Smallmouth Hunter

You are most likely having digging in issues where the braid digs into itself on the spool and gets wedged between layers of line. When you catch a fish, you will often have line dig somewhere in the spool so make an easy cast after catching a fish so you don't put too much stress on your line.

Even braid has 3-4% stretch.

Does it take any force to pull the metal inductor out from the spool? If it does, than it isn't the spool. Take off the sideplate and see if the 2 rings of magnets are moving. I have heard of cases when one of the rings is not properly secured and you have to glue it back on..

I already have the bearings and stuff to the upgrades, but I guess I could just send it in with the reel.

The bb1 pro holds 12/160. That means it holds 248 yds of 30 lb braid.. That is a LOT of line and you will find that it will need to use a lot of backing to get 2 spool fulls of 1 package of braid. That would mean a lot of extra weight.

Try letting it sit more. I found that I get much more bites on jigs (during all seasons) when I work it slower. Cast it out and drag it a few inches and just let it sit. 10 - 20 seconds will do usually. Most of the time, they will hit it as soon as you start to drag it again because you are basically pulling it away from them. Imagine that they are staring at your jig the whole time. That is the mind set that will help a lot. Another thing is when you feel cover of any sort - timber, rocks, or even a change in material on the bottom whether it be gravel to sand or whatever - just stop the jig on a dime and twitch your slack. Don't overwork it though. After twitching it a few times, pull the line tight so you can feel the jig, but don't move it. Then let it go slack again and do a few more twitches. Then stroke it swiftly over the cover a foot or so through the water. Sometimes the bass will react violently to this and nail the jig. Good luck and hopefully this helps. For the most part, just slow down and experiment with your retrieve.

Thanks for the info everyone. I got a t3b and plan on putting in worm gear bearings and a drive shaft bearing then sending it off to e_bassfisher to let him do his thing. Will be used for mostly 1/2 oz lipless cranks.

What line are you using? For braid, I'd go with the tourney pro. For heavier fluoro or mono (over 15lb) I would go with the bb1 pro.

Specifically in casting distance, how do these reels compare? Is the RCS 1016 t3 (stock) spool that much better than the t3b's?

*** without a doubt.

They are legit but I wouldn't say they are awesome.. I spoke on the phone with a guy about a rod that was glitched on their site and the rep on the phone was short with me and pretty rude.. That + the slow shipping speeds = I am sticking TW.

10lb braid has the diameter of 4 lb mono. It will dig in a lot and be a pain. I would take all the line off and put some 30lb braid on there.

http://pages.infinit.net/fishing/rweights.pdf

They might be carp.. Grass carp do that sort of thing all the time. I believe they spawn this time of year so you will see them following each other around and occasionally the female will take off after being hindered too much. Carp will usually bolt as soon as they see a lure near them if it is big.

Do you have any previous experiences with lew's reels? That could help narrow it down.. For the money, you can't beat the t3b at TW right now at $100

I would not get the bb2.. Holds 190 yards of 14 lb line. That is a ridiculous amount of line and the spool will weigh close to 2 oz when full which in turn will give you less casting performance with anything that weighs less than 3/4 or 1 oz. The bb1 pro holds 160 yds of 12 lb which is still a bit ridiculous, but not as crazy as the bb2. I would honestly get neither unless you are using it for deep cranking or swimbaits.

Wait till you try fly fishing for big 30-50 lb grass carp. Now that is FUN!!!!

Thank you. That is exactly what I was looking for. 7'M it is.

I am trying to decide between the 7' and the 7'6. I will be using it for long bombing lipless cranks for the most part, but also some squarebills (SK 1.5). Lipless cranks will weigh 1/2 oz or less and squarebills will all be about 1/2 oz too. Anyone have these rods? Thanks

The 7'2 tatula is a MH regular action. Daiwa's regular action is a moderate-fast, so I don't think that will be very versatile. None of the rod models in the tatula line up versatile because all of the models are regular or xf action. I have always found fast action to be most versatile. I think you should consider adding the *** 7'3 MH fast.

It's not going to hurt anything, but it is not going to help is what I mean. Try it yourself. Get two identical bearings, and in one of them put 1 drop and in the other put 3. See which spins longer and more freely. Obviously this doesn't mean much in terms of performance in a reel, but when we are talking about grease, it is a whole 'nother story. Usually, the factory puts a small amount of grease on the bearings. Putting a drop of oil on top of the grease is not going to help. It is just putting more stuff on the bearing.

Putting oil on top of factory grease or oil is not going to do anything to help.. It will harm the reel's performance more than anything. If you're going to oil your bearings, you should flush them out first using an ultrasonic cleaner or bearing blaster or something like that first, then apply 1 drop.

Nudge them in slightly before you fit the sideplate on. Should fit.

Lately its been a jerkbait rigged on a dropshot.