Delaware Valley Tackle

I learned a huge lesson first time I sight fished bed bass. They can bite, swim away and spit a bait faster than you can react without ever feeling a thing. If a bass truly wants your bait you couldn’t pull it away if you wanted to.

It’s more about good mechanics than brute force, so yes you can cast too hard from that perspective. Casting has elements of throwing and hitting. Timing the release point is like throwing. Too early you get a sky shot that slows rapidly and wastes distance in a vertical direction. Too late and you see what happens. Like hitting, smooth acceleration and follow through harnesses the power of the rod (bat or golf club). Let the rod load and do the work. Whipping the rod and forcing the cast is asking for trouble.

The Doyo variant reels have been around a long time without any pinion bearings. They’ve lasted and some upper end models pretty smooth. Are pinion bearings “required “ obviously not. Do they improve smoothness and longevity? Arguably, yes. Daiwa had dual support bearings in nearly all their models in the 2000s. They went the other direction in the Tatula era, meanwhile Shimano comes out with X ship, much ado about nothing new. Now P2 is supposedly innovative. Welcome to the party even if you’re two decades late. The industry is very competitive and the reel companies feel compelled to change for the sake of change and market every change as innovation. They all make good performing and durable reels, budget, entry level price points being some exceptions.

25# leader is pretty heavy. 4.5 should handle a well tied knot.

All else being equal, for raw distance spinning tackle can’t be beat. Tournament casting is a whole other animal.

I build all my own. Brand wise, Dobyns and ST Croix seem to have good build quality of off the shelf rods from what I’ve seen

Braid can make noise through the guides but it’s not stressing the reel in any way.

The ABU Garcia Torno predecessor to the Revo.

I recommend the same rod for these but for different reasons. 7’ medium power mod fast action graphite (maybe composite). The ModF action helps rip the traps from weeds and steer the square bill around and through cover. Casts both well accurately and distance. Step up to MH for heavier baits and cover.

It’s impossible to diagnose without seeing it

The bail wires become deformed and cause the hinges to bind. Gently pulling out or squeezing in on the wire can correct the problem

You’re right

Where braid is involved you go by line diameter not lb test.

Depending on what formula you ascribe to, 4.4 lbs of drag covers from 14-lb line. More than I ever run on spinning tackle

That reel is a tank. Keep it serviced and it’ll last another lifetime.

10 guides would be where I’d expect to end up, but static load testing would be the determining factor. In Fuji’s line is use K frames, Double foot 10, DF 8 then 5.5 KB single foot to the tip. Just did one of these came out great.

Tatula is a workhorse reel that in wouldn’t expect to be silent or buttery smooth. They are solid performers though. There’s nothing about a reel that requires anything special lubricant wise. Marine grease or super lube work great and readily available locally.

How much are you cutting? With the variety of blanks available nowadays I almost never have the need to customize them, I other words just buy the right blank to begin with.

This is the worst thing for a reel lubricant wise. The petroleum distillates that make it sprayable dissolve grease and oils.

Tape or backing will work as long as there’s something for the braid to grab and not slip

Any more of an in depth analysis would likely violate the no politics policy. All I’ll say is things are bad all over.

A tight cast control cap can aggravate this as well. Just like rods, super light equals super sensitive so you feel everything.

Ya, I never seen anything or heard the Certate called into question. A great reel

Spool spin videos are total propaganda and mean nothing. 75% increase is completely unrealistic. Secondly, the crank side plate bearing is for lateral support and don’t really affect casting. I replace only the the spool and palm side. Third, you’ll need a special spool pin tool to replace that one. You’re looking at almost $75, nearly the cost of the reel. You’ll be mile ahead of the game to keep the Black max stock and save up for a better reel 2-3 yrs down the road.