Bigbox99

That's completely normal.

No. Just the combined slop in the pinion yoke/spool pin and anti reverse bearing. It's normal. Daiwa's have a little less anti reverse slop than Shimanos but they still have the same spool pin to pinion yoke slop. Any rattling/clicking from the spool pin chattering in the pinon yoke when reeling aggressively on the water will be practically indiscernible from the ambient noises present when fishing. This is a product of normal reel operation, good hearing (I too am cursed with this) and messing with the reel indoors without a bait on the line to press the spool pin into the pinion yoke. I can only really pick up the chattering on the water when burning in a low resistance bait like a weightless plastic for another skip. It's just a soft chatter from the reel as I rappidly crank the handle

I like the 7 MH of that line. It's more powerful MH with a nice slower bend to it. I'll use mine for 3/8 chatterbaits, spinnerbait, buzzbaits, ploppers and bigger cranks like the 1/2 oz to 1 oz square bills and L bills like the Swank and Hybrid Hunter. Not a fan of the 6'6' MH or the medium rods. The 7 MH is the star of the lightning rod show IMO. Handles Cull Shads pretty well too.

This is probably the culprit.

The 7' MH? That one is super stiff. It's a broom handle of a rod but that's its strength IMO. While it no all arounder its a good cheap option for a pitching/jig/frog stick.

Yeah. I never stand up when fishing on my kayak despite it being one of the best. I will stand up or roll off it onto the dock when I beach it at the ramp. Normally it's a non issue but it flipped on me right at the ramp and pinned this Megabass Hyuga between the kayak and ramp one time.

I have that rod too in the casting version. I use mine as a budget weightless plastics, jerkbait and topwater rod. It's been my go to cheap M powered rod to recommend in spinning or casting. Shame it's going away.

Yeah, Shimano even has different instructions for the US market that say you can use tension if you want. I assume they did this to not make any waves with the US market that thinks you have to use spool tension. My point is that "really lose spool tension" may still be greater than zero spool tension since it's subjective as to what "really lose" means and US users are notorious for cranking down on that knob. A good starting point it to set it to zero side to side play or with a smidgen of play so you are sure it is at zero and then troubleshoot from there.

It might be worth contacting Daiwa to see if they will even warranty the rod. The warranty is for manufacturering defects and not user error. If the rod tip snapped pulling a fish out of grass then that sounds like user error to me. It's easy to high stick the rod doing that and bend the tip in a way that it easily snaps off. If the blank shattered or the rod folded in half then absolutely use the warranty. Tip breakages? That's user error and I've done it myself to a few rods.

Is really loose spool tension the same as just eliminating side to side play or is it more loose than that? Shimano recommends setting the spool tension to just eliminate play.

Looks cool. It let's the rod maker expose the blank and add accents to the exposed blank area such as winding checks, paint, decals ect.

Shimano is a Japanese company. Of course you can.

I don't put antique reels like the Ambassadeurs in the same category as modern round reels. Both are awesome but the modern round reels have offset gearboxes to fit large main gears to provide excellent winching power and high drag pressures. I see modern round reels as being even higher end than low profile reels. Low pros are made from cast alloy and plastic finished with paint. A modern round reel is machined from bar stock and anodized. It's not about weight or performance but the expense and quality of the components and construction. A modern round reel is truly a luxury item. Machined bar stock > cast alloy Anodized > paint https://jdmfishing.com/product-category/reels/megabass/baitcasting-megabass-reels/lin-baitcasting/ https://jdmfishing.com/product-category/reels/megabass/baitcasting-megabass-reels/monoblock/

I assume to protect the A/R bearing and to use existing components. Deps doesn't make reels so much as they make custom versions of reels. In the case of the Deps Zillion they were limited to working with existing Daiwa parts and the Zillion used a conventional drag. It also meets the requirements of a reel that is meant to be used with a locked down drag all the time without damage to the drag components (belleville washers) because it doesn't have them. Once the reel is assembled the drag stack is pressed together then it lives that way at lockdown forever. With a normal a reel left at max lockdown for years on end with belleville washers to apply pressure on the drag stack the washers can deform and take to the flattened state resulting in decreasing pressure on the drag stack over time.

I find it neat that there has even been reels in the past that were designed to be left max lock down drag and they did this removing the bellville washers and replacing them with thicker flat washers. Without the curved washers to go flat and lose pressure the problem of a loss of drag over time from running high drag pressures doesn't exist The reel will have zero drag pressure until the drag star is screwed all the way in and then it's max drag at lockdown. One of the Deps Zillions did this and I think there is a Kastking reel also but you can do this to any baitcast reel. I've done it to my parts FrankenZillion when I put it back together with junk parts after removing the desirable parts for other reels. I think it has a Tatula crank shaft with a Fuego CT handle and retainer with one of those little plastic drag stars from a 15 Alphas SV or SS SV103. I need to get a pic of that abomination.

The bass rods are pretty stout in the backbone and shut off after the 1st guide. The stream/trout rods are very noodly but that's what you want for trout.

They're basically the hot rods of fishing reels. They were being modified when they were cutting edge and people stuck with them and continues to modify them out of tradition and genuine interest. They're even aftermarket frames and parts to build one completely from scratch much like a kit hot rod made without any antique car parts. Some people just think they're neat. Much like how this hot rod isn't going to set a new Nurburgring world record an old Ambassadeur isn't going to have 20 pounds of drag or winch in super deep diving cranks with ease with a main gear the size of a quarter but none of that actually matters. Bass fishing isn't serious buisness. We use fake bait to catch real fish then just throw them back when we're done. We do this for enjoyment and for some people a big part of that enjoyment is the tackle and a further subset is really into these types of reels.

12# Sniper is what I use. You could bump it up to 14 if you like. I typically run 10# on a ML, 12# on a M and 14# on a MH. It's not rocket science but it works. I'll add that I use straight Sniper because I cut and retie frequently and this makes line consumption an issue when using braid to a fluoro leader. When using a leader I prefer Big Game mono. I also don't trust fluoro as a leader. Casting and hook setting beats up fluoro at the knot and I feel like a leader is getting even more beat up due to the short amount of line in the leader. With the high elasticity of Big Game that leader can act like a rubber band stretching on every cast and hookset all day and that won't harm it one bit.

Also in case anyone still belives that because something isn't on Tacklewarehouse then it must be fake, here is the Daiwa China website link to their low profile reels (what they call water drop reels). Daiwa has many markets and there are sometimes unique products for that market. The Fuego SV along with the Salamadura reels are parts of the CS line that is unique to the Chinease market and available on retailers like Aliexpress. https://www.daiwachina.com/ProductList/list.aspx?lcid=55&scid=55

No, but it should work. I would use a 17 Tatula SV compatible spool since that is what the Fuego SV appears to be using.

I just went to the St Croix website to check out their newest rod.

It's not the drag washers that are the issue but the curved metal washers that transfer the drag star tightening into pressure on the drag surfaces. Over time those washers will take to their compressed shape if left compressed and this will result in a lack of drag pressure. I've had it happen to me twice and replacing the curved washers fixed the problem.

I too have a weakness for anodized round reels.

Just stop using spool tension. Line will flow right off that spool with the weight of the bait and line sinking.

Plastic on most reels.