Lead Head

On your Daiwa reels, the culprit is usually the little piece of metal that holds tension on the brake dial. Sometimes it gets out of position, and sometimes it needs a tiny bend to put it back to level and keep pressure on the bottom of the dail. I cant get to a diagram right now to tell you the exact part, but if you recently pulled 3 of them apart maybe you know the part im talking about.

This is my personal experience, im not claiming it as hard fact... When its hot, most of the sun shirts are fine. When its heat warning, air so thick you need to bite off a chunk and chew before you can breathe it, 90-100 and 90÷% humidity HOT, the Huk shirts with the mesh back and sleeve bottoms are noticeably cooler. The Icon-x is my go-to. If you shop hard and with patience, you can get them from Amazon for $20-30. As for the rest, a Real Deal Brazil tarp hat (surprisingly light and comfortable in the heat), Huk or KK lightweight fishing shorts, Crocs, and Costa sunglasses. Sunblock on my legs, face, and hands. Oh yeah, compression fit underwear is extremely important.

I throw this in on most of the Floro threads I run across, so here goes.. When first getting a feel for FC, please do yourself a favor and start with invisix or sniper to establish a baseline. From this baseline you can go up or down in price range however you see fit. Too many people grab a spool of cheap FC and hate it. Cheap FC tends to exaggerate all the bad qualities of FC. It usually is stiff, has terrible memory, and terrible knot strength compared to mono and higher priced floro. Im not saying all cheap FC is bad, but it is my opinion that anyone who forms an opinion on FC based on experiences with lines like Vanish is doing themselves a great disservice. Im not trying to call anyone out, Vanish is just a good example for this post. I understand "cheap" and "expensive" are relative terms, but hopefully I rambled enough that you guys understand what im trying to say here.

Occasionally, when opening a reel, those springs like to stick to the side plate instead of staying on the frame. Locating and putting them together somewhere they can't roll is the first thing I do when opening a reel. I have become pretty OCD about this after spending about an hour crawling around in the floor wearing a headlamp.

I would suggest looking into a custom rod. At least talk to a local rod builder or call up site sponsor DVT before pulling the trigger. A good custom rod builder should be able to get you a rod that will do what you want, and look exactly how you want it to. Im braid to leader on most of my baitcasters to help counter the sharp rocks I regularly fish. Its my opinion that SUPER sensitive rods are overkill with braid. A quality "sensitive" rod matched with a quality fast sinking floro leader, and good slack line management should have you feeling everything and missing very few strikes. This is what my time on the water has taught me for how I fish, YMMV I can't imagine needing more than 40lb 832 and that's mostly for line management. If you're using leader you will likely never come close to failing 30lb 832, and anything sharp enough to cut 30lb will probably cut 50lb just as easily. Again this is more of my opinion, YMMV

I used it in 15lb for T-rigs in cover for 2 years and loved it. 3rd year I had 2 separate spools from different suppliers that would fail on EVERY hookset without exception. Same rod, reel, and knot as previous 2 years, but suddenly 100% knot failure on hookset. This was something like 20 years ago but they lost me. I don't know if they changed something in the line or had a bad run but I do know changing line (stren then eventually sunline) made the problem go away. Since people are still using it all this time later I assume my experience was was an anomaly, but 2 bad spools out of 6 and 3 ruined fishing trips is not something I can forgive.

For me, bfs is mostly Ned's. Most of the bass I catch are in the 1-3lb range however, 4-8lb drum are common. I need just enough butt power to keep a 8lb fish above sharp rocks, and enough tip to cast a 1/16oz Ned. I found drop shot blanks work well for me, specifically XF blanks. Most XF tips are softer than F or MF tips and work for me. Notice I said "for me" alot. Bfs can be something very different from person to person. I suggest figuring out exactly what technique and size lure you will be using the most and giving it very heavy consideration when choosing your blank.

Just a heads up about that button- It is my understanding that the heading sensor is never truly off if it has power. That button is the pairing button. You need a switch or to disconnect it from the battery if you truly want it to be off. I installed mine with a switch and never bothered to test the power draw but it is supposedly insignificant, it calls for a 1 amp fuse so it cant be much. According to my instructions it only has 3 light patterns. 1. 3 seconds solid when first getting power, then no light if no Bluetooth connection. 2. 2 flashes per second while attempting to establish a Bluetooth connection. 3. 1 flash every 3 seconds if connected to Bluetooth. This is how mine works anyway, I think its from 2018-2019.

My favorite is the SV103 and nothing else is close. The Great thing about 34mm platforms is that you can basically tinker any of them into doing anything.

With the exception of a 21 zillion, all my reels are old Daiwa. Aside from 2 alphas sv 105, they all run 34mm spools. The 21 zillion is the only reel I own that has a t-wing. I hope to eventually get a OG zillion, and a T3. I have bought every sv103 I have ever stumbled across (unfortunately only 2) and will continue to buy them if one pops up at a used reel price and not a collector price. If I ever break down and learn how to shop the auctions in Japan it might become a... problem? I'm still sifting through the piles of beat up reels on ebay where most have way too high of a price tag. I don't mind a beat up reel, but I don't want to pay $300+ for a reel that looks like it got dragged behind the car on the way to go fishing. The second alphas I got from Japan had small twigs, debris, and a half of a leaf inside the gear box. I cleaned it out and cleaned it up and now its great, but how do you get that kind of debris in a gear box?

Sounds like a good opportunity to look into a custom rod.

I like the fish-n-fool (uni twice through the eye) way better for straight braid.

I use the double for everything but straight braid. I can keep the tags (actually 3 for the double) about the same as most other knots I tie. I hear the double SD jam is just as good, but never got around to trying it. The double Pitzen just don't fail for me.

When building my own rods, I pretty much ignore balance. I fish moving baits tip down, and bottom contact rods are built as light as budget allows. I'm just not going to move the handle/reelseat out of my comfort zone, or add weight to a light build for the sake of balance. The closest I come to worrying about balance is getting liberal with epoxy on the butt-grip.

First thought, cut that leader off! You don't know if its been on there 2 weeks or 2 years. For baitcasters, I don't like having a leader knot on my spool, so I use one long enough to be outside the reel when casting and outside the tip top when pitching. That usually in the 5-6' range, depending on the rod. I replace it before it gets close to 2 or 3'. I personally don't like leaders shorter than 2'. For spinning, I personally usually go by the same standard as above, but I think most people run closer to the 10-20' you are seeing on your reel. Having the leader knot on the spool of a spinning reel don't have the same potential complications as it does with casting. Not knowing the size/type of rod, reel, or braid you are working with I can't give any detailed suggestions.

Put me in the t-wing fatigue camp. The way I fish bottom contact makes any reel with a t-wing completely unusable. I would love a modern zillion without the t-wing.

Keep in mind 6lb siege = 10lb supernatural 12lb siege = roughly 18lb supernatural (falls between 16 and 20lb) Domestic lines like to underrate the breaking strength of their line so you will think it is really strong, truth is, its just big.

If nothing else, lightly sand and thoroughly clean the old epoxy if you will be applying directly over it. If your not worried about cosmetics and just want it to work, lightly sand, clean, then put a coat of Sally Hansen Tough as Nails clear fingernail polish over the existing epoxy. If the cracks are really bad I would go with epoxy, but that comes with a significant time investment turning the rod assuming you don't have a rod dryer.

It's a washer, I think they call it a "main gear washer" (not sure) i know the one used in older Daiwa reels was hard and easy to break. It was sometimes difficult or expensive to source. Saw blade is what resets your thumb-bar (clutch). I'm just guessing here but it might be the "clutch trip plate". Always make sure you have the teeth pointed to the front of the reel or your thumb-bar/clutch won't reset...

I have said this before, and will say it again... If you are trying floro for the first time, please start with invisix or sniper for your first experience. These lines give a solid baseline for floro and you can decide if you want to upgrade or downgrade based on your experience. While some people have positive experiences with cheaper lines, few will dispute the consistent, user friendly qualities of these lines. I'm not saying they are the best, or that you will love them, just that they give a solid baseline floro experience. Having said all of that, thank you for your review. It was was well written and leaves me with the impression that big game floro behaves similar to other budget floro I have tried.

In my hands the bb1 did one thing well. It was great at throwing heavy lures far. For everything else it was finicky and prone to backlash, though still serviceable. The Tat (for me) is far more versatile, and parts for cosmetics, upgrades, and maintenance are plentiful and easy to find. Since you will be limited to just one setup I suggest keeping the Tat.

In your price range, and looking for something a little different from shimano, go jdm zillion or zillion hd. Especially if you are considering domestic daiwa reels. Go with the HD on the flip. At the jdm price, the Zillion is still among the best bang-for-your-buck reels out there.

Sv103, I have spools and gear sets to cover everything.

What connection knot are you using? Have you tried others? What floro are you using? Many things can play into this, but it could be something as simple as changing or backing-off on your hookset. Those thin light wire finesse worm hooks don't usually need a big hookset.

If I'm fishing unfamiliar water I usually start off trying to match the cover as close as possible. The harder for me to see the better. If I'm getting few bites or only small fish, I try some different flake. If I'm getting no bites I start contrasting from the cover, usually darker first and brighter second. I'll do the same when attempting to match whatever the bass are eating if I know what it is. Try to match as close as possible, add subtle changes, then contrast completely.