Changing Drag Material on Spinning Reel

Anglers how fishes regularly will know that drags will degrade over time, either loss of drag or jerky drags. Most time, a simple clean and service of drag will be suffice to get it back to shape, but sometimes, a change of drag material is required.


This is a simple tutorial on how to change the drag material on your spin reel. I choose a budget reel instead of a high end reel for a simple reason, I believe 95% of reel volume sold are budget reels. Most spin reels have the same configuration and the choose reels for drags, though some have washer proof washers (e.g. Daiwa Freams 4500J), or have the drag material at the bottom of spool instead (e.g. Penn SpinFisher). Least not forget some reel have duel drag (top and bottom of spool) but not going to cover them simply because I do not have such reels.

Before I proceed, I do recall a fisho asking why I bother to service and upgrade my spin reels (which are mainly budget reels). He say "Just get a new one when you old one breaks down, why bother with them when they are so cheap". Actually I am stump for an answer to him, in economic sense it make no sense, but boys being boys, they need to take things apart to investigate and try to improve wherever they can. Some modifications I do are to suit my style of fishing, while others are just for the heck of it.

Enough of this off-topic discussion, back to the tutorial

Simple Spinning Reel Maintenance

In recent times I have not been fishing much, so updating this blog with a series of reel maintenance tutorial. This posting will cover the most basic one of all, oiling the bearings on your reel to simply keep them in a smooth operating condition.

Ever wonder why the brand new reel you purchased feel silky smooth when you first start to use it but after a few fishing trips and been kept in the storeroom after a period of time, they does not feel as smooth as your first purchased it?

Irregardless of either a budget or high end fishing reel, they do need to be cleaned, serviced and lubricate. Reason being these reels are basically mechanical equipment, and with all mechanical equipments, without any lubrication they will fail to function well and wear and tear rate will increase drastically.

Some anglers have their lucky reel, some reels have sentimental value, and some might feel it is a waste to throw away a reel just because it is not longer just as smooth as it is just purchased (like me.....)

Though spinning reel have different gearing methods, but some parts remain very identical from budget to mid range to high end reels. And one such part is bearings that are found on either side of the reel support the handle assembly. Lubricate these bearings not only will it prevent rust and will also bring back some of the smoothness back. If you have never oil them before, imagine what is happening in the bearing – steel rubbing against steel without any lubrication. Albiet, some budget reels have bushing rather then bearing, in this case, then there is not need to oil those busing.

What about the gears inside the reel? Does it need to be lubricated?
As a matter of fact, the answer is YES. However, as most reels are packed with grease internally when they are shipped out, thus there is a good chance that there is enough grease to keep it going for a while.

Changing Roller Bushing to Bearing

One of the fav mod that anglers like to do is to change the roller bushing of their budget reel to ball bearing. A lot of budget reel are really easy, as the bushing as the same shape and dimension for a direct ball bearing replacement.

Shimano budget reel are a different beast altogether (might be just what I have), their bushing is of an odd shaped and the outer diameter is JUST slightly smaller then a standard ball bearing. This is what I have gotten to replace my Shimano Aernos XT to a ball bearing with a fair bit of work needed.

The black bushing and ball bearing is to replace the white bushing.

1. The roller ID measures just a little smaller then an standard ball bearing, so what is required is to grind the OD of the ball bearing to fits inside the roller.
2. The black bushing from another reel that I have replace it with a ball bearing, the OD fits the small groove found on the inside of the roller. The ID however is bigger then the ball bearing ID due to the the form of the assembly. However this is not an issue as this bushing is simply to act as a stopper to prevent the roller from slipping into the assembly.
3. The items are put in the order as shown in the pic, you might need a small thin shim to keep the roller bearing to come into full contact at the base of the assembly.


Points to note
1. The method of jamming the entire ball bearing into the roller works, without the need of any additional bushing. However, it is very difficult to remove the bearing when it got rusted. I will not recommend this.
2. If you cannot get any bushing like the black one I have, cut the original bushing. Remember you need the part with the 'lip' to prevent roller from sliding into the assembly. It is the cleaner white portion in the pic.
3. It is important to have the stopper bushing, once the roller slide into the assembly, your reel might not be able to lay the line correctly. You can use a bearing instead of a bushing if you find one that fits.

I will update further on the size of the bearings.

New Spoon additions

I have no idea what happened to me recently, or rather what happen to our local fishes. For some strange reason, recently all my hard lures stop producing catches and the only bites I get are from spoons. Just a few weeks ago, I bought a cheapo spoon I spotted at Tackle2000, shaped like the ever popular Yozuri Altima spoon but at a much lower price, but without the scale and eyes detail. Friend tried it on it's maiden trip hook up a very decent sized PB while all the other lures we tried yield nothing.



A few months ago, I grab a few spoons at Siow Chiang Warehouse, not that I like them but at just $1 each, what the heck just grab it. Only when I got home did I realized that I got a bargin, Abu Toby (already tarnished), Blue Fox Pixee and Blue Fox Tear Drop. My guess these are very old stock, thus it is re-packaged in a simple plastic bag and priced cheaply to sell them off.

Pics of the spoons coming soon.

General rule of thumb is to get silver color for clear water and gold for stained water. If you just want to buy just one spoon, I will recommend the Yozuri Altima Spoon, a great spoon but for it's price, it seems pretty expensive for a piece of bended metal. I am still waiting for our local tackle shop to bring in the 7G version, 14G sink a tad too much for me for the places I am fishing in.

2nd Article for Fishing Addict

I am to write an article on how to completely stripped, clean, re-lube and assemble a spinning reel. On hand I have a few spin reels to choose, cheapo magazine team didn't arrange any reel for me to use so have to use my own reels. I don't have much spin reels so choice is limited.

Shimano Alivio FA 2500 - Lowest end of Shimano Budget reels, but albiet modified with extra bearings.
Shimano Aernos XT C3000
Ofmer Axis 6
Daiwa SS700
Pioneer 4000 reel - Forget model liao, but is a 5BB reel.
Daiwa Freams 4500J - Can show change bearing to BB as I still have the original bushing with me.

Help require for suggestions!!!

Appealing for suggestion on reels selection for my 2nd article for our local (Singapore) fishing magazine to be launched soon. More details here
Do put down your choice in 'Comments' and your feedback is appreciated.
Please do help me to spread this message in your own BLOG or any other media that's easy for you. (Sorry, I can't get the 'BLOG This!' widget to work, will try to fix it asap, meanwhile you will need to cut and paste the link)

Update - 'BLOG This' link is already up, just simply click on the 'Post Header' to open up this specific posting only. At the end of the post, Click on 'BLOG This' to link this article directly to your own BLOG. Works only if you are on BLOGGER too.
Thanks for you help.

How to DIY Jighead

I have shared these in a couple of local fishing forum, forget about it totally until now. Time to put it up on my blog.

Ever since I started luring, I have been looking for cheaper alternative for stuff I can DIY. Started out with DIY spin fly, then Jighead with tinsel, and now Jighead using offset hooks for rubbers.

For my FW application, I usually go for light tackle, hence 1/8oz jighead suits me well since I am now more interested to use rubber then hard lures. Anyway decided to experiment to DIY my own jighead with some very simple stuff. Furthermore can customized weight and hook size to your own liking.


Stuff you will need, Solvent Based Paint (A), Reflective Paper (B), Hooks (C), split shot (D), 10 or 5 min Epoxy (E), Super Glue (F), Hole Puncher (G).
For rubber better to use off set hooks, pic of off set hooks and finished jighead. Link Here



Drop a little Super Glue between the groove of the split shot and insert the hook. Apply pressure till set.


Use hammer to hit on either side till the split shot gap is enclosed completely onto the hook shaft. Or just a clamp to do this job. Make sure the flat surface created is large enough to paste an "eye" on it.


Next is simply a paint job, use primer if you have else like me just do 2 coat. If you intend to dip the entire jighead portion into the paint to color it, insert a toothpick in the eye of the hook before doing it, this will prevent the paint from covering up the entire eye.


Using the hole puncher, punch out some round reflective paper. Paste it onto the flatten surface using super glue and finish it with a coat of epoxy. Draw a black dot on the reflective paper to complete the eye. Alternatively, use those ready made 'eyes' available from tackle shop to do so.

Final pics are my tinsel added jighead for PB hunting, use it like a lure except you impart all the action yourself thru wrist and rod action.

Luring Snaps & Swivel

Ever since I took up luring, I have been searching for small swivel and good snaps to use.

Sasame Swivels
Seasoned lurers told me big swivel can affect lures swimming actions, furthermore I have a liking to use small lures for FW, so small swivels is a must. After searching and asking around, finally decided on the Sasame Swivels, for it's size, it's rating is extremely high. Imagine, 19kg rating for the smallest one (size 10) I can find, I find it hard to believe but still bought it and use it. After a few times I am convinced it is indeed very strong but still 19kg is untested water for it.

The day came when it get tested out is while talking to DesT, he mentioned that those ridiculously small Surecatch swivels he use for his noodle rod application are super inconsistent. Same Size different rating, 4kg or 4lbs, very likely due to different batches. And while he tested them, some broke below the 4lbs mark, one batch fails so badly that it have around 50% pass rate. I recommended him the Sasame swivel and you guess it, he did test them out. At 9kg, the rings deformed to diamond shaped, and at 19kg, it still works and swivels. Now I can use it in peace, knowing it will holds up well and well below my line rating for luring.

Comes in red or black and at around 40 cents per piece, not exactly cheap but heck if it keeps my lure on my line, I will be happy to use them.


Seahawk Snaps
I do agree that these Seahawk snaps are very likely re-branded make in china snaps. But recommended to me by Eric of Tackle2000. I do like it a lot, pretty strong and easy to change lures. So far no failure. Cannot compare to those decoy and genesis Egg Snaps, but good enough for me. and at around 10 cent per piece, very affordable.