Tatula 150P

[Pescadoo]

I’ve seen in some earlier posts your recommendation of this reel. Are you doing anything to it to prevent/ slow down salt corrosion? The SV TW models are designed for saltwater. Interested in getting a 150P for fluke. Any information or thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[Leprechaun]

Any small baitcaster regardless of manufacturer, needs a good bit of preventative maintenance, if its expected to live a long life in SW use. I know all about reels that are advertised as "SW Safe." Nonsense marketing baloney. Baitcasting reels have too many points of entry for the water to work its way into, regardless of so-called coated bearings and little rubber seals, which are only marginally capable of keeping corrosive SW out of the inner workings. Daiwa Coastals (and the larger Lexa's) and Shimano Tranx models are examples of this. Use one of these for a good day of SW fishing, then a gentle FW spritz down at the dock - and then when you get it home open it up and you will see a good amount of water droplets inside. I've worked on enough of these "SW Safe" reels to know not to count on factory seals and marginal new-reel lubrication. Please read on.

Yep, to directly answer your question, after using a Tat150P for a season or two I now own two of these reels, which replaced some older Shimanos for which I can no longer get replacement gear sets. This older reel parts non-availability is common with Shimano and why I personally moved away from their reels for my own use. Well, one of the issues anyway. The other reason are these so-called "Micro-module" gears, which last about 2 seasons before going buzzing, requiring replacement. I don't know why Shimano moved away from their older HEG gear sets, which were considerably tougher and longer-lasting.

As far as preventative maintenance, I always disassemble a new reel on arrival, prior to fishing it. Every part gets a going over with suitable gear lube, including the inside of the side plates and inner frame surfaces. Gears get either Penn reel lube (the blue stuff) for smaller baitcasters and spinners, larger reels get Yamalube blue grease - as its a bit thicker and tends to slow down small reels. Spool bearings get cleaned out with automotive brake cleaner, blown out with a blast of canned compressed air and then a couple of drops of TSI 321. All other bearings get lubed with Reel-X oil. Special attention to the inner thumb bar mechanism, a few drops of Reel-X while I work it into the entire mechanism by flicking the thumb bar up and down. All frame screw holes get filled with Penn reel grease prior to reassembly - critical if you intend to take it apart again later in the season or at season-end. The very exposed level wind worm gets a coating of Superlube grease that I load into syringes that I source on Ebay or AliExpress.

Do your preliminary procedure this way and maybe once more during the season (especially if your reels take a lot of spray while running the boat) and any good baitcaster will last a long time.

By the way, have you looked at the Abu Gen5 Winch? Also a very good reel - though a few bucks more than the Tat150P.

 

[Pescadoo]

Great detailed information.
Many thanks.