I am hearing a lot about how great all the latest tech is but let me give you some real life facts I have personally experienced. I cannot say if what I experienced is poor engineering, manufacturing, ...black cloud! Same end result.

New, out of the box Trinadad 40. 40# mono with 65# specta backing. 108# YFT. Drags gone after 40 minutes. When I say gone I mean real jerky/hot and when opened up every non metal disc broken and reel full of black powder. And the Trini 40 has some damn big drags.

New out of the box Tiburon 8. 50#mono with 65# spectra backing. 135# YFT. Drags crap after 30 minutes. Even with minimal pressure and proper adjustment the reel wanted to jump into low. $600+ reel.

Accurate Platinum 50W. New out of the box. 130#mono with 150# spectra backing. 230# YFT. Drags full blown gone at color. Andy Cates put everything up to max and I still had to thumb the spool to keep fish from just swimming away. At $1,200+ bucks I thought I bought insurance against just this thing.

Saltiga 40. 40# mono. 65# spectra backing. 70# Wahoo. Anti reverse bearings fail. Dual systems yet still failed. Go figure.

And to think I did a 160# BFT on a stock 4/0 without a hitch before going high tech. Hummmm!

All I am saying is believe what you experience...not what the brochure says.

Granted, I have not caught a YFT over 132 but my 132#'er was caught on an Accurate 12 with 60# and it fought hard for 40 minutes while taking many screaming runs and the reel held up beautifully. The 12 is my go to reel for 60#. I have always felt that if I hook a fish on it I will land it.

On another note, I have landed a 90# bigeye on a Newell 540 with 40# and I fought that fish for over an hour. The metal lug that holds the handle on was too hot to touch but the drags held up and I got the fish, 30 minutes before that one I landed a 73# Bigeye on the same reel.

On a trip to Clarion/Hurricane many years ago I landed 22 Wahoo on that same 540 and never once did I have a problem with the drags.

I have blown bearings on a brand new TLD-30II as well as my tricked International 50W. I have seen several Daiwa reels have the same problem you did with the Saltiga and they were right out of the box. One guy on a 10 day I was on bought 3 of them for the trip and 2 were busted the first day out.

Sometimes the hi-tech gear has too many parts and too much can go wrong. I have been fishing with Newells for over 20 years and have never busted one on a fish. I have had a pinion gear completely freeze on one on the second cast I ever made with the reel and Newell fixed it and I have never had another problem.

My point is, er, um, uh, I am not sure what my point is except that all reels have problems but it seems like my older stuff still holds up with minimal problems.

Geez Bud, you've had miserable bad luck ........ and NO it's not indicative of anything other than you have had some bad luck.

Your Trinadad 40 problem I recongnise, there was no drag grease applied to the dartanium disks before assemble at the factory. Shimano had a problem with that for a while and I know of several who had the same or similar problems. Shimano should have replaced that reel for you.

The others, in my experince and from all the stories Ive heard for the last 6 years or so you've just had very bad luck, especially with the caliber of reel you were dealing with.

As for your Newells, there you may have had really good luck! I know three guys who have blown up Newells on the first trip they were on. Newell service was very good, and they were either replaced or repaired, not to have the problems repeat, but I think what you've experience is far more indicative of manufacturing quality control rather than bad engineering.

Was that a first year Tiburon? I know they had some trouble the first year, but all the reels that failed were replaced if they heard about it.

The Saltigas I have no experience with, but I have one buddy who has three (20lb, 30lb, 40lb line) and I know after 3 seasons he's never had a problem. I do know the 40 holds 270 yards of 30lb mono, the 50 handles 310 yards of 40lb mono. While they seem built strong enough to run spectra on them maybe that wasn't such a good idea.

Now, a 160# BFT on a stock 4/0 without a hitch maybe isn't earth shattering news, but it certinly isn't the normal way those can be stressed many times before a drag rebuild is needed, so I'd say you were just right in the mark for that reel. And I'll bet you're more comfortable using it, right?

notice, ...only..... bud's stuff

where there's smoke there's fire?

if he ain't got bad luck

he'd have no luck atol?

nah,

it's not the size of the wand

but, the magic of the magician?

oh,

wrong subject

this, is the straight skinny

as, fer david, yep Q, luck

that heat he's talkin bout usually melts down the handle till poof

no handle

+ the same drags fer the 400 series as the 200? hehe

that's why the 200 series/maybe the 3 (they're jigmasters), not the 4, then drag strength is upgraded in the 5, so the 533 5.5, fer hoos.....only

i was using perfection drags in the penns/aerospace material u compress rather than back off to store

considering they don't compress and get cleaned w/ brake cleaner

anyway, i'm gonna do a spectra rant here soon to complete the story

are you a grinder? or, do you use the rod?

i was all proud of my newly converted penns when one day, i was in taka tanaka's shop

when he says...wtf?

why'd you spend all that money on converting penns when you coulda had one of these.......

his favorite, .......saltiga 40

well, i felt kinda dumb, and began sellin'

i could change drags in my sleep, but, now, it's a whole new learning curve for the new sheeeeeeet

sheeeet

Cedros Island, my trusty 3/0 (bought in 1989) was suddenly a knuckleduster. Field stripped & "RhutRo!" Dog pivot screw had backed out & the dog had busted the little plastic tit the spring rests on... OOC for the trip.

No problem.

Bolted on a 500 Jigmaster (bone stock) with 30# & slayed YT after YT. Old Skool ROCKS!

Oh yeah... Six or seven bucks for a new sideplate & the 3/0 was good as new, and I was able to fix it myself...

Hey Eddie? How the heck ya reckon Joe Hill slayed all them fish at The Rocks without 2 speed gold jewelry? Course, he also had some stories of suddenly staring dumbly at an empty 6/0 spool...

Remember Meslon line? How 'bout Maxima Chameleon?

Fishslayer

don't be surprized if that price is now over $20 .... Penn finally got wise to not being able to sell more reels as they "aged" ......

Well ....... close to it!

From http://www.scottsbt.com/acb_sbt/webpage.cfm?DID=8&WebPage_ID=17

There are some very important key learnings on this thread.


My question to Bud is how were you treated by the reel manufactures when you took the reels in for repair?

I just had my tackle dealer (Anglers Choice) send all my Accurates and the Tiburon to the manufactures for annual service/repair last week. I am sure they will make good. In fact, when I originally bought my Accurates last year the ATD-12 and 30 I came to find were over 3 years old. Old stock! I had them replace them with fresh ones. Accurate has a great 5 year free service, upgrade program. Even if you just want them cleaned.

I serviced the Trinidads myself. TQ was right. The drags had not been greased. I went ahead and added the Cal drag plate to get more drag out of them so I can go 50#, maybe 60# and really abuse them. I was going to send them back as well but figured I better learn to service those two as they are going to get a lot of work.

The Saltiga I had repaired and sold it. Did'nt want to keep it in my line up and did'nt want to hassle with the manufacture. Just cut my loss on that one.

I guess my biggest bitch is that I thought buying the "good" stuff and paying the price would provide piece of mind, comfort and confidence in my tackle. It was'nt to be.

One thing to remember, once you add the trick drag plate, you void the waranty. You also void it (technically at least) by using line grades heavier than specified, but I don't recall anyone getting nicked for that offense.

Really, I get what your thoughts are on buying reels new and expecting them to work great right out of the box. Doesn't really happen that often ......

My main concern before I go fishing with a new reel is getting it to Hawk and having him do the breaking in, blueprint, proper lubing/cleaning and tweaking work the factory never gets to. It will save you every time.

The warranty would be voided anyway cause it would be obvious that I threw the things across the deck the next time they piss me off. The best I can hope for is a full blown meltdown when using 60# on them. Anyone smell smoke?

And who be Hawk and where can I get in touch. I'm sure to have wounded soldiers in need of fixin after this season.

Gonna give a Avet SX a work out on a three day leaving next week to see what it can handle. Hope it don't come home in a ziplock.

I think you'll dig the SX. Mine got used alot last year without any problems. Just make sure you have the good aluminum clamp with a little lock-tite for the base to frame screws.

Hawk, aka Michael Grossman, is the tackle board moderator at the Allcoast boards, and I guaranty he has done the reels of a LOT of people you have fished with!!

I'm frankly surprized you've never heard of him ..... many people on this board have used Hawk's fine, reasonably priced expertise.

You can reach him at fishermn73@hotmail.com, or leave him a post or personal message on the tackle board over there.

Clamp. I don't need no stinkin clamp. Once the first 4 or 5 guides have slowed the reel down enough the rest should hold it.

I hear ya. I did yt, little yft, etc up to maybe 20# on one of them last year but I am hoping we get into some of those better grade chickens or bluefin that are down the line in 3 day range to see if it can handle the 30-40# stuff. I better throw a clamp on them.

I did notice that the clamp screws on my MXJ's seemed to have a lot of electrolisis type residue right at the point they enter the reel base (aluminum) screw holes. You have any such experience ?

TQ - Thanks for the info on Hawk.

I am pretty much out of the loop as no one will fish with me. Something about your known by the company you keep.

I actually took a 15 year leave from the fishin thing and just got back into it hot and heavy the last few years. Never played on any boards until this one 6 months ago and did'nt even know what Allcoast was till you said something. Took a look on that board. To big. I can only handle embarassing myself to the smaller group here on WCA.

Bud - as far as the electrolosis residue goes, get some battery terminal corosion inhibitor or a smidge of anti-sieze and dallop it on the screws. I prefer the battery stuff! All of my clamp hardware gets a shot before fishin'.
I got quite a few of big chickens with my SX (30-40lbs). No BFT yet (quite a few on the JX) but I think the reel should take 'em! I was fishin' 25 on my SX but I didn't want to cause havoc using it on the BFT schools, expecially when the capt is screamin' "nothin less than 40"..

What rod is your SX on?

[quote="Bud"]

I am pretty much out of the loop as no one will fish with me. Something about your known by the company you keep.

quote]

I'll fish with ya anytime!

Fishslayer

Bud we're glad you're here and welcome back to fishing, and I agree the other board is a bit big and sometimes unfriendly sad to say.

Bud, no worries about this board compared to any other. We agree! I think for the same reasons ........

As for your 15 year layover, if you've been fishing on any of the San Diego fleet in the last 25 years or so you've fished with many people using reels tweaked by Hawk. I'd bet anything on it.

And I'll fish with you any time ....... as would just about anybody here.

One reason stands out from the many ........ honesty is it's own reward!!

And YES, I'll have a beer or two with you ...... uh ...... at the end of the day!!

That's an interesting application of the substance. I imagine it works fine.

One thing that has never failed be, though, isn't as wierd an application.

I use a thin film of Corrosion-X inside and outside on all reels, and on all hardware. As long as it's been applied I've never had any corrosion at all.

I prefer the liquid in the tall spray bottle rather than the airisol in the can.

By the way, I get mine from Hawk, and the price is just as good for his reel work as it is for the Corrosion-X.

Just a tip, Bud, ask Michael about it and he'll include it when he sends your reels back.

You are the baddest fisherman I've ever read about in cyberspace.
Welcome back after your 5-15!!