Problems all of a sudden with backlashes using a Tournament MB

[kayaking_kev]

The first few months I used the Lew's Tournament MB, I rarely had a backlash and got pretty good distance out of it.

 

The last few times I've used it I have gotten several backlashes, even if I turn my brakes all the way up and have the spool tight.

It seems like any little wind at all and I get a backlash.

 

I have always had 12# Seaguar InvizX spooled on it, and I sprayed it once with Reelsnot Line Conditioner about a month ago. I have been throwing nothing but a jerkbait with it and its been on the same rod.

 

Any ideas what the problem could be?

[JediAmoeba]

Have you oiled all the bearings?  I sticky bearing will cause this.  You may want to tear it down or send it to someone to thoroughly clean it and lube it up.

[Sam]

Kev, I agree with Jedi above. Get baitcaster reel cleaned and checked out by a person who knows reels.

 

In the meantime, and when you get your baitcaster reel back from being checked out and greased, may I suggest the following that was shown to me by Ike at an old time Bassmaster University?  It is a pro's trick that the pros, and you, can do without anyone noticing. 

 

By the numbers.......

1.  Rig up rod, reel, line, and bait ready to cast.

2.  Tighten drag to where you want it in addition to placing the magnets on the side of the baitcaster in an "X" position. 

3.  Tighten spool so that it holds bait in place when released.

4.  Point rod tip to 11 o'clock.

5.  Release spool and let bait hang there at end of rod.

6.  Start turning spool tension knob slowly so that the bait starts to fall slowly to the ground.

7.  When the bait hits the ground the spool needs to stop and no line comes off the spool.

8.  Do this three or four times as necessary to get the spool to stop when the bait hits the ground.

9.  If you can, cast the set up to see if the spool stops when the bait hits the ground.

10.  Adjust the spool tension to have longer or shorter casts as you wish when you hit the water.

 

Some other rules about doing this by the numbers.....

1.  Do this every time you change baits on your baitcaster.

2.  Do not do this on carpet. Carpet seems to want to eat your hooks.

3.  Once you get the hang of doing this you can do it while fishing in five seconds.

 

One more set of unwritten rules......

1.  Balance line test and bait weight per each of your rods' parameters as stamped on each rod.

2.  Add the high and low test numbers, divide by 2, and you have the best line test for the rod and reel.

 

I would think the reel will perform at its maximum for you after getting it cleaned, repaired, adjusted, and balanced.

 

Let us know what you find out.  Good luck.

[FishTank]

Not sure if this is the braking set up with the external dial and pins on the inside but I believe to get the best out of this system you need to occasionally oil the brake racing.  I would suggest a q-tip and just a drop or two of oil.  I would also back out the spool tension knob, take out the spool, put it back in and then reset it to what ever bait you are wanting to use. 

[kayaking_kev]

I haven't done anything to it yet, but I just took it out for a bit and there was no wind at all and had no problems, but I did still have the brakes turned all the way up. It still seemed like I was getting decent distance out it, not sure if the brakes are even working correctly if at all.

42 minutes ago, FishTank said:

Not sure if this is the braking set up with the external dial and pins on the inside but I believe to get the best out of this system you need to occasionally oil the brake racing.  I would suggest a q-tip and just a drop or two of oil.  I would also back out the spool tension knob, take out the spool, put it back in and then reset it to what ever bait you are wanting to use. 

I think this just has the external, but I will be putting some oil in the appropriate places soon.

[FishTank]

14 hours ago, kayaking_kev said:

I think this just has the external, but I will be putting some oil in the appropriate places soon.

 

Skip forward to the 36sec. mark.  If this is the same reel, it should have the pins.  I don't have this reel but I have the Revo Winch which pretty much has the same type of braking system.  I usually set the breaks to either 1 or 2 pins and the outside dial about fuzz below half >closer to the less side. 

 

[dodgeguy]

If the backlash is in the beginning turn on more pins. If it's in the middle of the cast more magnets on the dial or more thumb. I run the tension loose. 

[kayaking_kev]

19 hours ago, FishTank said:

 

Skip forward to the 36sec. mark.  If this is the same reel, it should have the pins.  I don't have this reel but I have the Revo Winch which pretty much has the same type of braking system.  I usually set the breaks to either 1 or 2 pins and the outside dial about fuzz below half >closer to the less side. 

 

Thanks, I was ignorant to this. I've only owned a Black Max and Pro Max my first two seasons of fishing and now have about 10+ more reels and realize that there's a lot I still don't know about them.

 

Not sure what position is on or off yet, but I'm sure I can look that up. One thing I did notice when pull off the side plate for the first time, is that my magnets have red dots that almost look like red marker on the middle magnet and the two outer ones, not sure why though?

 

I think the problem may have been from me over spooling the line, when I tried to pull the spool out, it wouldn't come out because I had too much line on it, so I had to take some off just to get it out. I did put some oil on the bearing pictured above and on the other side of the spool, but haven't opened up the inside of the reel yet. Hopefully the problem was from me just having too much line on it. I'm used to trying to put as much line on the spool as I can because I only had one ore two setups and would cut the line to change lures a lot, but now I don't need to because I have over 20 rods. I will probably take it out in a little bit and test it out, thanks for your help and to everyone else who chimed in so far.

[Columbia Craw]

I'll bet you a quarter you had the reel on a moderate action rod and then switched to a fast action.  That creates spool speed that has to be accounted for.

[kayaking_kev]

1 minute ago, Columbia Craw said:

I'll bet you a quarter you had the reel on a moderate action rod and then switched to a fast action.  That creates spool speed that has to be accounted for.

It's always been on a Fury 703c. PM me for me paypal address. ?

[FishTank]

31 minutes ago, kayaking_kev said:

Thanks, I was ignorant to this. I've only owned a Black Max and Pro Max my first two seasons of fishing and now have about 10+ more reels and realize that there's a lot I still don't know about them.

 

Not sure what position is on or off yet, but I'm sure I can look that up. One thing I did notice when pull off the side plate for the first time, is that my magnets have red dots that almost look like red marker on the middle magnet and the two outer ones, not sure why though?

 

I think the problem may have been from me over spooling the line, when I tried to pull the spool out, it wouldn't come out because I had too much line on it, so I had to take some off just to get it out. I did put some oil on the bearing pictured above and on the other side of the spool, but haven't opened up the inside of the reel yet. Hopefully the problem was from me just having too much line on it. I'm used to trying to put as much line on the spool as I can because I only had one ore two setups and would cut the line to change lures a lot, but now I don't need to because I have over 20 rods. I will probably take it out in a little bit and test it out, thanks for your help and to everyone else who chimed in so far.

Here is an explanation on how the Infini system works on a Revo.  Your reel is pretty much the same thing. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECqB2L5T_vM

[kayaking_kev]

Just got back not along ago from the water and casting the reel some more, and I had a little wind but not much. I was casting directly into it though and I had no backlashes the entire time and was able to back off the brakes to half way and might of been able to go more. I do believe the problem was too much line on the spool, and I don't think it was because I necessarily put too much line on. I think somehow it got more bunched up in the middle after fishing for it for a month or so, because as I said, I had no problems with at first. My only explanation is that I got a backlash one time and pulled out a bunch of line and when reeling it back in, I might of held the line to close to the reel, not allowing it to spread to the sides. Does that sound like it could of been the problem? I still won't feel totally comfortably with it until I fish with it a few more times, just to make sure. Thanks again for all the help!

[Lead Head]

Its possible that when you originally spooled it up everything was nice and tight and over time (and digging deeper into the spool for backlashes) it wasn't packed as tight and set higher on the spool. I have also seen line bunch up from holding it tight too close to the reel as you described.