garroyo130

No idea about the material its just Daiwa's secret sauce Ultimate Tournament Drag or whatever its called. For what its worth, its one of the few drags that the people over on the salt forum don't regularly swap out on the Coastal SVs.

I was referring to the OP, drag washers and bushings. No argument on the riveted part I agree, a fixed support is better. But we cant just say that makes it a crap reel or crap design. By that logic the Calcutta Conquest is a crap reel ...

This isn't bad quality control. Its part of the design. And nothing has demonstrated that it is an inferior design. Even the Shimano Anteres has bushings on the worm gear.

The part is still made out of metal, but I agree it would be better if it were rivetted or had less play.

Once upon a time I used to closely examine reels and figure out how I, a peasant, could improve on the tried and true, professionally engineered designs. One of the first things I noticed was that bushing on the worm gear. I figured, surely a bearing is better. I swapped those out ... there was no change in performance with the added pain of having something else that will have to be maintained. Lots of water gets into that area and I've gone back to bushings. I may be wrong but I believe there are bushings there all the way up to premium Shimanos as well. As for the drag, I would say its adequate. Is carbon better? Possibly at the extreme ranges but the standard drag is fairly linear and I have never seen the need for a smoother drag at extremely low or high settings.

Idk about that. I don't do this but I'm also not eating, on my phone, or otherwise distracted. Im honestly in more of a meditation stage lol where I kind of zone out and focus only on what I'm feeling. Sometimes I swear it helps me feel subtle things I otherwise would miss.

Not sure if its true but ive heard alcohol will swell felt drags.

I don't have an issue with original choices. I do have an issue with the billions of chinese knock offs of everything that you have to sift through when looking for stuff on amazon. I mean really how many D lures does one need????

Same reason we kick the tires when car shopping ... because we dont know enough about what to check but we have to do something, right?

+1 to Yo Zuri Hybrid. 4lb test should be manageable and plenty strong.

Drag a heavy carolina rig until you find rock or structure

Austin has been short staffed as well. Lately I've been seeing people delivering mail out of their personal vehicles ... not sure how that works but the first time I saw it I thought they were taking mail, not leaving it

Might be the angle at which youre pulling the spring scale? Who knows but try tying it to a gallon of water and picking that up with the line ... if the line doesn't break then something wasn't right with the testing method

I've never intentionally received anything from China but the couple of times that I've inadvertently purchased from scam sellers on Amazon, the items took forever to ship from China. Also make sure the site/gear is legit ... just sayin

Good to know ... either way, these stocker trout were getting eaten

Not sure but I saw somewhere how fish farms overseas have realized they can set up chicken coops on docks above fish and the fish wont need feed beyond what the chickens drop and poop.

Price point tells me where to look, reviews/bass resource posts tell me what to look at, and beyond that it just has to feel right in hand. Some rods that others love just haven't done it for me. My only preference is no micro guides and full cork when available. The decision to buy can be made in the store or online but the decision to keep it has to be made on the water. I by no means consider myself a rod expert but after some trial and error I'm fairly happy with what I have which ranges from $40 for a berkley lightning rod for crankbaits to a $160 tatula rod for jigs.

If its not ridiculously windy or dangerous, give it a go. I will deal with most things except strong winds.

You mentioned the thread inserts above as well. I've honestly never seen a reel with thread inserts ... Maybe I need to step up my price point?

^ My issue with the Curado K which has screws going into plastic sideplate vs aluminum frame.

This is a good article on basics https://brovarneybaits.com/swim-jig-basics/ the guy also makes good baits

It didn't, what was the price?

Aren't drag mechanisms pretty much the same across reels? There are differences is washer material but the basic design remains the same which btw I was surprised to see that the Stella 1000 also only has a single fiber washer. I always assumed that was only the case with lesser 1000 sized Shimanos.

Maybe I saw the wrong video ...

Same as above. FG knot and my leader is about 2 rod lengths. I leave a little less than 1/8" tag and then burn the end with a lighter to get a little bulb on the mono and to clean up the frayed ends on the braid.