FloridaFishinFool

New shoal bass state record certified Added: Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission sent this bulletin at 03/13/2015 11:18 AM EDT March 13, 2015 Tucker Martin, 17, from Chipley, set a new state record for shoal bass on Sunday, March 8 around 5 p.m. He was bank fishing with a friend on the Chipola River, in northwest Florida’s Jackson County, when he cast a spinner bait up under a bridge and the fight was on. He was expecting to catch a spotted bass or largemouth, but landed a shoal bass that weighed 4.49 pounds (4 pounds, 8 ounces) and measured 20.3 inches in total length, with a girth of 14.4 inches. Martin and his grandfather, Edgar Bush, met Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) regional biologist Chris Paxton at the Main Street Market in Chipley. After congratulating the young angler on his success and verifying the species, the fish was weighed on certified scales. Martin’s bass surpassed the previous record by nearly 6 ounces. “Whereas central Florida is especially renowned for trophy largemouth, the Florida Panhandle has numerous species of uniquely evolved black bass that we are proud to promote and manage,” Paxton said. “It was a delight getting to document another state record from this area.” Shoal bass are one of five black bass species found in Florida. Black bass are all part of the sunfish family, which includes bluegill and crappie. The Florida largemouth bass is by far the most common and largest of the black basses in the state. In addition to the shoal, Florida has Choctaw, spotted and Suwannee basses. All four are found in northwest Florida, whereas the largemouth is found throughout the state. It is easy to distinguish largemouth bass from the other black basses because the first and second dorsal (back) fins on shoal, Choctaw, Suwannee, and spotted basses are connected. The dorsal fins appear separated in largemouth bass by a notch between the spiny and soft dorsal fins. In addition, the upper jaws of shoal, Choctaw, Suwannee and spotted bass do not extend back past the eye as it does in largemouth bass. People can distinguish shoal bass from Choctaw, spotted and Suwannee bass because, unlike those other species, shoal and largemouth basses do not have a patch of teeth on their tongue. Because these northwestern Florida black basses don’t grow as big as the largemouth and have limited ranges, the FWC is considering new rules to help sustain their populations. Anglers can learn more about the proposal and comment by visiting bit.ly/BassRules, accessible by going to MyFWC.com/Fishing and selecting “Freshwater,” “Black Bass Management” and “Bass Regulations.” The rule would not go into effect until July 2016, depending on public input and the vote of the FWC Commissioners. In addition to state records, the FWC also recognizes anglers by giving them a Big Catch certificate for landing shoal or spotted basses that are heavier than 2 pounds or longer than 16 inches and Suwannee bass heavier than 1.5 pounds or longer than 14 inches. VisitBigCatchFlorida.com to register and submit any of 33 different species of Florida freshwater fishes for recognition. In addition, anglers can claim a Black Bass Slam by catching a largemouth bass, a spotted bass, a shoal bass and a Suwannee bass all within a one-year period.

Yep! And I think technically the store is actually located in Winter Park, Florida just north of Orlando. It is located right along I-4 on Fairbanks Ave just a stone's throw east of the interstate. Quick and easy to get to. I can spend hours in there digging around! Recently I purchased a small electric DC motor that spins at 13,000 rpm's I use to break in my ceramic hybrid ball bearings before installing them in my reels. Works great! Nothing like having bearings pre-broken in before installation. Really makes them smoother and faster, or maybe I just think so. Here is an image of the aisle's I got the parts shown above in- this place is killer! You can find stuff in here you simply can not find anywhere else. It was a god-send for finding materials I can use to make my own customized brake shoes for old reels. You can even buy leather in here perfect for making drag washers from. Some old guys really like oiled leather for drag washers in spinning reels. I have yet to try it on a baitcast reel though... WHAT IS SKYCRAFT ? Skycraft is a self - service surplus sales outlet that sells to the general public as well as thousands of businesses through-out the United States. We feature electronic parts, electrical supplies, hardware, wire and cable, test equipment, and thousands of hard to find items. Skycraft is an ideal place for hobbyists, model builders, audiophiles, artists, and the do-it-yourself electronic enthusiast. Skycraft has even been featured in a Discovery Channel show on Satellites. The segment showed an amateur radio group shopping for parts for a satellite, Amsat, that they later launched into orbit. We have been in the Orlando area buying and selling since 1974. We buy excess and surplus inventories from companies big and small and re-sell them in our hands-on, self service store located at Fairbanks and I-4. Stop in today and see what over 500 people a day shop for. If you look at the top shelf in this next image, it gives you a clue as to the origins of this great store. Up there you will see one of a kind custom home made ships and boats that were hand made by the founder of this store. Due to his own desire for odd materials to make his custom remote controlled boats and ships and rockets and planes, he opened his own store that is one of a kind and very popular here in the Orlando area. It has been around for decades and is doing very well thankfully. Some of you guys like to use rod socks? This store sells the sock material in various sizes and colors right on the roll wholesale price to you so you can make your own rod socks any length or size you want them dirt cheap too. From this store you can make a rod sock for your rod for maybe $2.00 each if that. You can see a rack of rolls of it down the aisle in the following image...

I have a place here in Orlando, Florida called SkyCraft Parts & Surplus which is like an electronics goldmine for us guys and hobbyists. It is filled with old odds and ends and military surplus and electonics gidgits and gadgets, and they have several aisles dedicated to washers, stand-off's, etc. made from every material you can imagine. So in about 20 minutes of looking and choosing from several materials like phenolic- which is what my original brake shoes are made of- and nylon, to plastic, to teflon, etc. I was able to find all sorts of various materials to make my own brake shoe replacements that give me a wide range of options and braking capabilities. Maybe you can find a similar store in your area? Here is a link to their website: http://www.skycraftsurplus.com/

What I was wondering was if the sun and heat might be in part to blame for any accelerated plastic deformity? Not that the plastic actually melted or anything, but maybe softened up just enough to slowly and slightly change shape over say ten years of consistent exposure to Florida's sun & heat? Is it possible that the sun can soften the plastic enough to cause it to deform or change shape enough to allow for a loose wobbly rotor over a ten year period of time- or more? No parts are missing from the reels. Internal metal parts are in good working order and don't seem to be worn out. The reels still work, but the rotors are just loose and wobble around on their support system. My only conclusion is either there is a design issue, or a materials issue, or what else could it be? I feel like I have reached the end of the road with 4 shimano reels some well over 10 years old. They have been good solid reliable workhorse reels, but they are progressively getting worse. And the larger the reel the more noticeable the problem is. My 6000 is real bad. It is not a balance problem. It is a tolerance issue more than anything else. I decided to replace them rather than try and repair them. So I chose to go with a brand of reels that have two main differences than the shimano reels, one is I now have solid aluminum frames rather than plastic- I'll have to check the reel to see what the rotor is made of, might be plastic, and these reels have the double bearing holding system that my shimano reels did not have. So far so good, but I am only on season two with the new reels right now and have no idea how they will be in ten years.

Let me throw another monkey wrench into this equation... My older shimano reels are made of plastic. When exposed to the hot sun of central Florida all day long year round the plastic more than likely softens up some, and I have to wonder if this can lead to a faster rate of deformity than say living up north in Canada where the sun may not heat the plastic as much or for as long to soften it up as much as what might happen here in Florida? Therefore plastic deformity may be far less up north than here in Florida??? If the north is frozen up with snow and ice for half the year, are the reels seeing the same amount of hours exposed to extreme heat from the sun like reels used year round in Florida? Plastic is like butter. The colder it gets, the harder it gets. The hotter it gets, the softer it gets. Plastic is the same. Maybe this is part of the reason why my older shimanos have "melted" into uselessness? Could this be possible?

Exactly! And yet this is what shimano depends upon for the stability of their rotors. I have had more than one shimano reel slowly get worse over time in this respect. And I have found that trying to replace the inner parts does not always fully correct the problem. One thing not mentioned much is that plastic is not as solid as it appears. Plastic, like glass, is actually a slow moving liquid to some degree. Over time it deforms. And with constant use of a reel for many years, there is a good probability that part of this problem is in the plastic rotors deforming some as well as the frame or body. One of the weak points is at the back of the pinion gear where they usually create a really small plastic support that the rear of the pinion gear is held within. There is a lot of side to side pressure on that little support and over time I have found in some of my shimano reels it gets looser. Shimano depends upon the steel shaft to help stabliize the side to side forces, along with the small rear support. I use my reels a lot so they have literally worn out and it is not just the internal parts. Replacing just those has not brought any of my reels back to like new. Replacing body and rotor parts along with internal parts might, but I am not going to spend that much on those old reels. So I have junked one stradic, one 2000 size, and one 6000 sized reel which was horrible with how much it wobbled, and I am about to toss out a 4000 size shimano as well for this same problem. Here in central Florida I fish just about year round and put a lot of hours on my reels, and when regular maintenance can not keep them in tip top shape then there has to be another reason for the failure, and it is not because the reels are broken. I think it is because of the over use of plastics in places where it fails over time. Today I have all brand new reels with solid aluminum frames and double ball bearing holding system and they are super smooth, and easy to use and I don't care if they are a little bit heavier. So what. I'd rather have and use a better quality reel made of better quality materials and with better designs than what I have used in the past. Simple as that. It is cheaper to just replace the worn out shimano reels with something better than to spend any money on parts to try and fix shimano's design and materials flaws.

Public input sought on FWC permit request for lake restoration The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has applied for a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District to conduct restoration activities on 23 lakes and water bodies in the FWC’s Southwest Region. This permit is required pursuant to Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899. The request is part of an overall initiative in which the FWC is working with the Corps to obtain permits for routine restoration work in 94 lakes and water bodies throughout Florida. The following water bodies within the FWC's Southwest Region are included in the permit application: Kissimmee River (including Paradise Run) in Okeechobee, Glades, Highlands, Polk and Osceola counties; Lake Arbuckle, Lake Hancock, Lake Isabell, Lake Livingston, Lake Marion, Lake Pierce, Lake Weohyakapka, Mud Lake and Tiger Lake in Polk County; Lake Adelaide, Lake Istokpoga, Lake Josephine, Lake Sebring, Little Red Water Lake, Red Beach Lake and Wolf Lake in Highlands County; Lake Lindsey in Hernando County; Lake Manatee in Manatee County; Lake Seminole in Pinellas County; Middle Lake in Pasco County; Lower Myakka Lake and Upper Lake Myakka in Sarasota County. The FWC is seeking a permit which would authorize all of its routine mechanical aquatic plant maintenance activities related to habitat restoration and navigation maintenance within these water bodies for a period of 15 years. The proposed maintenance techniques include mechanical harvesting and shredding of aquatic vegetation and use of earth-moving and tilling equipment on vegetated areas during dry conditions. The proposed restoration activities on lakes and other water bodies would improve habitat for fish and wildlife and provide outdoor opportunities for boating, angling and wildlife viewing. The Corps permitting process requires the opportunity for public comment. On March 9, the Corps published a Public Notice for the proposed work on its website at:http://www.saj.usace.army.mil/Missions/Regulatory/PublicNotices.aspx. To view the notice, click on the following file number to open the Public Notice: SAJ-2014-02266 (SP-JED). If you would like to provide comments or have any questions regarding the Corps permit process, please follow the directions included in the Public Notice. Note that the web address is case sensitive and should be entered as it appears above. Learn more about mechanical control of aquatic plants athttp://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/manage/control-methods/mechanical-control.

I also had this same problem with Shimano spinning reels over time. And this is one of the reasons I no longer buy shimano spinning reels. Part of the problem is in the design itself. Shimano will not improve their design to incorporate a double ball bearing rotor support system and one of my older Stradics developed this problem slowly worsening over time. So when I looked inside of the reel this is what I found- a single ball bearing rotor support system... Today I buy spinning reels by other brand names that will improve the design and incorporate a double ball bearing rotor support system like this one: The Shimano reels are shown above as the "traditional system" and other brands who have left shimano in the dust use the double ball bearing holding system as shown below... now I have no more wobbles! And I like it! Bye bye Shimano!

Yep! I've been doing it for years now. I am rebuilding a Bass Pro ETX10SHLB right now I got off ebay for less than $30 and it is made in China, but also has many of the same parts inside as Korean made Browning reels and Korean made Bass Pro and the clutch mech in this particular reel is virtually identical to the Abu revo3's. This reel comes with a triple drag washer system, but not carbon, but that is easy enough to switch out. And I was surprised to find this reel actually has 4 ball bearings in the handle too so that is a bonus. But yeah, a lot of these reels are basically the same inside, just a different color and brand on the outside for a lot of them. But if you know your reels and what parts you want, it is best to just order direct from Bass Pro. They always charge like $5.59 for shipping any size order of parts so expect that too, but for most of their parts, they are priced really good. And I mean really good! For example, my Johnny Morris reel comes stock with cross weave carbon fiber drag washers. Bass Pro sells them to me for $1.05 each. No one, not even ebay can beat that price. A handle with ball bearings is $10.00. And keep in mind, for some of the parts they will sell you they are parting out other reels to get those parts, while a lot of them are new. Man this cheapo little Bass Pro reel is like brand new inside. No wear. Great shape. Does not need any parts. Just a good cleaning and lube job and bearing work or swap out and I can get years more of fun fishing out of this little 7.1:1 reel. Since this is my first Bass Pro reel made in China, it will be interesting to see how well it compares with the Korean made reels. If it is not as good or I just don't like it as much I will sell it as fast as I got it.

I have found that carpeting designed for professional golf applications and putt putt golf courses is some of the best made for this type of thing. The carpet I use has 1/4" foam rubber backing that quiets noise and is cushy to stand on and I even use black that does not get too hot to touch or stand on in summer heat here in central Florida. And since it is designed for professional use, it constructed better, holds up better and I love the stuff! And you won't find this carpet at your local Home Depot or local carpet dealers. Gonna have to hunt down the sources golf courses and putt putt places get theirs from. I can't help you there as I got mine for free at a PGA tradeshow I worked at a couple years ago. The corporation across the aisle tore their booth down, yanked the carpet up, rolled it up and tossed it in the aisle marked for "trash" and I took it all home and installed it in my boat and have been very pleased with the results and that I have enough to do it a second time stored away in the garage.

Guides on top cause the rod to twist under load, and as the rod bends, the line stretched tight between the guides touches and rubs against the rod between all the guides in the bending section of the rod adding in friction and wear. I prefer spiral wraps as an improvement over standard rods with guides on top. I just purchased three new rods from Gander Mountain on sale, the new guides are in the mail on their way here, and just today I am stripping off the guides on these brand new Gander Mountain rods to convert them into spiral wrapped rods. I will never again put guides on a baitcast rod on top. From now on anytime I have to put guides on a rod or just want to put guides on a rod it will be a spiral wrap only. I consider it a step up and a definite improvement.

Right now I am buying certain Browning reels when I can get my hands on them. I get the same feel and performance of Lew's and others made in the same factory, but at a much better price. I really like having the centrifugal and magnetic braking both easily adjustable on the outside of the reel. Triple carbon drag washers. 10 ball bearings with 4 of them in the handles. Super smooth. Great size- easy to palm. I absolutely love them! I have 4 Browning reels in use right now and I will be buying some more soon. I sure hope they do not change factories! Browning and Zebco are two companies I know have a long history with this one Korean factory going back into the 1980's, and when Bass Pro purchased Browning in 2005 Bass Pro kept that relationship and expanded on it by having them make their own line as well and now other well known brand names like Lew's and Abu Garcia are using this same factory. The way I look at it, is I will not follow the brand name, I will follow the factory output because this particular factory is producing some really good reels and has been for many years. One of my Browning reels made there dates back to 1995 and it is still in use to this day- it is a copy of the Shimano Calcutta made by Browning a decade before Bass Pro bought them. I recently had to put in a new set of gears and finding the right set of gears was not easy and took some time but I eventually found two lines of reels made from the same tooling- the Browning Aggressor and Quantum EX are identical reels made at this same factory. The gears are exactly the same size. So now that I know this, I can use gears from the 4:1 speed reels, the 5.2:1 speed reels which is what my old reel was to begin with, and now I have installed in it the 6.2:1 speed gears from a Browning Aggressor. I recently overhauled some Abu Garcia revo's and made careful note that the revo used the same yoke and drag washers and other parts same as the Bass Pro Johnny Morris series reels which were identical and interchangeable into the revo's. So as I said above... this one particular Korean factory is producing some really great reels today like the Lew's and others, and I plan on using reels produced by this one factory as long as they keep producing them no matter what the brand name is because basically, it is the same reel in different versions and with different brand names which don't mean squat to me! I'll buy what that factory puts out regardless of brand name. When ICAST rolls around, I plan on asking about this situation with the various brands on the show floor.

I'm gonna get me a couple of those spit'n image lures, but which one? The Bill Dance and Heddon version or the Excalibur version? I'm gonna get some that match the hatch on the baitfish in the area for color. I usually catch them on inline spinners, rat'l traps, and rapala minnow lures work great. Here is a mess of them out of Lake Harris about to be filet'd for dinner! These average 1 to nearly 4 pounds. I catch lots more a little bigger and smaller, but keep only those about this size for food. They are great when smoked!

And when selling on ebay, avoid international sales and shipping if at all possible. Paypal will hit you for a currency conversion fee that is outrageous! When all is said and done, between ebay and paypal, they will take as much as 15% or more of the total so you gotta tack that on to the sale if you want to make any money. I have a couple of reels on ebay now and it is tough trying to get what you want for them.

I thought I had seen just about everything in my 50 years, but recently I purchased a used rod and reel combo from a pawn shop for a great price of $15.00. It was a decent 7' MH fast action spinning rod made of IM-7 graphite- a top of the line mint condition Bass Pro brand rod which retailed for a little under $100.00 when new, and on it was a cheapo piece of junk Shakespeare reel which I threw in the trash as soon as I got it home. But I thought I would take a couple of photos of the lure rigged onto this spinning rod combo and just let the photos show you what I found tied onto this rod and reel. Something I had never seen before. I have heard of rod and reel pimping or decorating, but I never heard of lure pimping- or decorating- until now... Ever seen anything like this before? A small plastic heart that sparkles like a diamond??? Do you think this did anything to make it more appealing to any fish? Or, was this simply a decorative add on by the fisher "man" or fisherwoman more than likely in this case? I don't think I'll be tossing this little heart of sparkles into my tackle box any time soon... I thought some of you might get a kick out of this one. I don't know about you, but I'd like to meet the fisher-person who went to the trouble to add this little gem onto a lure... along with all that other useless hardware... enough metal to sink a battleship!

Well I wouldn't be using rubber worms for stripers! I can't say for other parts of the country, but for me here in Florida I fish mostly for LMB spring, summer, and fall, and stripers when the bass aren't biting- meaning the stripers for me are a cold weather fish I can switch over to in winter. Stripers will hit on a lot of the same lures LMB hit on like spinners and minnow lures and live bait. They like colder water and lots of oxygen in the water. Dam spill overs are good spots to find them. I catch them in summer too- often around spring runs which are 72 degrees year round while other places the water is much warmer. Submarine springs in lakes is another great spot to find them. And it is different in that I take the stripers and sunshine hybrids home to eat but let the LMB go. The state of Florida produces a hybrid sunshine bass- a cross between a striper and a white bass and they produce some 2 to 3 million of these fish per year here and dump into our lakes and rivers for our fishing fun and food. I really like hitting the St. Johns river at sunrise and at times in the main channel those sunshine bass and stripers will make the water look like it is boiling from their feeding frenzy hitting the schools of shad baitfish. Just about anything you throw into the boil they will hit on it. Fun fishing! And good eating too! I have found virtually no difference in behavior between the stripers and sunshine bass in central Florida's freshwater lakes and rivers. They run together everywhere I have found them throughout central Florida. I do not find stripers separated from sunshine bass. Does not happen from my experiences with them. The only difference between the two that I have seen are the stripes on the sides of their bodies. Other than that, they school together, live together, feed together and I always catch them side by side. I have never experienced catching only sunshine bass in this spot and stripers in some other spot. They are virtually identical in looks and behavior and I catch both side by side at the same time.

Well I gotta figure that the biggest bass are probably hanging close to the ledges down in the deepest two holes in Kingsley lake, with one being around 80 feet deep and the other one around 50 feet deep. Looking at the bathymetric map of the lake I'd be jigging or drop-shotting straight down on top of them over the steepest drop off's around those holes if I were wanting to target some of the biggest bass in the lake. And they should be on the beds soon so that would be another way to target some of the biggest bass in the lake. A nice website with info about the lake: http://www.kingsleylake.org/facts/history.html I am sure you could do well around the edges of the lake for smaller bass too. Here are a couple of maps of the lake: PDF of Bathymetry: http://lakewatch.ifas.ufl.edu/RevisedMaps05/ClayMaps/KingsleyClayMap.pdf

Not the greatest sale, but a few good deals. Some of their own brand Gander Mountain rods were on clearance for $19.99 each so I got a couple of those. Some lures were discounted 75% including Rapala deep diving cranks... One thing that surprised me was they had a Shimano Curado 300EJ on display that no longer functioned. The spool would not turn when the handle was cranked even with the drag increased. But the spool would release for cast spinning freely, but once engaged the handle would not turn the spool. I was kind of surprised they would even keep a broken reel on display like that. Another thing that bugged me about all the reels was how many of them were missing the cast control knobs which had been removed and stolen off more than half of the reels. I guess this is a common thing found in all reel displays in all the stores. Gander Mountain has the best lure clearance bins of any sporting goods store!

Thanks for telling me! I think I'll head over there now. I regularly go to Bass Pro, Dick's and Gander Mountain, and Sports Authority, and Gander Mountain always has large clearance bins in the aisles as does Bass Pro, but Gander Mountain has a much better selection usually. Sports Authority comes in next, and Dick's is always in last place on my list.

That helped some! But a lot of information and accuracy is missing. In the Kingsley lake map there is no 50 foot hole. Just not there. And with Lake Maitland the bottom contour is no where close to accurate. My only conclusion is Navionics is not as accurate as it should be- at least for Florida.

***Correction- I made a mistake comparing maps with different measurement formats... I got my feet and meters mixed up, but there are still inaccuracies in map comparisons. So exactly how do I get accurate contour maps from Navionics for Florida? I just randomly checked another Florida lake and here are the results: This first map is from a government website showing Kingsley Lake in Clay County Florida, north Florida. This map shows the deepest hole is 70 feet deep while Navionics says it is only 18 feet deep and completely misses the 50 foot deep hole to the west. At what point should I consider Navionics inaccurate? Just for the heck of it I will now check lakes all over Florida just to see for myself. Kingsley Lake government bathymetric map: Navionics so call bathymetric mapping: All I can say is based on these random examples Navionics is not accurate.

Google earth is now getting into bathymetry mapping of lakes and rivers so you might check into that. I just posted on another thread about how inaccurate Navionics is- http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/151627-navionics-iphone-app/ Here in Florida I get a lot the official government bathymetric maps which are publicly available. You just gotta do your homework in searching them out as to who has what in your area. Here in Florida we have a lake watch program which a ton of them, and through state universities you can find them, water quality agencies, county and local governments often have them in storm and water run-off depts.

I thought about using Navionics too, that is until I cross checked their so called "contour" maps with the real world and discovered Navionics contours are no where close to the real world and extremely inaccurate. I regularly fish a lake here in central Florida and I have downloaded the official government bathymetric map used by county governments as well as state government agencies and it is considered very accurate since it was measured by real humans who came to the lake to make an accurate map for government purposes. And then there is Navionics map. No telling where or how they come up with their so called contour lines and depths, but they are not even close and so I did not download it.

I guess it revolves around how much a reel is used. If you hardly use your reels in 35 years I can understand your point, but for my 13 year old Shimano curado's I have had to replace the yoke in each one about every 3 or 4 years because I use them all the time. There is no other part inside a reel (like mine) that wears as much or as fast as the yoke. I have been repairing reels for about 35 years as well and from my experience yokes are the part I replace most often. It is a common maintenance issue for people who use their reels as heavily as I do. This issue also revolves around the design of the yoke too. A plastic yoke wears out faster than one with a steel collar or a pinion gear with a washer between the gears and plastic yoke. The moderator should encourage discussion not shoot people down and discourage anyone from contributing. His point was lost on me, but the shoot down was not. If I follow the "logic" of his opinion then regular maintenance is a non issue since worn parts just makes a reel work better- worn gears, worn yokes, wear everything down and heck the reels are just better and smoother. I guess the reel engineers should design reels like that to begin with and forget maintenance since worn is better. That is how it comes across like it or not.

The yoke is designed to keep the pinion gear in a certain place in alignment with the drive gear, and not too tightly shoved down onto the spool connection. The very fact it wears the yoke as seen above proves the pinion gear wants to move outside of the position engineers designed it to be at- and the yoke resists this movement getting worn down in the process. Some manufacturers put a washer on the pinion gear itself to stop this wear. I also showed an image of an improved yoke with a steel collar added designed to stop this type of wear. Designed to keep the pinion gear in a particular location inside the reel for a reason. This is done by professional engineers who design and build reels for a living. So if you think a pinion gear being shoved down through the plastic yoke more tightly jammed up against the spool is not a regular maintenance issue and much ado about nothing, you are certainly welcome to your opinion. My local Shimano dealer would also disagree with your assessment. I surely do not want my pinion gear being jammed up against the spool tighter and tighter with each use. I'd like for my pinion gear to float on the spool shaft exactly where the engineers designed it to be so my reels stay smooth. This thread was started by someone asking about common maintenance issues. I put one out there and you shot it down. ***Also you should be aware that these forums are intended for the sharing of knowledge and experience. People have to want to contribute. When you undermine and shoot down someone's genuine attempts at sharing information, you take away the future willingness to contribute. Why should anyone post anything if people just jump in to shoot it down? Then what is the point of sharing? What you have just done is a negative. I went through a lot of trouble to take images to show the common maintenance issue and you shot it down as nothing. Don't expect people to contribute if all you are going to do is shoot them down.