Hey folks,

 

I bought a Bass Pro Qualifier baitcast reel a few weeks ago, and I've taken it out ten times so far.  I was extremely satisfied with its performance up until yesterday, when I found that the spool tension knob has apparently stopped working.  I can tighten the knob all the way, yet my bait still drops to the ground quickly once I press the thumb bar.

 

I don't know what I could have done wrong to make this happen- unless it could be hosing down the reel after a day of fishing?  Where I fish, there's often a thick layer of mucky scum that gets all over the reel, so when I get home I tighten down the star drag, put the hose sprayer on its "Soak" setting and douse the reel, cast and retrieve a couple of times, and then re-loosen the star drag for storage.

 

Anyone know how I might go about diagnosing the problem with the spool tension?  Of course, I can take it back to Bass Pro and let them deal with it, but I'd like to try to resolve it myself if possible.  They're sixty miles away.

 

 

Look inside the cast control cap and you should see a fiber pad inside, probably square.  No pad, no tension.  Sometimes they fall out and you don't notice it.  Easy to get from BPS reel repair.   There is another one under the bearing in the removable cover where you set the brakes.