Real Problems and a Fish Story

[gstours]

Hello:  After a short absence I have a story to tell.   The other day I was fishing for halibut in 150 ft of water and after catching a few, we moved to another spot. I dropped the bait down to the bottom, and another fish story is born!!!!!
I was using an Okuma Titus gold 20 II reel, a heavy fish begun pulling on the line, so...... the battle was on, only thing -  the reel gears seemed stripped and/or jammed,  the reel would only reel up a half a revolution of line them jam again......So I noticed the rh side plate was gapped about a 1/4th inch wide..........I was in trouble for sure......So I kept pressure on the fish and with a friend, we squeeze the reel back together,  this helped gain some line, and the fish was also cooperating, so I thought there might be a chance......we got the halibut up as the drag worked fine,  the gears seemed screwed up.  The only thing holding the rh side plate on was the drag adjustment knob screwed to the end of the spool I assumed,  Cranking was difficult and spotty.
  The fish was about a 100lbs and after taking the reel apart, every side plate screw was stripped, otherwise it seemed fine,......so I drilled and tapped the tiny screw holes with a larger size and used stainless screws this time........ It only happens to me!!!!!

[harryk3616]

bottom line gary,  you won the battle and landed that beauty of a fish, way to go , ingenuity. 

[floating doc]

Good story!  You'll remember that fish! Why did the reel fail?

[alantani]

they had fine thread metric screws.  one of the weak spots in that reel. 

[floating doc]

they had fine thread metric screws.  one of the weak spots in that reel. 

Thanks, Alan. It's been said so many times, but bears repeating: "big fish exploit any weakness."

I would have never thought of anything like this happening.