woodch0p

The drag stack should be accessible from under the drag knob, similar to an Abu Soron which has a sealed drag. Check the schematics of the reel and you should see where to access them. Carbonex drags are currently the beez neez of drags, virtually nil "start up" if greased, and in some instances higher drag levels are achievable (carbonex drag in a mates charter special allowed us to push the drag to near 12kg) in the reel and tackle forum there are some posts relating to carbonex drags and start up inertia, and in my Abu soron stripdown tutorial I have shown how to remove the cover of its sealed drag so you can get the idea.

Correct on West of the bridge as that's a gaurentee with most of Rick's spots, but wrong on the piers.. I won't be specific on location, better to keep you guessing haha

it would be more like him posting the report about the 24 he caught, the 4 I dropped and how good of a netboy I was haha!

Hey everyone, Had the day off yesterday so I decided to give the harbour a shot for some blackies. I didnt want to be stuck in peak hour traffic so headed in at gentlemans hours around 10am. Left home and headed to my spot where I collect weed, only to find out there was no length in it. Luckily for me the cabbage was growing thick and fierce so collected enough for burley and bait and headed into the city to try my luck. I wasn't to optimistic about having any great success as every time Rick and I fished the spot I was going weed would out do cabbage 10 to 1. I hit spot number one just after 11am, burlied hard and fished for 20mins, not a single down. Decided to move around the corner where me and Rick have fished a few times with little success, yet I knew surgeons lurk here as well as the odd blackie so i thought why not try loose some gear for the sake of a fish. First cast the stopper hit the float and it proceeded to keep sinking, this was odd as I know I had the right ammount of lead to balance the float. Started to wind it back in and the rod loaded up, to my surprise a blackie had hit it on the way down. 30cm specimen reaches the net, Game on! For the next 1 1/2hrs it was constant hook ups, one after another. Low on bait and the parking meter running out decided to call it quits. Total tally was 24 fish landed, 4 dropped, 7 legal with the biggest 42cm and the rest undersize with the smallest going 23cm. Kept the legals in a keeper net for a happy snap to add to the collection and released all on completion. I have had some cracker days with Rick, Steve and Slam but have never had any solid success flying solo so it was a great personal achievement for me to score this many in a short session. Next time will have to try convert more into keepers so happy snap is a little more impressive. Looks like the harbour will be firing on all cylinders this season! Daniel

The "bay" referenced here is botany bay, near the airport. Look up botany bay on google maps to get an idea of the area.

After removing the screw you should be able to seperate the bail arm from the body arm. Now slide off the roller. There is a small spring clip ontop of the roller bearing holding it into place shown in photo number twenty. Remove this using a small hook and you should have the bearing seperated from everything else. Regards Daniel

Cheers Tony for fixing that up. I should have a couple more up in the coming weeks.

I documented this strip down of an Abu Soron STX 10 a few months ago, but due to sheer laziness I have only got around to posting it up now. I thought it would be a good time seeing as there is an influx of interest in the reel. The reel is brand new out of the box, these are the things I do to all my reels before they get used to increase their life span, and the fact that I like to tinker. Whole process took me 20mins. Quick apology about some of the photo’s being out of focus or having shadows, if you would like any in further detail leave me a post or pm and I will take some more. Here are the schematics of the reel FYI. Start by removing the drag knob and spool from the reel. The first thing we will look at is the drag knob itself. Remove the two screws on the underside. You should now be able to remove the cover and access the internals. Be careful on the small metal clicker ball offset from the middle, as there is a spring underneath it which can cause it to go walkabouts. Second photo is of an exploded view of the drag knob. I apply some marine grease (Castrol boating grease being the marine grease of my choice, but there are a lot of other quality marine greases out there) to the metal spring and thread inside the drag knob. I do not apply any grease to the drag knob clicker as I have done this once before and it reduces the sound and definition in the clicker. Once done put it all back together. Apply an ultra fine coating of grease to the waterproof seal on the drag knob for protection. The grease I used during this strip down is Shimano Ace-2 drag grease, but have since removed this and have now used Cal’s Grease. There is no reason for the change other then the reputation behind Cal’s. I had no issues with the Shimano grease. Once done the next part to look at is the spool itself. To access the drag washers I used a small pair of needle nose pliers in the grooves to unscrew the casing. For photo purposes they are bare, but I actually used a thin sheet over the pliers to avoid scratching. Once this is removed you can now access the drag washer stack. The second photo is an exploded view of the stack in the order they came out (right being the top and left being the bottom). All were coated with Shimano Ace-2 drag grease (now converted to Cal’s). Before putting back together a small amount of the same drag grease was applied to the washer and thread of the top of the spool (as seen in photo three). This is to prevent salt corrosion and the two rusting together and not being able to access the washers, as this is a problem I have had with one of my neglected old reels. Even though this reel has a waterproof drag system I prefer to be safe than sorry. The last thing to do with the spool is to flip it over and apply some marine grease to the spool clicker spring and mechanism. To many times before have I heard about people’s reels no longer clicking when the line is running and 9/10 times the spring being rusted and broken is the problem. Yes the part may only be worth a dollar or two, but if it saves me the hassle of sourcing one and installing it, I will spend the extra two seconds applying some grease. Now remove the spool components off the main shaft. The two plastic washers in the first photo are on pretty tight, and will need to be wiggled back and forwards to remove. Second photo is an exploded view of components. The metal spring 3rd from the right holds the bearings and spacer onto the chrome sleeve (actually plastic) 3rd from the left, be careful when removing this to avoid it flying off. On the underside of the sleeve is also a washer which fell out on removal, if I didn't see it fall out it would have never made its way back in. The washer is shown in the 3rd photo. I also lightly coat the waterproof washer in this stack with grease upon reassembly, the same as I did with the one on the drag knob. Also from here on in every bearing I come across gets a drop or two of Reel-X. That leaves us with the core to look at. Remove the screw holding the retainer ring on the nut of the rotor, and then remove the nut. You can now take the rotor off the main assembly. The two other screws on the top of the rotor are for the counter balance weight. I haven't got photos of the bail arm assembly, it is similar to the ones found on alot of other spin reels, if someone wants the photo's let me know and I will pull it apart again and take some. A few points of interest shown in the photo’s below. First one is a hidden screw behind the Abu logo on the bail arm. Don't undo the first screw and try to remove the outer casing, as the first screw is only for the logo plaque. Have read on the net of people removing this first screw and forcing the side plate off causing it to crack the casing or thread the screw. Second photo is of the line roller. The bearing inside the line roller is actually held in place by a retaining ring. As with all retaining springs caution will need to be taken when removing this to avoid it flying off. Now for the guts of the reel. Start by removing the shield held by three screws. Remove the metal ring and bearing from the top. This can be done with a small flat head screwdriver. Then disconnect the anti reverse spring, allowing you to remove the anti reverse system. Be careful that the anti reverse bearings don't fall out everywhere. Once this is removed the worm drive can also be removed. Make sure during the service that you avoid grease getting on the anti reverse bearing as it can cause it to stop working. I give mine a coat with Inox on a rag for protection. Next remove the rear silver casing off the reel via the screw at the base, this will give you access to one of the screws holding together the main body. It is not clearly seen in the second photo but there was a silicon like gum on the rear of the reel under the casing on the raw metal, not sure of its purpose. Now you can undo the side plate and access the internals. Note: these photos were taken after I serviced it, reason why everything is coated in marine grease. By undoing the screw on the rear of the spool shaft will allow you to remove it and give you room to be able to remove the main gear. The fifth photo in these series is of a small spacing washer on the right hand bearing. Make sure you remember the order of all spacer washers in your reel, two more brass coloured ones can be seen on top of the main gear in the first three photo's. My reel has a total of three but other reels might be different due to the tolerances in the reel and minute differences in manufacturing. I put one of these spacer washers on the wrong side, it was 0.6mm thick and it caused my reel to clunk like it has been filled with sand. Goes to show you the precision and ultra fine tolerances these modern reels have. Everything inside here got a generous coating of marine grease as shown. Now reassemble it all by doing everything in the opposite order. I added a small amount of Inox to the handle joint at the end also. Hope this post will have some use to someone. Simple steps like this will help the lifespan any reel you own. They may seem complex but it is actually quite easy to do, and as I said only took me 20mins. Daniel

For the rocks especially I prefer mono, due to it being more abrasion resistant then braid. If your looking for capacity why not run braid with a top shot of say 50-100m of mono. It means you will have the abrasion resistance when fighting in close to the rocks, but if the fish decides to run wide away from the rocks you will have the line capacity to handle it. Also jews have pretty strong gill plates which the abrasion resistance will assist with and the absorbing properties for strong runs under high drag. A lot of tackle stores can spool your reel up with braid from bulk spools, which works out a lot cheaper then buying a spool of one length. There are people who swear by braid and people who swear by mono, there have been many topics in this forum about one vs the other, at the end of the day its all about finding a line which suits your fishing and that your confident with.

My wallet is dry at the moment so seeing as I can't con myself into buying one I have to give it a shot with someone else, but I understand if sllinky is not willing to throw his hat over the wall.... laid the bait just hopefully he will bite hehehe

Number 12 would have to be the new premier spin, I'm surprised you haven't scored yourself one yet.

The reel in the 2nd row, 4th from the front, do my eyes decieve me or is that a snakehead 6500c? And is that possibly two more right at the back? No wonder so many abu's have become rare collectors items. Very nice collection indeed.

Pacific composites also goes by the name excel composites, found this out when my excel composites blank arrived with pacific composites stickers/tags. Unsure if either have closed but I found it hard to source a pacific composites blank when building my rod, glad I went with the excel but being the same blank.

I have built my own blackfish rod, its a great satisfaction using something you built from scratch, exactly to the specs you wanted. Depending what you want in a rod it is not always cheaper. I like top quality products, and in the end it cost me just over $400 in parts, not including the time I spent building it. Pretty damn expensive rod but have caught countless ammounts of fish on it and believe it is worth its weight in gold. If you are a hands on sort of person I highly recommend building your own rod. In saying that these days you can pick up a good quality rod from a tackle shop for the same price, even cheaper (remember they buy all the parts in huge bulk, which saves a lot on the cost) so unless it is something your interested in doing I would just grab one off the shelf. Yes it may not be the exact colour you wanted or the grips might not be to your liking but it will still catch you fish. You could also modify an off the shelf rod to save some time and make it into your dream rod. Its a sad loss to see guidebrod close, it is the thread I use and in my opinion one of the best threads. its sad to say that the days of custom rods is dying.

A bearings main purpose is to make things run smoothly. 11 bearings in my opinion is overkill but purefishing state this is what they intended for this reel, overbuilt and affordable. take a reel with 5 bearings, maybe 2 on the main gear, one in the handle, one on the line runner and the anti reverse bearing. Every other mechanical piece of the reel will not be running bearings and will have some amount of friction. With the soron they have extra bearings in the bail arms, spool, shaft cog etc which reduces the overall friction in the operation of the reel, and therefore feels a lot smoother for the user and will stay smoother for longer. I own a stx10 and absolutely love it, the build of the reel gives me a lot more confidence when fishing and I know it has the added grunt if something of size takes a liking to my bait/lure. Hope this helps Daniel

Charter specials are definitely a great bang for you buck reel. I recently upgraded a mates charter to a carbonex drag aswell as full cleanout and service, and put it on the scales and got it to 12kg with freespool, which is massive for the reel. Carbonex drag for a charter is approx $20 which I think is well worth the investment.

If you can afford to get a lox I highly recommend them, I have the 7'6 1-3kg and it has to be my favourite flick stick I own. Very light and has a sensitive tip which is great for working small hb or plastics.

Just a quick note only grease the underside of the washer facing the drag stack, make sure the top of the washer facing the knob isn't greased. It could cause it to stick to the spool lip causing it to spin.

Put a little bit of grease on it to see if it fixes it, it should but if not order a new washer should only be a couple of dollars, and its cheaper then a new drag knob! Glad to help

To see if its the waterproof seal causing the issue remove it from the drag knob if possible and see if it corrects the issue. On my soron I use a light coat of cals on the waterproof washer for extra protection, there is no harm in doing so. Regards Woodch0p

Another issue I just thought of could be the thread at the top of the shaft or thread in the lower knob could be worn/damaged causing the slightest friction to turn the knob and it only grabs when it reachs the good part of thread, when the drag is around 2kg.

Give the top of the spool + top drag metal washer and the drag knob a good clean, and when you get the grease with the new drag washers place some on these areas also to remove any friction. You could also use some innox on a rag and rub down these areas and see if that helps for the intermin.

When you say the spool spins I guess your refering to when you a winding line back on? When winding only the bailarm should spin arounding, but when line is being stripped off the spool should spin but the drag knob should remain still. The main shaft only moves up and down so that cannot be the reason. The drag could only keep tightening if the knob is making contact with a rotating part. Most probably the spool. Do you have a metal washer in the drag stack at the top where the drag knob is? If not the drag washer making contact to the drag knob could grab causing the knob to turn. Is there any obstruction under the drag knob causing it to catch? Ie the retaining spring not sitting in the designated groove properly.

If that other post did not help the only other possible issues that I can think of are either your drag washers have worn down causing the drag knob to make contact with the spool instead of the stack or possibly could be the small washer (generally a red colour) which sits under the spool on the clicker gear has worn/slipped down the shaft past the grooved section of it causing the spool to catch on lower end of the bail casing. This has happened to me on a penn reel before. Slinky might have other ideas also.

Check out the post entitled "shouldn't have fiddled...." by flat boy in the reel and tackle maintainence forum, he was faced with the same issue could help you solve your problem. Daniel