PhishLI

For a number of good reasons, avoid plastic reels and get the LFS instead.

Tatulas don't have an easily accessible spool bearing mounted on the spool's shaft. It's contained inside the handle-side side plate. Rotate the handle and drag star to allow clearance to rotate off the spool tension cap which will expose the inner spool bearing. Depress the thumbar. With a finger, rotate the spool to see if the inner race is turning along with the spool's axle shaft. If it's hard to tell, pull the spool. Cut the tip off a Q-tip then insert that end into the inner race of the bearing. Rotate it to check if it turns freely. Should be fine but I've seen two of these frozen in '17 Tat SVs over the years. If it is, replace it. If it rotates, then add a drop or two of oil in between the outside of the bearing's inner race and its shield then rotate it. Take your time aligning the threads on the spool tension cap when you reinstall it. A tad tricky but doable with the handle installed. Oil the bearing found in the palming-side sideplate. This will wet the balls and should quiet things down nicely assuming the bearings are OK. Normally they are. The first pic is an oversized bearing shown for illustration purposes to show where to drop the oil into.

You're not alone. The most talented, multi-discipline machinist I've ever come across was in the same boat. He was also a master fixture designer and could conceive and fabricate them too. But get him out of the shop and his mind turned off it seems. Having to assemble a barbeque would turn his brain to goo. Hands shaking and sweat dripping. It was mystifying. And there lies the problem. Two local shops close to me have good reps according the normies, but I've had a clear line of sight to their practices. Your prized reel gets tossed naked other than a tag into a large box with many others. Shots of WD-40 sprayed in before they closed them up. Never.

Another benefit is that you won't end up spinning-out in your head over the slightest squeak or noise.

If you've been taking things apart and putting them back together since you were able to grasp a screwdriver, then a bait caster is a dumb-simple thing to work on. If your knees start knocking when your wife asks you to assemble an IKEA desk, then working on a reel probably isn't for you. If you're somewhere in between, there are plenty of YT reel maintenance and breakdown vids that will help to familiarize you with the process.

Here's just one. Fish Arrow Heavy Poop Stick Bait | Tackle Warehouse I use the 3.6"

I'm generally a 7'3"-7'6" type. However, I picked up a Tatula Elite 6'9" HF specifically for certain spots where I'd be wading out and fishing under low, overhanging tree branches. It's listed as a skipping rod, so it has some tip. More like a MHF tip but it gets into a heavy backbone. I thought it would be just for this situation, but I can't put it down. It's more versatile across its rating than I thought it would be, and I'm not losing much distance when casting compact, heavier baits. Also, I'm often fishing from an un-decked Jon boat, so with my feet being over a foot below the waterline when I'm standing it's the perfect length for skipping.

OK. A priest, a rabbi, and a mullah walk into a nudie bar...

There are other things that matter when you're fishing a heavy-wire hook on a low-stretch setup. Try to avoid keeping your rod tip low and pointed directly at the bait once you've reeled out the slack after a cast. You don't want your line coming out in a straight-line from your reel to the bait. A slight bit of give is available when stroking or dragging a jig by keeping your rod at an angle to the line or generally keeping the tip higher as you work the bait back. Also, if you notice that you're tightly gripping your rig, take a chance and relax your grip a little. That'll also impart just a little "give" into the system. The first part of a hit you'll feel is when they suck it in where the metal bangs through their lips or on the back of their mouths, and then a split second later when their tongue grips the bait against the roof of their mouth. That's right when you want to set the hook, when you feel that pressure and the fish's weight. You should be successful swinging on them but there's always the chance that they might be in the process of ejecting the bait where they won't catch the hook's point at all, and ain't nothing you can do about that. I was never really a blown-hookset-machine, but it happened enough for me to try to figure out why. I initially thought about what I was doing in total then adjusted my approach when fishing chatterbaits on a MHF or a Fast rod and straight braid. My miss-rate diminished greatly. This translated directly not only to heavy wire baits but somewhat lighter single hooks too when fished on stouter, fast rods.

This?

This comes down to putting in time over a long period of time and recognizing what's happening when it happens. It's easy to jump to conclusions based on random successes or failures, but over time you'll find there are real nuances you'll need to pay attention to. Having the flexibility and willingness to get out at different times also helps to build your data base. What was true today isn't often what'll be true tomorrow, especially in a place like Ronk. It's more dynamic with regard to bait movement than any other place around here. Shock survey data shows that the biggest bass on the island live there, but the impossibly dense grass fields give them so many places to hide. Finding hot bite windows where they're roaming on grass line edges or feeding up is the key, and that happens almost exclusively during darkness.

He fishes the NPFL.

Ronkonkoma is the Rubik's cube of lakes here. Very difficult to crack and seemingly only streaky when you do. Just thousands of square feet of monolithic, tightly packed, tall, thick grass which until this year's high water came right up to the surface. It's been low for the previous 4 years. Snag it with a crank or anything else and you'll uproot a plant 15 feet long from the sandy bottom and it'll feel like you're winding in a wet, velcro, beach towel. Because the water only came up this year, you'll find hard bottom from the old weed edge up to the tree-brush line all along the shore. Your best bet is fishing low light in these zones as bait fish push up right against the shoreline. LM, SM, and large schools of Walleye and Crappie come in to smash them. Find a hot zone like where the feeder creek from Lily Pond meets the big lake and you can hit the jackpot. That zone heading back to Victory ramp always has activity at night or very early morning. Once the sun's back up everything buries back into the grass. Punching those weed edges closest to the shore is a good strategy during early morning sessions. There are others too. You just need to be there at the right time as schooling predators are constantly pushing the bait all around. This leads to either random catches or unreal jackpots. I've had my sickest day of fishing ever there, but also my worst arse kickings.

Get some of this Mend-It Softbait Glue | Tackle Warehouse, and after you get home fix them almost endlessly. You wouldn't believe how many times I've salvaged baits over and over again.

Straight from the horse's mouth.