OnthePotomac

Happiness is a good deal on a good reel?

I only use enough drag grease on mine to barely see my fingerprint, at least it has worked for me. I also back off my drags after each outing.

Another story. When I got into bass fishing 18 years ago the first spinning reel I bought was BPS 2500 size on sale for $60 and fished it for 15 years until my brother came to visit and bent the bail big time by stepping on it. I still wonder how long the reel would have lasted.

Bend a bobby pin end into a short "L" to fit into the bearing and pull. If need be grip the bobby pin end with pliers and pull. I have also bent the screw driver end on the reel wrench, which comes with a reel in to an "L" for tough to remove bearings. That end is small and fits in the bearing inner diameter.

Oopsy daisy. Sorry bout that.... no 2500 baitcasters LOL

Please be aware that grease on your spool shaft will slow down the spool. Spool shafts should be dry. I polish mine.

Every Shimano I have (back to the Curado 100B) has two brakes on and those with an outside dial are either on "2" or "3"

Anyone tried the new Sufix Advance yet?

Love my little Curado 100B's. I had three and finally sold one to a friend who begged me for it every year. I Pride myself in saying my Curado 100B's are a 10/10 in appearance and I make sure they stay that way. Always maintained by me over the years.

WEHA for me also. If you own a Chronarch MGL get a WEHA 00 Philips to remove the itty bitty screw holding the cover on. Man is it tiny.

I have never had a bearing on a worm gear on any of my Shimano reels up to the Chronarch MGL and can't say as I miss having one.

I do like and use the stupid rig on tubes, but I mostly Texas rig my tube on a 3/0 EWG Gammie and a pegged 3/16 slip sinker. The only way I fished my tube until the stupid rig came along. Both have a place.

I must respectfully disagree that line counters are inaccurate. They are not precision for sure, but I have worn out three in the last 15 years and the line they have saved me has more than paid for them. In addition, they have enabled me to record on the original spool the amount I have used and it always comes out pretty darn close to the spool quantity. OK, call me a cheap skate, but I do not have to throw away a spool with line, but not quite enough line to use. It takes a minute to clamp it on the rod in a reverse direction and go.

I also use the Berkley spooling station and have for the last 15 years and when used, I just clamp it to my work table. Love it in addition to my Berkley line counter. It handles jumbo (1000 yd spools nicely). Both take the guess work out of spooling line and allows me to record on the remaining new spool how much I have used. I have worn out three line counters over the last 15 years, but the spooling station is still great.

I only use the 5.5" Caffeine shad and they weigh .42oz on my digital scale. The Potomac bass love the baby bass color.

Wow, 150 feet gives you half a football field to troll, or anything else you wish to do. I only use 120 ft of 50lb Sufix 832 on my frog rod (the only reel with braid) and it is quite adequate.

The summer grass beds require plastics fishing, they can't be too fast for me.

I left ceramics and returned to ABEC 5 SS from a quality source, since although ABEC 7 bearings are popular, a good reel technician (like DVT) will tell you that their are no baitcasters which will reach the RPM's to warrant an ABEC 7 expense. Even Shimano will tell you that An ABEC 5 is the max advantage you will get.

I have 15lb Invizx on both of my fast 70's mounted on 7' MH Carbonlite rods for plastics of various kinds. Love the set up and line quantity is not a problem since fishing plastics is not a swing for the distance type fishing.

A lot depends on the water you fish. I am on the Tidal Potomac, so you not only have the river flow to contend with, but also the tide flow, so if I use a weight on a Texas rig I usually have to try different weights depending on if I am fishing the main river, or a tributary. On a regular lake I guess the weights mentioned above are good and would depend only on the rate of fall you desire.

Since you are in Florida, go into a BPS and handle a few rods. I am over 80 and have settled on the BPS Carbonlite rods. Very light and normally at $119, but go on sale during the year for $99. Their next big sale is in March during which you can take in your old rods and reels and get a cash credit for an amount commensurate with the cost of what you want to buy.

I am a Shimano guy, but a few years ago I went to our BPS and they were having a sale on their ProQualifier at $70, so I picked one up out of curiosity, put 50lb braid on it and used it on my frog rod for three years. That little reel was a work horse and never failed me. Very smooth. I got $50 for it at the BPS annual trade in toward a Chronarch MGL and it was still in perfect shape.

If that is the case, start with 2 centrifugal brakes on and your magnetic set high and back down on the magnetic setting to find the sweet spot. At least this worked for me when I had a reel like that. Strangely, once I found the setting they stayed the same for every lure after that.

There are bulk spools which are not level wound, but with on line shopping you cannot see what is coming. I lucked out and my 1000 yd spool of 15lb Invizx from Amazon was level wound and came with a heavy plastic snap on shield over the line. I have purchased countless items from them for the boat. My wife lives out of Amazon and their return policy is incredible and when you go on line for a return label you can tell them why it is coming back. I slap the label on the box, call UPS and they zip by and pick it up. Real easy to return.

Don't have a 9:1 reel, but my 8.5:1 reels do plastics and frog duty. Love a fast reel.