diehardbassfishing

I don't even have THAT spinning gear use concern! When decided to get serious about bass fishing I gave up my Zebco 404, and decided to get good with one type of reel. A baitcaster just seemed right. Never looked back or anywhere else. I can throw everything from unweighted soft-plastics to 3 oz swim-baits. Yea, they are higher maintenance, but I like that too... Karl

Wondered when this rod would come up here. Yes, they are great rods. I have the 6'9" Med Heavy. The cork handle and fore-grip is the main reason it caught my attention. The S-glass tip is what it's marketed around. Like yours, mine is black and gold. The new blue rods do not have the fore-grip. I don't palm my reels. I use the fore-grip. Thankfully St. Croix also has great offerings with full cork grips. The Tommy Martin Signature is a terrific rod. Enjoy! Karl

Largely just water. But general purpose spray cleaners / glass cleaners (without ammonia!) work just fine. The newer spray cleaners that are "free of everything", and "naturally based" are actually pretty good. Strong harsh cleaners are not necessary, or necessarily good. WD40 has it's purposes - mostly to try to remove corrosion. Outside of that, not a go to cleaner. Also don't see a need for bleach either. It's corrosive to metal. Keep it simple. Karl

Yea, that could help. Also could try to push the bearing inward. The bearing could be kinda stuck coming out at an angle. Try pushing back in and try again pulling out. I'm successful just using a toothpick through the bearing's inner race. The problem with this is you are trying to pull it at an angle. So moving around with the pic can help find the sweet spot that allows the bearing to be leveraged out. Does this reel open beetle-wing style? (This makes it a lot harder to work on). If so, can you remove the side plate from the reel by removing the side plate from the hinge? Karl

May want to read this current thread... https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/211742-is-there-an-sv-spool-to-fit-a-tatula-200hd/ Karl

I also had issues getting the 200HD to behave. I bought this high capacity reel as a "solo travel reel". Figuring while on a guided bass outing, even if I had a number of snag breakoffs, I'd manage to keep a decent amount of line on the spool. I got very frustrated with "unforced backlashing". Spool control is poor, particularly when the spool is full. Sometimes a lot of spool tension would help - but of course killed casting distance. I ended up getting the Mag Z 153 spool from Hedgehog Studio. That works great! Lost some line capacity, but now happy with the reel. (Yea, it's quite a silly amount of money for the spool, but I already had a lot invested in it. Cork knobs, and hybrid bearings also from Hedgehog. To make it a bit more silly, I'm not a big fan of TWS!). After all this it's still my travel reel, and I enjoy it... Karl

"Thee" tool - the factory Daiwa driver for side plate screws is "SLPW SPECIAL DRIVER 4.0". I ordered mine through one of the Japanese JDM stores. Hmmm, wonder if The Tackle Trap carries them. They are silly expensive. But the tool fits the screw head exactly - center pin on the blade of the driver keeps the tool from slipping off the screw head. Don't have to be afraid of applying torque when you need to get a stubborn one out. Karl

No, once the spool is loose just the least bit, going more will do nothing. I set my reels to be "loose then tighten aprox 1/10 of a turn". This just helps the line from going backlash with a simple clutch released free spool. Amazing how a spool can run away on you while doing nothing! Karl

St. Croix Premier, Model PC66MF2. Med Fast 6'6" 2 Piece. This is my travel rod. Fantastic! If want a more backbone (the PC66MF2 is no wimp!) there is the PC66MHF2. Med Heavy Fast. Karl

Well that's good to hear that the Mag control is working as far as the magnets are concerned. The next check with the system is the spool's inductor. It moves in and out of the gap between the 2 magnets. Your Tatula has Magforce Z control. Try this: Remove side plate again. Check if the cylindrical inductor at the end of the spool moves in and out. It's spring loaded, and normally sits close to the spool. Try to gently pull the inductor away from the spool. I'm thinking that the spool's inductor may be stuck in it's "out" position, which would limit casting distance. Karl (Your spool is perforated. Be careful when spooling line. Never let line go into the spool through the holes - especially on the inductor side. This could interfere with the "in/out" movement of the inductor.)

The outer ring is what should move with the mag adjustment dial. The inner ring is stationary. Just check that outer magnet itself is indeed turning. Not just the plastic frame. And for the inner magnet, check that the inner magnet itself is not turning with the dial. Karl

Yup, one of the magnets is free. (Misspoke earlier about outside magnet. Could be either. The test is to turn the mag dial and check for the magnets to move in opposition). If they move together or don't move at all when turning the dial, the mag force will always be at max. I repaired a Diawa with this exact symptom. It's a sorta tricky to fix if haven't taken apart the mag system. First time is the hardest. Sounds like a new reel, so should be a warranty repair. Karl

Yea, this is designed for salt water fishing from shore. They use heavy baits, thrown long distance. Abu 6500 holds a lot of line. For bass fishing, you not only not don't need the extra line capacity, you certainly don't need the weight of a 6500. A 5500 series is as wide an Ambassador as you should go. And a 4500 is likely ideal. These round reels are not light - and the 4500 will still be pretty heavy by "today's standards". Karl

Check this 1st. Remove the side plate and see if you have magnet rotation when turning the mag control dial. Looks to me that you won't see the outside magnet turning. If there is a glue issue with the magnet and the magnet carrier, the magnets will stay "aligned" and the mag force will be max. Been there. (And don't think you'll find the bearings lubed with grease. Factory oiled, yes.) Karl

For sure - casting distance will not improve in any significant way. I cast reels with hybrid ceramic, 100% ceramic, and SS. The real benefit to ceramic is they are low maintenance; and can run them dry. SS needs oil - and pretty regularly. I've had my SS bearings yell for oil by accident. Three to six hard long outings, and the oil light comes on! They'll let you know "it's time"! SS bearing performance is reliant on good oil. Good light oil. And flushing between lubes. Remove one of the bearing shields. Can't truly flush a bearing with shields in place. Ceramics can be a bit loud if run dry. It's not a bad loud, but some don't like it. Bottom line is - a clean, properly oiled SS bearing will compete head to head with any ceramic set-up.

Yes, oil. Just don't over do it. Apply oil with a swab or cloth.

I have a Tat and never had issue with cap bearing. Hearing this, I'd wonder if there is an issue with the spool tension cap O ring.

Keep spool tension low! Don't over brake either. Half ounce to start. Rod loading & lure release timing are things that come with practice!

I miss this. It's so helpful for finding current forum chats. What do we need to do to cure it? Karl

Tried it for fun. It's kinda stiff. Found that the line gets "rashed" quicker than better lines by the tip when casting long and hard.

You can tell if a lure is too much for the rod when it's just hanging at the end of the tip. Maybe bounce it a bit for "extra measure". If the tip of the rod looks a bit over stressed in its bend with a static hold - lure is too heavy. A proper weight lure for a rod doesn't load the tip much at all; until you cast of course! Now, you can cast a lure that is heavy (even very heavy) for a rod with little worry of breakage by just "lobbing" it. You don't load the rod much with a lob cast. Just enough to slowly swing the lure in the right direction and let her fly. It works.

I had the bearing on my fresh water use Ryoga get to this point. Discovered these bearings are not stainless steel. They depend on oil coating to prevent rust. I flushed my AR bearing with lots of lighter fluid, right in place. No bearing removal - just the collar. Many applications of fluid and drying with q-tips and cloth; until most of the rust was gone. Worked on the collar too, but that's easy. Reassemble with light coating of oil (widely recommended over grease). I actually used grease, with no problem (did the work before finding that a light coating of oil is best). I think this one will clean up and work fine. Especially if it was working OK. Mine didn't fail in the Ryoga. Just developed a faint squeak. Heard of many others cleaning and oiling with success.

Retired for the year now. Kept getting skunked - last 3 outings using cranks. Wed was 50 degrees and nice for a few hours. Couldn't help but to try once more. But change-up to ribbon tail worm. That did the trick. Just wanted last outing to end with a catch. Especially nice since this season I really put a lot of work into soft plastics t-rig fishing. Karl

Sure about this price? Seems way too low... Karl

I picked up a Patriarch XT to see what it was like. Great reel! Keep the brake blocks "light". I have 2 engaged, and spool tension also "light" (no lure drop slow stuff. Just keep side play away, and maybe a fraction of a turn more). It casts extremely well. Light and med weight lures. Haven't tried anything I'd call heavy on it, but I'm sure it would perform just fine. My go-to reels are Daiwa Zillion, Tatula, and Ryoga - just for reference. Karl