Ryan N

I week ago I put the lightest film of grease on the drag washers and that solved my issue.

Bass are 100% delicious eating fish, but their flavor depends on water clarity and age. I prefer average bass for that particular body of water, but not the biggest. Bigger bass relative to the lake are older and tend to have higher mercury levels and a less desirable flavor. It’s not worth bringing home loads of subpar meat while taking away the opportunity for another angler to catch. Personally as a rule of thumb, I catch a few before keeping one that's about average size for the lake.

Okay folks I did some research and apparently a sticky, chattering drag is common on baitcasters. I’m not sure if manufacturers do this but people usually put drag washer specific grease like Cal’s or Shimano. There was nothing wrong with my Max X reel from the factory.

I think it’s fine now. After I made a throughout attempt at greasing and oiling it, it’s behaving as usual. When in doubt, I heard Abu’s RMA is pretty good. I hear those so often. Shimano, Daiwa, Curado I think. But as long as it’s not a Temu quality combo, you’re good.

I played around with both of them in hand, Black Max vs Lews Xfinity. About a 40-dollar price difference. The black max just had a buttery smooth reel and overall felt higher quality.

Bruh. I actually chose Abu over a Lews baitcaster off of “feel”, and it was less expensive

Only the worm gear and spool bearings, the gears haven’t seen the light of day at that time.

Warranty should still be up, and return policy as well. It’s my only baitcaster and I don’t want to be without it for 2 weeks, since it’s a send in then replace/return deal.

@MickD That's the thing, it wasn't working properly out of the box. The drag system was very sticky and chattered when giving line. Yesterday I took apart my reel again and made a more diligent effort to grease my reel. I soaked all components that were greasy in soapy water, and only applied grease to the main gear and pinion. Metal contact points with a light coating of oil, and the brake/drag washers bone dry. I was landing fish, and that's all that matters. I'm just a bit disappointed the reel "feels" cheaper than my Black Max.

@casts_by_fly What are the main parts that need to be greased? I greased all the parts. Could you use the chart I provided, a more visual description

I’ve never fished from a boat before, I was bank angling since I was little. Maybe some day I’ll have enough to buy my own or come across some good folk to fish together.

I bought a brand-new Abu Garcia Max X combo from their online store and was excited to fish it. I put Lucas Marine grease on the worm gear beforehand, and after a few casts, I realized how wet my reel was getting. Water droplets were everywhere; every cast would create a fine mist from the spool. I saw that the marine grease I put on the worm gear was diluted and white instead of blue. After this, I realized my drag system was messed up because it practically had zero force and was chattering when I tightened the drag. I thought this was normal for a break-in period, so I fished it more, and it has lost me many fish because of the lack of smooth drag. I eventually came around to opening the reel, and I didn't see any water besides one of the bearings a bit dirty and thin. I wiped grease on all moving parts and replaced it with Lucas marine grease. The drag issue was fixed, but now my retrieve is loud. It sounds like vibrations, maybe it's the gears? I was sure to lubricate everything liberally so I'm at a loss here. Could it be I used the wrong grease? Or maybe my reel is defective? I made sure to put it back together properly, using the schematics to make sure I had everything in there and in the right place. PARTLIST_MAX4 X(1Y0069730) (bigcontent.io) I had the Black Max (Predecessor to this combo) and it ran perfectly. I'm not sure why this one has so many issues.

@Bankbeater 1/8 May be too light. 1/4 I think is a good middle ground of presence, speed of descent. 3/8 Is a good for awfully thick cover and grass beds grass beds as in grassy lake floor

@Pat Brown I only put jigs in my lure box to force myself to learn it. Even if the bass aren’t biting, I’m learning how it feels when it drags across the bottom, through cover, snags and of course, nibbles and bites.

BRO I caught my PB bass again with the jig! Crazy fight, got a medium heavy rod this time around so he wasn’t as impossible strong like last time. And I still didn’t order a scale! 🤯

To detail this further, The huge ones were always next to large schools of bluegill that were being fed daily by my neighbors. The average bass were either nearby or somewhere else in the pond with a less abundant supply of smaller baitfish.

There could be too much bass. I remember this YouTube video that explained an experiment where bass were depopulated, and the remaining bass grew to be huge because of the abundance of food. I’m going to have to go back to my sources on this one. This is further supported by you saying the bass average around 16” to 18”, which is an incredibly consistent length range. That could mean all bass are having equal opportunities to feed, so none can be outliers and eat more. Referring to my PB, I fished my pond for hundreds of hours, I found they averaged 12 inch little guys, but with one or two 20”+ dinosaurs.

I know sliding them onto shore isn’t the best way to land them, next time I should lip them when they’re coming up shallow. Got grippers for my sore bass thumb. This is the same pond boss another angler caught the other day, we measured him and I remember him being 18 inches. Catch ‘em on light tackle, they’ll all feel like a 10 pounder

So, concluding my fishing trip, I landed 4 bass and almost a monster 5th bass, on that jig alone. Here's what I've found: Lake floor type - The bottom of the new lake I visited had a solid bottom and was sandy. This aided in dragging and improved the visibility of the lure. The lake that I always go to has a silt bottom full of weeds and debris, so the lure would camouflage. Because of the silt floor, my dragging technique was rendered ineffective as it would get caught in weeds easily and ruin the presentation. Hopping is the only technique here. Technique - I tried many techniques before the bass could become interested and nibble at it. The new lake was clear enough that I could see how the bass were reacting to the lure. Hopping and dragging, the bass didn't care. But erratically jerking the lure across the lake floor was pretty consistent with generating nibbles, leading into bites. When a bass is nibbling, it's important not to just sit there and "let it eat", you want to make the lure run like a real baitfish, that's what triggers them to eat the lure whole. I think the black and blue one did get a bite, but its hook is noticeably thicker than the green one, so I did get bites, but my rod is too weak to set the hook. I'm going to have to experiment with different colors to see what works best, but that green pumpkin with red speckle worked wonders today.

Caught a bigger one but it escaped when I tried to unhook it. Yeah man, the bites are big! This one caught me two, I tried the black and blue one but no luck, it could be the hook is just too big

FINALLY got a bite after 2 hours out here. I was twitching it across the bottom (side snapping rod low) the same technique I’d use on a glidebait.

The bottom one looks very saucy, but I never fished with any red. Who knows, maybe red is the jackpot I have yet to try.

I’m just curious what kinds of jigs you guys are throwing, if you can send a picture that’ll help a ton

I’ll definitely try another lake, been fishing the same one for too long

@IcatchDinks Maybe I ought to try jig trailers that are tried and tested, like the rage craws. Only issue I have is they’re pricey and you have a high chance of losing or ripping them, it’s not very cost effective like a hard bait.