[First Rainbow Of The Year]

Like they say mick, the worst day fishing is better than the best day working! Fantastic colours on that Rainbow. Nice reward for a tough day.

Cheers, Slinky

[Jewie Session 5/6/10 My First Jew!]

Congratulations on your first Jewie, DGF. An unforgettable milestone for any fisho who puts in the time and thought usually needed to get them. That's some adrenalin rush

Cheers, Slinky

[Shimano Baitrunner 6500B]

So I've had a few people ask me whether I could do a Baitrunner rebuild tutorial. Hope you've got some stamina, coz this is a biggie. Settle in a comfy spot and here goes...

First, the schematics can be found here:

http://www.mikesreelrepair.com/schematics/displayimage.php?album=8&pos=38

Here's our patient... a Shimano Baitrunner 6500B, belonging to fellow Fishraider Browndog 1.

Shimano's Baitrunner series are great reels and deservedly popular but they've caused a lot of fishos sleepless nights and high blood pressure when they opened up their favourite reel. The next one I see in a pieces in a plastic zip-lock bag won't be the last

This reel's only relatively new and used mostly for bait fishing from BD's Barcrusher. Lucky these are tough reels because even with relatively little use, this one's already showing the effects of less than meticulous maintenance. Salt is visible in a lot of places, even some sand, and several of the visible screws are corroding. We can fix all that.

Let's start by removing the drag knob (ref #3296) and spool.

The only way I could free up the drag seal plate screws (ref #3293) was to give them a little spray with Innox, then use the tradies trick of first tightening each a nudge before unscrewing them. Then the drag seal plate (ref #2165) can be lifted off.

Remove the drag washers and give the metal washers and the spool a through clean.

The fibre drag washers (ref #3178) in this particular reel were badly compressed and full of crud. They went into the bin.

I didn't have any Carbontex washers on-hand to suit so I replaced them with a spare set of fibre washers from a previous upgrade. These were greased with Shimano Ace-2 drag grease, which can be worked in thoroughly with your fingers.

Before reinstalling the drag, the drag recess in the spool can be given a coat of drag grease with a paintbrush.

With the drag reassembled, let's give the clicker under the spool a smear of grease while we're at it.

Now we can move on to the main body of the reel. Begin by removing the handle (ref #7374) and the handle screw cap (ref #7436) (from the opposite side)

Next, the baitrunner lever can be disassembled by removing the lever screw (ref #2615) and washer (ref #2616). The left-side baitrunner lever arm (ref #3036) slips off and the baitrunner lever bridge (ref #3044) comes off the right hand lever arm (ref #3045).

Undo the left side plate screws and lift of the left side plate (ref #7435). Note that the 4 side plate screws are not all identical... the upper rear screw (ref #543) is smaller)

With the side plate out of the way, remove and clean the left side plate bearing (I neglected to get measurements... oops )

Remove and put aside the drive gear spacer (ref #3032) and thrust washers (ref #743 x2)

Time to start on that baitcaster mechanisim... this is where it can go horribly wrong if you don't keep your wits about you (and a copy of the schematics close by!!)

Start by detaching the baitrunner clicker spring (ref #2963). Remove the 2 screws (ref #642) securing the baitrunner clutch assembly (ref #3037) which will then just lift out as a unit.

Put the clutch assembly aside carefully (watch all those springs!!) and lift out the main drive gear (ref #3031)

To remove the main shaft (ref #7421), you'll need to remove 2 c-clips (ref #262) that secure it on either side of the oscillating slider (ref #261). The main shaft will then slip right out.

Remove the oscillating slider (ref #261), then the oscillating gear (ref #741)

And then you can get at the right side plate bearing (this one has lovely emulsified grease inside it) and the oscillating gear bushing (ref #740). Remove the oscillating gear bushing (ref #740) while you're in there.

Now, it's back to the baitrunner mechanisims.

The clutch spring (ref #3002) can be detached from the mounting hole in the side plate with a pair of long nose pliers (it's easier with the baitrunner lever in the rear position which takes some pressure off the spring).

Back out the screw securing the lever shaft retainer (ref #2959 and remove it, then lift off the clutch arm (ref #3007)

Back out the screw holding the baitrunner pawl guide (ref #3013) and remove the guide

Move onto the baitrunner dial retainer (ref #3010)... you might need a small precision screwdriver... I used one of my trusty dental probes). If you look closely at the photo you can see that salt has intruded here in even this quite new reel. If it were left for an extended time this would cause all sorts of problems.

Then the baitrunner dial assmebly (made up of ref #'s 3019, 3020, 3021, washer 113 x2, & freespool tension spring 2971) will just lift out.

Remove the baitrunner ratchet retaining c-clip (ref #266), the ratchet (ref #3033) and spacer (ref #3034)

Next, slip out the freespool eared washer (ref #3018), the single eared washer (ref #6780) and finally the click gear (ref #3016) between the 2 tension washers (ref #'s 3017 & 693)

The freespool tension shaft (ref #3043) just slips out.

The last few bits for the baitrunner assembly start with slipping the clutch cam spacer (ref #3038) off the shaft of the baitrunner lever arm (ref #3045)

Then detaching the pawl spring (ref #3012) from the mounting point on the right side plate and lifting out the baitrunner pawl (ref #3041)

And finally, slip out the right side baitrunner lever arm (ref #3045) and put aside the clutch cam (ref #3009) and clutch cam spacer (ref #2966)

So now let's move to the rotor. Look at that salt

Back out the nut-lock screws (ref #3600), remove the rotor nut retainer (ref #5799), undo the rotor nut (ref #714) and remove the rotor. Clean everything up and put it aside.

There are 3 roller clutch screws (ref #5040) that mount the roller clutch (ref #4763) to the reel body. DON'T remove the 2 roller clutch cover screws (thoughtfully a different colour on this reel). Unless you're way more curious or risk loving than me... or just plain nuts... leave the clutch bearing assembly (ref #4763) in one piece.

The alternative involves a lot of crawling around on the floor looking for bearing pins and then hair pulling as you try to reassemble all those pins and springs. Just lift off the clutch bearing, thank the kind people at Shimano, and put it carefully aside (with the collar still in place)

The pinion gear (ref #7429) and main bearing (ref #244) will then be accessible... slip them out and remove the pinion gear bushing as well (ref #733)

2 screws (ref #4416), secure the friction ring (ref #7430), which can be removed, cleaned and replaced. Interestingly, the friction ring on this reel seems to have stretched so that it's no longer a snug fit to the reel. I can't remember whether this was the case on previous baitrunners I've serviced and can't imagine it's role if it's deliberate... anyone know?

HOORAY... we're well on the way and can start rebuilding again.

Because of Browndog's maintenance regime, I decided to pack the reel's bearings with grease for increased protection. So that the grease doesn't slow the reel down too much I used 'Lighting Lube' reel grease... a lighter grease than the Evinrude marine grease you've seen me use regularly.

A touch of grease on the pinion gear (ref #7429), then the cleaned-up and lightly greased pinion bushing (ref #733) can be replaced followed by the pinion gear and bearing (ref #244).

Reattach the clutch bearing

And give the inside surface of the reel body/right side plate a thin smear of grease with the paintbrush... it's not a metal surface but there are so many mixed metal moving parts in this reel that it's a good idea just to help keep things both lubed and protected from corrosion.

Replace the right side baitrunner lever arm (ref #3045) and the baitrunner pawl (ref #3041).

Let's clean up the clutch cam (ref #3009) and cam spacer (ref #2966). You can clearly see corrosion on these parts so all the metal moving parts also get a film coat of grease.

Replace them along with the longer clutch cam spacer (ref #3038)

When reassembling the freespool tensioning parts, I switched to drag grease, making sure to thoroughly work it into the fibre tension washer (ref #693). Just make sure they all go back in the reverse order you removed them and you'll be fine.

The baitrunner tension dial assembly got a quick pull-apart, clean, regrease and rebuild. Be really careful with the clear plastic tension spring washers... if you drop them, you'll be lucky to find them again!!

Replace the tension dial assembly and slip the retaining clip (ref #3010) back into place.

Replace the baitrunner ratchet (ref #3033) and spacer (ref #3034), locking them back in place with the c-clip (ref #266)

Ok, so we should move onto the bail arm assembly. Remove the screws (ref #5819 & #5811) from each end of the bail assembly and detach the bail, putting aside the various spacers, washers and collars in order.

To service the bail trip mechanism, back out the 2 screws (ref #5813 & #5814) securing the bail spring cover (ref #7427), which will lift off.

Lift out and inspect the bail spring assembly (ref #'s 5803, 5804, 5806 and 6223). Give the stainless steel parts a film of grease, which is most easily done by just rubbing them between grease smeared fingers.

Before replacing the bail trip mechanism, a thin smear of grease for protection on the metal surface inside the bail recess...

Then reassemble the bail trip mechanism...

A little note... one of the most useful tools I have when servicing a reel is a box of cotton buds. They can get into all the small nooks and crannies for cleaning and lubing. It goes without saying that all the bail arm assembly got the treatment.

Taking apart the liner roller requires the removal of the line roller screw cap (ref #7457), followed by the line roller screw (ref #88) underneath.

The line roller is still held in place by the line roller washer (ref #5801). Getting at the line roller is a bit of a trick. You'll need to push out the roller parts from the other side. Use something wooden like a paintbrush handle and support the bail arm well so that you don't scratch or bend anything... it takes some pressure.

Carefully lay out the line roller assembly that pops out. Line roller washer (ref #5801), roller bearing seal (ref #4744)... particularly interesting part name since there is no bearing in this roller ... line roller collar (ref #7426), line roller bushing (ref #4743), line roller (ref #5997) and the line roller support coallar (ref #7458). Note that the line roller has a nylon lining which would be very very hard to remove without damage... it doesn't even get its own part number. Just leave it in place.

Again, despite it's 'youth' there was a lot of obvious corrosion in the bail roller parts (check out those pics). In fact, the bail roller wasn't turning at all when I got the reel. I gave them all a good clean and a film coat of grease for protection before reassembling (the wooden end of the paintbrush comes in handy again here). Now the bail roller works again.

There is a fixed, chromed metal plate on the other end of the bail arm... not the best set up for a low friction surface in a salt water reel. Corrosion and pitting again... a bit of careful work to clean it up as best we could and then a film of grease...

Then give each part (including the screw threads) a bit of grease and reassemble everything

When you get up to reattaching the bail arm to the bail trip, just carefully align the trip guide (ref #5803) with the corresponding hole under the bail arm mount (ref #7425). The best way to return the bail arm screw collar (ref #5812) is to slip it onto the bail arm screw (ref #5811) and screw it back in.

And the bail arm assembly is done! Time to finish this sucker off...

Give the upper surface of the rotor (ref #7422) a coat of grease before replacing it on the reel. The grease will help protect against corrosion once the rotor nut (ref #714) and rotor nut retainer (ref #5799) go back in place. Oh... and give these a smear of grease too.

Back inside the reel and I've greased and replaced the right side plate bearing.

Grease and replace the oscillating gear bushing (ref #740), the oscillating gear (ref #741) and the oscillating slider (ref #261)

Slide the main shaft back into the reel, securing it with the c-clips on either side of the oscillating slider

Reattach the baitrunner pawl guide (ref #3013). Replace the clutch arm (ref #3007), securing with the retainer (ref #2959)

With the baitrunner lever in the rear position to take some pressure off, reattach the clutch spring (ref #3002)... a small pair of needle-nose piers are useful

Clean, grease and return the main drive gear (ref #741)

Clean, regrease and return the clutch plate assembly (ref #3037), screwing it back in place and then reattaching the click spring (ref #2963)

Replace the left side bearing spacer (ref #3032), thrust washers (ref #743) and then the cleaned and re-greased (or oiled if that's your preference) bearing.

The insides are all done so reattach the left side plate (ref #7435), remembering that the 4 screws are different so have to go in the right hole.

Reassemble the baitrunner lever

Give the handle a good clean with an old toothbrush (in the case of this reel that was a bit of work!!). Grease the hinge point and reattach the handle... not forgetting the handle screw cap (ref #7436) on the opposite side.

A drop of oil on the handle knob...

And it's over!!

Now... breathe a big sigh of relief, go and make yourself a strong coffee of get an icy beverage... and have a biiiiiig rest.

If ever there was a good incentive to keep your reels clean, it's the thought of having to do that full service again. "An ounce of prevention is worth several hundred pounds of cure"

[Mackerel Mayem]

G'day Basil,

This is what came up when I did a French to English translation

"Furtive, c' is a great history, large PEAKS, you so cruel to tease that like that particularly parce qu' it had rained constantly during a month. your French is very good"

:074:

Cheers, Slinky

[Braid Colour?]

G'day wish,

Braid colour is really about what you like to be looking at rather than visibility for the fish. As the guys said, bright colours (and also white) are easier for you to see so you can see where your lure or bait is and how it's behaving. For that reason its very popular for lure casting. It's also good as flyline backing so you can see where the tuna or trevally you're hooked up to is heading

If you ever have a look at the 'low vis' colours like smoke or green, they're still quite visible under water compared to mono or fluorocarbon. That's why most fishos use leaders or when getting really sneaky, maybe even switch to straight fluorocarbon and dispense with the braid altogether.

Cheers, Slinky

[Fishing Australia - Trout Fishing Tassie! Sat July 3Rd]

Thanks Roberta. Something to sit back and watch while it's too windy to fish this afternoon.

Cheers, Slinky

[Reel Lubrication]

G'day Steve,

It depends on how they were stored. If they were my reels I'd probably re-lube them as there's a chance that dust or humidity may have effected them without you knowing. If you know they were stored in a dry, dust free place, then they should be ok. Open them up and just inspect them and if they look and feel pristine then you should be ok.

Cheers, Slinky

[Browney1 (18), Ivz350 (31)]

Happy birthday Raiders.

Congrats on your 18th, Mike :1happybday:

Have a great day, Slinky

[Cheering!]

Like ABU with baitcasters... Penn wrote the book on overheads and while they may not be as flashy as newer designs, Senators are still some of the best engineered star drag reels on the market.

Here's some links that you and other Penn owners might find useful....

Pennparts website in the USA, specifically for Penn spares:

http://store.scottsbt.com/Penn-Parts-Home-Page-W7C1.aspx

and for drag upgrades:

http://www.smoothdrag.com/

Have fun with your new toy.

Cheers, Slinky

[Jigging Sydney 2 / 6 / 2010]

Nice fish, dogtooth. Shame the jackets have to turn up with them. Hope you didn't lose too much braid along with the jigs.

Cheers, Slinky

[The Itch Was Scratched!]

Nice to see you back among the reds, Greg. Looking forward to see the pics of the 10kg thumper that's on the way. You've definitely got them wired.

Cheers, Slinky

[Cold Weather Lizards]

Nice work PT. Good condition on those flat things!!

Cheers, Slinky

[What Rod For Silstar Exon]

G'day Flatboy... what size/model is it mate?

Cheers, Slinky

[I'm Certified!]

Congrats TC,

Enjoy yourself out on the water. May the winds be light and always at your back.

Cheers, Slinky

[More Fish At Avoca]

Nice mixed bag boys. Looks like the weathers closing in all down the coast again. Glad you got a couple of hours in.

Cheers, Slinky

[Cheering!]

Great bargain, brettman.

If you want to get any parts for your Penn, let me know and I'll pm you or post a contact. Plenty of parts and upgrades available.

Cheers, Slinky

[Typing This On My Little Asus Eee Pc!]

I can't help... I'm a Mac user too.

Sounds like a great bargain.

Cheers, Slinky

[Plans For This Weekend]

Rotten over the weekend here too.

Planning to kick back, have some beers, eat some Spanish Mackerel, dream about the day that was, and service Browndog1's Shimano Baitrunner so I can put a tutorial post in the maintenance forum.

Mmmmmmmm, this beer is delicious.

Slinky

[New Moderator]

Glad to have you back in the chair, Paul.

Cheers, Slinky

[Mackerel Mayem]

Hola amigos

Hoy fue un día fantástico... la pesca fue fuera de control!!!

La maldición del Slinky es terminado

(The curse of the slinky is ended)

That's right, boys & girls... Jewhunter and I just came back from our Gold Coast Spanish lesson. We got straight A's

It's no secret that we've been battling a run of bad luck that would make BP feel they've got it easy but last night Jewhunter twisted my arm (he didn't have to try too hard) to have a couple of hours off work to take advantage of the first decent weather in months.

Getting offshore for a few hours was too good to pass up and we hoped that the Snapper would be in. They weren't. But who cares when you can catch fish like this instead?

We had all sorts of bait to try floatlining for reds so we got my nice, neat, clean boat out to a favourite mark on the 24 fathom grounds outside the seaway. The weather was beautiful, a gentle northerly current was running, the Gold Coast was peacefully gracing the horizon as we relaxed and watched the sun come up... and then we got to the spot, saw crazy marks all over the sounder... and all hell broke loose.

The next 3 or 4 hours were insane

Jewhunter started the ball rolling by drifting back a fresh tailor fillet (courtesy of the schools that were blacking out the sounder closer in on our 'never fail' bait ground. The drift back got ignored so grumbling like an old man, JH started cranking his bait back in. It stopped... just before the drag on his Capricorn 4500 let out a sustained howl and his Loomis Pro Blue bent like a noodle. There was enough drag pressure to pull him to the side of the boat...

After making all sorts of calls on species, I grabbed the net. After another 5 minutes of howling runs I grabbed the little gaff. After some more runs and JH breaking into a sweat I grabbed the bigger gaff.

And after we decked this bad boy, I had to grab the botox to help JH get the smile off his face.

After some yahoos and high fives, I pulled out my dark secret to show Jewhunter. It was my last ditch effort to cure Slinky's Curse... I thought that maybe a bendy yellow friend might cancel out my other bad luck. It did! From now on, bananas are compulsory equipment on my boat... right up there with flares and a radio.

My nice, clean boat was now a little shabby looking with blood on the deck, scales on the Fishraiders and gear and gaffs everywhere. After I finished rigging up some rods about 12 seconds later, there were also bits of wire, old rigs, packets of plastics and pillie cube berley all over the place.

After my carefully rigged garfish had floated unmolested in the berley trail for quarter of an hour I decided that the mackerel was a fluke. So, feeling a little worried that MrsSlinky would kill me if I went home fishless and told her my deckie had landed 7kg of mackerel, I rigged up a plastic on my number 1 outfit... my 2-5kg Lox (are you sick of hearing about it yet???). I had my new Soron STX20 on it loaded with 12lb braid and a 16lb leader... good gear for snapper.

Turns out it's also good gear for Spanish Mackerel. On my first cast, I felt the slightest touch... like a gnat had pooped on my line. I got nothing back... the leader had be snipped like it had been done with a scalpel.

Suddenly, those arcs on the sounder down deep started looking a whole lot more exciting. They weren't bottom fish, they were Spaniards... swarms of them. I re-rigged with about 10cm of light single-strand wire, hurled a new flick bait up current, let it sink, twitched it a couple of times, called a couple of light taps to JH (Must be a snapper or something!!) Then the little rod buckled and I had a 15 minute fight to get another 7ish kilos of Spaniard on deck. With the threat of the curse still over me, even Jewhunter trying his hardest, couldn't knock the fish off my line with the gaff (yeah... sure it was blunt!!)

Some quick work with a donger and it was more smiles, more high 5's and more chaos in the boat. Now all the cleared rigs were everywhere too.

I had to re-rig again since the Mack had turned my wire into a real slinky. Jewhunter and I had testosterone adrenalin and laughter coming out of every orifice by now. Back into it and a couple of casts later I was on again with a bit better fish. The Abu warmed up a bit after a couple of the faster runs but handled flawlessly. I certainly didn't expect to be chasing Spaniards with 'beefed up bream gear'.

It was one of the most awesome sessions I've ever had fishing. Jewhunter switched to a plastic... we left all the other rigs in the boat... and about every 10 minutes the sounder would light up as a school of 6-8kg Spanish macks came through. Our berley kept the bait and the macks really close. At one stage we had spaniards and remoras hoovering up the cubes right at the back of the boat (guess which of them I managed to catch )

Every time a school came through we'd get hits and fish. We both got snipped off... even with wire. All you'd feel is the slightest 'tink!' and it was time to re-rig again. By 10am we had our bag limit of 3 fish each... 40+kg of Mackerel in the boat was more than enough though.

Grant's last fish was a sizzler and the best for the day at a touch over 8kg. He kindly offered to use my outfit while I re-rigged his wire after the most recent bite-off (have to teach JH how to do a haywire twist )

Catching good Spaniards on soft plastics with light gear is an amazing experience. With 3 each on the deck... (no seriously... only 3 managed to fit into the big esky... and then only with a lot of bending and cursing) ... we sat back, breathed a big sigh, pulled the anchor and headed back in.

Our smiles arrived at the ramp about 5 minutes before the boat did

Did we enjoy our Spanish lesson? You bet! I'm going to go and blow the froth off an icy cold cerveza

Adiós muchachas y muchachos.

Slinky...

[Help With Line.]

G'day Dat,

There's no right or wrong answer... both have advantages and disadvantages. It comes down to preference and what gives the most enjoyment or satisfaction.

Braid would normally be my own choice because of the sensitivity. If your mate is bait fishing, he'll feel every fish that so much as breathes on his bait using braid because it basically has no stretch (or at least no appreciable stretch compared to mono). For lure fishing, the feel, the extra casting distance, the ability to cast light lures that come from the fine diameter of braid makes it a much different experience.

BUT

Braid is expensive compared to mono. If your mate is happy to just go fishing and not really into the sorts of things braid can do like the above, then use a good quality mono.

Cheers, Slinky

[Shellharbour/kiama/wollongong]

Black Head in Gerroa or the headland at the north end of Werri Beach in Gerringong are great all-round spots. Good for spinning or bait fishing for everything from blackfish and Drummer to Kingfish and Tuna. Get the good oil on what's going on there at any given time from the local tackle shops but just those 2 spots will keep you busy.

Cheers, Slinky

[Avoca Arvo Reddie And Trevs]

Glad the wild seas have dropped back. Beautiful looking colours on the reddie, Ray. What sort of outfit are you using for fishing off those ledges?

Beaut report and photos as always

Cheers, Slinky

[Help With Line.]

What sort of fishing are you planning to do with the line, Dat?

Cheers, Slinky

[Finally, My First Marlin!]

Awesome... congrats, Andrew

What a great fish and you couldn't have written the script better yourself to get to catch it with your dad. One for the scrapbook mate

Cheers, Slinky