OnthePotomac

If this will help, I have a jumbo spool of BPS 20lb Excel on my fishing peg board next to my work bench downstairs, which I only use on one reel and change it every year and it is now 18 years old.

I tighten mine just enough that I can get the nut cap on and its screw lined up with the hole and still have a snug handle.

OK guys, just got an email from Cabelas and now is your chance to save big bucks. For instance $30 off Diawa Fuego spinning reels and many other items of baits and equipment.

I have a 7'6" ultra light (AKA noodle rod) with a Tennessee handle my Michigan brother gifted me with the reel. Being bass oriented I don't use it that much, but when he came to visit me in Virginia and gave it to me, I caught a young stripper on a shad dart on the river and that was an interesting experience on an ultra light.

Anglers on the murky Potomac use green and clear mono. It doesn't matter.

I have 15lb Invizx on both of my Curado 70XG reels on 7' MH rods and fish a wide variety of plastics on them and I sure do not feel restricted on how far I can cast the baits if I want to. You don't want plastics a mile away anyway unless it is a swim bait and they handle plastic swim baits very well.

The Abu reels have been made in China for many years now.

Wow, 12lb braid must be like fishing with sewing thread on a baitcaster.

There you go again DVT bursting the bubble of over thinking everything. LOL

That is what attracted me to Shimano years ago. Maximum performance with a minimum number of quality bearings through thoughtful engineering.

If this will help, my brother lives in Michigan and often ends up with toothy critters on the line and he uses the faster speed BPS ProQualifier and loves it for swim baits. He calls it a little work horse.

Just don't do what I read on another site from a young angler who reported that his grandpa just dipped his reels in kerosene and it seemed to work.

Take your choice I guess. Either SuperLube, Yamaha Blue Marine, or a quality drag grease.

I have 15lb Invizx on my Curado 70XG's for all plastics. The diameter is the same as many 12lb flouros. It seems to work well for everything since I do not lose fish, no matter how I fish it. Walmart has it now for $73 for a 1000yd spool.

Can you believe I have my 10yr old Curado 6.2:1 100B with 50lb Sufix 832 on my frog rod. This does not help you any I guess except for reel speed.

Lots of high quality bearing oil out there. I use Yellow Rocket Fuel in spool bearings, ReelX on my worm gears and Xship bearings and drive shaft bearings and handle bearings. I dip my pinion bearings in TSI301. I leave the AR bearing alone unless it really needs something and then it is a touch of Yellow Rocket Fuel on a hard QTip wiped around the rollers. This year I am going to clean and dip my drive shaft bearings in TSI301 also.

I had a chance to fish my K 8.5:1 toward the end of last season, spooled with 15lb Invizx on a 7' MH fast tip Carbonlite and used it for a KVD Caffeine Shad, weighing in a little under 3/8 oz. It was perfect for me.

I had three Citica 200E's and put ceramic bearings in two and quality SS Abec7's in the third. I really could not tell the difference in the ceramic performance and the SS. Fishing heavy grass most of the time, I really do not care about the bait going a mile and in fact, grass fishing is short casts. I have not bothered upgrading the recent Shimano reels as the bearings give me all I want in performance.

Who knows without taking the reel down to check the bearing. That is the same bearing on the crank shaft. That Xship bearing is only a stabilizer for the pinion gear and is not a high speed bearing

True, I should have added that in the article he said he chose that reel because he intended to "fish fast".

Another vote for the Curado 51E. I use my Curado 50 E for everything under the sun. Great little reel.

My lipless are on an old 4oz Gander Titanium Medium graphite with 12lb flouro on a 6.2:1 Curado 100B. I could never understand why Gander dropped that rod and cleared them for $60 six years ago.. It is an incredible rod.

Just read where Omori's plan for the classic is to start fishing an RC 1.5 crankbait on a 9.1:1 Japanese Diawa Zillion spooled with either 16 or 20lb Sunline FC on a 7' MH graphite Diawa rod. Wow! So much for slow cranking.

Look at lots and lots of videos on skipping and you will learn that reel set up is most important and next is bait weight.

Traditionally, I was taught 18 years ago by a professonal reel cleaner that the only sure bearing to be packed in grease has been the pinion bearing, the other bearing as stated above is probably the AR bearing minimally lubricated with oil or grease. All others are a personal preference and those preferences are all over the map. I for instance, have only ever used ReelX on the drive shaft bearing and handle bearings. I don't have worm gear bearings on any of my Shimanos and have never felt the need to add them. Two years ago I did make a change on my pinion bearings in that I cleaned them thoroughly and just dip them in TSI301 and it is working real well (I picked this up from the salt water guys). When I used to pack the pinion bearings I used either Super Lube, or Yamaha Blue Marine grease, both of which I used on gears. If you have greased bearings and you want to clean them quickly, spray them with CRC Electronic Cleaner with the red spray tube inserted and the grease will be gone in seconds no matter how thick it is. It is also great to have on the boat. Walmart has it. With this year's cleaning I am considering cleaning the drive shaft bearings an dipping them in TSI301 also.