[Opry99er]

I bought my first big baitcasting reel today to mount on my wicked Cat Claw catfish rod (tthepikester).... It's a very nice reel, super smooth, level wind, loud bait clicker. Shakespeare Tidewater.

Love it! Feels great, smooth action, very well built. HOWEVER---


It does not feel very secure in the reel seat. It's mounted in there, but I would not feel comfortable hooking up with a 40+ lb blue cat with this mounted as it is. Here's the backside of the reel.

As you can see, it has two slots to add a mounting bracket which wraps around the rod. The reel did not come with this bracket.

Can these be made out of stuff from the hardware store, or is it better to order them online? Seems like you'd want to find one that fit just right, and I'm not confident in ordering something from an online source in this particular case. How would I know it would fit snugly?

Anyway, just wanted to share. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

 

[snagged up]

My II Cents

Is the reel jamb nut tight?
Put a rag on the nut and tighten/snug it with pliers.
Why does it not feel secure to you?
Can you move the reel?
Does the reel shoe fit the seat properly?
Try pulling it off with your hand. If you can't pull it off I doubt a 40lb. cat can.

 

[itsabigun]

i'd be careful with the pliers... plastic nut/threads strip/break fairly easily.

 

[snagged up]

My II Cents

Yea, you have to be careful with the pliers. I guess I just take for granted my personal experience and abilities.

 

[Opry99er]

Up and down it is secure... It wiggles side to side. It is as tight as I feel comfortable tightening it, as the tightening nut is plastic and already tighter than I normally go on a spinning reel.

The reel is very wide... It just isn't quite secure. On a spinning rig, you have a reel seat and an extension from that out to the reel (I don't know the proper terminology).. On this casting reel, you obviously don't have that seat extension...

**** it, I'll just take more pictures since I am lacking vocabulary here.

 

[Opry99er]

As you can see, it's tightened down to the max. Still has a little side to side play. I'm heading into town now to go try to find a conduit bracket/conduit strap that will make the things tight onto the rod.

 

[tl1000r]

you can take a ballon put it around the metal that goes in each seat side of the reel. and cut excess off. that should snug it up from side to side movement.

 

[TthePikester]

Owen, the problem you have is the reel seat foot bracket on the reel itself is flat and not rounded enough to match the rounded reel seat on the rod keeping it tight. I use Daiwa Sealine reels and they have the rounded foot bracket and they fit to match those type of seats. Here are two links one being your reel and the other being the Daiwa Seagate, look at the difference in the foot bracket on both reels...you can zoom in on just the foot in both pics.

http://www.shakespeare-fishing.com/Shakespeare®-Tidewater®-Reel/1285800,default,pd.html

http://www.basspro.com/Daiwa-Seagate-Conventional-Reels/product/11090705010815/

For the reel to fit properly on that rod you need the rounded reel foot bracket unless you do the balloon trick. The rubber from the balloon holds the foot tighter in the seat, just don't over tighten as you do know!!!

 

[Opry99er]

Thanks Tony...

Was able to get it nice and snug.

1 roll electrical tape
1 wire tie

 

[coloradojaguar]

Just a sugestion I would move the lock on the sip tie next to the reel because when you go to set the hook you are going to possably rip your hand open on it.

 

[Opry99er]

Interesting thought... Hand ripping sounds pretty sh*tty. Think I'll do that when I get home tonight.

And thanks for the balloon suggestion, tl1000r. I didn't have a balloon, so I thought tape might have a similar effect... It does.

 

[Oyey]

Def move that thing, I thought the same thing when I saw it...

I would also suggest rubber stretch tape it will be a nicer finished product.

 

[Opry99er]

I moved the tag of the wire tie....


Had a couple learning experiences last night.

Decided to go ahead and rig up my reel. I learned that braid is extremely slick, especially on casting reels.

Spooled all 150 yards of 65# PLine onto the reel... Decided it was time to test the drag and bait clicker out. To my surprise, the line freespooled even with locked down drag... The levelwind eye did not move either. My first thought was "$#!#, I broke it." Then I got to looking closer... The spool was not spinning, but all my line was...

So.... I UNSPOOLED 150 yards of braid and tied on some mono backing... Re-spooled 30 yards of braid and did the test again. (see... I got smarter there).

Same result.

Unspooled the whole thing again, added some electrical tape backing onto the bare spool and tried again... The tape did the trick, giving the line something to "bite" on to.

Finished spooling the 150 yards, put on a 3oz no-roll flat slip sinker, a bead, tied on a 100# barrel swivel, added some 50# Trilene Big Game leader, then tied on my brand new super sharp 7/0 Gamakatsu Octopus Circle hook.

Then learned another lesson.

Took the rig outside to practice casting. Now casting a small Pfluger baitcasting reel on a 6' light rod is quite a bit different than chucking a giant rig with a 3 oz weight on the end... I was not totally prepared for it. First cast was good... About 40 yards, but I narrowly missed a backlash... Thumbed it just at the right time. So I tightened the free spool drag a pinch to avoid the backlash on my next cast. Well, I was not prepared for that extra tension. Casting 3/4 style (which I normally do) is great at free spool or using a spinning outfit.... But on this big rig with extra tension, not so much. The added tension caused my normally fluid forward cast to hook viciously to the left, since I'm right handed, and my 3 oz sinker slammed right into the back of my Explorer, narrowly missing the rear window.

So.... I tried a few more casts with the increased tension, but at a full overhead line and it did well, but I could not get used to that casting motion. Went back to full free spool at 3/4, but was much more careful with my thumbing... Kept good tension on the spool the whole way through. This seemed to work best.

Wasn't going for distance, but did manage a very nice 60-70 yard cast, straight as an arrow and no backlash.

I learned a few things tonight, and it didn't cost me much.



Ready for blues and flatties now... I could pull a golf cart off the bottom of a lake with this rig.

 

[ronco]

You are really practicing casting with a hook tied, on in your yard, seriously???

 

[rvinson]

FYI: Be careful not to hook a stick tree or whatever on your back swing....... Worst birds nest EVER!! Dont ask how i know.....

 

[Opry99er]

half the hook is buried inside a big pink school eraser. Don't sweat if, bro... "Relax"...
I'm not gonna kill any squirrels

 

[redleader]

As for the reel attachment, it appears you are missing the safety clamp that fastens to the pole, I see part of it is on the reel. Not absolutely necessary but most larger reels have them.
I'm telling you bring that rig to AK and try it out on a 100lb Halibut..

 

[Opry99er]

Thanks for the invite Steve. I'd love to give it a shot. It IS a saltwater reel... Might need to rethink my line and tackle though.