MXL / SX Bait to Strike Setting

[togntime]

I'm up to 4 mxl's, and 2 sx's so I have to like something. Mostly the durability and drag consistency. What I don't understand is that on EVERY one of my reels, I basically I have an "all or nothing" throw range from "live bait" to "strike." At "live" there isn't nearly enough spool tension to fish big baits. When advancing the lever to strike, there is very little incremental increase to "strike", at which point I'm at full drag. Is there a way to increase spool tension at "live" w/o changing the overall drag setting? Does anyone else have this problem? It's not uncommon for me to fish 80' w/ 8-10oz and a big piece of cut bait. The current constantly pulls line until I'm at strike.
Thanks,

[alantani]

if you drag is greased, then the next thing that affects the actual drag pressure is the cam.  avet cams are generally pretty smooth.   you've greased the drags, right?

[SoCalAngler]

I'm up to 4 mxl's, and 2 sx's so I have to like something. Mostly the durability and drag consistency. What I don't understand is that on EVERY one of my reels, I basically I have an "all or nothing" throw range from "live bait" to "strike." At "live" there isn't nearly enough spool tension to fish big baits. When advancing the lever to strike, there is very little incremental increase to "strike", at which point I'm at full drag. Is there a way to increase spool tension at "live" w/o changing the overall drag setting? Does anyone else have this problem? It's not uncommon for me to fish 80' w/ 8-10oz and a big piece of cut bait. The current constantly pulls line until I'm at strike.
Thanks,

Short answer no. The "live bait" setting is pretty much useless for spool tensioning on all non Raptor Avets IMO. To get tension at this setting the drag will to be set way to tight and when you push the lever to strike you will be way over the drag range for their reels. What you need to do is set the reels drag pressure at strike where you want it to be, then when you fish bait increase the lever to the drag pressure from free spool to where you want it. This way you will know that your not going over the drag pressure you want at strike but if you want to increase your drags during a fight you have head room moving the lever past strike. Just forget the reel has that setting and you should be fine because you will never get it to work as a spool tensioning system the way you want it.

[togntime]

I decided to grease one of the drags with "Cals" and left the other one dry. Will see which one works best. On the work bench both reels seem fine, but real life is another thing. I'm surprised that no one else has this issue, as its so consistant on every AVET I own. SoCal said it perfectly in the beginning, but I'm sorry I'm not following his solution. Are you suggesting to adjust the drag tension to the desired freespool bait tension while fishing, allowing for the increase from stike to full?
Basically, as SoCal stated; when I set my drag at strike to where I want, all of my live, and chunks baits rip line while fishing from bait to strike. Then at strike, its like I'm deadsticking, with no freespool.
Am I  being to particular? I was playing with a Daiwa that seemed to have a nice ratcheting feature, with an incremental spool tension increase from freespool to strike.

[SoCalAngler]

What I was trying to say is set your drag pressure where you want it to be at strike. Most people set the drag pressure at between 1/4 to 1/3 of the weakest line used be it the mono, topshot, leader or the backing. The SX and MXJ and MXL (non Raptor versions) which all have the same drags were not designed to fish spectra lines and max out around 9 lbs of drag pressure before you start to get too much side load on the pinion bearing. So about 30 lb test line is max for those reels unless you use heavier lines for abrasion resistance but you still cant go over around 9 lbs of drag pressure.

What I was trying to say also was, say if your fishing 30 test on your reels you want to set the drag pressure at around 7.5 lbs (1/4) to 10 lbs (1/3) at strike. If you do this you will see that when you set your reel to "live" you will still have no resistance from the drags thus no spool tension. Now if you move the lever of the reel a ways past "live" you will start to get drag pressure and the spool tension your looking for. Now move the lever forward enough to stop the line from paying out then you have the bait where you want it in the water, if thats the way you fish. Ok now you get bit, increase the drag pressure on the reel by moving the lever forward to strike and set the hook (non circle hooks) and fight the fish. Sometimes you may want to apply more drag pressure than the 1/4 to 1/3 of the lines breaking strenght thats when you can move the reels lever past strike. Now if you set the reels spool to have tension at the "live" setting the drags will be way too stiff for their reels and the drag pressure at strike will be way past the 1/4 to 1/3 you should be looking for.

[JGB]

I just took a look at a Raptor SX  6/4 (just fully serviced) Here is what I measure:
'Live Bait' first detente past free spool 4#
'Strike'  strike stop about 3/4 way up  17#
Pushing the lever strike bypass button allows drag to be further increased up to MAX drag for the reel.
Drag is incremental in between first detente and strike.

If you reduce the strike drag you will also reduce the 'live bait' drag.

The only issue I can see is if the first detente produces too much drag for your needs.

For myself I use the first detente once my fish is gaffed to prevent backlash and still allow the deck hand pull any needed line.

Hope this helps,
Jim N.

[SoCalAngler]

Thanks for the input Jim I don't own any Raptors so I cant play around with one and do tests like that. But, if this guy owns non Raptor SX or MX reels and tries to get 17 lbs at strike out of them he is going to have problems sooner rather than later.

[togntime]

All mine are non-raptor. Time to get a spring scale and see where I'm actually at. I took the reels apart, and upon reconstruction the "live' to "strike" throw seems to be more incremental. I'll post my results.
Cool site!

[Dominick]

Togntime:  I do not want to quote SoCalAngler's two posts here.  Everything he is saying in the posts above is correct.  He is right on the money with his advice.  Dominick

[togntime]

Yup, the way SoCalAn prescribed is exactly how I fished them. I just check the drags last night. 7#s at strike, 2#s at live. Very linear increase from live to stike along the bail throw. So either last year was an entire aberration; or when I took the reels apart the general servicing help the problem. Cant wait for the stripes!
Thanks,

[hangtownjj]

i too have this problem. when fishing bait on anchor in current there isnt nearly enough drag at bait, but as soon as i move passed the bait detent the drag is way to tight. my drag is set at 7 lbs. at strike. am i to understand that greasing the drag will remedy this?

[SoCalAngler]

Nope it only make the drag smoother while fighting a fish. If the drag ramp up is to severe from nothing to too much Avet now makes the Kodiak cam which may help this issue. When I was at the Ferd Hall show, the largest fishing on the west coast, I went to the Avet booth to talk about this cam and ask if it may help with a issue I have similar to yours. Well the one guy at their booth looked at me like I was talking about a camshaft for a car even after I explained to him that this was something their company makes. He told me he knew nothing about it and asked another guy working the booth and he also knew nothing about it. I like some of their reels but you would think at one of the largest fishing shows in the states their reps would be better schooled on the products they sell.

[Dominick]

you would think at one of the largest fishing shows in the states their reps would be better schooled on the products they sell.

Roger that SoCal.  That goes for any product.  Dominick

[SoCalAngler]

Roger that SoCal.  That goes for any product.  Dominick
[/quote]

It sure does, check this out. At the show I walk up to Okuma's booth to check out the Makaira SE line. As I was looking at them this guy walks up and is talking to the rep about the standard Makair's. This guy picks up a MK 10 and is asking a few basic questions about the reel. He asks about what kind of drag pressure this reel can get and the rep starts to talk about how the reel looks, how it feels and some other stuff. Again the guy asks about the drag pressure the rep says "well I will have to check" as he is looking through a stack of papers looking for the brochure I look at the guy and tell him it gets 27 lbs at strike and 34 lbs at full while still maintaining free spool. The rep kinda gives me the stink eye and says that he better make sure. He finally finds the info and says yep that is what the reel can get. Now I'm about done looking at the SE models when the customer picks up a MK 15 and asks about the drag pressure of this reel. Well the rep starts looking around for where he set down the brochure, at that point I had to walk away I thought my head was going to explode. I did not have the hart to tell them it has the same drag pressure as the other reel. This rep was clueless about their top of the line reels, the ones their trying to win back the harts of saltwater anglers with. Oh, and it only has been on the market for what, one or two years now?

[alantani]

well, in all fairness, okuma has ALOT of reels and rods to learn. the toughest would be the shimano line.  they have the most.  with sales going up, okuma is probably hiring more staff, and it might take a while to get everyone up to speed.