OnthePotomac

That is an excellent article by Kilmartin on reel maintenance and is perfectly in line with reputable, expert reel services. Since I got into cleaning my own Shimanos eight years ago, I could not believe the amount of misinformation out there on cleaning and lubing a reel. I read on another forum where a reel service told of once receiving a reel filled with surgical jelly. On another forum was a comment that "grandpa dipped his reels in kerosene and they worked great." I was particularly pleased to see that he is using TSI 321 on his reels. Personally, I use TSI 301 and dip my bearings, but end up with the same result. These are incredible lubricants developed for NASA because oil cannot be used in space. I recommend that those who want to get into cleaning their own reels memorize his article and save your selves a lot of grief. You may want to stick to regular bearing oil, like Yellow Rocket Fuel, but other than that, stick with Gary Kilmartin. One last thought on bearing upgrades. There is always a discussion on how far to go in ABEC ratings. The following comment on the subject last November by Bantam1, the Shimano rep, may be of interest, especially his reference to max spool speeds: "The bearings can have an effect on max spool speed. The DC model reels can hit 30,000 RPM. The non DC reels will go 20,000-25,000 usually. The braking systems change the speeds of course. The reason the DC can hit the higher speeds is because there is less mass on the spool and zero friction from a VBS type system. The magnetic control is only pulsed by the micro chip and is not always on like some magnetic controls. With that being said the Calcutta DC reels use our ARB bearings that are pretty much ABEC 3 rated bearings. The Calais DC uses a greaseless S-ARB bearing that is also an ABEC 3 rated bearing. If a bearing is properly lubricated with a light oil you can gain a little more performance. Most of our stock bearings use a very lightweight grease. The easy upgrade is to replace the bearings like most do. Low quality bearings, even ABEC 5 or higher rated, are not going to do much. They may be great out of the box but performance will drop off later because of low quality materials used to manufacture the bearings."

Cigarette lighter fluid only. We recently had an incident in our area of fellow cleaning tools in his basement with acetone and it ignited and burned him badly. I like to work in doors so I use cigarette lighter fluid. Please excercise caution with anything else so highly flamable. Like outdoors.

As you can see, everyone has their preference. I have simplified it by using a 6'6", or 7' MH, fast tip for all plastics and it works fine.

I will second BPS Excel mono. It is very inexpensive, supple and strong. I have used the 8, 12, 14 and 20lb for the last ten years on the tidal Potomac with no problem and as has been said above, you cannot beat the price. BPS also puts it on sale occasionally, which makes it really inexpensive.

I use a cap from a fine Sharpie pen with a metal washer glued to the bottom so it stands straight up and is stable. Fill with lighter fluid, put the spool shaft in it so the bearing is covered, let it soak, blow dry and you are ready to go. The bearing fits inside the Sharpie cap perfectly and the line stays dry.

Do not use finger nail polish remover for your bearing cleaner. It is not the same as pure acetone. I also use plain lighter fluid (naptha) to soak my bearings and have never had a problem getting them clean.

i Have one and love it, but I began removing my barbs five years ago and never looked back. With no barb it is is simple to lock onto the hook and back it out. With no barb you have to keep the pressure on all the way to the boat, but I do not lose bass. With the Baker, I have removed countless deep hooks very quickly without injury (or bleeding) to the fish. What a great way to fish.

Not sure what your problem is, but I have been using BPS Flouro in 14 and 12lb for five years now and have not experienced that problem, so I doubt it is the line. I wish I could be more helpful in solving your problem. I do recall reading in the past that there is a thing called a "wind knot" which can occur in lines. Perhaps others who have experienced this will comment on the cause.

I have been servicing my own Shimano reels for many years and I have never heard of "breaking in" bearings, nor have I ever heard a reel service talk of doing it. As a former tool and die maker I will tell you that metal in motion against metal needs a lubricant, or damage will occur. Clean your bearings well, dry them well then apply a tiny drop of any quality reel bearing oil. I use Yellow Rocket Fuel on my metal bearings and Oust Met Oil on my ceramic bearings. Want to run ceramics dry? Go ahead if you can stand the noise, but running them dry has nothing to do with breaking them in..

I may be mistaken, but I believe that the anti reverse bearing is pressed into the side cover on the ABU SX, which means that if you need a new AR bearing you have to buy the cover to get it.

I tried it and went back to my old reliable 17lb mono for spinnerbaits. Maybe it is me, but I have better accuracy with mono.

I have had two on forever and get the distance I need. Curados and Citicas with ABEC 7 bearings.

This may help you. http://pages.infinit...ing/bait101.htm http://pages.infinit.net/fishing/bait201.htm

If you like it and enjoy fishing with it that is what counts.

Look at the expensive Shimano Core 50MG7. No bearings in the handle.

For what it is worth, I have a friend who builds custom rods and he has looked at both carefully and prefers the Carbonlite. He says he just likes the way it is built. I cannot afford his rods and do have five Carbonlites. Three are three years old. No micro guides. I notice that on this year's models they moved the hook keeper.

I throw my Senkos on a 7' BPS Carbonlite MH I bought on sale and my $97 Curado 50E, which I bought from one of the liquidation sales last fall. An absolutely fantastic Senko set up.

Since you work there, here is question for you. I went into our Gander in Fredericksburg three weeks and there were bare display hooks everywhere. the fellow in fishing told me they had no control over stock and that it is top down supply. Really???

Vicious is certainly reasonably priced for Flouro. I was given a spool of 10lb and used it for over a year for Senko type fishing and found no fault with it. Heck, for the price, buy a spool and try it. I am not using it now only because I had a supply of BPS XPS flouro I am still working through.

My Gander is in Frederickburg, VA.

My Curado 100B reels are nine years sold. Still perform like new.

If you have a Gander Mountain near you check there for Citica 200E reels. Ours still have several for $80.00. It is a great reel for the money. I have had three for four years, in which I put ABEC 7 bearings and they are still smooth as can be and that is due to Shimano's simplicity of design and parts reliability. It is basically a scaled back version of the Curado 200E, which is nice because numerous parts are interchangeable between the reels. With proper maintenance they will last you for many years.

I stick to 12lb flouro on my 50E and it does the job on light lures and really throws a Senko type worm extremely well..

My custom rod builder friend classifies Carbonlite regular guide rods as pretty darn good rods. He is not impressed with the guide feet of the micro guides, although admits that the material in both rod guides is not "cheap" as described above. The Carbonlite regular guides are stainless with Pac Bay titanium carbide inserts. Information on titanium carbide is pretty interesting. Titanium carbide films have found wide application in various tribological engineering devices owing to its excellent hardness and, therefore, wear resistance. To apply titanium carbide coating on various substrates, physical vapour phase deposition (PVD) and chemical vapour phase deposition (CVD) methods are commonly employed. The key word here is "coating" because titanium carbide in its bulk state is not used. It has a hardness of around 3000 (30GPa), which is harder than silicon carbide (SiC) with a hardness of 2200 to 2400. Notice that the BPS Carbonlite rods use the term PVD coating and it is over a ceramic of some sort. The Carbonlite micro guides also use Pac Bay stainless frames with Hialoy inserts. Hialoy is really a high content aluminum oxide (used on many rods), that is diamond polished. Bottom line - they ain't "cheap".

I agree with Delaware. Find a local rod repair service and you will be surprised at how inexpensive it is to replace the line guide and it will be done correctly.