HLC vs Tatula Elite

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LowRange
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HLC vs Tatula Elite

Post by LowRange » Fri Sep 10, 2021 7:01 pm

Interested in what everyone's opinion is on these spools. This includes various HLC spools in comparison to the Tatula Elite. Might throw the Ray's Long Cast in too.

These are the spools I have:

TD Zillion HLC

Ray's DIY Long Cast for 103/1016

Ray's DIY Long Cast for old Tatulas

Tatula Elite spool

I have a Ray's Tatula CT Long Cast on the way

Reels used have been a Megabass IP68 (HLC spool), Megabass LIN10 Black Jungle, SS SV (Ray's Long Cast), Fuego CT (Tatula Elite) and an OG brick Tatula Type R (Ray's old Tatula Long Cast).

This is an apples to oranges comparison as I have fished the spools on wildly different baits, rods and lines but here are my impressions.

The crazy fast distance monster is the TD Zillion HLC. That spool is bonkers but HIGHLY specialized to do one thing. Cast compact 1/2+ oz baits as far as possible. Cast it hard or it won't even try and brake.

The Tatula Long Cast and Tatula Elite spools are very similar. Both are just slightly stiffer spring versions of stock spools. The spring stiffness is nowhere near as stiff as TD Zillion HLC. The Ray's Tatula spool is an SV spool with a stiffer spring and a bit heavier. The Tatula Elite is a lighter weight Magforce Z spool with a ever so slightly stiffer spring over a Tatula stock spool. The Ray's fishes like a heavier woken up version of an SV spool and the Elite fishes like a woken up Tatula spool with some more finesse capabilities due to being lighter. Both are no where near the distance monster that the TD Zillion HLC is but FAR more versatile and useable as all purpose spools.

The Ray's fixed inductor Long Cast spools are a strange one. Despite the name they don't like hard distance bombing casts and will over brake at the end of the cast when setup to cast this way. All linear mag brake spools are like this. They do excellent with more gentle casting motion with less mag dial and really fly with very little casting energy. They beat both the HLC and the Tatula spools when roll casting and gently tossing baits.

The fixed inductor 103/1016 rays Long Cast cast far with very little effort but you really dont gain anything by casting them harder and turning up the mag dial. The blowups you prevent by turning up the dial then choke off the distance at the end of the cast and you really dont get any further than having the dial down lower and casting more smoothly. The Two Tatula spools will reward you with more distance hard casting but are still somewhat similar to the fixed inductor Ray's Long Cast in how well they cast when cast smoothly. These are the most versatile and user friendly of the lot. The TD Zillion spool better be cast as hard as you can every time or don't pick it up. Its the distance monster by far but that's all it does.

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LowRange
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Re: HLC vs Tatula Elite

Post by LowRange » Sat Oct 02, 2021 6:28 pm

I've been doing some more fishing with the Tatula Elite spool, Ray's Long Cast for the old Tatula, TD Zillion HLC and Catalina TW spools.

The distance monsters with compact and heavy baits are still the TD Zillion HLC and Catalina TW spools by far. I am starting to become more impressed by the Tatula Elite spool in my Fuego CT at the lower end of the spectrum. It really doesn't cast a 3/8 oz dark sleeper or 3/8 oz KVD Popper any further than the stock spool but it was amazing with a little 1/4 oz Booyah Pad Crasher Jr. Its a heck of spool with compact 1/4 oz baits. I was also impressed by how easily it skips a 3/8 oz Dark Sleeper. The lighter weight construction must help to slow the spool and keep it from overrunning skipping at max brake. I wish my Alphas has spools like these in them. The Elite is just a nice casting and versatile light weight Magforce Z spool. It's a great all around spool and it really should be standard on the Tatulas and not locked to a $250 reel. Luckily The Tacke Trap sells the spool for $44.

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