David Dionne

Got a couple beloved 103ML’s and one of them is making noise on retrieve. So far I’ve replaced every bearing except “45 B86-1702 - Ball Bearing C”. I cant get at that bearing because I stripped the philips screw “70 E13-4503 - Drive Shaft RET Screw A” trying to get it out. It wouldn’t budge. And the only video I could find that went this far into a TDZ wasn’t in English, and while they did spend time talking about and pointing at this exact screw, they skipped over its removal...which leaves me wondering if it’s reverse threaded. Any reel junkies out there, what are my options? Heres the schematic... https://www.daiwa.com/us/service/manuals/image/baitcasting/TD-Z103ML.pdf Thanks

Yeah, I’ve got an 8’ rod on the way. Thx

It’s not about the #, it’s the diameter. Maxcuatro 65 is the same diameter as 12 floro, the lighter braid dug in way to much for my taste. 65 has been working wonderfully, and it doesn’t struggle with the grass. Ive watched that video many times...and it doesn’t look like he’s casting anywhere near 60 yards. It’s a great video though.

I know this is an old thread but I’m struggling with this too. This is important to me because the lake/pond by my house has a single 100 yard stretch of bank that I’m permitted to fish from. However, I can easily understand how this particular topic be of little to no importance to many. Because it’s all I currently have to fish, I fish this stretch almost every day, and I fish every bit of it. And casting distance not only increases the available fishable water, it also affords different presentations from different positions, to the same little plots of water. Within the range I can reach there are a couple beds of grass I can cast over. In one spot I can cast over two beds with ~1.5oz of lure weight. Switching to maxcuatro 65# with a 3’ 20# FC leader has made all the difference in the world on long cast hooksets as well as dragging those long cast catches through all that grass. But I think because I fish this little stretch so much, the weightless senko (wacky and t-rig), by far, nets me the most bites...I wish this weren’t the case, because for me, casting a 5” beyond ~40 yards gets pretty tricky. But it is what it is. I’d be thrilled if I could get 60 yards, but that’s proved quite challenging. I’m currently looking for “the right” 8’ rod, but I don’t know if it will actually make a difference. A 4 EWG and 5” senko weigh about 10g or 3/8oz. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I just ordered a tiny metal spatula like thing with rounded edges all the way around, maybe it can help me pick at the spool without damaging the line terribly, idk. I thought about trying a toothpick but decided against that. But I’ll set this reel aside for now. Thx for the responses.

I know this is ancient but this has happened to me many times. I upgraded to 65# maxcuatro and it happened to me yesterday. I didn’t lose the lure but it dug in pretty deep. My question is, how do you clear it? Or can you? The previous times I just cut it out with an exacto knife after struggling for quite awhile...was a mess and lotsa lost line. thx