New Baitcaster Setup

[nebkan]

Just purchased a Daiwa Tatula CT baitcast reel with a Dobyns Fury 734C rod.  My baitcasting experience is minimal.  I backed the reel with some mono before applying some Suffix braid.  Is there a specific way to spool the braid, should I hold the line tightly as I reel it on?  Also never worked with the braking system.  Any tips or suggestions to get it dialed in properly to avoid the dreaded backlash?

 

Thanks!

[CroakHunter]

Youtube is your friend. Also the google machine, or the search bar on this page

[BrianinMD]

check out the sticky in this forum "how to cast a baitcaster" good info in there.

 

Suggest not worrying about distance at first. Go for consistant cast, be smooth in the motion, start with 3/8 or 1/2oz weight at first. 

 

Practice practice practice

[WRB]

You should be careful putting tension on line when spooling baitcasting reels so you don't impead the level wind to function properly. One method is to run the line through all the rod guides and then run the line between a folded wet terry cloth towel between the line filler spool and the rod tip.

1 wrap of tape over the filler line on the spool helps to prevent the line from loosening during a cast.

Engaging every other spool brake and setting the magnetic brake about 3/4 (15)  "on" should be good for brake adjustment. Use the spool end knob to adjust spool speed, the lure weight should pull line off the spool without over running when the lure hits the floor.

After you get use to casting you can back off the spool tension slightly more and use your thumb to stop the spool over running near the end of the cast.

Sounds like you made excellent choices with both rod and reel.

Tom

[new2BC4bass]

Read fishnkamp's post in this thread.

 

 

[22hertz]

 

[nebkan]

Thanks for the replies, have never fished with braid before.  When reeling in with braid, does it not feel as smooth as mono?  Or have I done something wrong?

[onenutinthewater]

If it feels like you are reeling in wire you have it right! 

[Yudo1]

 

Thanks for the replies, have never fished with braid before.  When reeling in with braid, does it not feel as smooth as mono?  Or have I done something wrong?

If you're referring to the rough feeling of braid going through the guides then it's perfectly normal.

[new2BC4bass]

 

Thanks for the replies, have never fished with braid before.  When reeling in with braid, does it not feel as smooth as mono?  Or have I done something wrong?

 

Not all braid is equal.  Some are smoother than others.  I noticed a big difference when I re-spooled Sufix Performance with Original PowerPro.  Much noisier and you could fill the braid as it went throughr the tip.

[fishnkamp]

First you purchased a great combo!  That is one of Gary's most versatile rods. I fish 12 baitcasters. One of my baitcaster is a Daiwa Exceler, 4 are original Daiwa Tatula Type Rs and 2 are Tatula CTs.  Several years ago a friend let me cast his Exceler and I have been replacing my reels with Daiwas ever since.  The Tatulas are great reels, but hey are a bit different animal and I love fishing with them

 

The Daiwa Tatula has the MagForce Z brake system on it. This is totally different system than any other brand of reel out there. It must be adjusted differently. One of it's components is the magnetic brakes, these are adjusted with the external dial.  The other system is really an automatic centrifugal braking system. This is made up of a moving rotor, a spring, and weights or pawls, that move the rotor in and out of the magnetic field.  It is sorta like a governor on an engine.  Watch this video it explains better than I will.  Remember the video guy will explain 3 of Daiwas systems, but yours is the 3rd one he covers, Magforce Z.  

 

 

Now how to make it work.  Go ahead and run your braid out through the guides. To begin learning always start by practice casting with a lure that weighs somewhere near the middle of the rod's rating. The Fury 734C rates for 1/4 to 1 ounce lures.  So go to the tackle store like Dicks , or Bass Pro and purchase a 1/2 ounce "CHEAP house brand"  jig and a pack of worms or grubs. Dicks is great, they have their Jawbone brand jigs for $2.99 and a pack of Zoom fat Albert soft bait grubs, again these are $2.99 for a pack of 10.   Use 1 grub as a trailer.  Now this gives you an compact bait that will weight just over 1/2 an ounce and will allow the rod to work properly.  By the way I would buy more than 1 of those jigs, I regularly fish that exact jig/grub combos in 3/8 and 1/2.  I want you to learn using the heavier bait for now.

Step 1 after tieing on the bait is to turn the brake dial to zero. Next adjust the drag a bit. Make sure you tighten the star drag, just a bit so you can not rip line off by hand but it comes off smoothly with some pressure.   Next we will set the spool tension. Loosen the small knob till the spool is loose inside the reel, it will move side to side within the housing, we call it side play.  Now tighten it up till the side play is gone, back it off till we have just a bit of side play, but not a lot. I like about 1/32 or a 1/16 of an inch.  That is set correctly. Now turn the magnetic brake dial to say 10 and practice casting.  As you get better the mag brakes can be lowered. You will still want to teach your thumb to feather the spool and stop it at the end of the cast but this is easy to learn.  I fish with my reel pretty loose and very good distance. A note, I only really need to adjust the brake dial when I change to a much heavier or much lighter bait. My spool tension never seems to need adjustment, which is totally different than any other reel I have owned.

 

[nebkan]

Thanks for all the help me it definitely reels as described. Slowly but surely getting comfortable with different weights. Picked this combo after spending far too much time reading on here. I really like the Dobyn's rod so far. I primarily fish from a kayak and I don't want to carry much more than two or three combos so I got this setup to use as my all around rod and reel.  I also have a Sedona 2500 spinner on a Fenwick rod for lighter stuff.