Pulled the Daiwa Smallmouth V.I.P. MF rod out of the plastic and removed tags. Bought it last winter when TW closed them out. It is rated for 1/4-3/4 oz. lures. Reel came with what may be 30 lb. PP red braid.

Started out casting a Skitter Prop. Was pleased with distance I was getting. Reel palms just fine. Figured from size of lure that it probably went at least 3/8 oz. Wrong! Discovered when I went to put the lure back in its box that it only weighs 1/4 oz. Made me feel even better about the casting distance.

At one point I was casting directly into the wind. Never had a backlash. Did have the line snap at the reel with about 20-25yds of line out. No backlash or overrun on the reel. No idea how long the line has been on the reel so guess new line is next.

Unfortunately I didn't catch a fish to see how both it and the rod would perform. Cold front. New lake. Fished from shore. Had been wanting to try a round reel for awhile so when these came up for sale I grabbed them. So far I'm glad I did. The knobs have a bit of play (one more than the other) which makes it feel a bit funny to me on the retrieve after the reels I have been using. No play in the handle, tho.

However, I don't know how to adjust its brakes (or even if it has brakes). Maybe someone that has used this reel can give me a little info about its specs. In the meantime I'll try searching some more, but don't remember finding much on this reel when I searched right after receiving it. I left the reel set up as it arrived. The 1/4 oz. lure drops pretty fast, so I assume there must be some kind of braking or else I am a lot better caster than I figured.....wishful thinking.

There are two brake shoes on the spool facing the crank side. They are not adjustable but can be removed if you so choose. You can verify gear ratio by marking the spool and counting the revolutions as you turn the handle one full turn. The circumference of the spool x the ratio will give you IPT. If you have it spooled you can just mark the line at the tip, retrieve one full turn then measure how far the mark moved. If you're curious about max drag a spring scale will tell you that.

Thanks Mike.