rippin-lips

Whatever floats your boat I guess. Remove part 58.

JDM Fenwick’s

Topped her off with a much needed itö engineering carbon handle. Didn’t feel right without it. Project money pit.

Things do happen. Nobody is going to have a 100% success rate. Send it to Spankey. I’m sure he can fix it for you.

Easy fix - buy a Daiwa.

It can have two bearings added to it. You have to fully break down the reel to get the one on the gear side. The gear itself doesn’t come off but the whole piece does. You definitely went overboard though. No need for ceramic bearings on the levelwind. You honestly can’t tell a difference verse the bushing but it’s nice to know it has a bearing. You can also add them to the handle. Takes the same 4x7x2.5 as the levelwind.

The jig and worm was the most hated rod of the previous XX generation. I’m actually surprised to hear that you really liked it. That might be because you didn’t try anything else from the xx series but I don’t know if that’s true or not. They are still available from The Tackle Trap for $189. There’s a reason why that one isn’t sold out and all the others are. Anyhow, enough rambling on about that. I would pick up the new perfect pitch if it was me, or the braillist if 7’5 isn’t an issue. The Tour versatile isn’t a bad rod either. It’s a little less stout than the perfect pitch but still a nice rod. I feel the PP has a much softer tip though. I had both in the previous xx series and sold the TV and kept the PP. 3/16 weight is going to be a little on the light side for the perfect pitch, considering it was well loved as a frog rod in the previous model. The PP is considered an extra heavy. If the new generation has as good of a tip I think you can make it work though.

Megabass Orochi XX perfect pitch - 7’2 xh/f diablo spec r - 7’2 mh/mod/f spinnerbait special - 6’10 mh/f

You might be surprised to know that a weightless senko by itself weighs 10.5 grams which is 3/8oz. Add in a 3/0 ewg hook for a tx rig and your pushing about 12 grams. Not trying to rain on your parade by any means but it’s a heavy bait so it’s no surprise that it casts well. Especially tx rigged because it then becomes a bullet.

The knobs are quite comfortable. Same ones on the Daiwa ss air.

I’m not familiar with the older Abu reels, but when a Daiwa makes that noise it ends up being the pinion shaft needs oiled.

Shimano and Daiwa comes with grease from the factory. I tried using a heavy weight gear oil per a recommendation on here, but have went back to using grease on them. It stays put longer and it’s never given me any trouble.

Nothing available for that. A rod builder could cut it and extend it but it’s not going to look the same.

The Palomar is going to be the easiest knot to tie with straight braid. So far for anything #30 and below I can double it over and push it right through the eye. For #50/65 I double it back through. Tie your over hand and pull it close to snug,pass the loop around you bait and then you can just pull it tight to the hook or lure. Braid isn’t like mono/fluoro so you aren’t going to burn the line. It sounds like you have it right but aren’t familiar with doing it. https://youtu.be/GmKPozhaqB8

Boca’s website might have the info if they carry bearings for that reel. If not you’ll need a set of calipers to measure them. Inside diameter - outside diameter - width. So for example Shimano commonly uses a 3x10x4 bearing for the spool.

They sure do. Quite a few to pick from also. I’m selling a very nice 6’9 2pc jdm casting rod. Shoot me a pm if you want more info.

I fish all 1st gen xx rods and braid to leader is what I use 90% of the time, unless in heavy cover. The guides will pass a connection knot without any issues. I’ve been doing it for years now. The new series of xx rods have slightly larger guides also. The perfect pitch is a fantastic rod and I wouldn’t push it aside just yet.

Casting gear

Ex has a larger frame and a stronger drag than the 1st gen. Comes in 6:3 - 7:1 - 7:9 1st gen only comes in 6:3 - 7:1

I think you will really enjoy it. Big-bass will take it off your hands if you don’t haha.

Steez sv tw isn’t built like a tank like the og but it’s a better reel in terms of ergonomics and styling. It’s alao better for anything under 1/2oz. The og zillion has a heavy and deep spool that makes it a better choice for heavy duty applications. As for the og zillion being a true reel compared to the 103... well that’s mildly entertaining considering they’re built on the same frame and share a lot of the same internal parts. The sv103 is heavily braked but a simple spool swap to any of the 20 options available and you can make it do anything you want it to.

Very limited on drop in spool options. Tdz would be #1 for most people. I much prefer the new SV103 over the og zillion. Shares many of the same internal parts and frame but you get the 34mm spool. My J dream was nice but that’s from a collector standpoint. The og is still a great reel and still loved by many. It was my first quality Daiwa reel purchase.

Megastrike Megabug

All I use anymore unless I’m fishing heavy cover and then it’s straight braid. Your leader length can be as little as 6-12” up to 6-12’ if you want to. A longer leader will have more stretch and I usually stick to about 4-5’ and for me it works well. I want the stretch for treble hooks. Leaders are usually 8-15# test and are a mix of mono,copoly, and fc. Depends on the situation. I’d say 80% of the time it’s 12# big game mono though.

90-95-100 will all be fine. Any swept Daiwa handle will fit the alphas sv. Stock or aftermarket, take your pick. Power handles ‘longer handles’ allow you to gain leverage, which makes it easier to turn under load. It doesn’t however create more torque in turn putting more strain on the gears. So it doesn’t do nothing. You’re totally correct there. Don’t look at it like using a longer wrench ‘lever arm’ to break a bolt loose. Look a it more like using a screwdriver. *Edit - maybe this can help. Having a longer handle gives you increased leverage which allows you to apply the same amount of torque to the spool with less effort. A longer handle simply allows the user to put the same amount of torque into cranking the reel with the same or less exertion than you have to use with a short handle. It does that by gaining more leverage which can make it a lot easier to turn against a load. A fishing reel is different than a wrench, the torque you apply to the handle is not applied directly to the spool like it would be on a bolt. In a fishing reel it then goes through a gear reduction. The drive shaft gear having in this example 5 times a many teeth and the pinion gear which is splined to the spool. This creates a mechanical advantage of 5.0:1 to apply to the spool. The other factor with fishing reels is that they are not hard splined to the drive gear. There is where your drag comes into play, they will only allow a certain amount of torque to ever be applied. After that, it makes no difference if you drive it with a 10 foot handle or 80mm handle. You can only apply a set amount of torque before it overcomes the drags ability to prevent it from slipping. So while a longer handle gives you more leverage and allows you to more easily apply the torque to the gears, the spool is turned as the result of a mechanical advantage of the reels gearing. That is why people prefer a 5.1:1 reel over a 7.1:1 reel for lures that create high drag.