Last week I was using my 300 and 400 size reels, and I felt so much resistance< So today I lubricated them, and the Scorpuon and TranX became very smooth, but the Toro Best (Abu) is still resisting. I opened the hatch and checked that all the gears were like new and nothing was on them. Does anyone know anything about this specific reel? Note that I tightened the tention little more than normal due to the lures that I cast with them.

Did you take the tension back off to test if it was smooth again? Also, did you take the tension off to reassemble the reel?

when was the last time you broke down the beast and cleaned it?

Spool tension on a big bait reel sounds crazy to me. I couldn't imagine the kind of tension required to get a slow drop with a bait weighing multiple ounces. I'm not familiar with that Toro but does it not have sufficient braking to forgo spool tension?

I had a Revo Toro Beast but not same model you have. I ended up selling mine. If yours is like the one I had, there is a spring that looks like an offset washer under the cast control cap. If that part is put in backwards or is not in place correctly, it can make the retrieve feel weird or tight.

I would take the cap off, turn the handle and use your finger to manually hold pressure where the spool tension cap would be and see if it feels same or different. If you get the same thing without the cap, start looking other places.

@Bigbox99 - on my 'big' rod which is a falcon big bait with a 200e Chronarch, I run a bit of spool tension. Not enough to get a slow drop and forego braking, but enough that it is doing some of the work that my thumb would do at the start or end of a cast. An 8" magdraft has enough inertia in the air to overcome any amount of braking you're going to add to the spool so there is no need to run with zero tension. I do the same when I'm throwing 3/4-1 oz spinnerbaits as well.