a new toy

[Jcallaham]

Received my parts from the rocket reel company. Skeleton kit and spool, also a set of bearings from spool speed . Put it all together and bench tested it. Fastest reel I have ever had my hands on. precision machined frame ,spool, and shaft combined with good bearings makes a huge difference. By the way this is basically a hot rod abu 5500.

12lb test,40lb shock on a 12' 6" century 1506 down at the field. first few casts with the mag on full went okay but not very far. So 1 turn off the mag  and a little bit further, not much. One more turn off,2 turns total ,the result was disaster ,nasty backlash,that  finished that spool for the day .

I put another spool in that had normal bearings and things went better but still ended with a terminal backlash.

What I think I learned was this is more of a tournament reel. make your cast with mag very close to full and then unwind as the weight is in flight.

There doesn't seem to be a medium between good cast control and completely wild. Going to experiment with bearings and brake blocks and see what happens.Oh the joy of distance casting, so much fun

[Surf bomber]

Throwing a 12-6 rod with a hopped up reel and not getting a professional backlash will take practice …improved  technique ,some strength and some practice will help ….moving from 12 lb test to twenty pound test until you get more proficient at casting may help . Then drop down to 16-lb … the most important thing is to have fun 

[beached again]

You can also try a heavier oil.  So many options to slow it down, a lot easier than getting it to go faster.     

[surfrat59]

The satisfaction that comes from a clean/long cast after sorting out mags and oil is worth a few thousand yards of mono IMO ! Have fun and enjoy it...I'd rather be cutting out a wicked blowup on a nice beach than sitting home watching CNN preach propaganda, with my liberal wife cheering their every outrageous lie.

[fishhawkxxx]

1 hour ago, Surf bomber said:

Throwing a 12-6 rod with a hopped up reel and not getting a professional backlash will take practice …improved  technique ,some strength and some practice will help ….moving from 12 lb test to twenty pound test until you get more proficient at casting may help . Then drop down to 16-lb … the most important thing is to have fun 

Yea, 12lb test on that set up is more for the pro's, like surf bomber said, go to bigger mono will help tremendously.

[ExcessiveAngler]

I would go up a little bit in diameter with the mono and definitely go to a heavier oil, or possibly even trying less line on the spool!

In fact, if it’s just too fast for you, I would make myself a little mix for the bearings!

It’s just silly how much different these are from fishing reels, like driving a Chevette and then jumping in a Corvette LMAO!

I do believe you can also switch out magnet strengths as well on the RR mag, not sure!

I changed the bearings on a Daiwa SL30SH, stock brake blocks/no mags on this one and made it almost unusable lol !

I literally burned a hole right through the thumb of a mechanics glove trying to stop it!

So now, that one has a mixture of blue marine grease and Akios reel oil and works just fine!

If you do the mixture thing, you have to play around with it and find the consistency that you like or works best for you!

It’s never the same mix, because we’re all in different areas and temperatures are different!

And yes, if you put a little too much umpfff at the start of the cast with these speed demons, just forget it, they will blow up on you every time lol !

It is fun and great exercise, but really sucks when you have to cut off a full spool of mono!

unfortunately, I do know the feeling lol…!!!

 

EA

 

 

 

 

 

[Surf bomber]

If the excessive angler ever put the mono mag on the diawa slosh 30 that would be a nice casting real and would add 30 yards to your casts … surf cast shop in Maryland had the mono mags … I put a mono mag on my slosh and it can throw a long way with minimal professional back lashes …. Maybe one backlash every 3rd time fishing … 

[Jcallaham]

heard you all on increasing line diameter, thanks for the advice. However, that isn't going to happen. 5500 size abu and omoto chief  have line capacities of 205 yards of 12lb and 250 yards of 10 lb. I want to stay as c[ose to that as possible. I suppose I could go with braid,I have a spool here with a lot of 20lb test ,saving that for a really well controlled set up.

Heavier oil is an option but that defeats the purpose of expensive after-market bearings.

adding 1 break block will help but once again why not ditch the expensive bearings  and go with stock stainless steel.

I think the solution will be found by experimenting with the rocket reel mono mag or even going to cast pro shop and getting a different mono mag.

 

as far as casting technique and practice,

I am doing all I can to keep from going backward with age.

I have an old slosh 20 here that is around 30 years old. I can put that on a 12' rod  and hit 100 yards all day long. it has 2 red brake blocks for cast control, got to really screw up a cast to backlash it. 

[ExcessiveAngler]

38 mins ago, Jcallaham said:

heard you all on increasing line diameter, thanks for the advice. However, that isn't going to happen. 5500 size abu and omoto chief  have line capacities of 205 yards of 12lb and 250 yards of 10 lb. I want to stay as c[ose to that as possible. I suppose I could go with braid,I have a spool here with a lot of 20lb test ,saving that for a really well controlled set up.

Heavier oil is an option but that defeats the purpose of expensive after-market bearings.

adding 1 break block will help but once again why not ditch the expensive bearings  and go with stock stainless steel.

I think the solution will be found by experimenting with the rocket reel mono mag or even going to cast pro shop and getting a different mono mag.

 

as far as casting technique and practice,

I am doing all I can to keep from going backward with age.

I have an old slosh 20 here that is around 30 years old. I can put that on a 12' rod  and hit 100 yards all day long. it has 2 red brake blocks for cast control, got to really screw up a cast to backlash it. 

The Daiwa is a bigger reel and has a bigger spool and will spin slower, compared to the light, little spool in the 5500!

So, when you had your humble pie that day, how hard did you hit the cast?

Did the reel blow up right after the release or was the sinker already on its way out there?

And what oil/ lube do you have in the SL20SH out of curiosity?

 

EA

 

[Jcallaham]

On 2/1/2023 at 6:16 PM, ExcessiveAngler said:

The Daiwa is a bigger reel and has a bigger spool and will spin slower, compared to the light, little spool in the 5500!

So, when you had your humble pie that day, how hard did you hit the cast?

Did the reel blow up right after the release or was the sinker already on its way out there?

And what oil/ lube do you have in the SL20SH out of curiosity?

 

EA

 

Hit it as hard as could, it was as good of cast as I can do. The sinker wound up about 70 yards out with the shock leader and maybe 40 yards of line which is kind of typical when I get my reel set up a little too fast. That happened twice that day.

I don't know what kind of lube is in the slosh . The last person in there was a pro reel guy,he told me he used the lightest oil he had. That was years ago ,used it a little bit after that, then it got put away  in favor of fancier reels

[ExcessiveAngler]

5 hours ago, Jcallaham said:

Hit it as hard as could, it was as good of cast as I can do. The sinker wound up about 70 yards out with the shock leader and maybe 40 yards of line which is kind of typical when I get my reel set up a little too fast. That happened twice that day.

I don't know what kind of lube is in the slosh . The last person in there was a pro reel guy,he told me he used the lightest oil he had. That was years ago ,used it a little bit after that, then it got put away  in favor of fancier reels

I did the same thing LMAO…!!!

And, that’s why I asked you how hard you hit it!

I am by no means a tournament caster, but have learned quite a bit, in a very short amount of time. I have also learned that, what works for one, may not work for another!
Your gonna need to add more brake blocks, if you’re going to hit that cast hard like that!

You really need them for the initial braking on the release, especially when you hit it hard!

The mag on the RR’s is extremely touchy, I’ve come to find out and read about this on other boards as well!

So, after thinking I was Mr. tournament caster, and blowing up one RR spool and two Abu’s, about 1000 yards of mono that was a quick $20 lesson. I was not looking to repeat lol!

So, back to the drawing board because I knew better than to cast this RR with no brakes and those fast ass bearings in there with .28 mm mono!

So, I started with the six block assembly, all six fully engaged, mag full on and hit a cast hard as hell to see if it would overrun and surprisingly it did not and still running four blocks in there!

And I know , you’re probably not gonna like the idea of adding all those blocks , but I would give it a try, my friend!

So now at the very least, I keep the brake rings on my reels, so I can put them back on if needed or add to them!

Also curious what weight leads you were practicing with too?

 

EA

 

 

 

 

 

[Surf bomber]

If your getting professional back lashes ease up on the juice(power) and take half the blocks off and full on with the mag ….and get a good rhythm…. I pulled all the brake blocks off and level winds of my abus and full on with the mag throwing 5-6 oz hilo rigs on a breakaway ldx and no problems…. However throwing 2-4 oz on a 12 foot cabellas salt striker was a little different … I couldn’t lean into it at full cast… to much juice and I would have a professional back lash … you can only get so much out of your tackle befor you either change your tackle , change your technique or both … and a full blown pendulum cast on the beach may be unsafe …. In one of tommy farmers videos he was throwing a simple hatteras cast and said it was goin around 450 (150 yards) feet with 6oz on a either a 12 or 13 foot cast pro rod … so to a novice if your over 100-120 measured yards with what ever your throwing from a simple hatteras cast thats good …and you can get a few guys to cast further or the wind is at their back or much younger …. But not many and their casts may not be measured …. In the mean time have fun … 

[Jcallaham]

On 2/1/2023 at 6:16 PM, ExcessiveAngler said:

The Daiwa is a bigger reel and has a bigger spool and will spin slower, compared to the light, little spool in the 5500!

So, when you had your humble pie that day, how hard did you hit the cast?

Did the reel blow up right after the release or was the sinker already on its way out there?

And what oil/ lube do you have in the SL20SH out of curiosity?

 

EA

 

 broke out the old slosh 20 this morning . some how it wound up with a spool full of  either 30  or  40 lb test braid . out at the crack of dawn ,nobody around, tied on a 4oz bank sinker and let it rip,kinda expected a major blow up, but it made a nice noise going out ,little overrun at the end, but no problem. any way ,4 casts all beyond the 100meter lines the soccer players have put down. had to leave as it was just to darn cold out there for this old man.

[ExcessiveAngler]

You gotta be kidding lol!

It’s so cold up here right now, my reels sound like the old fashioned pencil sharpeners!

I’d be afraid to cast with ceramic bearings right about now, amazing how rough and noisy these buggers are when they’re cold lol!

 

EA

[Surf bomber]

The ceramic bearings I have in the akios sounds like Your walking on egg corns when it’s this cold … 2 degrees this am at sun up in north east n j .