CaughtMeABiggun

I know this is kind of old news, but I just found out about all of this in the last week. I sure hope I'm not right about this, but I can't help but wonder if GSM purchased Dobyn's so that their portfolio would look better to the entity that has now purchased GSM. It's almost like GSM was on the market too when they purchased Dobyn's. Everything that Gary was sold as to why GSM was the right company to sell to probably means nothing now.

I took the handle and side plate off and started watching what the reel was doing. When I saw that the lever arm connected to the thumb bar would sometimes hang on the top of the tooth of the ratchet plate, I knew that it needed to wear in to allow the arm not to catch there. That arm moves forward and down to advance the ratchet plate to the next tooth and seat in the notch after it. When it has advance the ratchet plate you will see the reel handle slightly turn when pressing the thumb bar down. Sometimes it is aligned correctly and you won't see the handle move. After observing this, I then disassembled the drivetrain and put it back together making sure that the lever arm was in a place that meshed good with the ratchet plate. Once I got it back together I noticed it seemed to be a litttle better and I started pushing the thumb bar and clicking the handle over and over. It continued to get better. I took it out fishing today. It worked great and even caught a decent largemouth with it.

After my inspection and re assembly I was able to get the reel working properly. There is zero play now. It looks like it just needed to wear in. Definitely some poor QC. Seems to be a Tatula thing. They are dry, noisy, or clunky. I'm not a hater but there are better options depending on your needs. The one thing they do well is throw lighter baits. That is why I have two. The handle should not turn 30 to 40 degrees before it starts to engage. Maybe a 1980s reel but not any quality reel made in the last 25 years. After you press the thumb bar and make a cast the reel's internals should be in a position to click and engage the drivetrain. They are designed to do so. You should not have to make the reel "find home" on the ratchet plate before it will start the engagement. Yes the handle does turn during the engagement, but shouldn't be noticeable reel turn before you feel the pressure and click of the engagement. Obviously the handle turns through the engagement. I recommend taking the side plate off of these reels and watch them work. It is very clear on the Tatula what the intended design is and how it is engineered to work. I just purchased 4 new Curado MGL reels. They all have zero play. In case I have not communicated this clearly about the "play" I am talking about. This is not the movement of the handle when engaging the reel. This is before that. Between pressing the thumb bar and the engagement of the reel. Having to move the handle to get it to a point where I can turn the handle to engage the reel.

I have over 60 baitcast reels from MGL Curados to Piscifun to anything else. This is the first modern reel I have ever had this issue with. I do my own reel maintenance. I decided to take the reel apart again. (1st time was to put a little reel grease on those bone dry Tatula gears) I was able to watch the thumb bar and t wing actuation and saw what is happening. I think that the teeth on the main shaft ratchet plate are a hair too sharp. By design the arm that is attached to the thumb bar should slide into place between the ratchet plate teeth each time the thumb is pressed. If you notice on a Tatula the handle will rotate forward when you press the thumb bar sometimes. This is the arm sliding into place. If it is working properly, the arm will drop into place and will pop properly off of the next tooth to engage the reel handle and reset the thumb bar. If a couple of the teeth on the ratchet plate are a bit too pointy or the angle of the notch isn't quite right it will prevent the arm from sliding into the notch between the teeth on the ratchet place. The arm will hang on the top of the tooth and that is where the issue is. My other Tatula is spot on every time. I think this reel will wear in because the the more I do it the better it is getting. I have old Shimano Black Magnums that have slop that needs to be taken out first before the handle engages. Modern reels are not supposed to do that anymore. If you have a modern reel built by a reputable brand this is not normal. I have a second gen Castaic that doesn't do it because instigage can't work if there is play in the mechanism. That reel is going on 20 plus years old. The old Curado B reels from the 90s do not do this. I would say that there "shouldn't" be a Shimano or Daiwa that came off the assembly line in the last 20 years that should act like this becuase with good QC these reels have had that engineered out of them. The engineering is the reason we aren't all still using Black Magnums or BW2 Procasters. I am going to chalk it up to the spotty QC of the Tatula 100s.

I guess I'm having a hard time explaining what it is doing. When I press the thumb bar and then click the handle the reel randomly has 1/4 inch of play like it's not connected to anything and then it will click to engage. Every other baitcasting reel I have ever owned the handle immediately clicks and engages when turning the handle. There is no slack to take up in the handle before the reel clicks to engage.

The reel engages after pressing the thumb bar, but randomly it acts like the old anti reverse reels did before infinite anti reverse, except the handle isn't moving backwards. The handle has to rotate about 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch forward and then will engage. It's like it has to pick up the slack. My other tatula doesn't act like this at all.

I just got my second Tatula 100. The first one is great but as soon as I pulled this one out of the box I noticed that every few handle engagements after depressing the thumb bar the and turning the handle to engage the reel, the handle turns a bit before the engagement happens. It's almost like there is a random slip in engagement. Has anyone seen this on their T-Wing Daiwas?

To share a little of what I have learned... The Lews Laser HS rods fish triple their price point and the Lews Hank Parker rod fish double their price point. The Berkley Lightning Rod is really underrated as a moving baits rod. St. Croix Bass X Rods are great for their price but not well balanced. Dobyns Fury Rods are as good as the Bass X rods and are better balanced at the same price point. Dobyns rods in general have great balance and price to performance. KastKing Speed Demon rods may be the most overlooked best bang for buck rod in their price range. Shimano FX spinning reels are the best 20 dollar spinning reel ever made. The drag smoothness on these reels are insane for a 20 dollar reel. A Lews Laser HS 6' ML/Shimano FX 2500 maybe the best finesse spinning combo for under 50 bucks. I have 250 dollar finesse setup that is marginally better. The Sienna is the same reel as the FX for 10 bucks more an 1 extra bearing. Bass Pro baitcasting reels are the same as Lews. Kalex brand is part of Pure Fishing. Basically if you catch it right you can get a 15 dollar black max with 11 bearings. There are many other observations that I have made but this where I am hoping this topic can go from here.

I appreciate all of the replies. This topic is not for me. I have my own answer to this, but I do not know it all. Response from others will help those looking for this information in one place. I'm hoping to get some replies without budget in mind because in my experience there are always rods and reels that perform above their price point. Everyone knows what their budget is, but most of the time rod and reel suggestions are stuck into budget ranges. When I first started getting into fishing tackle I wanted to know what equipment performs above it price point. That information is spread out everywhere and not easy to find a definitive knowledge base to reference when purchasing new tackle. So 10 years and many rods and reels later I am starting to develop an understanding of this. If I would have had this knowledge back then I would not have drawers of reels and racks of rods. I could have taken that knowledge and made it work for me. Most of the time there is a little flexibility in a budget and if I know that spending an extra 25 bucks could make a big difference than I might want to spend 125 instead of 100. I might look for sales and try find some higher end equipment that I can get on a deal. If a company makes a $150 dollar rod that fishes like a $250 dollar rod that opens the doors to a lot of people. I have also noticed that you can go quite a ways up through some of the brand lineups where the price increase is only added bearing and aesthetics. From my experience $100 starts getting into higher level equipment. At the same time is is it worth the price increase for a Curado MGL 150 over Tatula 100? I have both and I'm not sure. Maybe you take the bucks you save on the Tatula and put it towards a higher quality rod. At that rate what are you sacrificing by dropping down to the Fuego CT. I have one and other than the T-Wing system it is as smooth and feels as solid as my Tatula. Going with a Fuego will give even more options for a higher end rod. Maybe a company's 100 dollar reel is great and no need to get any of their higher priced options until you get to their 200 dollar reel. These are the things I hope can get discussed further in this topic.

I know it's been discussed across various chats but I would like to get a definitive discussion going. I am curious on what the opinion is on the price point that rods and reels begin to give diminishing returns? I would also like to know what rods and reels people have found across all price points that provide the most bang per buck.

I have a feeling that they are going to destroy rod and reel part of that brand as well. Seems like Rapala is more old school about the way they operate compared to how 13 fishing has operated in the past. Only time will tell, but I think taking the "fun" out of those rods and reels will hurt them in the long run. I have several 13 fishing reels and the shelf appeal from the colors is what led me to giving their reel a try over others. I made a comment like this over in the rod and reel section and it got flagged for approval so hopefully this one is ok..

I haven't seen any any announcement, but it looks like Rapala is doing away with the 13 Fishing lures. I know that Rapala recently bought a majority stake in 13 Fishing. Has anyone seen an official statement on this? I was a big fan of 13 fishing products, but if this is how Rapala is starting their management of the brand I think I will look elsewhere for rods, reels, and baits in the future.

Lew's has some rods in the 30 to 75 dollar range that are real sleepers. I have two of the laser hs rods that are 6'10" and they are two of my favorite rods. Shockingly good for 30ish bucks.

Here is a list of reels that have been previously mentioned or may not have been mentioned that can be easily found for 100 bucks or less. BPS Extreme BPS Pro Qualifier Abu Revo X Ark Gravity 1 13 Fishing Origin C 13 Fishing Inception 13 Fishing Inception G2 Daiwa Fuego CT Daiwa CA 80 Lew's LFS Quantum Accurist Shimano SLX Shimano Caius Piscifun Alloy M Kast King Skeet Reese Icon

Yes! That is the reel. I remembered it being expensive for the time. Such a rare reel. I have never actually seen one in person.