Shimano Antares DC7

A few years ago, I repaired a first generation Shimano Antares low profile reel. It was an excellent reel. The build quality was outstanding. I can't really find a problem with the reel except that it was a bit heavy and the finish was slick when wet. Then a few weeks ago, I got request to repair another Antares. This time the reel is the Antares DC7. According to the owner, it was relatively new and was only used a couple of times in freshwater.
At first glance, there's no doubt that this is an expensive reel. The build quality is outstanding. Even the box and the accessories that came with it look and feel premium.

The owner contacted me because the reel was not smooth to the crank as if something is stuck inside the gear or handle. They didn't want to open it because they were not familiar with the sequence in disassembling and re-assembling this kind of reel.

When I held it and cranked it, my initial suspicion was that someone opened it but reassembled it incorrectly.

To disassemble it, I removed the handle nut retainer screw, the retainer, and then the nut itself. Once the handle is out, loosen the star drag until it is unscrewed. Take care to hold it once it comes out of the shaft because the sprong  underneath will make it pop out and if the drag star drops into a hard surface, it might crack or get deformed.

Before you can remove the side plate covering the gears, you need to remove the spool. To do that, slide the lever underneath the reel to 'Open' position and then slide the side plate to expose the brakes. Remove the three black screws holding the DC brake and pull it out completely. Take care not to damage the coils. Once the DC brake assembly is out, pull out the spool and after that, you can remove the screws inside the frame that holds the handle-side side cover.

The internals were clean and looked new and never been serviced. I relubed them using Yamaha marine grease with a little Corrosion X. The bearings looked OK but underneath the main gear, there was a hint of corrosion.

I removed the main gear and pinion. I also removed the Anti-reverse bearing (aka roller clutch bearing) and that's when I noticed that it was rusted heavily. The roller clutch tube was stuck inside the bearing and would not budge. After a few cycles in my ultrasonic cleaner and a lot of Corrosion X, I managed to get it out. A few cycles in the cleaner and the bearing became usable ---but not as smooth as before. The permanent solution is to replace the bearing. I reassembled it and sent it back to the owner. He will send it back to me once he has the new part.

My impression of the reel? It is an awesome solidly built reel. It is still a bit heavy and slick when wet but the DC brake is a cool upgrade. The sound it makes during cast is so worth the cash if you have them extra. But, for the price point, the bearings shouldn't corrode that easily.

From my past experiences with the Shimano reels, the first to get rusted is almost always the AR bearing. It could be a design flaw where the frame lets water in or simply because they are using cheap bearings. Probably this explains why their reel's AR bearings are removable. Other reel's like Daiwa's are stamped or pressed into the frame and it is difficult to remove them. Probably because it is unlikely that you will need to. I rarely see rusted AR bearings from premium Daiwa reels.

Bay jigging Zambales and my epic struggle to find a good fishfinder battery

In the past couple of years or so, jigging has caught on locally and it is now a very popular method of fishing. With the help of social media, more and more people are posting spectacular catches through jigging and with each picture, more and more anglers are getting inspired to also take on this style of fishing.

Fairly recently, Zambales province in the north of  Philippines has gained popularity as a prime jigging spot. And it wasn't a surprise. In the past few months alone, a lot of anglers are catching different kinds on fish from jigging. From the huge Giant Trevallies (GT), Wahoos, Yellowfin Tuna, to the tasty Coral trouts. And what's amazing is that almost all of them were caught using light jigging tackle -- PE1.5-3.0 using 100-150g jigs. Aside from the variety and number of catches, more and more anglers are flocking to the province because it is also very accessible. From Manila, you can get to the spot in around 3 hours.

Sometime during the middle of last year, I also got into this trend and was able to test my Ryoga Bay Jigging C2020PE HL with Daiko Spear Jigging rod that had been collecting dust in my rod rack. Relatively speaking, I did fairly well on the first attempt. I got a decent sized Trevally and a Rainbow Runner using an Ima Ganpeki jig. I could have caught more if not for my fishfinder battery (Sealed Lead Acid 7AH) that died after just a few hours of fishing.

After that, no more jigging trips. The next jigging trip was when I joined Naks, our Japanese jigging master, for a night jigging session last December. Because of  strong wind and big waves plus another fail on the fishfinder battery (3AH Motorcycle battery ), we had to cut the trip short. Nonetheless, we still managed to catch a lot of Barracudas using luminous 100g jigs. Naks was able to land a cuda that was more than four feet long. I think it was around 6-8kg. The fish wouldn't fit in the cooler and nobody want's it inside the boat because of its big set of teeth that can easily chop off a couple our toes.

Anyway, a couple of weeks after that trip, I managed to try jigging again in Zambales as a detour during a visit to my in-laws, Unfortunately I forgot to get a better battery. As expected, the fishfinder battery was dead after less that 3 hours of fishing. My boatman didn't bring an anchor and was unable to locate the hole due to the strong current. Still, I am convinced that the method is very effective (especially when on the right fishing spot with a really nice structure). During the first 2 hours of jigging (with the aid of a fishfinder), I managed to catch 6 table-sized fish using 80-120g jigs. I also lost around three big ones that pulled drag and straightened my hooks like they were nothing.

From my limited experiences during these trips, I am convinced that the use of a good quality fish finder (and a good quality battery) is really important especially if your boatman is clueless when it comes to finding the right fishing spot. In Zambales such as the town of Pundaquit, a seasoned boatman is very hard to come by. They are almost always booked by other anglers. Most of the remaining boatmen are mostly into island hopping tours and have no experience in fishing. 

Having a good sounder is a good alternative and it will save you a lot of effort, time, and money finding underwater structures that hold fish. Jigging is tiring and exerting energy on a barren area is a waste of time. 

So what's a decent fishfinder? For me, a dual beam ff that can reach at least 200m in Saltwater is a good choice. I am using a Garmin Echo 500C that has 200 and 77mhz beam. It is cheap (if you know where to look) and it is very easy to use. A lot of fishfinders being sold online do not divulge the real depth that it can see in saltwater. Most of them will only go as deep as 50m. So, you have to really check how powerful it can go. The low freq beam of the Echo 500c can penetrate deep into saltwater and can deliver great bottom detail up to 250m deep when I tested it. The high freq beam can show a wide detail around the boat up to 50m in saltwater. The resolution also is very nich even in really bright sunlight. The problem is, it draws around 1amp of current every hour which explains why my batteries get drained easily. Next time I use it, I will get a 24mah deep cycle battery. Based on my calculations, it should last at least 12 hours of fishing. I hope this will address this problem once and for all.

Palms ELUA Rod and Barramundi on Ultralight Gear

When the year is about to end, work and pre-holiday errands get really hectic. This means time for fishing is almost impossible to get.

This past Sunday, I managed to take half a day to the nearest spot -- Aling Nene's pond. My primary goal was to try out my new Palms/Angler's Republic ELUA Molla Jig and Worm rod -- try casting the rod with a few jerkbaits and topwater lures and if I get lucky, maybe land a barramundi with it.

Unfortunately, no barras were interested on hard jerk and topwater baits. Nonetheless, the rod blew me away with its castability and sensitivity. It has the backbone for frog fishing and the fast tip for the best action on jerkbaits and topwater.

Giving up on casting hard baits, I switched to my trusted ultralight rod and reel combo -- a Certate Custom Red 2506 and a Skyroad Aji rod. I rigged a 1.5g aji jighead and tipped it with a 2inch soft Java Stick in purple. I was aiming for the Jaguar cichlids and Ox-eye tarpon but instead of a Jaquar or a tarpon, a barra took a liking of the bait. It was an absolute blast fighting a huge fish using a very light tackle. The rod and reel did not break a sweat. The drag was stellar and the rod gave the fish a hard time. In the end, i was able to land the 2.9kg beast using this PE0.6 combo.

The catch also gave me a hint that the barramundis on the pond are no longer interested in the traditional jerkbaits that most anglers use. I guess they are very familiar with these baits and have associated them with bad experiences. This is why they are going for very small baits like the one I used.