woodch0p

Thanks all, Blood Knot - I don't make any myself, I'm quite time poor so hardly get a chance to modify my reels with sourced parts let alone making my own. Only downfall with sourcing parts is that I am limited to what is available, but I have a few sources which cover most parts. Fishingphase - bit embarrassed as it pushed close to 200USD to do, the price I pay for having an addictive hobby. Once I upgraded my first reel I was hooked, every reel I own now has something custom about it. This one by far is the most custom.

Hey All, Long time since I have been on the forums. I have always had a soft spot for Abu Garcia Ambassadeur reels and have always liked fiddling and customising reels. This is one I customised last year. Upgrades Internal 3 standard bearings upgraded to ceramic (2x spool & 1x shaft) Custom drive shaft with ceramic bearing (std 0 bearings) Custom dual ceramic bearing idler gear (std 0 bearings) Dual ceramic bearing wormshaft upgrade (std 0 bearings) Ceramic wormshaft pawl Stainless steel drag plates Carbonex drag washers Reel-x lubricant on all bearings Re-greased all internals with Cals Universal. External 4x ceramic ball bearing carbon handle Total internal bearing count increased from 3 stainless steel to 8 ceramic. The 4 handle bearings are a nice extra but do not effect the overall performance so don't like adding them to the total count. I have caught some solid tailor on this reel and the start up drag inertia is close to nil and overall smoothness is insane. I run this reel on a Nitro Upgrader Undertaker 6'6 4-6kg. While it cost me some decent dollars to do this I would do it again for the quality of reel I now have.

Also keep the braid for knots. Mono and braid react differently to different knots and are different to handle so a good idea to use both depend what line you're planning on using. Also good for testing braid to mono connections.

Don't worry, first time I pulled apart a baitcaster i did the exact same thing, lucky for me i wound it off onto a hand spool so didn't end up with a mess. To be honest I'd rather make those kind of mistakes so you remember what not to do for next time. These days I'm too confident pulling apart reels and end up making a simple mistakes. If i check my vacuum im sure it will have a lifetime supply of c clips in it.

hey there, There are a few easier options to sort out your levelwind issue. Some baitcasters you can screw the base off the levelwind to disengage the pawl so you can move it into whatever position you want. You could have also taped the end of the line to the spool and continued to crank the handle until the levelwind ended up on the same side the line end was and then feed your line through. Both options would not have caused a mess and burnt so much time, and you would also have your braid. lessons learned for next time but good on you for giving it a crack. Daniel

http://www.theleader.com.au/story/1936241/man-injured-after-boat-sinks-at-kurnell/

Hey mate, Unsure what weight class the rod is but being a blackfish 10'6 rod I'd say it would generally be a 3-6kg or could possibly even be a 4-8kg. I wouldn't run any heavier line on it, maybe just increase the leader size. Probably undergunned if a tailor or jew hops on the end but would add to the challenge and fun. My 10'6 graphite 3-6kg gets some decent bend in it with large whiting. As for flicking plastics nothing is stopping you using that rod but as stewy said plastics are better fished with dedicated rods and definitely braided line for sensitivity. Daniel

Hey Mate, If you're looking for a solid tackle bag I'd suggest a Shimano Banar boat bag. Don't know if the dimensions would suit, you would have to go look at one to see it in the flesh. They don't come with any trays but are very well built and solid. I have owned mine for 2years now after experiencing similar gripes with other bags and is still in great condition and I take it everywhere (beach, rocks, boat etc). Cops a fair bit of salt water spray and hasn't failed yet. Here is a product description: Shimano's Banar boat bags are perfect for small boat fishos who are always short of dry storage space. They are made from fully waterproof, UV-protected PVC, with reinforced moulded bottom and a large non-corrosive zip and flap to keep the water out. Google it and you should be able to find out where sells it, or call a couple of local tackle stores. Hope it helps, Daniel

Love the idea ziad, means you can have pre setup leaders ready to rock instead of re doing the knots.

Without removing any of the right hand components I cleaned up the clicker and gears on the right hand plate and re-greased them as shown in the pics (before & after) Put the spool shaft back in and gave the gears a new coat of grease. Last image is of the inside of the left hand plate showing the dog pawls for the anti reverse. There was a small amount of grease on these, I applied a thin coat to the lot to help protect them while putting the reel back together. There you have it, not a difficult process at all, following Alan's steps with a few minor changes and she's running like new. Daniel Wood

Difference #3 - When cooling shield is removed you can see the major difference here, there is only one drag washer which is attached to the pressure plate with the drag plate screwed directly to the spool. In the picture you can notice there is a build up on the drag plate and washer, the owner of this reel mentioned he noticed that the drag seemed to loosen when line was stripped, this could be due to the build up affecting start up inertia. I cleaned the build up and greased up the drag washer with Cals. Problem fixed. The pressure plate is held onto the cooling plate due to a small black washer on the stem of the pressure plate, easily seperated as shown. Flipping the spool over I removed the clicker plate and noticed some salt water intrusion on this part as seen Cleaned it up and applied a layer of Cals and screwed it back on

Hey everyone, Recently serviced a mates Tiagra 30 and when doing so used Alan Tani's servicing post for a Tiagra 16 (found here) as a guide. Upon opening the reel I noticed some differences between the two and thought I would share for anyone interested in servicing their Tiagra 30. I have not posted the full strip down as Alan Tani's Tiagra 16 post covers a majority of it, just the differences I noticed when servicing this reel, and how I serviced it. The reel Difference #1 - The Tiagra 30 has 5 torx screws holding the left side plate on. In this photo notice how one is longer then the others? FYI this one goes in the hole inbetween the harness lug. Once the side plate is removed the spool comes out exactly like in Alan's post. Difference #2 - Cooling shield only secured by 4 screws

I had a play with one the other day pe8-10 rated. Had heaps of grunt and didn't need to much force applied to start to load up but was too heavy for my liking. Was pretty good value if you were after a jig rod in that range.

The disappointing thing with them is the "made in china" sticker on the box, not the usual "made in Australia" one on other alveys.

Got it today, a damn nice reel. Spins 10x faster and smoother then the plastic alvey Blackie reels. Don't see the point paying double for a english reel that isn't suited for our conditions, and now there's one in the same league if not better for under half. Will hopefully be able to punish it over the weekend and see how it goes.

I'm buying one tomorrow, will let you know how it goes over the weekend.

As with dealing with any service department you should let them know exactly what your looking for, and get them to call you with any parts they believe need replacing before they go ahead with it. If you just drop it off and request it to be fixed they will fix anything they believe is wrong with it. The Stella also has 15 bearings so if they replaced them all I can see why it totalled 300. If you give it to the supplier to do they will want to return it to 100%, not just to milk money out of you but because you are representing their brand when using the reel, and if it fails it won't look good on them seeing as they just serviced it.

Avet raptors come stock with cast control as far as I am aware don't they? I haven't heard of any raptors being magged due to the fact that they are dual drag and don't know where you could place the magnets without removing the left hand drag system (or right hand if it is a lefty). I don't know if there is anyone in Australia who mags avets as they aren't to popular over here.

Yes it is the same manufacturer as the guns. I have a 10'6 2-5kg browning rod I use for blackfish and it is tops. The reels they do are pretty average which is a shame. Daniel

http://www.fishraider.com.au/Invision/index.php?showtopic=52149 This post should help you.

From the look of the coastline in the pics I don't think its off Sydney, and burringbar is up past Byron so probably fishing off North coast or there abouts. Very nice fish, not the fattest but some of the longest I've see in a fair while.

You should be very happy with the rod mate, at a mere 230g and 23mm butt diameter it is one of the thinnest and lightest blackfish blanks you will find without compensating power, I searched for blackfish blanks for over 3 months and was the best I could find, and have not been disapointed by it. There's nothing like using a rod you build yourself! Daniel PS replied to your PM.

Hey mate, I custom build a blackfish rod using the same blank your looking at for the exact same reason (lightweight). I used heatshrink grips and Fuji titanium sic single foot guides. It is easy to use for a whole day as it is so light and is fantastic handling large blackies, matched up with an alvey blackfish reel. My concern is your wanting a rod to dead lift fish out of the water, I have done so with smaller fish but if you hook one 40cm+ or a drummer off the rocks I don't know how you would go, I haven't been game to try, and with it being part graphite I wouldn't want to try high sticking it. I just use the swell to wash them up. Besides that it is by far my favourite blackfish rod. Good luck with it all, pm me if you're after any other details.

Another point I would like to add on top of slinky's comments on max drags. Alot of companies are advertising huge drags, whilst the drag washer and plates might be able to achieve these settings, other components of the reel sometimes cannot live up to the pressures. I've heard of spinning reel bails giving way, and flexing in the side plates of overheads plus handle issues on both such as threading and snapping. Just because your reel is capable of pumping out these drags doesn't mean they should always be used at the levels. And yes if your running 30kg of drag standup good luck holding on let alone doing anything else.

You mentioned your using Shimano oil, are you using this for the bearings or on the whole reel? For the drag I'd recommend using cals grease or Shimano ace 2 grease, and a marine grade blue grease for the internals. Oil is not recommended for the gears and drag where grease has been used. As already said carbonex drags are the way to go.