Bantam MGL sensitive to spool filling?

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bwjay
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Bantam MGL sensitive to spool filling?

Post by bwjay » Mon Jul 08, 2019 11:55 am

First off, please forgive me if I make any incorrect assumptions or you think my observations were incomplete or straight up wrong. I can only speak to what I have observed during my experience with this reel.

I got my Bantam a little over a month ago and I love it. Super smooth, casts like a dream. It casts like a dream WHEN it doesn't backlash. Now, let me give you a history of my use with this reel so you understand.

Day 1, got it spooled up with Sunline Sniper FC 14lb all the way to the edge of the spool (with a little beveled border/edge showing as I've seen in photos and videos). First reel ever with straight fluoro. Still relatively new to baitcasters, I kept spool tension fairly tight with, I believe, all 4 brakes on, with external brake set in the middle at a 3. I was gentle with it and didn't try to bomb any casts, mostly flicking the rod to see what I could get out of it. Thumbing the spool I got very meh distance out of it, maybe 15-20 yards with 1/4-3/8oz baits. But that was to be expected... I was being safe with it. As I got more confident, I backed off the external brake to 1, and loosened the spool tension so my 3/8oz spinnerbait slowly fell after I engaged the thumb bar but did not fall uncontrolled. It was probably my 10th cast and I maybe threw it too hard. The reel blew up with a real, real nice bird nest. I knew that it was possible that all of this line was a write-off, but I tried to very gently and methodically pick out the line. I spent about 15 minutes and 20 expletives on trying to get it out, but was unable to resolve the backlash. So, I pulled out my Swiss army knife and started cutting. I estimate I cut about half the line off the spool. I was pretty upset. I decided to just go home as I was out on a lunch break and wasted a ton of time with that backlash. I proceeded to take all of the fluoro off, except for a little bit as a backing, and put on some fresh 40lb Super8Slick V2. I said well, I don't know how everyone else does it, but I'm not messing with straight fluoro ever again. Braid has been good to me.

I used the Super8SlickV2 with relatively few issues, only a couple backlashes. It was a little sensitive in the beginning, but thankfully I was able to get the nests out with ease thanks to the slick braid. I continued to have some issues though, and thought it was possible I overfilled the spool. I know I didn't, at least it wasn't OBVIOUS that I overfilled it. It looked just like my SLX does with a full spool of Sufix 832, with only a little bevel at the edges of the spool visible. But, because I had some issues, after a particularly bad backlash, I cut out some line, maybe 25% of the spool. After this, I had NO issues, maybe 1 backlash in 50 casts. Truly a dream to cast. I did not reach the end of the spool even with a heavy Super Spook, so I was happy about that, but I did get close. I continued to have no issues with another 10-15 hours on the reel and concluded that either, a) the line needed to soften from its initially waxy state, b) there was too much line on the spool, c) I was just throwing it too hard, d) a mix of a. and b., or e) something I had not considered. There was some cotton on the water that I had to keep picking off the line but it wasn't causing an issue until recently. I hate that cotton though.

Since I got the reel, I've adjusted it to 3 out of 4 internal brakes, and 3 on the external dial, and I adjust the spool tension knob so the bait falls almost completely uncontrolled but not quite, with a little dampening. With this combo, I've been able to cast almost directly into wind with NO backlashes whatsoever, and it's been a joy to cast. But with a full spool on these settings it seems to blow up.

So.... sorry for the long post... does anyone have any ideas of why this might have been happening? Does this sound like an overfilled spool? I am at the point where I only want to fill the spool 75% to avoid backlashes, but I also don't want to sacrifice that much capacity... I'm fine underfilling by 10% but even then it seemed to have some problems.

Has anyone else observed the Bantam (or other MGL-spool reels) to be sensitive to how full you fill the spool?

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LgMouthGambler
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Re: Bantam MGL sensitive to spool filling?

Post by LgMouthGambler » Mon Jul 08, 2019 2:16 pm

I didnt find the Bantam to be a great "caster" myself, but I wasnt intending on using it for that. I filled mine with 17lb Sufix Advance for pitching baits in the 1/2-3/4oz range, and it does great at that.
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Re: Bantam MGL sensitive to spool filling?

Post by arrowslinger1 » Mon Jul 08, 2019 2:34 pm

I find that the bantam and most Shimano reels will perform best with the following

the line capacity maxed out (not overfilled)

2-3 brakes

Spool tension just enough to keep the spool from having play side to side

And finally a tiny drop of reel x on each end of the spool tip and where the brakes contact the brake drum

mark poulson
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Re: Bantam MGL sensitive to spool filling?

Post by mark poulson » Wed Jul 10, 2019 2:06 pm

Every baitcaster I've ever owned has had it's own unique quirks, but they were all designed to be cast with a full spool.
By cutting so much of the line off the reel, you've effectively reduced the amount of line that comes off on each revolution of the spool, so it's coming off more slowly and with more control. If you can cast it well that way, maybe adding more brake with a full spool will slow it enough to make casting easier.
You might also think about respooling with mono, which is a much easier (and cheaper) line to cast with, at least until you've gotten more comfortable with that new reel.
Since you say you're relatively new to baitcasters, you might want to err on the side of a little too much braking, until you've really trained your thumb to automatically stay in contact with the spool throughout the entire cast, and try using a little heavier lure. Once you think you've got it down, you can begin to cut down on the braking, a little at a time, and also try lighter lures.
My baitcasters have a 0,2,4,6 centrifugal brake setup. I typically leave 2 brakes on, and the spool tension on free fall. If I have a problem casting into the wind, I know I can increase to 4 brakes, and it will be fine, but first I tighten my spool tension a touch, so it barely affects the rate of fall, and find I can still get good distance with a little harder cast into the wind, as long as I thumb the spool all the way through the cast.
But I've been using baitcasters for a long time, and I still get the occasional backlash. Everyone who using baitcasters does, if they're being honest.
That is a really good reel, so learning to get it to perform to it's maximum will be worth the effort.

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bwjay
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Re: Bantam MGL sensitive to spool filling?

Post by bwjay » Wed Jul 10, 2019 2:48 pm

mark poulson wrote:
Wed Jul 10, 2019 2:06 pm
Every baitcaster I've ever owned has had it's own unique quirks, but they were all designed to be cast with a full spool.
By cutting so much of the line off the reel, you've effectively reduced the amount of line that comes off on each revolution of the spool, so it's coming off more slowly and with more control. If you can cast it well that way, maybe adding more brake with a full spool will slow it enough to make casting easier.
You might also think about respooling with mono, which is a much easier (and cheaper) line to cast with, at least until you've gotten more comfortable with that new reel.
Since you say you're relatively new to baitcasters, you might want to err on the side of a little too much braking, until you've really trained your thumb to automatically stay in contact with the spool throughout the entire cast, and try using a little heavier lure. Once you think you've got it down, you can begin to cut down on the braking, a little at a time, and also try lighter lures.
My baitcasters have a 0,2,4,6 centrifugal brake setup. I typically leave 2 brakes on, and the spool tension on free fall. If I have a problem casting into the wind, I know I can increase to 4 brakes, and it will be fine, but first I tighten my spool tension a touch, so it barely affects the rate of fall, and find I can still get good distance with a little harder cast into the wind, as long as I thumb the spool all the way through the cast.
But I've been using baitcasters for a long time, and I still get the occasional backlash. Everyone who using baitcasters does, if they're being honest.
That is a really good reel, so learning to get it to perform to it's maximum will be worth the effort.
I appreciate the advice. I can say that I definitely will not be spooling up my baitcasters with mono or fluoro and I find braid to be extremely forgiving. I have been thumbing the spool as necessary but MOST of the time it doesn't need any thumbing until I need to stop the spool. I think part of the issue is, I had some issues right when I got the reel, then I ended up cutting some line, then I had no issues for a long time. Then I put new line on and had some issues, but ALSO what I did was do some frogging on water with cotton on it. The cotton has been floating around here in Minnesota and it's SO annoying to pick off your line every couple casts. I think it was getting caught on the micro guides and stopping the cast or inhibiting it, because I didn't really have THIS much trouble with the cotton until I got my Helium3 with the micro guides. As soon as I pick all of the cotton off the line, I can bomb a cast without any problems. As soon as a little cotton builds up, I can blow up the reel with a really moderate light cast, and it even happens when thumbing the spool. Sometimes it got WORSE when I thumbed the spool.

So, it's possible that the recent issues with a full spool were actually due to the cotton and not the full spool.

I do agree it is a really good reel and I have been putting effort into learning how it behaves, what it excels at and what it struggles with. 95% of the time it is an absolute joy to use.

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