newapti5

Yes, 20lb is also the most braid I use on BC reels, and I use them for jigs, t-rigs, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits... Sometimes I'd even go down to 15lb. I also never had dig-in problems because I set the drag low, around 3lb. For fighting a bass, even a feisty 20" river smallie, 3lb drag is enough. Just use your thumb if extra drag is needed during hookset.

Plat.co.jp has Daiwa Silver Creek Air TW Stream Custom on sale for $230 now with free shipping from Japan, much lower than what Digitaka offers. This is a true BFS reel, designed for fishing stream trout.

Seaguar Gold Label if the price is not a factor. Otherwise Seaguar AbrazX is a good one. For FC leader line, I mostly look at diameter and abrasion resistance. Unless running a long leader over 10', I don't think other characteristics matter much.

Of course. Like many other luxury items, they are put on sale constantly. The most discount I've seen is the GLX line, 40% off last Christmas. But sorry I can't tell you how to find the discount/coupon; you'll have to search the Internet. I just want to let people know, don't pay full retail.

Yes, if the yoke is aligned ideally, it has nothing to do with the pinion gear alignment. It behaves, just like you said, as a tool to push in and out the pinion. But when the yoke is misaligned, it is constantly pressing against the pinion. So the pinion is just as under load all the time. When that happens, whatever tight tolerance between the pinion inside and spool shaft is, this constant load will affect the pinion and main gear meshing and shorten the smooth winding period. Also, since the pinion is "under load" even during casting position, the casting performance will be affected as well because now there's extra friction on the spool shaft. I didn't service many Tatula reels, but judging from mine and my friend's, I would argue this may happen more often than you think. Sometimes this happens after some usage, but I would say it happens more often when we put the reel back together after a deep cleaning and didn't pay much attention to that small piece's alignment. Thanks for the pics BTW.

I actually did, on my first gen Tatula. The screws were not totally loose, but this part was misaligned when I opened the reel after a year of usage. I respectfully disagree. Without dual support, the pinion gear is supported by one bearing on one end, and spool shaft for the rest. But the inside of pinion gear is not tightly against the spool shaft. There's some wiggle room there for sure. I mean, this is why dual bearing support is tighter and better, because the pinion gear won't become misaligned, even under load. When this little part becomes misaligned, the pinion yoke will be as well, and then the yoke will press against the pinion gear, making it misaligned a bit, even when the pinion is still on the spool shaft. Like I said, this is why dual bearing support pinion gear is better, because the "wiggle room" between pinion inside and spool shaft won't matter anymore. Of course, not every manufacturer can make a decent dual support pinion gear structure. I have a $10 unknown brand reel that has dual support pinion gear; doesn't make it any smoother than an ABU Black Max.

Yes I noticed that as well. Anyway, I guess smoothness is just one aspect of reels. I still secretly love using my old hard-grinding Daiwa Exceler BC reel, because its casting is so effortless and accurate.

Yes, it's made of some sort of metal, but I don't think the material is as strong as it used to be since it would flex a bit under load. Anyway, when I assemble my Tatula after a deep-clean, this part is the one I pay most attention to, making sure it is lined up straight and tightly secured.

Yep. IMO level bearings may improve smoothness a little bit in heavy duty situation, but in most cases, that small improvement is almost neglectable in daily fishing. What I'd like to see improvement is this little part in Tatula reels (and some other reels), the support for pinion yoke. The material it uses, the small size of it, and the tiny screws that fix it to the frame, all make that part not secure enough. Once it moves a little, the alignment of the pinion gear will be affected since the pinion gear is not supported by dual bearings. In the old Alphas frame and TD-Z fame, even with dual support pinion gear, that little part is made of metal, and riveted to the frame. It's about as secure as it can be. IMO this is another proof that Daiwa is going backward to save reel weight and cost.

I am more into reels, old or new. A favorite rod, like GLX MBR 843, gets me excited for sure, but you cannot tinker with it much. Even with rod building, you'll have to choose a pre-built blank. Reels, on the other hand, have so many parts that you can tweak to your preferences. Having said that, I do have almost equal amount of rods as reels. I guess that makes me a mild hypocrite?

It must be something in the water; someone put in growth hormone and stuff.

No one taught me face-to-face about fishing. I had to learn it from YouTube and forums at the beginning, some tips here and a piece of information there. So my inspirations came from numerous persons, pros and no-pros.

So now we have 3 versions of Metanium: 50 with aluminum gears, 70, and 100. I thought only Daiwa does that.

Yeah, that goes for most Chinese businesses. It's THE national holiday; the whole country shuts down, just as Japan's holiday shutdown. I am pretty sure that "10 days" policy excludes this holiday break.

I've had many things shipped from China to PA, including rods. Even with the same listed shipping method, the real shipping time varies from 10 to 40 days. As others mentioned, it depends on a lot of factors. But the good news is, among all the 50+ orders from them, there is not one package lost or damaged, including rods. I guess I am lucky.

In my experience, if you mind the noise, removing the seal will only make it louder. The bearing may rotate a bit better without seals, but it's easier for debris and dirt to get in, making the bearing even noiser.

I am most curious, as other fans apparently, about how the DC brake works. Daiwa mentions you can download different braking profiles to fine tune the reel's brake force, thus the different light colors. I don't care about the light, but if in the future Daiwa allows users to design their own braking profiles on this reel, that limitless potential gets me excited. It'll be like game modding for reels.

Looks like a winner. It even has a cone line guide for heavy lines.

Oh I am gonna get one for sure, not because I need a fancy "cool" reel to fish, but because as a tackle junkie and a mildly enthusiastic Daiwa fan, I am so curious how it works/performs .

Near the end, the paper actually mentions that commercial fish's PFAS median level is assumed to be significantly lower than wild caught fish's, so that's good news.

I don't live close to the river anymore, but I used to fish from Marysville to Falmouth, so pretty much the same range as yours. TBH I am not much a walleye angler, but one of my friends is, and he's been my main walleye supplier. I still go walleye fishing with him occasionally near the three mile island, around the dam over there, but mostly I fish nearby creeks for smallies nowadays.

Yes that's another problem that I've read about. The good news is this year the city of Harrisburg is finally trying to address this sewage problem. Not sure how much it'll help though.

The data used in the paper is from 2013-15. God knows what level it has reached today.

I guess any wild-caught freshwater fish will be off the menu from now on. I wonder what level of PFAS saltwater fish and supermarket fish have.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2022.115165 https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/17/health/freshwater-fish-pfas-contamination-wellness These number are very concerning. I've been eating some wild caught walleyes, and our PA fish & boat commission says eating a couple per month would be OK.