baitcastnewbie

Worked it out! I didn't align the shaft and the nut under the drag star properly. Thanks a ton!

So today I took apart my scorpion/curado 70 for the first time for cleaning. This is how it looks before I put the gear sideplate back on. However, when I tried to reinstall the sideplate, the anti-reverse collar didn't sit flush to the AR bearing. It protrudes out about 1/4'', making it impossible for me to put the drag star and handle assembly back on. I can't seem to figure out what I did wrong. I've checked to make sure the collar is keyed correctly to the washer on the main gear. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Extremely informative. Thank you for the recommendations

Do you take off and rinse/clean the inside of the sideplate and the braking unit?

I'll mostly be going after mangrove jacks in the estuary. I don't think that application requires much more line than regular bass fishing, does it?

Surprising to hear that you never found any moisture in the sideplate. Considering the water splashing as the spool spins and how spools nowadays often often have porting that just seems impossible to me. I always find some water in my lew's sideplate area after fishing. Hmmm...

When rinsing my reel would it be a good idea take off the sideplate, remove and wash the spool, and then wipe the sideplate with a warm damp towel? I am most concerned with saltwater getting in the spoolbearings. Should I then apply some water-displacing cleaner like WD40 or corrosion-X to the sideplate, spool, and brake unit before and after each fishing trip?

Hey guys, This winter my friend and I are going on a 6-week trip to the coastal area and expecting to do some saltwater fishing with our baitcasting gear. I've got a lew's tournament MB, and he's got a curado 70. I used to fish spinning reels primarily, so saltwater was never that big of a concern to my mind. However, now that I only have my baitcasting reel with me, I'm becoming wary of the splashing that the reel receives whenever the spool rotates (which doesn't occur in spinning reels). It just seems inevitable that water is going to migrate from the spool into the two sideplate areas (on both the palming side and the handle side). In freshwater, that's not an issue. However, I can see how it could be a problem with saltwater. Given that, is there anything I should do to my reel to "saltwater proof" it before going fishing? Also, what is the best way to clean a baitcasting reel after a saltwater fishing trip? Do you guys have any products or procedures that you would recommend? Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

Looks like it's a common occurrence. I wonder why there hadn't been any threads about this until I brought it up.

Yea DomQ says his lews do that so that's probably a lews thing. It's also more noticeable without line on the reel, because with a full spool the line absorbs some of the jerkiness so that becomes less obvious.

I guess that's settled then. You're all such a helpful, supportive group. I really appreciate all the replies!

Thanks so much for offering to help with the reel. I think if need be I'm confident I can tear into the reel myself (I've done that with spinning reels, so I should be able to handle a baitcaster after doing some research). It's just that I won't be having my toolbox with me for the next couple of weeks (that and I'm lazy). Yea once I tighten up my drag the reverse play is reduced, and after a certain point it completely goes away. So according to you guys that's probably due to some excess oil in the shaft/AR bearing I guess? In that case I think I'll leave the reel as is and fish with it for a while. Then when it comes time to do maintenance I'll take the reel apart and give it a good cleanup. Would that be ok? Or would you recommend cleaning out the AR before fishing with the reel?

Thanks so much guys. In regard to cleaning the AR bearing, well, it's my first bc reel so I'd rather not tear into it right away. Would it help to just use a q-tip to clean the "socket" where the shaft inserts into on the palming side? Is that where the AR bearing is?

What do you mean by "adding a little load to the bearing cage reducing a little of the free play"? It's a new reel, so I don't think there should be any buildup on the shaft, unless by buildup you mean an excess of grease from the factory? Excuse my confusion, I'm just a completely unfamiliar with the baitcaster. In any case, thanks for your input. Do you do anything about it? Does it affect your fishing in any way?

Hey guys, So I just bought my first baitcasting reel after having used spinning gear my entire life. I got a Lew's tournament mb, and have been playing around with it for the past couple days while i wait for my rod and line to be shipped. Having practically no experience with baitcasters, there's something I've noticed about the reel that concerns me: when i back off the drag, the anti-reverse becomes not as "instantaneous" as when the drag is tightened. That is, when I try to crank backwards, I notice a tiny bit of a jerk-back of the handle before it's completely stopped by the anti-reverse. This becomes less noticeable and eventually disappears as I tighten up the drag more and more. I wonder if this is a normal thing with baitcasters, or it's because I have got a faulty unit. Should I do something about this? Thanks!