Stephen Selph

I weill be going out Sunday to fish a tournament and will be throwing cranks with my $200+ zillion reel, with my $45 lightning shock rod. We shall she how it goes. I have high hopes. Does anyone have any experience with that yellow 7 ft skeet reese S glass rod I was using before? I thought it would be awesome for squarebills, but didn't work out so well on the water! Seemed liked fishing with a big fat wet spaghetti noodle!

Ugh.... not yet. We've had torrential downpours the last few days. I am so close I can almost feel it! Just waiting for a break in the weather. The water temp is now up to 7-, so I should be able to retrieve it as soon as the weather calms down!

Check out my thread from yesterday, the consensus is yes! Wish me luck!

I was using my Antares 2016 JDM Antares DC on that rod before my Zillion, and it actually worked really well! Using a $650 reel on a $45 rod just seemed so wrong, but so right at the same time! I will go ahead and try to use this rod in the mean time util I get my job back, or find another. I think I should be ok, thanks for the help everyone! By the way, what is the action rated for on my 7ft MH lighting shock rod? Seems like more of a medium fast due to the soft tip.

So when I first got into bass fishing I bought what I thought was going to be an amazing technique specific rod for cranking. It's the yellow Skeet Reese S glass 7ft rod, until I started learning about throwing cranks. I left it at home one day and was using my MH, fast actionFalcon Cara finesse jig rod for throwing small to medium squarebills, and I loved it! I loved the sensitivity of the graphite rod, the lack of the wet noodle feeling during the retrieve. So on an unrelated matter, I lost my job about a week and a half of 7 years, and now don't have any expendable income for the time being. I had the crazy idea to throw my Zillion 5.1 reel on my 7ft MH lightning shock rod since it had a fairly soft tip. Do you guys think this would work in the mean time for small to medium crankbaits until I can afford a better rod matched for cranking? Thanks for any input everyone! Stephen

Ding ding ding! Turns out I had a bad batch of red label that I got from Walmart on clearance for $1. I just took the old line off and respooled with some new fireline I had laying around the house. It's working perfectly now! No amount of KVD L&L could help that spool of fluro! I will now only be used for leader material in the future. Thanks everyone for the help getting this figured out, it's back to casting like a dream now! Good call @fishballer06!

It's on a Falcon Cara Finesse Jig rod, I had 15 pound Red Label on it, and it was just about any lure. I was mostly throwing texas rigged baby brush hogs with a 1/4oz tungsten weight. I'm starting to think it was overspooled for the reel. There was about 1/4 to 1/8th of the spool unfilled. I use KVD line and lure and never have trouble with red label as long as I use the L&L. Thanks for the tips, but I've done all of those things, and even with 3-4 break turned on, and the dial turned up to 6 and the spool tension knob, it was still backlashing constantly. When casting, most of the backlash starts at the beginning of the cast instead of the end. I'm starting to think it was overspooled, or maybe a bad batch of Seaguar Red Label? Not a chance, the reel will be buried with me, or given to one of my non existent children who don't put me in a home when I'm old and senile. lol But that's a nice offer, both great reels! I wasn't' using an arbor knot to tie my line on, I was using one of the sticky pieces of tape that come with the reel to hold the line on. They say to not tie the line through the holes in the spool for some reason. Something about how the reel is designed. I will go out tomorrow and give it another shot with everyone's suggestions, thank you! Also do you know what DVT charges for that service if there's nothing that needs to be fixed? Maybe I used too much bantam oil or reel grease when lubing the reel. Just used a minimal amount whenever I clean them. Random question, where is the bantam oil supposed to go on the MGL? It said that I needed to put a drop of oil or two somewhere in the reel every 5 or so outings I believe to keep the noise down on the reel? My Japanese isn't the best, so I just placed a drop in all of the bearings I could find. Is it in the bearing underneath the spool tension knob?

I know it's a little more than you planned on spending, but I would wait a little bit and get the new Tatula with the SV spool. Street price should come down to around $180 pretty soon like the other Tatulas have done shortly after coming onto the market. MSRP is $200 right now, but it's a different beast especially for the price! Just an idea worth thinking about! I love this reel almost as much as my Metanium MGL, ALMOST! lol

So I've been having some issue with my new "to me" JDM reels. My handle literally fell of on my new JDM Antares DC somehow, and now my met MGL is now having issues with the centrifugal breaking system. It just started recently doing this, before I could cast a 1/4 oz lure fairly far even directly into the wind. Now it's acting up for some reason. Even with 3-4 of the brakes in the off position, and the little dial for micro-adjustments, it's still backlashing even when the spool tension knob is cranked down pretty tight. I have to have the tension knob so tight, that it hinders the retrieve. Besides sending it off to get fixed, are there any easy things I can do to troubleshoot this issue? Sometimes it will work fine, other times it's almost unusable. I love this reel, just want to get it back working normally again. Thanks in advance for any tips to fix the issue everyone!

20 mph winds yesterday and today! This Oklahoma weather is going to be the death of me. I'm not giving up! It's supposed to die down this weekend though. It's still there. I saw the marked sump yesterday, just 7 foot below the water. And the water temp is now 67, up from the high 50's when I lost it a few weeks ago.

This was for purchasing my employees a measuring cup the needed to measure chemicals we clean our CPAP masks for. The firing was for falsification of records because I didn't clock out even though I was on company business. I have emails where my boss asked me to do all the purchasing, but of course I can't get to those because they cut my employee email off within 20 minutes of being fired.

I only have one boss, so it's pretty easy to find out who called her in when they started to investigate her. I never told her I made the call, but she figured it out and was threatened. I am the clinical coordinator for a sleep lab here in Tulsa, I take care of 6 different labs right now, or did. lol I am fighting to get my job back and working through the appeal process right now. But if I don't get it back, I have plenty of other options. One of them is working 3 days per week, which would be awesome for my fishing.

I went out there today and found my stump where the hone was, but we had 30mph wind gusts and no wetsuit. The water temp is now hitting low 60s. I will have that phone as soon as that water hits 65! Don't give up on me just get. It was only a 6.5 pounder, but I was so excited I was literally shaking. And to the guy posting about the phone being dead and not worth the time, I have AppleCare plus. So as long as I get the phone back to them in any form, they will replace it under AppleCare for $99. Sorry for not updating the thread in the last few days. I just lost my job of 7+ years this week due to retaliation from my boss. I've been dealing with that trying to get my job back. 7 year starts of never getting reprimanded, verbal warning or written up, she fires me on the spot Friday afternoon for reporting her to the ethics line. But the good thing is I have a week with nothing but fishing until I get to go back to work. I had 3 job offers the same day I was terminated. It's been a rough few weeks for me!

It's great for leader material when you're fishing around docks and stumps. I've learned the hard way that 15 pound fluro isn't enough around stumps. I lost my personal best largemouth at Lake Fork on a guided trip while using 15 lb, even though the guide told me to come down with 20. I use it mostly for leader material and use braid as my main line. Trust me, get it! It's a hell of a deal!

Yeah, it's good stuff. Just get some KVD line and lure conditioner and you'll be fine. Spray it on the spool the night before you fish, and when you're spooling it with line initially and it works great. Check out my haul from Walmart today...Got this all for under $35!

So we can buy it anywhere, and still get the rebate correct?

Well I went out a few days ago but the wind was ridiculous, visibility was crap. The weather is supposed to be nice this weekend, so I'm going to make one last valiant effort. Even if there's an inch of sediment covering it, I still think I have a chance of getting it back. I'm going prepared this time. Wetsuit, dive goggles, scuba tank and a rope using the anchor idea to give me something to get down/ back up easily. I'm getting this phone back if it's the last thing I ever do. Hopefully it's not though! lol

Where is everyone buying it from? Don't see it for sale on their website? TW? Edit. I see now in the shop section. Go me! lol Do you have to purchase it from them, or can you find it somewhere else cheaper and still get in on the rebate?

I am going out tomorrow morning with a buddy. Bringing a rope for him to pull me up if I get stuck, or just need help getting to the surface quickly. I picked up some swimming goggles and a bringing a net down with me. It's been down there since Saturday afternoon, so hopefully it's not too deep in the silt/ mud. It's a fairly small lake with very little current. Wish me luck! I don't have a wet suit, so I'm going to have to act quick when I get in the water. Any other ideas to think of before I head out of there tomorrow morning? I know exactly where I dropped it, so hopefully it will still be there tomorrow. Thanks, Stephen

Just curious, what have you been selling your 3" gill squarebills? I think that are some of the most beautiful lure I have ever seen! I know it's against the rule to sell on here, I'm just interested in what some of those have been selling for. I know there's no way to recoup your total time you've invested in them. Amazing work sir!

I found the 2016 Antares parts diagram. I didn't realize that those two parts were different before purchasing. I emailed Jun and gave him the right diagram, he originally sent me the diagram to the 07 model. Hopefully it doesn't take me 3-4 weeks to get these parts from Japan like he quoted. The reel only took 2-3 days to get to Tulsa somehow. Hopefully Shimano USA will let me cancel the last order. Thanks for the info, I'm excited to get this fixed so I can take it back out on the water! http://www.plat.co.jp/parts/SHIMANO-BAIT/ANTARES/03519.pdf

The guy I purchased it from sent it without those two parts. I'm not sure how I missed that when I received the reel. I'll reach out to him and see if he will refund me the cost of having to purchase these parts plus shipping. He advertised the reel as almost brand new, and used a picture of a reel that had those parts in the listing. It's worth a shot, all he can say is no.

Wonderful, I should have waited a few minutes before hit submit on the order. I will call them tomorrow and see if they will let me add those two parts to the order so I don't have to pay shipping twice. $8 shipping to send a 10mm nut! lol Are those two parts more cosmetic than anything, or do they provide more of a function to keep the nut from coming loose?

These are the parts I have, I think the only piece I'm missing is that nut. Do you see anything else I'm missing?

You sir are a life saver! That's the only part I need to put the handle, drag star and spring back in correct? Seems too easy. I went ahead and ordered the part. Thank you.