WetBlanket

The new Tat80s and Tat100s are far superior to any SLX or Curados, but with the tariffs in the US, i don't know for how much you can get them these days.

Check if somebody posted a maintenance video of your reel on youtube. It really is not difficult. Simply film yourself disassembling the reel, and don't mix all the parts. When you disassemble the level wind assembly, put all the level wind parts together, everything that's installed on the handle shaft together, etc. When you split different sections of the reel, it's much easier to reassemble everything.

MagZ is for range, and SV is for control, so it won't be as forgiving. I personally never understood this fascination of casting thumb free. You will never, no matter the technology used, be able to cast for maximum distance without a thumb. And if you don't care about the distance, just max your brakes, apply some friction to the spool shaft with the mechanical brake knob, and you will be able to cast those 20 meters without a thumb even with a cheapo $100 reel. Get the new Tatula in 100 or 200 size. If most fish is over 10lb, a 200 size will be great.

You don't even need a Moderate action, Mod Fast will be perfectly fine on a heavy rod.

Put some new low viscosity oil in both spool bearings, and see if there's any changes.

What's the newest reel with the TW that you've tried? Because i wasn't a fan either, the steez 2016, and how wide the reel was in the front, is the reason i disliked it, but newer models, this isn't at a thing whatsoever. You try a 21 zillion, the newst steez, newest alphas, the newest tat 100/200, steez ct, etc, and they're perfectly comfy.

On the handle shaft where the spring washers are installed, isn't there another washer with one side that is more slippery (feels like teflon)? If you do, you might've installed it on the wrong side because it's the part that makes it so your star drag doesn't stutter.

I prefer white braid over any other, but only on presentations i use a fluoro leader on, which is almost everything i fish with. If going straight braid, and fish in the weeds, then camo or dark green is usually what i use.

I lost my fav super spook as well earlier this year. The *&#&*@&^# gull stole it from me, and flew away with it.

I compared the Z2020 to the first gen Ryoga 2020 and 1016 over years of use. The ryoga is certainly more solidly built, and has a superior gear set that will outlast the one inside the z2020, but when it comes to torque/power, they're indentical. This is the main reason why i don't believe that round reels have an advantage anymore, but then again, not against every low profile reel, obviously.

I thought the price of a deps250 is ridiculous, but $350 is literally casting a 24 Met DC on the end of your line. Finish looks great, though.

I don't feel like a round reel excels at anything (maybe better in salwater because they're usually no painted). Some low profile reels can have as much torque as a round reel. I use them just because it's something different, that's about it.

Insane update. A guy got snagged in the same spot 3 days later, and pulled out my DEPS250 from the snag. Water levels dropped, and and he had waders, so he just pulled it out. Asked $15, and gave me back the lure lol. Talk about a miracle.

Are these worth getting? Wanted one in the 190 size since they came out, but barely hear anyone talk about them, so i assumed they're "nothing special".

It absolutely is. It has been almost 24h since i lost it, and it's as if it happened 5 minutes ago. I am shook.

The sad part is that i did have one. But the little guides on the lure retrieve through which you'd put your line through, were too small to go through my musky fluoro leader i had, so i couldn't use it, it was a colossal failure. I just bought this Daiwa lure retreiver, and didn't pay attention to the size of the guides it had. What a mistake. How did you lose em? To snags as well? How did that happen?

Not what i want to hear right now lol. And yes, this is the most expensive lure i've lost since i got into fishing in 2000. Not sure how i will get over this.

You guys are not helping at all right now. The stress is building😭

The new Tat in 200 size with 7.1 ratio is by far what i'd take for 2oz baits. Add a 100mm size handle on it, and it should be perfect.

The reason why i am making this thread is that i need some reconforting right now😭I lost a Deps250 to a snag. I am shook to the core. Please tell me that you've lost more expensive lures so i don't feel so bad😭I am in pain!

I used the SLP104 grease as well, but not for drag. I love this one for the anti reverse bearing and and the worm shaft. I tried it on gears, but it's too low viscocity, the reel loses smoothness too quickly after service.

Some grease will make your drag stutter, so you can't use whatever. Cal's is great for carbontex, but nothing special for the rest. The Shimano DG04 will do a better job on most drag materials than Cal's. For example, if you were to use Cal's on the rubber-like drag washers that were used on the TDZ's and gen 1 and gen 2 revo's, the drag will be a stutter fest, but with DG04, it's silky smooth.

Don't waste too much, having 10 greases won't make your reel smoother than somebody who uses 2-3. This is what i'd get. A handle nut wench on aliexpress. It's like $2 A set of screwdrivers from Wera on amazon. Great for everything, not just reels. Shimano DG04 and DG06 grease. You don't need more than that. Hedgehog Medium Light oil. Needlenose pliers at your hardware store if you don't have a set. That's it. After you've worked with that, you then can try other stuff, but you can cover mostly everything in a reel with what's mentioned above.

This plastic collar has been on daiwa reels since at least the og Ryoga (the earliest model i've seen it on), and i have never ever had an issue with it, and the thumb bar sticking has only happened to me on a Pixy, but that was because i was missing a shim after re-assembly, so this is not a issue i've really experienced.

Bigger teeth on lower ratios. I actually don't know how it is on the micro module since their teeth is tiny no matter what, but on daiwa reels, there's a massive difference in teeth size betweed 5.1 and an 8.1 for example.