Strong words for Shimano on BXRL

[TommyTuna]

Maybe someone should tell Shimano, they seem to rate their reels much higher

TLD50IILRS 38/15 80/440 42.0# full 32.0# strike with free spool 4 BB 3.5:1 1.4:1

[Deep C]

Yes that would appear to be MAXIMUM but normal use should not be close to that. Those numbers are of course all fine and dandy if the spool is full full. Now of course you need to take into acount how much more drag is actually being applied once that spool starts to empty. The 12 I run with the spool full at 1/3 out is now pushing 18 and half a spool down that increases to about 24. If you have 30 at the top, when that spool is half unloaded it's now pushing 55 or 60...

[SeaBiscuit]

what (how many pounds) in your opinion is the optimal strike drag on the tld 25s while trolling?
Thnaks in advance.
SeaBiscuit

[Sweet Caroline]

Man, that is a lot of stuff to digest. I think Deep has something with the human intervention being the main reason. It is a shame that the full truth probably will not surface and a good company like Shimano gets a bad rap.
Now lets put the SFC family connections together and get Capt. Norm on here for his input.

[Deep C]

Sea Biscuit
My tld 25's for the most part are loaded with 40 sufix and set at 7 pounds for whites and about 9lbs for general purpose. I run 40 on them only because we have a bad habit of getting big blues raising on our big lures but piling on the dink on their way to crush the big bait... 40 offers a bit more pull for sounding fish than 30... And if you treat everything like you are using the 30 you will never have a break off or overwork the reel. As I said, I jack it up and treat it like 40 on sounding fish only.

[SeaBiscuit]

Thank you Paul. I too fish them with 40 lb test mono. I have had some trouble with the new atco roller trollers releasing at drags of less than 6 or 7 lbs. I will try 10 lbs this year and stay on strike.
Thanks again,
SeaBiscuit

[Deep C]

Lose tyhe roller trollers... Stick with plain ol blacks... Foolproof, sensitive and ideal for light tackle...

[SeaBiscuit]

Lose tyhe roller trollers... Stick with plain ol blacks... Foolproof, sensitive and ideal for light tackle...

Been tempted to. Will do tomorrow. Black's it will be.
Thank you,
Nick

[Bob ECT]

Every manufactor can have a reel that breaks.

I put alot of the blame on the crew for overloading graphite framed reels. With all the money on the line they surely could afford some aluminum framed reels.

Shimano also deserves blame. They tell everyone these reels can handle it. They encourage people to abuse them with the stats they publish. When you post stats showing an open frame TLD 15 can handle 15lbs of drag at strike with freespool, you deserve to have reels come back busted.

15lbs of drag at strike is 60-80lb line.

Also keep in mind most of these reels are no longer made in Japan and the quality of graphite ain't what it used to be.

[Murph]

There has been a lot of back and forth about how the team rigged their reels etc. I know that Sharky did not overload the reels - truth is they were way under - 30# IGFA line at 10# drag. Apparently there was more to the carnage with 3 broken TLD's not 2 only 2 were aired. These guys are top notch and tournament tested and are a very good team. All 3 reels were broke at the reel seat.

Sharky is not the only team to have issues with TLD's over the course of the BXRL - 8 have been broken over 6 years.

I am not here to bash Shimano - you all wanted to know how these reels were rigged so I posted. Go with what you know and have confidence in.

Shimano is aware of the problem.