Shoreline Tech Q&A

QUESTION: My Newell S454-5 feels pretty rough when I crank it but is smooth when in free spool. Am I going to need new gears?

ANSWER: Well, the roughness is probably from the gears but there is a small chance that the bearings are involved. You failed to mention if the roughness is under a load as in say, retrieving a slide with bait. A corroded bearing may only feel rough under load, but my guess is that this is probably not the case.

Your gears are either corroded, worn, or both. Disassemble your reel and strip all the grease off of the pinion and main gears. Black or brown pitting [corrosion], may be removed with a small steel wire brush if it isn’t too bad. Try to get as much of it off as possible. You’ll next want to inspect your pinion gear, the smaller of the two gears. A new pinion is actually flat at the end of each tooth. As the pinion wears, the teeth begin to sharpen. Check this by running your fingers over each tooth. If the teeth are as sharp as or sharper than a butter knife, your pinion is worn and should probably be replaced. You’ll also want to inspect the yoke, the metal piece that supports the pinion. Yokes are stamped out of a flat piece of metal and should have a uniform thickness throughout. If it is dished or worn where it contacts the pinion, it’ll have to go too. A worn yoke causes the pinion gear to float excessively as it spins causing excessive wear and less than a smooth cranking effort. The main gear is probably OK, but check it just the same. The pinion gear rotates 5 times faster than the main gear and gets the majority of the abuse. Main gears usually last the life of the reel. Hope this helps.

QUESTION: I just learned to wrap my own ulua poles. My Ozone came out OK, but I got a huge bubble about the size of a BB and my finish is hard. What now? I can’t bear to leave it like that.

ANSWER: This one’s easy! I’ll bet that the bubble is either along the side of the bell holder or at the base of the guide. I’m sure you would have seen it and popped it otherwise. Air gets trapped at these two places because of the pockets there and may “sneak up” on you after you have inspected it. The best solution is of course not to get one in the first place so be extra careful and observant of these areas while glassing and flaming. This however, won’t help your situation.

Your solution is to get a thread pick, which is very similar to a dental pick used to clean your teeth. Heat the pick with a propane torch and get it pretty hot. Stick the heated pick into the bubble and move it around turning it into a small hole. The heated pick should penetrate the hardened glass easily. Try not to leave too small a hole as you will have to glass this area, The resin is quite viscous and may not fully flow into the bubble if it’s too small. You’ll also want to get a fresh razor blade and slice off a little off the top of the opened bubble. This is a precaution to remove a raised rim you may have created which will stand out above the next layer of glass. Do not use a cigarette lighter to heat the pick as this will cause the pick to soot with carbon and leave black blemishes on your work. Now, all you need is another layer of glass, paying particular attention to filling the hole. You will notice that the bubble will still be quite visible immediately after glassing but the hole will blend in as it hardens and will be totally invisible when fully hardened.

Brian Kimata is the owner of Brian’s Fishing Supply. Send your Shoreline Tech questions to him at:bfsshorelinetech@hotmail.com.Your question may appear in our next issue!

TODAY’S TIP: Ever sharpen your hooks to perfection only to force them into a tough bait and spoil the tip? Try punching a hole through your bait first by making a simple hole maker. A broken screwdriver or similar item sharpened to a point is ideal. Now you can force a hole into an eel or other difficult bait first and have your hook glide in after, saving the point.