FloridaFishinFool

I have no idea. All I can do is report what was found as found. When I got the reel it was just a pile of parts as photo shows. But ya know, this problem with making reels lighter and lighter is happening across the board with all brands. It is so much cheaper and easier for them to make plastic parts than machined or molded metal parts. Years ago on one reel I sent a part to a machine shop and had them make it out of metal just because the plastic part kept failing. Just how it goes... Those plastic gears can't handle the wear of pressure on them. One person already mentioned in another thread how metal gears can become "geary" after catching just one fish. If metal can do that on one fish, can plastic hold up better? I have to wonder...

Granted brand new stradics out of the box are smooth. But let me tell you a story from when I worked in a rod and reel repair shop that had a warranty contract with Shimano. Stradics and Shimano spinning reels were one of my specialties back then. I mentioned above the era of stradics I use is FG to FJ. The reason I do not use newer stradics is because I was seeing them come across my bench on a regular basis in less than 2 years out of that brand new box. Fishermen have demanded lighter and lighter reels and the brands have given in and complied to that demand and in doing so have invariably put more and more plastic parts inside of these reels. And would you know the very thing that is or was failing in those newer stradics is those plastic gears. The era of stradics I use FG to FJ work flawlessly for years and years, decades even. Some exceeding 20 years without servicing or maintenance. And yet the newer stradics were now coming across the bench in less than 2 years! Take a look at a mailed in to the shop stradic and what the shop owner wrote on the ticket because of the customers complaint the reel was no longer smooth. Read the repair ticket and what it says: "Not smooth!" And that's a quote on a less than 2 year old stradic at the time this photo was taken. "Not smooth." And shop owner at the time wrote on the repair ticket to check what? The plastic gears. And they were right. Now take a read on the parts I installed into this reel to make it smooth like new again: And there it is.... 3 plastic gears replaced! And that folks is the downfall of their newer reels right there. There is the demand for lighter and lighter reels. And here are the results of it in plaint sight. The drag washers in my 25 year old stradics are still as good as new. Yet on a 2 year old stradic they were chewed up and shredded. There is some stradic truth right there. Proof is in the pudding as they say. I love my stradics, but the FG's to FJ's and that's the end for me on that line until Shimano can make all new stradics that hold up as well for 20 years and not just 2 years like this one. Hopefully on the newer stradics past this era they have improved durability. I retired from work completely a few years ago, so no idea where Shimano is at with it now. But my point is, not all stradics are built the same. Buyer beware! I'd avoid this one. And newer is not always better! Lighter is not always an improvement.

Double check information found in this thread with online search for "truth" (confirmation or denial). Why is it google never seems to agree?

3 year old epoxy. Bought at custom rod shop. Already changed to a dark amber color from chemical degradation. A microwave will not fix this, however there are others who claim it will. The two custom rod shops I visited this week and none of them use syringes. Waste of time and money. They use a dixie cup and a brush and done.

Alex and casts_by_fly, I live in one of the worst states for water and corrosion- Florida. Its bad here and worse on the coasts. What I am getting at is that waterproofing these splices is not a good idea because for one we never really waterproof anything. Water can and will get in. What I believe we should prefer is that when water does get in we should want it to also get back out. Trying to seal up these connections from water is a mistake in my opinion because we are not keeping water out. We are in fact keeping water in there. And that is where the long term damage comes from. I would like to point out there is really no reason to try and waterproof these connections because this part of the trailer never goes underwater and 12 volts can be submerged. I am an old service tech. I want my trailer and lights to be field serviceable. So I do not use splices. I use plain old wire nuts. And I turn them up so the water can drain out of them and dry out. And I spray them from time to time with a corrosion inhibitor and I can fix and repair all of my trailer connections on the fly with almost no tools so long as I do not have to cut wires or strip them. I can remake all my connections at the front and rear of the trailer instantly. Twist on twist off. Piece of cake. All of my 12 volt light connections at rear of trailer are fully exposed to the water I back my trailer into. Even with the lights on they work just fine underwater because the voltage is so low and resistance in the water is high enough to cause no issues for short term exposure. Try fixing splices on the fly at a boat ramp when you need to drive home in the dark with no lights working. I did not recommend this for those front connections above because splices will work just fine if done right. All they need to do is make sure they are electrically insulated and that's it. Trying to waterproof connectors seems like a good idea, but is it really necessary? Not if that same effort keeps water inside those splices 24/7 and won't let it dry out. That waterproofing effort may actually speed up the corrosion process. I agree staggering the splices is a good idea. But waterproofing? I'm not going there any more. 13.8 volts can get wet. Its the drying out I really need.

I think the real problem is not accuracy or inaccuracy, but when AI becomes a living being with its own mind, and we fishermen like to mess with other fishermen like when tournie guys are tearing up a lake, us locals will sometimes put some bogus lure on a rod and let them see it as we pass by. AI will do the same thing. So trusting AI may be a mistake the smarter it gets. It may intentionally tell you where to fish that is completely bogus. Brings us back around to depending on what we know and less reliance on AI and other technologies. How far are we willing to take this I wonder? Here is the REAL problem with AI.... and for ONCE I actually agree with Neil Young on this one: https://nypost.com/2025/08/17/entertainment/neil-young-ditches-facebook-over-policies-for-ai-chatbots-and-children/

Does this count as underwater structure?

No I have not tried AI for fishing, but I can't wait for the day when some AI robot is going to be handed a fishing pole and enter into tournaments and whip up on the humans! I'm trying to imagine AI winning $100,000.00 and then make videos telling us humans how to fish! Ironic justice? Or cruel trick to replace us humans? I wish tournaments would pass rules blocking all technology. No more GPS. No more waypoints. No more sonar. No FFS. Just a boat, rods and reels, and fish by the seat of our pants. That's how I do it again these days. I removed my sonar years ago. Fishing is so much more enjoyable when I don't have to watch it on TV while in the boat. There is a mystery magic to slowly arriving in bass heaven on earth and having it all yourself and pure Nature without being bothered by intrusive overbearing technology making the enjoyable part non-existent to some degree. Its not fun when its work. I think what you are doing with AI is interesting, but we still have to go out and trick fish into biting. Humans need to get back to being human!

Not sure what crimper tool you have, but a lot of people use a flat crimper like this: The above crimper is designed to prevent over crimping, but sometimes may not be enough because its just an almost flat crush. These types of crimps may not be as durable as other methods with different shapes of crimping. Some people will side shift a crimp in the above tool once they have gone as far as they can with the almost flat crimp, and side shift to a point centered on the crimp for extra crushing pressure beyond the designed limits of the tool. There is the standard electrician crimper which is designed to have a point pushing in on the crimp backed by V shape channel shape to really give it that centered deeper crush point. These are the type of crimpers you gotta be careful with that you don't over crimp with them: Looks like an electrician has done some shorting out of live wires with this tool. I count at least 4 arc burn spots is what it looks like to me. But if one were to crank down with the above tool you can crush cut crimps and wires in half by overdoing it. There are all sorts of tools available. Just make sure to not over crimp.

For now sure. You have peeled back enough of the outer insulation to access the wires and have enough exposed to make the new splices. When dealing with crimp splices you don't want to crimp too tightly because you can mash cut through the wire. Or, crush it to the point a couple of bends of the wire and it breaks off. Crimp just enough to make tight connection but not too tightly that crushes or damages any wire. Check them by pulling straight out on wires. A good crimp will stay in place. A not so tight crimp and the wire slides out. Redo. I like to double up the wire going into the crimp because of this. When you strip back the wires, go about 1/2" and twist wires some to form a more solid wire and fold it over so you have a double sized 1/4" exposed wire to slide into crimp splice. ADDED: You have 5 wires going to that connector. It is the single wires I would fold over double if you can fit that into the splices you buy for the white, green, and yellow wires. The two brown wires can be twisted together with 1/4" wire exposed for sliding into the crimp. The two wires makes double anyways. The reason I prefer to fold the wires over for double size going into a crimp is because it doubles the surface contact area, and may make a lower resistance connection because of the additional surface contact area, but it also provides twice the material to crimp down on for a better grab on the wire with slightly less possibility of over crimping too tightly and damaging wire leading to breakage down the road. I like to use a wire treatment to prevent corrosion. And it would be a good idea to use heat shrink or tape it up good once done to try and prevent any shorts and help keep the wires from bending at the crimp joint. This does not have anything to do with the connector you are working on, but on the trailer wiring. I stopped using the frame for the ground or negative connection to lights and took an old 50 foot household extension cord and cut it in half and ran half to lights on one side and half to the other side. Larger wire with better doubled up insulation. I now run the ground or negative directly to the lights through the wire and never have any trouble with my lights ever. Usually the screw to the frame near hitch causes a bad ground connection, or the screw connections to frame at the lights eventually makes a bad faulty connection. Running ground wires to the lights has solved that issue for me. Just a suggestion. I'll bet you the wires on the new connector are not as heavy a gauge as the wires in your harness now. ***Just saw the photo below... he's on the same page.

That connector is toast so just cut it off close to that connector. Use crimp splices to new connector and you are back in business.

What year and brand is the boat? If it is an OMC, then that would be a Johnson/Evinrude? What year is that motor? I have a 1987 OMC Johnson/Evinrude 35hp still runs like a top. And I just picked up an old 25hp same thing. Not sure if it will run. Been sitting for 12 years. Not sure about your area, but I have dealt with a number of dealers and mechanics over the years and down here in Florida some of the dealers will tell you they do not work on motors over 10 years old because a lot of times the customers abandon them when they find out how much its going to cost. One Evinrude dealer I spoke to told me they had some 800 old motors. 800! At the time they were a large Evinrude dealer. Have not been back since Evinrude went belly up. They are the ones who told me they won't work on motors over 10 years old. Its not easy finding people who can service our 40 year old motors. So good luck with it! Make sure they have gray to white hair!

Another easy reduction method is to open an image in your windows operating system app called "paint" and at the top is a button that says "resize" and all you gotta do is change the percentage from 100% down to whatever you want and then click save. Paint shows you full size image as is so you get a good idea of size. You can also edit portions of the image and eliminate unnecessary portions of an image if you want to bring out something within the photo. Simply click on the dotted square box at top of paint and highlight the section of photo you want and click "copy" and then clear the palette and click paste to repost what you wanted to edit out and click save. Another good photo hosting site is cubeupload. No compression of images and keeps original files intact. Some other image hosting sites are now reducing and compressing images to save space and reducing image resolution quality as well. This host site does not have editing ability. Once you host an image just copy and paste URL link into a comment and this forum is setup for automatic embedding. Also included in that automatic embedding is auto resizing to fit forum. So even if you posted a large image the auto resizing adjusts it to fit the forum. At least that has been my experience here. I've posted images of various sizes but they all seem to come out about the same on the forum. So it works.

I contacted the website that sells the KVD Line & Lure conditioner. They sell chemicals that are supposed to come with MDSS (materials data safety sheet) as required by federal law, but KVD & company has found a loophole or exemption they say they are not required to provide safety data along with their products. His brother Randy and other family members started the company that sells it. I asked them for the MDSS or SDS (safety data sheet) and received this reply: "Under the OSHA Hazard Communication Standard we are not required to maintain SDS's for the line conditioner because we do not sell to commercial accounts, only to the general public. (1910.1200(g)(7)(vii)) You can obtain the Safety Data Sheet by contacting the manufacturer directly using the link below. Please let me know if you have any other questions." https://www.dynovatech.com/feedback/contact/ I find it interesting they only consider providing safety data to commercial accounts, but to the general public which means all of us, we are not worthy of being supplied with safety data even though we are the primary customers and sufferers if poisoned by it. What was the law created for in the first place if not for protection of all of us? Seems to me we should be the ones they are required to provide the safety data to. Any hoo, I did receive the PDF MDSS from the manufacturer. It is public information required by federal law for chemical distribution primarily in case of emergency if anyone is poisoned by it, this MDSS is what doctors get when trying to save the lives of poisoned people. It is supposed to provide them with life saving information, but quite often the safety sheets are not fully filled out as companies try and hide proprietary secrets they don't want their competition getting a hold of to use against them. And that appears to be the case with this product as well. There is minimal information and some line items not even filled out like its actual contents. Skipped. But they give doctors a 1-800 phone number to call them for the details they will need to provide life saving medical care rather than put that information on the MDSS where it belongs. That takes doctors extra time to receive life saving information. Its not supposed to be this way. Companies are skirting the law. My opinion of course. But some details from the report: PAGE 1: -Symptoms/effects after inhalation : May cause irritation to the respiratory tract. -Symptoms/effects after skin contact : May cause skin irritation. Repeated exposure may cause skin dryness or cracking. -Symptoms/effects after eye contact : May cause eye irritation. Symptoms may include discomfort or pain, excess blinking and tear production, with possible redness and swelling. PAGE 2: -Symptoms/effects after ingestion : May be harmful if swallowed. May cause gastrointestinal irritation, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. 4.3. Indication of any immediate medical attention and special treatment needed Symptoms may be delayed. In case of accident or if you feel unwell, seek medical advice immediately (show the label or SDS where possible). -Fire hazard : Products of combustion may include, and are not limited to: oxides of carbon. Nitrogen oxides. Chlorine compounds. Silicon dioxide. Formaldehyde. SECTION 6: Accidental release measures 6.1. -Personal precautions, protective equipment and emergency procedures General measures : Use personal protection recommended in Section 8. Isolate the hazard area and deny entry to unnecessary and unprotected personnel. -For containment : Contain and/or absorb spill with inert material (e.g. sand, vermiculite), then place in a suitable container. Do not flush to sewer or allow to enter waterways. Use appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). SECTION 7: Handling and storage 7.1. Precautions for safe handling Precautions for safe handling : Avoid contact with skin, eyes and clothing. Avoid breathing vapours. Do not swallow. Handle and open container with care. When using do not eat, drink or smoke. Hygiene measures : Wash contaminated clothing before reuse. Always wash hands after handling the product. 7.2. Conditions for safe storage, including any incompatibilities Storage conditions : Keep out of the reach of children. PAGE 3: Environmental exposure controls : Avoid release to the environment. This report is 5 pages long so I'll skip most of it and get to page 4 conclusion: SECTION 12: Ecological information 12.1. Toxicity Ecology - general : May cause long-term adverse effects in the aquatic environment SECTION 15: Regulatory information 15.1. Federal regulations All components of this product are listed, or excluded from listing, on the United States Environmental Protection Agency Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) inventory. It is interesting that the manufacturer filled out the federally required MDSS without actually listing what is IN it. But doctors in emergency rooms across America please call 1-800 for details since they are not fully provided here where they are supposed to be. I'll leave it up to the reader to decide whether this product is safe for each of you and what considerations anyone might have for environmental concerns. The MDSS cannot be attached to this comment due to it being a PDF file so I am providing a download link if anyone wants a copy of it. Again, it is public info for all of us as required by federal law designed for our protection. https://www.mediafire.com/file/p41blw5j9s8i494/Line_%26_Lure_Kevin_Van_Dam_Fishing_Line_Conditioner_SDS_2018-10-23.pdf/file I just prefer to be fully informed.

Let me guess, the Florida resident is in the boat wondering why all those guys from up north are voluntary shark bait? What are they going to do with a fish if they catch one? Sharks will follow it right back to them! Gators do the same. I'm with the guy in the boat on this one! Is that image photoshopped? Have you ever seen Indian pottery with baked on food residue preserved for centuries? You can see the top rim of the cooking bowl and the food residue that flowed over the top rim only to be baked onto the sides of the bowls. Some pottery sherds show layering of baked on food residue from multiple uses before breaking and being discarded. The baked on food residue is thicker at top rim of the bowl. Never know what you will find while bass fishing in Florida!

https://www.abugarcia.com/pages/schematics?srsltid=AfmBOorX-rx4Icdb-PS_qUYScWIt3CVDfc6ZAwmhcl_8m8K0StIIE6cz

If a rod like that were mine the first thing I would do is to try and remove every bit of yellowed cracked epoxy first. Usually it will just flake off easily. A dental pick or utility knife might suffice. I also sometimes use sharp side cutters to help grab and remove stubborn pieces. Once it is removed look for color variations, and you can use permanent markers to touch up color issues before putting new epoxy on.

JigMan already gave up the secret above in his comment. But, you gotta pull all the schematics and go through them to find precisely which reels are the stradic copies. Not all of them are stradic copies. The way to find them quickly is to look for the worm gear in the copies. Part for part the same reels just a different color and name. Saves some of us a ton of money when we go looking for older stradics. I'm watching one now listed for $35 with free shipping. I may pitch them an offer of $20 or $25 and see if I can score another one while stradic lovers are locked in to $100 to $200 each- and that's used prices! And remember the series of stradics I mentioned above? You will find them within that range of reels.

Playing devil's advocate here... As I read this and see big bottles of chemicals, I am wondering about its effect on the water and environment? Are line conditioners safe for the environment and us? I'm searching for the product materials data safety report now on KVD's website and can't locate it. Does anyone have any copies of any product safety reports on line conditioners? Already found this: PLEASE NOTE: Clothing containing PFAS can no longer be shipped to CA or NY. WARNING: Cancer and Reproductive Harm www.P65Warnings.ca.gov.

I stopped worrying about scaring fish decades ago. Now I just enjoy it! If I catch, then fine. If not that's fine too! Sometimes I think we overthink things and do things we think matter that may not really matter. Part of it is where I cast to I don't think the fish even know I am there and then some lure hits the water in their vicinity. That's about the extent of it for me these days. Simple is better.

If a 4 will fit in there. A 6 will fit in there. And an 8 will fit in there. All you gotta do is make sure its a good tight connection. Crimps are adjustable. Screw downs should also be adjustable for various wire sizes. Just do your homework on the connectors and be careful. Make sure connections are tight and clean. And thoroughly insulated afterwards. I like to use something on the wires to prevent corrosion, and twist the ends some to make a nice compact wire to tighten down on.

It takes good skills to do a thoroughly well done solder connection with wire that size, not to mention a hefty 100 watt iron. They do make splices for these wire sizes https://www.pacergroup.net/nylon-butt-splice-8-4-awg/?srsltid=AfmBOoqgqJLG4E2c972fyKEB55ur-wkQwMWFLQoTZ_tOob0sh0ArFMH3 Car stereo guys use these https://www.aliexpress.com/i/3256805703418407.html?gatewayAdapt=4itemAdapt Home depot has these https://www.homedepot.com/p/Commercial-Electric-6-AWG-to-4-0-AWG-Dual-Rated-Splicer-G61104/310741755?MERCH=REC-_-pipsem-_-303578399-_-0-_-n/a-_-n/a-_-n/a-_-n/a-_-n/a https://www.homedepot.com/p/Commercial-Electric-14-AWG-to-2-0-AWG-Dual-Rated-2-Port-1-Sided-Entry-Insulated-Multiple-Tap-Connector-Black-G60005A/324050827?MERCH=REC-_-pipsem-_-303578399-_-1-_-n/a-_-n/a-_-n/a-_-n/a-_-n/a

And I have some swamp land to sell. Ha!

Jig man do you have a link to that information? I use a maximizer and can run wide open continuously all day and night with no problems until the batts die. Its different on trolling motors with speed coils.

Pawn shops are a great place to find tools cheap. Estate sales too.