Looking for a reel for my 7’3” mh Victory to fish jigs. I have a tatula ct100 right now but it slips on the hook set for some reason. I am just confused by all the models. How do you break them down to know what you need (ie. DC, MGL SV,etc.)?  Makes my brain hurt. Hoping to stay at or under the $150 mark. Any suggestions would be great. 

Have you tried tightening the drag?

Slips on hookset?? Drag tight enough??

I was trying to remember back to last fall when it happened and I am sure that is the first thing I tried. 

I have a ct 100, it's a good reel and no issues with th drag.

Get it in your hands an pull line and start tightening the drag and see what happens. Or , tighten it all the way and see if you can pull line. If you can, reel should be looked at inside.

Assuming you aren't experiencing braid slipping on the spool then you may have lost max drag pressure from leaving the drag too tight for long periods of time.  If you don't back your drag off when the reel is not in use you will lose pressure on the drag washers from the spring washers deformation over time.  You will have to add increasing tightness over time to get the same high drag pressures as before as the spring washers continue to deform.  It take as little as a few years for this to happen but it happens.  It's good practice to back off the drags after each trip with every reel.   Reels that are meant to be used with locked down drags all the time will come without spring washers, have a spacer in their place and no drag star.  You can easily duplicate this yourself if you want to run max lockdown drag all the time by removing the two curved washers that act as a spring and replacing them with shims.  The drag will lose the range of adjustment and be off or max lockdown but it will never deteriorate from max lockdown drag pressures if left there.

 

Basically the spring washers allow for a range of adjustment in drag pressure as the star is tightened and the spring formed by the two curved washers compress.  If left compressed the washer spring will lose some of its spring force pressing against the drag washers and lose drag pressure.  Continued tightening of the drag star to compensate for the lost pressure and continued loss of pressure from leaving the reel at those high drag pressures for months and years at a time will result in flattened spring washers and unsatisfactory drag pressure for high drag pressure use.  

 

An extreme form of this is leaving the reel at high drag for years and forgetting about the reel only to discover it later and find that it has lost all drag pressure because the curved spring washers have completely flattened and taken that flat shape.  The drag star will reach its mechanical limit and bottom out before you can press the flattened washers into the drag stack to apply any pressure meaning the reel will have zero drag.  This is how most of us have expericed this but it can be a slow loss of max drag pressure over time too from leaving the drag tight over the season and off season for a few years.

Do you have a thumb? Use it to prevent the spool moving during a hook set.

Tom

18 minutes ago, WRB said:

Do you have a thumb? Use it to prevent the spool moving during a hook set.

Tom

Nope…Thumbless

29 minutes ago, Bigbox99 said:

Assuming you aren't experiencing braid slipping on the spool then you may have lost max drag pressure from leaving the drag too tight for long periods of time.  If you don't back your drag off when the reel is not in use you will lose pressure on the drag washers from the spring washers deformation over time.  You will have to add increasing tightness over time to get the same high drag pressures as before as the spring washers continue to deform.  It take as little as a few years for this to happen but it happens.  It's good practice to back off the drags after each trip with every reel.   Reels that are meant to be used with locked down drags all the time will come without spring washers, have a spacer in their place and no drag star.  You can easily duplicate this yourself if you want to run max lockdown drag all the time by removing the two curved washers that act as a spring and replacing them with shims.  The drag will lose the range of adjustment and be off or max lockdown but it will never deteriorate from max lockdown drag pressures if left there.

 

Basically the spring washers allow for a range of adjustment in drag pressure as the star is tightened and the spring formed by the two curved washers compress.  If left compressed the washer spring will lose some of its spring force pressing against the drag washers and lose drag pressure.  Continued tightening of the drag star to compensate for the lost pressure and continued loss of pressure from leaving the reel at those high drag pressures for months and years at a time will result in flattened spring washers and unsatisfactory drag pressure for high drag pressure use.  

 

An extreme form of this is leaving the reel at high drag for years and forgetting about the reel only to discover it later and find that it has lost all drag pressure because the curved spring washers have completely flattened and taken that flat shape.  The drag star will reach its mechanical limit and bottom out before you can press the flattened washers into the drag stack to apply any pressure meaning the reel will have zero drag.  This is how most of us have expericed this but it can be a slow loss of max drag pressure over time too from leaving the drag tight over the season and off season for a few years.

That is great info. Thank you. I have never done that but plan to start. At a minimum at the end of the season. Thanks again. 

39 minutes ago, Stratos92 said:

Nope…Thumbless

 

Greatest response I’ve seen on here since I’ve joined 🤣😆😂 On a more serious note I responded to your Hakai post but my .02 is if you’re like me and gun shy of working on your reel find a reel repair shop that might do a “free” look and charge for the repair or think about contacting site sponsor DVT as it may be as simple as @Bigbox99said about not loosening the drag which I believe should be a heck of a lot cheaper than buying another reel. 

Edited March 28, 20251 yr by Eric 26
Editing

Agreed!  I am definitely not confident in disassembling a reel 😬

1 hour ago, Stratos92 said:

Agreed!  I am definitely not confident in disassembling a reel 😬

 

Incredibly difficult for the thumbless, so many small screws  

 

scott

 

Makes tough to twittle.  Limits your option what to sit on too.  Fifty percent chance of a gladiator dying.  Tragedy for sure. How do you roll a booger?  Sorry.

7 hours ago, Bigbox99 said:

 If you don't back your drag off when the reel is not in use you will lose pressure on the drag washers from the spring washers deformation over time. 

Actually, springs don't work like that. They don't change at all if they are not exercised. You are actually putting more wear on them by loosening them and the tightening them repeatedly.

 

There have been cases where people have found pistols with loaded mags that have been that way for decades and the springs measure to spec. The metal doesn't care if it is compressed or not there is no difference either way as long as it doesn't move.

 

 

Live Long and Prosper 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike