Another TLD question!!

[skullhooker]

Hello,

New to the forum here! Fish out of Sebastian Inlet and Canaveral, Central Florida. This post is quite timely for me because I have the need to tinker with me tackle once and a while, and have the following questions/quandry/indecisions:

TLD25's, have two, run 30lb mono on them. I have maintained them well, use them about 5 to 10 times a year for the past 10 years. Last year I bought two TLD30II's, to use 50lb. In good weather we can run to other side of the gulfstream for YFT, in the 20 to 40lb range typically. We use radar for the birds and run and gun with feathers. To get multiple hookups, you often have to watch a half or more of the spool of line melt off your first reels, and then have the fun task of reeling em back in. With a TLD25, your'e in for a really long day - no fun. The TLD30II's seem to crank a lot easier, have more efficient gearing, even on high speed. I like them better than the old grindy internationals also. Heavy drag settings are not required for this type of fishing, so I've never smoked a drag. Regaining line quickly, and clearing a spread of weeds are my main reason for cranking power and efficiency. Can I modify the TLD25's to crank easier? They work great for the dolphin, sails, and occaissional wahoo bite, and if I can improve the cranking, they have their place on my boat. I wash the reels down in drag, and store them in freespool, so the washers aren't compressed, is this correct?

Now on to the 113h's. I have two, and use them for bottom fishing, another passion. A big grouper or snapper, for the first few moments, can slam you against the gunnell and shake you like a rag doll. I call it the snapper stalemate, kinda like a mexican standoff. It's an awesome sensation. I would like to get more drag and lock these down to the max, without breaing the reels. I have heard of folks slipping tubing over the star prongs for leverage to crankem down. We have been playing stupid pet tricks with goliath grouper, backing up to a bouy, tossing in a hooked jack cravelle, and try to pull the beast away with the boat. The drag slips, and we're rocked up. One day last year we went zero for ten, and finally tired of losing all this hardware to piercing fish lips. Once again, more drag would help.

I just bought a set of the newell 4:1 gears for a 113h, to speed up the retrieve when bottom fishing in deeper water. Does anyone have any reccommendations for other small modifications while I'm at it? I saw some stainless pinion yokes for sale, would these make any difference?

Thanks for the info. Good stuff here.

[alantani]

no way to change the gear ration on the tld 25, only the handle. here's a link.... http://www.charkbait.com/cs/csrararule.htm your tld maintenance sounds fine. i have a few $35 tld handles left as well.

for the 113h's, i use stock carbon fiber drags with shimano grease to get up to 25#'s of drag at the top of the spool. you won't need that much. for heavy cranking, i recommend a full accurate frame http://www.charkbait.com/cs/csracComp.htm and a penn international handle (#24-30tw) with handle lock plate (#110A-50) and a handle lock plate screw (#110-50) http://www.scottsbt.com/ for $5, i would get the stainless steel yoke since you already have stainless steel gears. you may find that you dislike the "wwhhhhiiiirrrrrr" of the newell gears. i couldn't stand it. accurate 4:1 gear are no longer available, but if you can find them, grab 'em.

there is one last little trick for the penn 113h that gives you a few more pounds of drag. you need a small penn drag washer (part #6-855) to put under the gear in place of the fiber washer. it has to be drilled out with a progressive drill bit until it fits over the gear sleeve (post). then use the softer 320 gti drag washers (part #6-320). they have the same inner and outer diameter, but are thinner. add grease. now use two or three belleville washers (part #18-970) to more evenly distribute pressure to the outside of the drag stack. the other thing you can do is to call pennparts.com and ask for a full set of metal drag washers (three slotted and two keyed) that are all thick instead of four thin and one thick. when you explain that you are using the #6-320 drag washers, they will understand why. this way you will need only one belleville washer.

do i have you thoroughly confused? good luck. alan

[skullhooker]

Sent my TLD-25 reels to Alan Tani for maintenance. He rebuilt the reel, shimmed the bellevilles, replaced the canvas drag washers with greased carbon fiber disks, and replaced the handles with his custom made ones.

The drag was increased, and the handles are awesome. Machined stainless steel crank arms, not aluminum, and the big knobs are angled for ergonomics. (I hope I don't break the reels with these massive handles LOL)

Can't wait to fish em.

Thanks Alan!

[alantani]

rob, you're welcomed. nice to have you back and nice to have the boards opened up again. alan