[Skate]

Brought a new Okuma V System V65-Sa (high Speed) this season to replace the old Quantum Blue Runner on my Lami 10'lami MHS. Wondering if anybody else has had bail closing problems on casting plugs or bait-n- weight with this spin reel or other V System models.
I lost 2 new metal lipped plugs (Danny and Musso torpedo)that I spent time on putting together and painting. The first one I hope was just a unfortunate accident, but the second one this weekend is making me wonder if anybody else has had a similar problem with the OKUMA V System spin models.

 

[donzie67]

I have the same problem with my Okuma Stratus GT SGT-65. I lost 3 lures with it. Two were ones I turned my self and the the other was a $30 Gibbs. I have since parked it and now I am only useing my Penn 704Z bothe with the manual bail conversion done. Since I switched over I have not had the problem with the bail issue. The Okuma was on my 11' Tsunami. I have a SGT-50 on my wifes 11' Dawai and she has no problems with the bail comming down. She also does not cast as hard as I do. I have other Okuma reels that I have no problems with. So it might just be the SGT-65.

 

[Skate]

I wish had waited until the article came out about the 704Z on Noreast in the March issue.

donzie67 wrote:
I am only useing my Penn 704Z bothe with the manual bail conversion done. Since I switched over I have not had the problem with the bail issue

By the time I read about the March issue "Spinning your wheels" about the 704z & VS I had already purchased the Okuma. I did'nt want to buy another reel and was really looking to replace the rod eventually.

I looked at the Okuma reel schematic, and I going to see if I can remove the ramp that trips the bail so it doesn't automatically close the bail when the rotor spins. I had a similar problem in the past with the Penn 5500ss which I removed the bail trip and changed them to manual bail close. That solved the bail closing and losing my lures or rigs.

BTW, Thanks for the reference for Walsh lures!

 

[fishnguy1]

Skate

You have two options.Disabeling auto trip that you are looking into or paying attention to handle position before the cast.By keeping handle in the down position you have less of a chance of the handle rotating and causing auto trip of bail.Either option will work

 

[Skate]

Down Position?

fishnguy1 wrote:
keeping handle in the down position

I don't have the reel with me at the moment, so I'm trying to visualize it in terms of where the rotor would be positioned.
I am assuming the rotor would be positioned just after the bail trip so as to travel a full rotation before tripping the bail?
I could try that with a sinker and some mono on the extra spool. I was popping the 50lb Stealth braid when the bail closed. Hate losing lures & yards of braid. Have to respool the mono backing to make up for the difference.

Thanks for the tip.

 

[fishnguy1]

looking down on reel the line roller should be on top and just right of center.Handle in down posion would be pointing to butt of rod vs up if pointed to rod tip.

 

[Slick56]

Its not easy finding a decent Penn 704z. I just landed one on ebay, it was in excellent condition. I am sending it to Florida to some guy there that fixes up the reel, paints it and makes it work and look like new.

 

[Skate]

Decided to disabled the automatic bail trip, I removed the ramp under the rotor.

After dinner I did a little exploratory surgery on the reel.
Took apart the line roller bail assembly (Don't recommend that); too many small parts, and CLEAR

plastic washers. Took me a few minutes to locate the one that was placed on the table or fell during the process. The only way to disable from the bail arm lever was to trim or grind the 90 degree bend in the wire kick lever so it wouldn't hit the ramp as the rotor makes a complete rotation. I tried removing the kick arm but the bail spring mechanism was not in alignment since it needed the wire kick lever to properly space it. Decided this was not the best course of action.
After I managed to put all the parts back, I removed the rotor assembly and one screw to remove the main body ramp. This was a much easier process. Bail is manual now and shouldn't close on a hard cast.
BTW, if anyone does this be careful when you re-tigthen the screws into the threads of the reel. Most of the reel parts on the bail assembly and rotor is plastic and it is easy to over tighten and strip. I stripped the threads on one of the two threads on the rotor nut cover and had to drop some loctite into it.
I will see how the patient recovers when I test the reel tomorrow.

Skate