Reel Repair by Alan Tani

Does anyone have pictures of how the drag washers are installed in the 270?  I assume that they are held in the spool with a snap ring, correct?

This is mine.

Thanks!  Now I just need to find a rod on the cheap for catfish/stripe.  Suggestions?

Quote from: Balvar24 on May 08, 2026, 03:46:02 PMThanks!  Now I just need to find a rod on the cheap for catfish/stripe.  Suggestions?

Define cheap. I have two of the Rippin lips casting rods and I like them. Rippin Lips

It'll get used once or twice a year.  I'm thinking about a $30 Shakespeare.   

I have two Berkley Big Game rods I use for catfish when we are in Arizona for the winter.  They have held up well under sometimes abusive conditions.  I've caught dozens and dozens of catfish up to 16.5 lbs. without a problem of any kind.  They are around $45 at Walmart.

Big game rods are tough got my grandsons off Amazon  cheap but good

Thanks for the tips.  Do you know if the rod seat is big enough to accommodate the big 270?

Quote from: Balvar24 on May 12, 2026, 07:21:42 PMThanks for the tips.  Do you know if the rod seat is big enough to accommodate the big 270?

I wouldn't worry too much about this as the 270 reel foot is thinner and more compact than, say, a Mitchell 302 or Penn 704.

My 270 will fit a standard Fuji reel seat from a size 18 all the way up to a 26; odds are Berkley uses a size in between those two.

Quote from: Balvar24 on May 09, 2026, 01:21:38 PMIt'll get used once or twice a year.  I'm thinking about a $30 Shakespeare.   

 While I do like the Shakespeare blanks, the rod guides they use are beyond garbage. Even with mono I have grooves cut in the first 3-4 guides in less than one season. Literally the worst guides I've seen on a rod since the mid 80's. With the prevalence of braid I'm not sure how there hasnt been more of a stink made about this.

 I've changed the guides on most of my Ugly Stiks out with a cheap kit I got on Amazon, these guides are probably also junk but they are holding up 10x better than the ones that come on pretty much every Shakespeare rod, as well as a bunch of Penn and other brands owned by Pure Fishing.

Quote from: bushleague on May 20, 2026, 11:20:06 PM

Quote from: Balvar24 on May 09, 2026, 01:21:38 PMIt'll get used once or twice a year.  I'm thinking about a $30 Shakespeare.   

 While I do like the Shakespeare blanks, the rod guides they use are beyond garbage. Even with mono I have grooves cut in the first 3-4 guides in less than one season. Literally the worst guides I've seen on a rod since the mid 80's. With the prevalence of braid I'm not sure how there hasnt been more of a stink made about this.

 I've changed the guides on most of my Ugly Stiks out with a cheap kit I got on Amazon, these guides are probably also junk but they are holding up 10x better than the ones that come on pretty much every Shakespeare rod, as well as a bunch of Penn and other brands owned by Pure Fishing.

Same amount of effort with $10-15 worth of Fuji guides will result in a much better end result.

Quote from: JasonGotaProblem on Today at 12:06:59 AM

Quote from: bushleague on May 20, 2026, 11:20:06 PM

Quote from: Balvar24 on May 09, 2026, 01:21:38 PMIt'll get used once or twice a year.  I'm thinking about a $30 Shakespeare.   

 While I do like the Shakespeare blanks, the rod guides they use are beyond garbage. Even with mono I have grooves cut in the first 3-4 guides in less than one season. Literally the worst guides I've seen on a rod since the mid 80's. With the prevalence of braid I'm not sure how there hasnt been more of a stink made about this.

 I've changed the guides on most of my Ugly Stiks out with a cheap kit I got on Amazon, these guides are probably also junk but they are holding up 10x better than the ones that come on pretty much every Shakespeare rod, as well as a bunch of Penn and other brands owned by Pure Fishing.

Same amount of effort with $10-15 worth of Fuji guides will result in a much better end result.

 In my location there is no way I can get Fuji's for anywhere near that. Believe me, I wanted to use better guides, but by the time I ordered them out of the states and got them shipped to northern Canada it would have cost me almost as much per-rod as just buying a better rod. I do like Ugly Stiks for some stuff, but I dont like them THAT much. The kit I got cost $14 CAD, and had enough ceramic coated guides to do a half dozen rods. For that price it was worth a shot, I did one rod and fished it with braid for a season, the guides handled it so I did about 4 more.

 My point was, if you're looking at a rod from a Pure Fishing brand, and the guides look anything like the "Ugly Tough" guides... buyer beware.

I specifically ordered two sets of Batson ceramic guides when I purchased my Ugly Stick Steelhead Elites.

Liked the action of the blanks, but the stock guides leave more to be desired—even when they don't groove.

Have noticed variations on these Ugly Tuff guides; some are plain steel in black or silver, while others appear to have a gloss PVD-like coating.

These coated guides are what came with my rods, and are holding up ok. Granted only used a handful of times in non-sediment laden (ocean) waters.