MXL 6.3 only has freespool on "Bait" position not "Free" !!??

[captbruce]

Hey, captbruce here.

I been fishing hard here in Key West. I'll be here till July.
I've been a guide here for almost 35 yrs.

On the KW fishing scene:
There were 352 Sails released on the first day of the "World Sailfish Championship", here in Key West. 230 the second day and today is the last day in 30 Mph wind and severe thunderstorm warnings. There's $1.000,000 up for grabs !!

I have an MXL 6.3. I got it used (but it never looks like it was used).
The problem is it only has TOTAL freespool when the lever is up in the BAIT position.
It won't freespool in FREE. In FREE the drag is somewhat engaged.
Otherwise the reel works fine. I took it apart and it's clean as NEW.

I've tried to adjust the Male and Female cam, but I haven't found the correct combo I guess.

Any of you guys got any suggestions ??

Thanks, in advance.
captbruce

[akfish]

Your guess was right: This is almost certainly a problem with the cam. Put the female in and then try all three positions of the male. If that doesn't work, put the male in and try all three female positions.. For the life of me, I can't imagine it's anything else...

[alantani]

gotta be the cam.  contact avet and get a new one.

[captbruce]

Thanks, guys.

I can't seem to get the female cam out of the lever.
I tried for awhile. I hate to mess it up.

I'll try AVET, they have been very nice in the past.

The reel still fishes OK.
I can fish with it easily, but I'm afraid one of the customers will back-off the drag and inadvertently back-lash the 40# P/pro
(when they do it, it's a "Back-Lash" when I do it it's a "Professional Over-Run"...)

BTW, last Summer I took apart and cleaned ALL my reels !!
The total was just over 100...
I cleaned 40 the Summer before and sent you a picture.
Now I take 'Um apart after every Season, if needed.
I use mostly Trinidad, and Torium. The Trinidad's are better built but the Toriums are holding up at HALF the price.
I etched numbers (on the reel seat), and store the work done, on my computer, to help me keep track.

I put "Smooooth Drags" (with GREASE) in most of them and I think it's WAY better then the Dartanium. (psst...Cheaper too)
I fished with Steve Dart who developed the material for Shimano, in the 90's

The final day of the "World Sailfish Chanpionship" was postponed till tomorrow.
The winner will probably take home $750K...

Thanks again, and keep up the good work.
captbruce

[Rare]

WOW! Capt Bruce  

I was fishing off of C5 Fri/today in the Keys. I was there through all that strom and the only one left on the bridge this morning. The storm was no joke at all & felt like a Cat 2 out there. I go out with Capt. Wayne on the Reward Won and he is always telling us stories about when you two where young and how it use to be. Great to see you on here & welcome

Congrats on the sailfish that is awesome to hear

[captbruce]

There was NOTHING WRONG with my AVET !!

I called Scott at Avet.
We swapped the lever out with a JX I had, and it was the same thing, so he said dial-in more drag on the preset knob and presto it's seems fine now.
I was only going up 3 or so clicks on the preset and now it's about 10 clicks and working fine although there seems to be a lot of drag at STRIKE, but I'm gonna fish it and see what happens. (It has 40# P/pro.)

It's been real windy here (as usual).
The sails moved East when the "East-bound" current died (up around Marathon, one boat reported 50 releases).
Grouper OPENED yesterday after a 5-month closure (Thanks, FEDS). I caught 3 nice ones (20-30# Black and 2 Gags)

Anyway, we are still here trying to "scrape a meager living from the Sea".

Thanks for being there.

Capt. Bruce Cronin

[alantani]

curious.  so how much drag do you have on the reel now?