Lead Head

Last couple of daiwa knobs I pulled had blue loctight heavily applied. It makes sense from a production standpoint. Use slightly more shim than necessary, add loctight and tighten until you get the desired free spin to slop ratio. Set aside until loctight cures. This has to be much faster than disassembling and reassembling to swap and adjust shims for perfection. I'll bet this is what is causing your frustration. They probably didn't have the screw anywhere near as tight as you do, and were trusting the loctight to hold and give you the perfect fit feeling.

I'll bet your knots were slipping. When I first started using braid, I had a few trilene knots slip. I switched to the twice through the eye uni knot (often called the fishing fool knot) and haven't had any problems with braid knots since.

How difficult is permagloss to remove if applied to wraps? Would it make replacing a guide annoying, turn it into a major ordeal, or just be nearly impossible to do cleanly?

I wonder how well they would do if they ran a few daiwa reels without the t-wing? I'm sure I would be priced out, but a 21 Zillion with a standard line guide would pretty much be my dream reel.

With a couple of exceptions, all my reels are purchased used. Only a few are still pretty and I'm OK with that, they are tools. I build my own rods and while they look good to me, appearance is a pretty distant second to function when I build. A few are built to be pretty to my eye, but I'm still making tools, not art. To answer your question, no, none of my tools are too pretty to use. My waters are so dirty my stuff probably accumulates more filth in one trip than most people's will in months. If I had an office or study I might like to have some display equipment, but even then I would prefer there was a story to go with the item so it likely would only be pretty to me.

I love Daiwa SV spools and most of my setups are using them. Having said that, none of them perform better than my 21 Scorpion DC in the wind. I don't even use the DC anymore (replaced it with a 21 Zillion) because I just like the feel of Daiwas more, the spool being a tiny bit closer to the thumb bar just feels right. I have used the SV G1 1012 spool and a SV 103 spool in a SS SV, Steez 100, TD-Z, and Steez 100sh. I have 2 Alphas SV 105, a 21 Zillion, and I've used a Tatula SV. They don't struggle with wind, but they don't get as much distance as the DC will straight into strong wind. Maybe it's my casting stroke, maybe it's my dated equipment, but that is my experience.

Is it getting snagged when reeling in, or casting out? If it's only while reeling in that's no big deal if you point the rod tip down at your lure just as the knot reaches you. If it's catching on the way out you need to try a smaller knot. The FG will likely be the best. It's not as hard to tie as it looks when you get familiar with it.

By "dug in" I mean the line has pulled down into the spool and is not rolling off freely. As mentioned before, this isn't much of a problem if all the line is tight on the spool. If you notice loops or slack on your spool, strip line and pinch it when reeling in to re-tighten everything. You won't have to do this as often as you get more accustomed to braid.

@Big Hands a lot of good advice for you so far, but keep in mind that the TX rigs and shakey heads you are using often introduce slack into your spool as you work them back in. I often have to either strip line, or make a dead cast and pinch line while reeling it in to tighten the line back up when using bottom contact and thin braid.

Last thing, you said "full reel of braid". You want at least a little bit of mono tied directly to the spool. Unless the spool has holes and you tied to one of them, braid won't bite well and can slip around the spool. I watched my dad hand-line a 2lb bass because of this.

I'm not familiar with that braid but some braids I have used had a slightly tacky coating when new. They performed much better after the coating wore off. Thin braid on a baitcaster can be done, but requires an excessive amount of line management and attention to detail in my opinion (unless you're using bfs equipment designed for it). I would definitely suggest going up in size, especially if this is your first experience with braid. It's not rocket science, but is different. One more thought, it is likely that you are casting with more line between the tip of your rod and your lure than normal. I say this because you mentioned a swivel and not passing it through your guides. If that is the case, try dumping the swivel and going with a braid to leader knot. Go with around 4ft of leader (just make sure the knot doesn't enter your reel) and cast normally. Now that I think about it, unless you normally cast with 2+ feet of line hanging out the tip of your rod, this is definitely contributing to your problem. That's a lot, especially for a 6'8" rod. If your braid isn't "dug in" on the spool, all that excess line could be contributing to why your lure isn't falling freely when you release the spool as it normally does.

I went back to look for that kit and it appears that I was looking at a kit for a Met. Sorry about that. I did check several of the shimano kits and it looks like most of them are the same size just advertised for different models. If you check the ID of the recessed area of your main gear it is possible one of the kits labeled met, curado, scorpion ect. will work fine. I'm not much of a shimano guy so I'm not super familiar with their internals.

Assuming the mgl has the same gears as a regular aldebaran, you can get a drag clicker on aliexpress for $11.61 shipped. You might want to take some measurements to be sure, and select "left handed". Price drops below $10 at the beginning of May, and will probably take 3 weeks or more to arrive.

It sounds like your only baitcasting experience is a Daiwa with braid. If that is correct, your difficulties are likely just because your new setup is pretty different. You have switched from what is (in my opinion) the most forgiving braking profile (mag-z, sv, and their boost variants) and the most manageable line, to the line that requires the most attention to detail and a braking system that requires a very different and slightly more involved setup. Unlike braid, almost all FC (and mono) will coil off the the spool to some extent if you release the spool with no resistance on the line and no tension on the spool. Double check all the good advice in this thread, and keep in mind that your new equipment will come with a small new learning curve. For example, Daiwa encourages you not to adjust the zero adjuster (spool tension knob), while most shimano reels require a bit of spool tension and some brake adjustments made on the spool itself.

Daiwa TD-Z (with a SV G1 1012 spool) on a NFC X-ray NEO MB765 30lb suffix 832

They are indeed just... better than. While I admit I'm not the most experienced, (haven't used Loomis, and limited St Croix) the 7'3" MHXF is the best 3/8oz jig rod I have ever used.

The absolute best "bad translations" come from aliexpress. I have a screen shot of a shoe insole that boasts "The feeling of stepping in sh**" I would post it but I suspect the mods would disapprove.

I can't answer your question, but I will suggest some cheap rod sleeves to prevent line tangling. You can cut the tip to fit how you like, then use heat shrink tubing to make a new tip.

I'm with Greenback Hunter on this one. Almost all my moving bait reels are 6.3.1 because when I lose complete focus I tend to speed up my retrieve. With the 7.9+ speed reels I would occasionally blow out the lure. I'm far more comfortable speeding up my retrieve when needed than I am attempting to reel slowly for the duration of a long retrieve. With the faster reels I'm one big splash or curious squirrel away from turning a spinner bait into a top water lure.

I built a NFC Delta DS 6107 into a casting rod specifically for Ned's. The soft xf tip let's me cast them great and it has just enough backbone to turn a decent fish out of cover. It's also a really good light top water rod, getting impressive distance when chasing schooling bass in the summer. It's rated 1/8-3/8. I need to weigh a TRD and a 1/15oz jig head, there is a decent chance I'm over 1/8oz. The 2 weeks I'm using it for top water I'm definitely over 1/8, but I'm looking for distance in the schools.

I love it. Flat blacks and grays are my favorite. I've always preferred subtle over flashy.

The only time I noticed the DC doing anything is in strong winds. In the wind, it's impressive, in every other situation it is just loud.

@bulldog1935 Have you had time to tinker with the Zillion custom yet? That matte black is gorgeous to me. I like Reels with simple muted color schemes. If i can ever figure out a way to swap that stupid T-wing with a traditional line guide, ill probably own a few more

I have one from Amazon as well. Maybe from the same link you posted. Its legit, and the aluminum parts you are hearing about is the main gear. That's why the JDM is lighter. It's nothing to worry about, if for some reason you need to replace it, Tackle Trap sells brass gear sets for around $50. If somewhere down the road you need or want the brass gears you will still come out $100 ahead. It may have a shorter handle (JDM reels often do) but I can't remember, I replaced mine before I even spooled it up.

In regards to losing parts... Something I'm pretty sure I learned on this forum that is a tremendous help, the muffin pan. Grab a muffin pan and put parts in it as you remove them. This not only helps prevent you from losing parts, but gives you a guide as to what order they need to go back in.