Skeeter

It could be several things that are causing it. The main cause is usually not enough weight. Or the lip could be too long for the lure. Also the lip should not tilt to one side. It needs to be square in the bait. What is the bait made of and how long is the body? How long is the lip and how close is the line tie to the nose? Skeeter

Servicing Your Reel A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine came up to me and handed me a pretty expensive reel and said, ?Ya want a free reel?? Surprised, I looked the reel over. The reel looked to be in good shape. I asked him what was wrong with it. He said ?it just doesn?t cast like it use to.? ?I spent all of that money and it is already slap wore out.? So I took the reel home, spooled it up with some 12lb. test and took it to the back yard to make some casts. I tied on a ? oz. practice plug and made a cast. The thing just made a loop and slapped into the ground. I made some adjustments and made another cast. It threw straight, but the distance was less than impressive. I kept playing with different adjustments, but it still did not perform well. I finally understood his point. But, I knew what the problem was. The reel just needed servicing. Whether you paid $10.00 or $300.00 for a reel, they all need some TLC to keep them at optimum performance. So what I am going to share with you now are the procedures that I did on his reel to get that performance back. It is not rocket science and you don?t need to be scared to death to do these steps on your own reels. First, make sure that you have some time to yourself and that you are in a quiet place where you won?t be disturbed. Trying to do this stuff with kids running around or the wife asking you to stop for whatever reason will just distract your attention and have you looking for that tiny screw that you just removed. Lay out a piece of news paper on a table top so that you have plenty of room to lay stuff out. Get some Q tips, tooth picks, a clean rag, and a screwdriver along with your favorite reel oil and grease. The first thing that I like to do is get all of the visible dirt off of the reel before I start taking it apart. The rag and the Q tips are great for this. I like to dampen the Q tip with hot water on one end and leave the other end dry in case I need to remove any excess water. Some folks like to use WD 40 instead of water. WD 40 is a solvent. It is not oil. If you get it on gears or working parts, then both oil and grease will not adhere properly to those parts without a thorough cleaning. Next I remove the reel handle, drag star, and the side plate that covers the gears. WARNING: If your reel has a flipping switch, take your time in removing the side plate and pay attention to how the switch sets to the internal workings on the frame. Some of these switches are easy to work with and some have springs and such that can be a real pain to reassemble. Personally I like to wipe and clean off each part as I remove them. Lay your parts in a straight line down the side of the news paper. As you remove a screw, nut, or part then lay it in front of the previous part that you removed. This way once the reel is disassembled and ready to be put back together, you can start at the bottom and work your way back to the top of the row and all of your parts are in the order that they need to be when you reassemble the reel. Keep the gear side of the reel facing up. If you turn the reel over in your hand and the gears slide off then you could be in for some headache. Take your Q tip and get any excess grease off of the inside of the reel. Use the tooth pick to remove any old excess grease off of the gears. If you use the Q tip for the gears, the cotton fibers may pull off and get on the gears. You don?t need to get the parts sanitary clean, just remove excess stuff and dirt. Then apply some grease to the teeth of the main drive gear. Not a lot, a little dab will do ya. Don?t worry about the pinion gear (the little gear next to the drive gear), it will get some grease from the drive gear once you put the reel back together and turn the handle. You can also put a little grease on the gear that is connected to the worm gear at the front of the reel. Next, put a drop or two of oil at the top of the shaft that your gears sit on. Now reassemble the reel. You have just taken care of the guts of the reel. Take off the tension adjustment cap and put either a drop of oil or grease on the middle inside of the cap. Usually you will see a brass shim on the inside of the cap. The end of the spool shaft rides on this shim. It needs to be lubricated. If the shim has a deep dimple in it then remove it and just flip it over. This can really aid casting distance and smoothness. What you want to address now is the spool and the bearings. Remove the other side plate and slide out the spool. Again, lay out your parts as you did for the previous side. If you look at the hole on the gears side of the reel where the spool shaft goes, you will see the bottom of the pinion gear and the bearing. Put a drop or two of oil on the bearing. Look on the side plate that you just removed and you will see the other bearing and just put a drop or two on it also. Clean the spool off and wipe off the shafts. Put a drop of oil on the shafts and put the spool back in the reel and put the side plate back on. For the worm gear, just wipe off the excess grease and shoot in some new. Again, don?t get carried away applying the grease. You want to put 1 drop of oil on the back of the handle grips. If you put too much oil then it will leak out all over the place and become a mess. Also, put a drop of oil in the center of the rails that your line guide travels on. Turn your reel handle a few times and get everything spread around. Your reel is now serviced. Once you have performed this procedure, then all that you have to do to keep the reel up to speed is to put a drop of oil on the bearings, reel spool shaft, and the rails for your line guide once a month. If you don?t use the reel a lot you can do this less often. For spinning reels, I remove the handle and the side plate. I then clean off excess or dried grease and grease the gears inside of the housing. I then remove the spool and wipe off the shaft that the spool rides on. I put a drop or two of oil on the shaft and rotate the handle to get the oil spread out on the shaft and replace the spool. Other Stuff: . If you don?t feel comfortable getting to the gears of the reel, then have your reel serviced by a professional service technician. However, you will still need to learn how to remove your spool and lubricate the shaft and the bearings. Normally this will cost between $20.00 to $35.00. If they do it right, the greasing will be good for 1 or 2 years depending on use. Grease can dry out. When it does the residue can literally become as hard as a rock. It will destroy your gears. . Grease is for preventing wear. It should only go on gears. Oil is for lubrication of the spool and bearings. Some use a mixture of oil and grease on the worm gear. I really don?t like this idea. As the line guide rides back and forth on the worm gear, excess lubricant can get pushed into the inside of the reel through the side holes that the worm gear threads through. This can really cause a sloppy mess inside of the gear housing. Also, once oil is applied to a part, grease will not adhere properly to that part again unless the part is thoroughly cleaned. . One thing that I did not get into was the maintenance of the drag. Some manufacturers use light grease on the drag washers and some run the drag washers dry. If you really want to get into this, drop me a private message and I will work you through how to do this. But first you should check with the manufacturer and find out if this should be done on your particular drag system. If in doubt?. run it dry. If you have an outdated reel and the drag washers are shot, then you can make new ones out of gasket material. Some of the older Diawas used leather drag washers. . For your grease, any good reel grease will do. Quantum came out with the Hot Sauce grease that has tackifiers in it. They claim that this stuff will impregnate itself into the part that it is applied to. I have used this grease and it is very tacky and slick. But you have to be careful that you use it sparingly and get it where you want it. It is hell to clean off. Other good greases are made by Penn, Abu, Shimano, and Diawa. Most manufacturers make their own grease for their reels. All of my reels but one are Shimano, and I use Shimano lubricants for them. . Over the years there have been new ?super oils? developed for bearings and spool shafts. What most of this boils down too is a very clean yet thin oil. If you use this stuff you will have to oil your parts more often. Usually one drop on the bearings and spool every 3 times the reel is used. These oils will get some extra distance out of your equipment. Bearings work better with thin oils. If you are not a habitual person at doing reel maintenance, then use your manufactures oil. . If you want to test the bearings on your reel to see if they are worn you can do the following. Remove the bearings. Pay attention as you remove them to make sure that you know what is the top and bottom of the bearing and how they were installed. It is important that you put them back in the same way that they came out. Soak the bearing in lighter fluid for about 20 minutes to remove the oil. Tap the fluid out of the bearings on a paper towel and let the bearing air dry. Put the bearing on the end of a pencil and spin it. Rotate the bearing around with your fingers and see if you ?feel? any flat or bad spots. If it spins freely, then it is good. Also, grab the bearing and work it back an forth to make sure that there isn?t a lot of play in it. If there is, then this is a sign of a worn bearing. If everything checks out then reinstall the bearing and lubricate. If it is bad then replace it. . Schematics for most brands of reels can be found on the internet. Even for reels that are no longer in production. Some manufacturers also place schematics for their reels on the company website. Do a search for Abu schematics on the internet and just see how many hits you get. . There are a lot of after market tuning parts for Abu, Shimano, and Diawa reels. You can get bearings, spools, gears, and all kinds of other goodies to hot rod your reel. You can check this stuff out at www.japantackle.com and http://www.heartlandtackleservice.com But be warned, you better have a strong heart when you see the prices on some of this stuff. The sites also have some excellent articles for the reel enthusiast. One last note: I serviced my friends reel and gave it back to him. He called me up and said that he spent the first couple of casts picking out backlashes because he was not use to any of his reels performing that well. He said that he had to get use to it all over again. I told him what I had done to it and he asked if he could come over with another reel and if I would show him how to do it. I said sure. He showed up with 9 reels. I showed him how to do one and sent him home with the rest of them. Skeeter

Man Basskat, what a great sack of fish. Could have used those babies last weekend in a tournament that I fished. Glad you are filling the bank account. Seems anything that JT makes is gold. Skeeter

The way to do it is just the opposite. Shape the body and then drill and install the weight. Skeeter

Hey JT. Is that one of those baits from Alabama? Nice paint. Skeeter

Wonderful!! I am so happy for you guys. I hope they continue to whack em with your baits!! Skeeter

IS COLEY COOKIN??!!!!!!!! If so, do you guys make up doggie bags and ship them? Skeeter

This is the place James. Welcome!! Everything that you would want to know and more is here on the site. There is a ton of tallent here. Where would you like to start? There is enough knowledge between Tally and Blades to make you a major manufacturer in the tackle business. They have taught me so much and have helped me tremendously. Once again.... welcome to TU. Skeeter

I lived on Pickets Way. It is behind the Best Western. Is that area ok? Skeeter

Have you been through Hopkinsville? I use to live there. Skeeter

I would say that the problem still lies in the two things that you are changing. Generally a bait will roll on its side because either there is not enough weight or the line tie is too close to the nose. If you have a long bill and the line tie is too close then the bait has a tendency to roll over on its side. If there is not enough weight to right the bait then it will stay on its side. Sometimes you can adjust the retrieve speed of the bait and it will do fairly well. but you want it to run correctly at pretty much any speed. Skeeter

The reason that you are not suppose to stir expoxy with wood is because wood is porous. It causes air bubbles in the mixture. But I have done it before. It is not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. I have thinned Devcon. It really doesn't help anything. If you are getting bumps in the Devcon then you aren't applying it or spinning it properly. Skeeter

High End Fishing Rods About two years ago I fell and broke my right wrist. It was a really bad break. When the doctors finished reconstructing it, I became the proud owner of brass plates, brass screws, and some dead guy?s bones that were installed into my wrist. I shattered it so badly that it took me almost a year to be able to squeeze a staple into a piece of paper with a staple gun. Getting back to throwing baits again was a real lesson in pain. The first thing that I noticed was the weight of my rod and reel combinations when I was holding them one handed. I never really noticed this before, but now the pain brought my attention to it. At that point I realized that I had to go to lighter equipment. One of the pleasures in life that I enjoy is buying a new fishing rod. I have been buying rods for over 20 years and I have never lost the excitement. I wanted to find the lightest and best constructed fishing rods possible. So the hunt began. I searched tons of places and looked at everything I could find. When I finished it came down to several brands of rods. Kistler, St. Croix, Quantum Tour Edition, GLoomis, Diawa Light and Tough series, and the Bass Pro Shops Rick Clunn Signature Series were the rods that I was able to physically lay my hands on. These were the lightest among all of the choices. Then it was off to the internet. Boy, did I ever find a wealth of stuff there. Megabass, Evergreen, Diawa, Shimano, and Daiko were just some of the sites that I visited. As far as Diawa and Shimano go, there are several models made by these companies that are exclusive to Japan. Megabass, Daiko, and Evergreen were exclusive to Japan at the time, but Megabass now has an American extension of the company here in the states. I had to find ways to interpret the Japanese language so that I could read what these companies had to say about their rods. The one thing that the majority of these rods had in common was one hefty price tag. Some of the rods were priced in excess of $550.00. I just couldn?t understand how anyone could justify charging that kind of money for a fishing rod. So I began a long and intense study to find out what the deal was. I spent months reading all that I could get my hands on and got one heck of an education in rod action, components, blank materials, and construction. I even went to the sites of different component manufactures to compare the differences between rod guides, different types of graphite and fiberglass, handle manufacturers, and even the different types of glues and coatings that are used in rod construction. The amount of information was overwhelming, but I read everything. The majority of rods are made of a base material that is either graphite or fiberglass. Graphite is rated by modulus. This is the number of graphite strands that are laid next to each other to make up the graphite sheeting. The graphite sheet is shaped around a mandrel and held together with resin. What the majority of us are use to is the IM rating i.e. ( IM6, IM7, IM8?.. etc.). IM6 is around 33 million modulus where IM8 is around 45 million modulus. The higher the modulus the lighter, stiffer, more sensitive, and more brittle it is. There are two distinctive type of fiberglass, S Glass and E Glass. S Glass is the type of fiberglass that the old rods our grandfathers owned. They were usually solid tipped and heavy. E Glass rods are made hollow with thin walled construction like most graphite rods. The reason that E Glass can be constructed this is due to advanced production techniques, along with advancements in fiberglass and resin materials. E Glass rods, when constructed properly, are extremely light. Along with the two basic materials, innovative companies are starting to use different materials and different ways of ?weaving or wrapping? those materials within the blank to change the action and strength of high end rods. So I thought that in order to reduce the weight of my fishing rods, I had to go to either higher modulus graphite or E Glass. Components such as the handle, guides, and coating on the rod had to be a consideration for weight reduction also. As far as handles go, Fuji is the deal. I won?t go into it, but it is. Diawa designs their own handles and helps Megabass design their own exclusive line also. A ton of thought has gone into their design and they are first rate. As far as guides, stick with Fuji. Again, I won?t go into it, just trust me. Guides can and do add weight to a rod. Most of you may probably think that the weight of a guide is insignificant. But frame and ring material along with construction methods can make more of a difference than you think. The next little weight adder is the rod clearcoat. Many manufactures have quit using the standard coatings that so many of us were use to seeing. The reason is to reduce weight. Many blanks appear to be raw and not coated at all. St. Croix told me that their blanks are coated, but with a much different material than the epoxy type coatings of old. That may be, but there doesn?t seem to be much protection for the blank in my book. The thing that got to me was that GLoomis coats their crankbait rods and they are extremely light. Diawa?s light and tough silver and purple blank rods have a pretty good coating on them. They were lighter than 98% of the rods that I looked at. They are an IM6 blank, so how can they be lighter than so many of the IM7 and even IM10 rods that I looked at that had no coating on them? The L&T series even has the added weight of Power Mesh. This is an added amount of graphite that is weaved in a diamond pattern around the graphite blank to increase the strength of the rod. What?s the deal? The answer is something that you may have never even thought about. GLUE! That?s right?? GLUE! Through our lively discussions on this site about clearcoats, if there is one thing that we have learned, it is that resin based epoxies and glues add weight. The majority of glues that are used in rod manufacturing are either epoxy or hot resin based glues. Many crankbait fishermen out there know that a wooden crankbait made by a skillful hand is much more accurate and better performing bait than massed produced, machine turned crankbaits. A skilled crankbait maker will take the needed time to ensure that his baits are made with the best components and that they fit together perfectly. Rod manufacturers have to do the same thing. The problem is that many fishing rods are mass produced and care is not given to their component tolerances and assembly. Many rod components are not made with close tolerances. When the glue is put on these parts and the parts are assembled, the glue will fill voids causing excess weight. On the other hand there at times not enough glue is used. You can tell that the components are not fitted properly and that not enough glue is used. If you grab a rod by the end of the handle and shake it, at times you can hear a popping noise that gives this fault away. It is just simply poor construction and assembly. I found these problems on some very expensive rods. You would think that laying out a lot of money for a rod would eliminate this, but it doesn?t. So before you part with your hard earned money, make sure that you check these things out. Another consideration is balance. It was a big deal when this subject started years ago. Simply put, the ?Point of Balance? is where the center of balance is on a rod. Ideally the point of balance will be at the center of the reel seat. Very few rods are like this. Some manufacturers will put a counter balance at the end of the handle. A balanced rod will allow you to control the rod with your wrist almost effortlessly. Many times just the added weight of your reel will come close to balancing out a rod. Take your favorite rod and lay it across your finger until the rod lays level. This is the point of balance. Now, put your reel on the rod and do the procedure again. Normally you will find that the point of balance moves 2 or 3 inches closer toward the reel seat. Personally this is the way I like to check things. If you add a counter balance you are adding to the weight of the rod. It may feel lighter but it isn?t. As long as your point of balance is close to the reel seat, then you will be able to control your outfit just fine. So with all of this said, let me share some of my findings with you. For flipping sticks Team Diawa Light and Tough silver blank was the lightest. Shimano Crucial and G Loomis IMX were right there also in that order. For rods in the 7ft. range, G Loomis,Team Diawa Light and Tough silver blank, Bass Pro Rick Clunn series, and St. Croix both Avid and Premier series, and Kistler were the lightest. The G Loomis crankbait rods were incredibly light. Also, the Team Diawa 7ft. medium action worm and jig rod was real sweet. As far as 6 ? ft. on down, all of these brands had very light rods. You would need a scale to separate them. The Team Diawa S green handle rods would be a good candidate in this category also. The one thing that really disappoints me is that I was not able to get my hands on any of the Japanese rods. Why they won?t export them to the U.S. really has me scratching my head. Diawa has many of different series of rods that appear to be excellent. Among them is the U.S. Tour series. Takahiro Omori uses these. Shimano follows suit with Diawa. Some excellent rods from what I have read. I would like to see the Shimano V rods and Heartland series. They are available in the states, but they are mainly found on the west coast. Shimano also has some very expensive rod series that are exclusive to Japan. I know nothing of Daiko. But reviews on the Japanese sites are excellent. Then there is Megabass. Ahhh Megabass, these are the most expensive rods of all. Starting price for their rods are around $300.00 and can run to $600.00. They appear to be the most innovative in their rod construction than anyone. They are the cutting edge of thought, materials, and construction. I won?t go into it but you can check out the following links below if you really want an education. http://www.megabassusa.com/ http://www.tackletour.com/reviewmegabasspreview05.html http://tackletour.com/reviewsupercastpre06pg2.html http://tackletour.com/reviewsuperdestroyer.html For the fiberglass rods, St. Croix had everyone beat. They were as light as the best of the graphite rods. Team Diawa Light and Tough silver and Team Diawa S green series were light as well. Kistler has a crankbait rod that is a composite, (part graphite and part glass). I didn?t get a chance to see one of these, but I would have loved to. Now I want to clarify that I am not implying that if you want the best of equipment that you have to get a second mortgage on your house to do so. I have some ABU Garcia rods that I bought 9 years ago for less than $60.00 that are excellent and I wouldn?t take anything for them. They have small guides, they are spaced close like the fuji concept system, and they balance well with my reels. But they aren?t the lightest of rods by any means. Also, check anything over before you buy it. I found crooked blanks and guides that weren?t tied in a straight line or were out of line with the reel seat on all of the brands that I checked. Expensive does not mean better. As far as the U.S. manufacturers I feel that Kistler is the cutting edge of the American rods. They are really making strides in an effort to go outside of the box in materials and construction. Warrantees are much better with American manufacturers than companies across the pond. Megabass only has a 1 year warrantee. If you decide to try one of the Japanese rods, shipping is very expensive. It will run you about $80.00 to $100.00 to have one of these shipped to you. With Megabass, you can order through the Megabassusa site and get the rod without paying that high shipping fee. I hope that next time you are in the market for a rod, some of these points will help you make your decision. Either way, shopping for a new rod is always fun. Skeeter

KB, You will know that you have the right stuff if you look at the bottom right hand corner of the Devcon package. It has the number S-31 31345 on it. The same number is on the back upper left corner of the package. Skeeter

KB, One of the things that you might try to keep the bubbles down it to use the stir that comes with Devcon. Wood stirs can cause bubbles due to the pores in the wood getting trapped with air. Use the 5 min. Devcon to glue in your lips. Use the long cure Devcon for clearcoating. You can go over the eyes if you like. Personally the eyes will look sharper if you do not coat over them. Skeeter

How do they run Dave? Are they built well? They appear to be. Skeeter

I am not sure where you can find drawn patterns. Just get a lure that you like, trace it out and get started. You are right about Coley's crankbaits. They are sweet. I have a few of his crankbaits. He made me a deep diver last fall and the thing ran perfect right out of the box. There are very few crankbaits other than my own that I have in my box. Coley's is one of them. Skeeter

Thank You!! Skeeter

I tried to go to the site months ago and got the same thing. I really don't know where he went. I was told that he painted Takahiro's BII. Skeeter

To be honest with you Cranky, I have been swinging a big bat every time that clearcoats are discussed in this forum. I have been swinging that bat for about 3 or 4 yrs. now. I truely enjoy the lively discussions that we have here on the subject. Like Dave said, the "Dark Side" has been after me for a long time. But...... they have never caught me. If you believe in what you are using then stick to it. I have tried other things for clearcoats. I am not completely closed minded. But I am still using the same clearcoat that I started with 5 yrs. ago. Nothing has beat it yet. Skeeter

That is not the deal here. We welcome all thoughts and ideas. But, you can also expect someone to either expand on or challenge your ideas and experiences. It is all part of the forum. Especially if you are going to discuss clearcoats. Personally, I have found quite a few of the forum participants to be rather abusive and violent toward clearcoat discussions. That is why I never voice my opinion on the subject. Skeeter

I'll have to agree with Brett. Skeeter

Some how I truely believe that Dave. Skeeter

Your problem was going by weight and not volume. The resin weighs more than the hardner. Skeeter

So if you are going to fish the Bassmasters Classic, and 500K is on the line, you wouldn't check the livewells to make sure they are running? : :idea: Shouldda been in a Skeeter Skeeter