DAIWA's spool tension recommendation. FOOEY!

[PhishLI]

 I've gleaned, while reading the forums and elsewhere, that the ultimate measure of a man using a baitcaster is no brakes and a thumb only. I think the very same proponents of that sentiment would also remove the spool tension knob if they could, and would run a marathon shoe-less. By that measure I'm just a boy. Check. Having said that, I tend to run my brakes at the lower limit, so I get it.

 

I own 3 Daiwas: A Tat SV and two Fuegos. The remaining reels I use are all centrifugally braked only. From the beginning I've followed the Daiwa spool tension recommendations. The Brent Ehler video suggested a slight side to side click. I haven't clamped a reel down and used a dial indicator to measure that play, but from experience I reckon it's about .003"-.005". That's nowhere near 1/16", as some have speculated. It's very little in fact. 

 

Soooo, I've set my Daiwas up as told to and fished them. As the brakes do very little braking at the start, especially when set quite low, say 4-5, a specific casting stroke must be employed. It's very different than when casting with a centrifugally braked reel. For me it comes down to feeling the rod flex as it loads, as much as the lure's weight makes it, then not increasing the velocity thereafter. Increasing the velocity, a bit of a snap for example, without perfect thumbing at the start will cause an instant backlash. Understanding this, i don't have a problem and rarely backlash. However, set that way, I cannot cast most lures as far with Daiwas as I can with my others. In most real world circumstances that's irrelevant, but please read on.

 

The county I live in has a No Boats policy in most places which forces bank fishing. The lakes are shallow: 3'-8' with ditches and trenches up to 15' deep scattered throughout. Few of those are near the shore, but some are within reach of a good cast. In the prespawn and early summer this is a mostly a non-issue. The fall and winter is a different story. The banks and flats are devoid of bait fish right now. You've gotta launch one out there.

 

We had a cold snap back in October that brought us temps in the 20s at night. I was having problems with icing using braid when fishing near freezing and switched to copolymer. This solved the problem up to a point. Once the temps reach about 33 with NW winds the copolymer wants to jump off the spool at rest, but overall it bought me a little more time when fishing past dusk. Another consequence of fishing in near freezing temps is that the copolymer "slinkys" after the cast. This makes the pause while working a jerkbait a bit less of a pause as the slinky keeps it moving. Going back to the copolymer jumping off the spool issue-I was able to tame some of this by slightly adding spool tension. Obviously, this keeps the lure out in front of the spool's freespool rotation at the very beginning of the cast and keeps it in check thereafter. I didn't do a lure drop test first, I just dosed up the tension a skosh. I'd previously marked my spool tension knobs at 12 o'clock for the slight side to side play deal, so I had a point of reference. I scootched it up to about 1:00-1:30 or so. This solved the issue especially with lures that aren't very aerodynamic to start with.

 

Fast forward to days with temps in the in the 40s. I've had most of my catches this winter on two baits: The IMA suspending lipless and the Rapala Shadow Rap. The IMA casts like a rock and the Shadow Rap 11 does not. It casts OK, but not like a rock. There are plenty of patches of dead pad stalks and such in the water that I fish. I'm very aware of these points of reference, how far out they are, and which lures I can reach them with or cast past them with. I can say for a fact, that with this slightly dosed up spool tension along with a slightly lower brake setting and slightly harder and carefree casting stroke(more mustard on the cast), I'm getting the Shadow Rap quite a bit farther than I used to. I'm hitting the spots I used to wish I could but never did with my Daiwas. It's my opinion that the SV has benefited the most regarding distance, especially with certain wind-catching lures and lighter powered rods. It's an even greater reel with touchy lures in the wind now.

 

I'd go so far to say that the gap between the Daiwas and my Curados and Chronarchs regarding maximum distance has closed considerably, if not totally in some cases, now that I've fiddled with the spool tension a tad. For some who might read this and have a different experience, keep on keepin' on. For those that have had similar observations as mine and felt you've settled for what you have because of the "Daiwa spool tension rule", give it a shot. You won't break anything trying this and you might enjoy using your Daiwas even more. I certainly am.

[jbrew73]

I too prefer a little bit of spool tension.  It allows me to back off the brake dial and get better distance. 

[Jrob78]

I fish my Daiwa reels with loose spool tension, a decent amount of side to side play, and the brakes set pretty high. The high brakes control the spool on start up and then increase when I bomb a cast. Often times the reel will start to backlash mid cast and the brakes will pull it back together before the lure hits the water. I get really good casting distance this way. The reels feel loose but still under control.

[diehardbassfishing]

Any spool side to side play yields "no spool break". There is no need to think about this side to side play distance.

What is important is the "zero side play" adjustment. This is the exact point where any tightening beyond will provide spool break force.

I like my reels set to aprox 1/16 to 1/8 turn beyond zero side play. This gives just enough tension to the spool that you won't get a backlash by simply being in free-spool. Just enough tension for the spool to keep it well behaved.

 

Karl

[Russ E]

the Diawa Magforce z brake is a centrifugal magnetic brake.

brake strength increases with spool speed.

if you have the magnet set at 3 or 4 it will not do much.

by tightening the spool control and turning down the brake you basically turn it into a standard magnetic brake reel.

If I wanted to set the reel up that way, I would buy a cheaper reel.

in my own experience, a Magforce brake reel, works better with a loose spool and higher brake setting. Most of the time my brakes are set in the middle.Even at a higher setting the magnetic braking is minimal at slow speeds.

I very seldom ever get backlashes with my Diawas.

If setup correctly thumb control is scarcely needed.

 

 

 

[new2BC4bass]

5 minutes ago, Russ E said:

the Diawa Magforce z brake is a centrifugal magnetic brake.

brake strength increases with spool speed.

if you have the magnet set at 3 or 4 it will not do much.

by tightening the spool control and turning down the brake you basically turn it into a standard magnetic brake reel.

If I wanted to set the reel up that way, I would buy a cheaper reel.

in my own experience, a Magforce brake reel, works better with a loose spool and higher brake setting. Most of the time my brakes are set in the middle.Even at a higher setting the magnetic braking is minimal at slow speeds.

I very seldom ever get backlashes with my Diawas.

If setup correctly thumb control is scarcely needed.

 

 

 

I feel better now knowing this.  I always felt I used more brakes than most.  Up around 8 (of 10)...but I've always figured that spool tension was in affect throughout the whole cast (slowing spool)....brakes only at certain spool speeds.  Thus I felt that I'd rather use more braking and less spool tension since I'm almost always fishing from shore and like to get max distance from my reels.

 

Story I've told before.  Was practicing at a local boat ramp.  Guy unloading his boat mentioned he had a baitcast reel he seldom used because he'd make 4 or 5 casts and have a backlash.  I handed him my 50th Anniversary Zillion mounted on a 7' MHF Rainshadow RX7 and spooled with 12# Sufix Elite with a 1/2 oz. spinnerbait tied on.  About 15 minutes later he comes over to me and asks "How do you backlash this thing?"  I said to back off on the brakes.  He replied he already had. I honestly don't remember where I had the spool tension set, but it probably was a bit more than I now run....which is barely with a bit of side-to-side play.

 

[rippin-lips]

It’s a recommendation on how to set the reel up. Just like the new curado dc has printed in the paperwork. It’s personal preference to dial them in how you like them to fish. I prefer to have a slight tick/knock in side to side play when using a small amount of force to wiggle the spool. Once you push down the thumb bar it has just the slightest amount more wiggle in the spool. On my reels I generally run the brake dial from 3-5 depending on the baits weight and how much wind there is that day. 

[PhishLI]

31 minutes ago, rippin-lips said:

I prefer to have a slight tick/knock in side to side play when using a small amount of force to wiggle the spool. Once you push down the thumb bar it has just the slightest amount more wiggle in the spool. On my reels I generally run the brake dial from 3-5 depending on the baits weight and how much wind there is that day. 

RL,

 

This is how I've been running mine for the past year and a half, and it's been fine. But due to the circumstances outlined in my original post, which led to me adding just a tad of tension beyond zero play, I'm getting better distance now. This is helping me in this particular circumstance. I can lay into the cast a bit more. It could be that I'm very close to where the zero adjuster reels are set from the factory? I dunno. I'm not going to think about it much more though. Their suggestion is a clearly guideline, not a rule, as you've stated.

 

Thanks!

[PhishLI]

13 hours ago, BaitFinesse said:

You don't need to cast your Daiwa Magforce Z and SV reels any differently than your centrifugal reels.  Cast them just as hard.

BF,

 

I do cast them just as hard, just differently within the stroke. I'm not lobbing much! Overheads with the rod bent in half on the back swing. However, that's only when I need to. My fishing isn't primarily bomb casting by a long shot.

[PhishLI]

3 hours ago, diehardbassfishing said:

Any spool side to side play yields "no spool break". There is no need to think about this side to side play distance.

What is important is the "zero side play" adjustment. This is the exact point where any tightening beyond will provide spool break force.

I like my reels set to aprox 1/16 to 1/8 turn beyond zero side play. This gives just enough tension to the spool that you won't get a backlash by simply being in free-spool. Just enough tension for the spool to keep it well behaved.

 

Karl

Karl,

 

I think this is where I find myself liking things at the moment. It's working well for me with the baits I'm throwing now. 

 

Thanks!

[PhishLI]

On 3/5/2019 at 12:17 PM, Russ E said:

the Diawa Magforce z brake is a centrifugal magnetic brake.

brake strength increases with spool speed.

if you have the magnet set at 3 or 4 it will not do much.

by tightening the spool control and turning down the brake you basically turn it into a standard magnetic brake reel.

If I wanted to set the reel up that way, I would buy a cheaper reel.

in my own experience, a Magforce brake reel, works better with a loose spool and higher brake setting. Most of the time my brakes are set in the middle.Even at a higher setting the magnetic braking is minimal at slow speeds.

I very seldom ever get backlashes with my Diawas.

If setup correctly thumb control is scarcely needed.

Russ,

 

 Thanks for taking the time to reply. I understand exactly how Magforce Z works. It's my opinion that the lower brake settings might do more than you think, especially on the SV. They certainly do way more than zero on the dial. I'm not going to buy a cheaper reel! That's a bit silly and a little bit overstated. Also, I'm not "tightening down" the spool tension. I added a whiff, a skosh, a tad...very little.

 

 I rarely get backlashes myself, even at lower settings, because I've figured out the casting stroke and how to use my thumb judiciously at the very beginning of the cast. Magforce does it's thing wonderfully from there on out with some thumb governing the fluff if necessary. Daiwas are my choice of reel when I'm wading at night. Pretty much PhishLI-proof.

 

If I set my reels up to be practically thumb-free, which I have at one point, I'd be miserable. I find that the settings that allow for that make casting feel too choked off for my liking. That's just me. I'm not hung up on having to use my thumb. I'm throwing multiple techniques with differently braked reels when I'm on the boat. Most require an educated thumb. At this point it's second nature so it's no big deal. I don't even think about it. But if thumb free fishin' with your Daiwa is your priority, that's cool too! Enjoy!

[fishwizzard]

I set mine with a little spool wiggle but with the brakes between 50 and 75% on.  I rarely want to make a super long cast and like a bit more forgiveness if my lure hits cover before it hits the water.  I do add spool tension and reduce the brake if I am casting into strong wind as it seems to offer more control and less distance loss that way.