JustJames

I rely on my skill to land any size bass more than just one or two felt pads.

Good to know thanks, now let make it own topic, shall we ???

For me as bank fisherman, every fish for me at least 80% is luck. The rest 20% is location time and lure type that I pick. Landing b i g fish, though I give 70-80% equipment, rod/reel/line and hook and 20%skilled.

I don’t think the new zillion come with micro bearing. That just regular bearing in sleeve/housing which Daiwa require for fitting. The reel that come with micro bearing stock was Alphas Air. BTW I did give an honest opinion on upgrade or not upgrade. I choose to use regular fishing because I don’t think a lot crazy like me using baitcaster with unweighted 3” Ned worm or pitch weightless baby maniac. his reel SLX is not built for those kind of task anyway. This was way before I started using shallow spool.

Mine is not high end gear at all by any mean. Most of my are used even though it might be more expensive than the whole new cheap setup but I buy it because I LOVE IT, period. It just another expensive hobby of mine (that what my wife told me after those motorcycles, wood working tool and golf clubs). 20 years ago when I didnt really catch a lot of fish and didn’t have my wife watching behind my back. I bought fishing reel for my birthday almost every year. Why? because I love it BTW how in the world the post almost 10 years ago about mega bass turn out to be cheap vs expensive.

I don’t use that brand but I upgrade some of my reels with Orange Shield ceramic bearing. Worth it, absolutely NOT for regular fishing. The distance is not far behind with proper maintenance stock bearing, accuracy is about the same in well train thumb. But if those 50 bucks would boost your confidence to be a better fishing man or to catch more fish why not?

Don’t be sad and don’t be so insecure. Be proud of what you have go catch fish and show off your catches with cheap setup. There are different type of fishermen here, one that just plain love catching fish and doesn’t care about equipment. Ones that love anything fishing related, catching fish, buying new gears and lure. And one that I call gear junkies, buying 4-500 dollars rod/reel plus another 4-500 dress up part just to put it in the shelf. I will gladly look at picture of your big fish with cheap gear than those expensive setup on counter top. I’m not ashamed to show off my hard earn setup, as long as I have fun using it to catch fish. There are many cheap vs expensive post going around lately, why? Just because you use Ugly stick doesn’t mean you love fishing more than me. Just because I have CQ50 and Yellow pixy doesn’t mean I’m better fisherman than you. It is about what I love to have and it is in my power to buy without pawning all my wife purses. Confident in yourself and your ability to catch fish ppl and please stop comparing.

If you use larger diameter mono, the knot will get big and snag thin braid even you still have about 10-15yds in spool. The easiest way right now is to use any tape on top to hide the knot. Once the line get too low that you can cast all the way to tape then replace the braid and don’t forget to trim back those mono accordingly. Electrical tape work but I use plumbing tape in case I need to let the line out pass thru the tape.

Lily pad? Really? I think I was talking about OP and fishing in general. I don’t know if I offended you anywhere. If you feel that way, I am sorry. For the sake of OP, I’m not gonna respond no more.

8lb Copolymer is not small at all more like all around line. Learn faster just my opinion, bigger line doesn’t cast as far and don’t need a lot of thumb control. He/she might feel she got a hang of casting bigger line too fast but once switch to smaller line, he/she would get struggle some more. Line size will effect movement of lure, you should use line as small as possible to make the lure/plastic move like natural. Also bigger line get a lot more resistant underwater, it will be a lot harder to detect subtle bite than smaller line. If you only wait for those obvious tab bite you only catch 70-80% of the fish. 12lb Copolymer/15lb FC is the biggest line I use for every day fishing, jig, topwater or anything medium heavy duty. Most of my reels are 6-8lb Copolymer.

Yes it is operator error but Daiwa paint can be a little bit more durable compare to say Shimano. ???

I also vote for Senko Texas rig weightless if you don’t know the bottom on any lake.

What Berkeley? Trilene XT is very thick compare with other line. You might be fine with that 8lb line. You will learn faster using small diameter line and in the meantime get more chance to catch fish than those too big of a line. I wouldn’t use FC line as beginner though because it a tad too expensive to replace if you mess up.

Daiwa is known to have paint bubble problem, especially one that used in salt. I saw someone mention that even new Zillion SV TW paint is pretty weak and get scratched very easily.

There are plenty of “Senko alternatives” topics around that you can search here but one thing for sure nothing beat Senko. I have used quite a few myself, Maxscent and BPS are two that I don’t mind using. For Senko those small fish always trash the Senko good. I keep all the torn up Senko, bite the head part off, use mend-it or cut in half. I’ll keep using it until it get to 2.5-3” long. You can also use the Spring soft bait keeper trick.

Return or get warranty replacement, maybe? Even though you can fix it now it might have chance to happen again, why take unnecessary risk?

What is the total weight again? 2oz? Do you use for drifting or stationary?

You tie up only weight of lure to type or reels too much. Yes if below 1/4oz weight, spinning would win in casting distance hand down doesn’t matter if it is MGL or SV spool. I’m not sure when you say finesse VS power fishing which technique you mentioned to. You know there are “finesse definition” all over the place. Senko with about 3/8oz weight can be fish as power or finesse (dragging thru weed and such). I use spinning just for technique that require a lot of movement, shaking small hopping doesn’t matter what weight. At the same time, lift and drop or drag or just simple slow retrieve, baitcaster would perform way better and comfortable for me, again weight is not a lot of issue especially when we are talking “Senko” as your favorite. I think it is come to the point of what you more comfortable with spinning or baitcaster if we are talking “Senko”.

Let start off, why do you think you need specific setup for baitcaster and why spinning is more versatile? Finesse fishing techniques? So do you have or don’t have any baitcaster? Spinning setup you have limit of line used and to me baitcaster is more versatile than spinning. Any modern baitcaster reel can cast Senko easily and also can fish other techniques quite as well once you get out of “finesse techniques” Baitcaster will handle let’s say Jig, swimbait or any cast and reel type better than spinning. And once you go over 3/8oz or your “finesses” the same baitcaster would handle anything from 3/8oz to 1oz with ease. Spining you either struck with small mono or braid which is not perfect for every technique. I only use spinning for, Neko Rig, Wacky Rig sometimes Ned rig, but I can use only one baitcaster for everything above plus much more. Another point is, Baitcaster is not truly bass fishing, but more like much more enjoy experience once you learn how to use it properly. And no it is not limited to only “MGL” reel. Maybe you should try “SV” reel instead ??????

This is gonna be hard to diagnose without seeing the reel itself. How far did you go in the taking apart process? Did you go all the way down to remove main shaft and bearing? Amount of play increase and chucking noise might come from pinion gear and main gear not seat properly. Try to install pinion gear and main gear again. Make sure pinion yoke is in the right place. Also make sure mainshaft sleeve sit on the right spot (groove).

Let me guess Jimmy got another Shimano.???

Why price have to do with catching fish?

I would switch to UL setup, pair with trout magnet and enjoy an hour or two of fun. For real, if I can find bluegill or crappie right now, I would stop hunting for bass.

Glad you figured it out. You gotta appreciate those Shimano engineering.????

For your piece of mind. I checked Stradic FL and they do have gap as well. The Vanford is just Stradic FL with different body material. The sleeve and washer is there to prevent water get into the body. Here is a trick if that annoy you. You can remove the sleeve and see how thick is your washer. You can reduce the gap by getting thinner one. Washer removed and no gap. Remember you need a little bit of gap so the handle doesn’t rub the body when spin.