coils this might help. This is a reason custom builders put so much thought and effort into guide trains on spinning rods.

Shims work for a thin foot but I think you have another problem. I'd wrap all the way around the front foot taping it to the reel seat then tighten the hood. You can also shim it a little, tighten the hood and tape over both reel feet. The best you'll get is a work around. Just paly with it a little and secure it until you feel comfortable with using it.

Sounds like the seat is too long for the reel foot. This happens from time to time as there is no uniformity in either part. I'd push the reel into the rear hood and put a tight wrap of electrical tape around the front foot then tighten the hood as best I can

Clean the brake drum and shoes with alcohol and a swab before oiling the drum/cone.

There's mo real need for a true hi modulus blank in such a heavy Rod for moving baits. There are nice blanks among the rain shadow line.

I find it odd if not outright bizarre that they don't list lure weight ranges. You might also find the "Loose Grip" thread interesting. I'm not quick to bash, humans make mistakes, myself included. How you respond is what seperates the wheat from the chaff though.

I'd bet that people viewing this thread have cost them 100 times what a replacement or repair would have. Penny wise / pound foolish once again. It's not like a broken tip that was 99% probable user error. Oh well, chalk it up.

The difference between these two is subtle and more about personal preference. I'd go with Jfrancho's line of thinking. Deep cranking is the application where ratio/IPT comes more into play for me.

Careful, around here (upstate NY) you could get thrown overboard for suggesting there is any "Similar" bait to the Keitech. lol

Once you gather the supplies you should have this fixed in 10-15 min.

It's nice that you are excited and enthusiastic about your new reel. Care for it and enjoy fishing. The real difference between reels <$100 and $100> is not so much how the work when new, but rather how long each will last. A $125 reel could conceivably outlive the Black Max by 10 times. Never spend above your means, but if ever in the position to purchase higher level equipment do yourself a favor and at least consider it.

No way they'd get $60 out of me in that situation. Warrantee time or not, that's a blatant case of defective workmanship and should gladly be corrected, in my humble opinion. It's a $10-$20 repair at best. I'd repair that one and scratch them off my list of prospective future purchases. In contrast, many years ago I casted the front half of a cheap two piece Berkley rod into the lake by accident. After a friendly letter was sent I got a free replacement in the mail shortly after. Email or call me and I'll see what I can do to help you fix the seat.

100' is a long cast and that's 33.33 yards. You'll be fine.

It shouldn't matter what bait you throw with a rod. Grips and seats come loose due to inadequate adhesive use and/or application. In the advent that a free replacement isn't and option, it's a relatively easy fix for a competent rod builder. If you're handy, I could probably talk you through it. I'd do it for you but shipping might be a deal breaker.

It doesn't pay to cheap out on fly line. You can get a decent line for $40 all the suggestions above are good.

They're very versatile and heavy enough for either casting or spinning tackle. I fish them mostly on an 1/8th oz ball head slow rolled across the bottom with a M/F 7' spinning setup.