First thing was to spool it with 8lb diameter(13lb test) Tectan line. I have been using this line for 2 years on some of my baitcast reels and my advice is that don't waste your money. It's no smoother or stronger than a Berkeley Trilene XL. I wanted to vary the spool diameter and see how it cast with various line level before I put braided line on it.
After about 4 trips with some winter trouts in deeper pot holes around Fort DeSoto, here's some pic:
Half of the trouts have been to big too keep, only one fish allowed that is over 20 inches.
Casting distance with 1/8 oz jig head is great with a light wind behind your back but not as well as the Scorpion 1000. Mag setting was about 5 with a full spool of line. After stripping off about 50 yds, I can lower mag setting to about 3.5 and it does cast better with less line and less magnetic brake applied. IMHO, best setting is not to cast it hands free with a lot of braking, but to use the least amount of magnetic braking so that it fuzzes up the middle of the cast. After tuning this in, apply a little thumb during the cast as soon as it fuzzes up and you can achieve a little better distance. I suspect this reel cast better with some limp 12-14lb test mono.
Overall, it is very smooth and a very nice balance between finesse fishing and line capacity for saltwater fishing in case the bruiser Jack Crevalle decides to attack the Super Spook Jr. BTW, the drag was very smooth at low setting when I baby those trout in.
