Wels slayer

[Tile]

After I am getting some very important aspects sorted, I will plan to go for some heavy fishing as I have plenty of heavy duty tackle (solid fiberglass rods and multipliers).

Tiburon frame ordered

[Tile]

Now the Senator has a Tiburon frame, next upgrade will be a stainless steel gear sleeve.

[Tile]

The brass sideplates screws on my Senator got replaced with stainless steel ones. On the non handle side I had to trim them to length and now I am planning a stainless steel gear sleeve and it should be it for the reel.

Next I will need to catch some fish with it (may be the first one to do so).

[mhc]

Very tidy reel Tile, it should last forever.

Mike

[Eddie K]

Uh oh, you caught the fever.  The reel madness begins!  It's addictive.

Nice reel.  Nice work polishing the internals.  Vinegar, salt and flour, I've got to give it a try next time around.

[nelz]

Well, where's the Wels? 

[Tile]

Once the covid madness ends and I get some important aspects sorted I will go for one . Speaking of reel madness, I have a drawer full of them, mostly small levelwind conventionals, several baitcasters and spinners. I also have several reels at home in Romania   - I think I too far gone for a 12 stage reel detox program .

[Rivverrat]

In open water even an undersized reel can get it done. But when that beast decides to run into his cave, it's game over unless you have a big reel! 

   No truer words have been spoken & good advice for any cat fisher dude any where. Open water any North American Blue cat or Flathead can be sleighed quickly with a reel producing 15 lbs. or close in drag. When you move close to structure a big Blue or Flathead can pull 20 lbs. of drag easily for short distances.

Took me a while but finally I've learned it's not always necessary to fish right in the middle of structure on the river. By saturating a specific area on the perimeter with as many legal lines & live baits as possible, using a paternoster rig ( a float  appropriate for the size bait used will rule the day  fishing structure for big cats on the river) I can cover top to mid range depths with a few bottom rigs tossed out also. The water column & bottom area is saturated with baits tossed out as closely together as possible with out creating snags.

With fishing there is of course no  sure thing. However most big cats cant sit for an evening or night with this going on in front of them. Especially in late summer when the bait fish population in specific holes begins to  diminish & all of a sudden 3, hopefully more meals splash down close.

  It has become one of my fall back techniques. It allows me to toss baits a little further from logs or what ever structure I'm fishing giving me more time to react to a strike. The fish I catch on average using this  method are bigger than average size caught cats using other methods. This method can also help a smaller reel work when used on big cats in the rocks, logs or what ever... Jeff

[Tile]

The Senator will receive a nice gift in the form of a stainless steel gearsleeve.

[Crow]

Stainless is the only way to go, if you can spare the $$. Never have to worry ,again!

[Squidder Bidder]

Tile, you're like me - make that old brass shine! It probably doesn't make any difference in performance but somehow I think it makes the machine work better.

[nelz]

Soooo... where's the Wels? 

[Tile]

The wels will show up eventually 

[Squidder Bidder]

Do you Romanian fellers "noodle" for your catfish? It might save some wear on that pretty reel. 

[Tile]

No. We do not noodle for catfish.