Lews Custom Spool SLP wild child

[jejb]

Curious if anyone else owns this reel. Mine is a wild child. I have both the brakes all the way up and a lot of spool tension (the lure will not even come close to falling on its own when the spool is disengaged) and I still get backlashes constantly with this thing. I just bought it a couple of weeks ago to see what the Lews fuss was all about. I own Steez, Pixy, Curado, Core, Calais DC, Revo MGX, Revo Premier, etc, and do not have this issue with any of the rest of them.

The only thing I did was pull the reel apart and clean/re-oil the bearings, like I do for all of my new reels. I had it on an 893 NRX, spooled with 12# Sequar Invisix, which is what I use on most of my bait casters.

What am I doing wrong? Love the way the reel feels in the hand and I like the fat knobs, but I can't tolerate the backlashing.

[krindgen]

I wonder if that reel has the manually adjustable weights on the spool, under the magnetic cast control. Instead of mag brakes this is what the BB1s have and they cast fantastic. But I'm pretty sure the other reels, MBs and TPs, have the adjustable weights on the spool in addition to the magnetic brake control. Those weights should be balanced, like all adjusted in, or out, or the two opposite of each other in/out so the spool spins properly.

[jejb]

It does have dual brakes, and I had all the pins turned on.

I figured out the problem. Turns out I had the magnet brakes all the way "free". The reel came that way and I thought it was maxed. Figured I'd try a cast with it set that way and work my way looser. But since it was a back lasher, I never messed with it. The labels are correct, the arrows are dead wrong, as you can see in the picture below. Maybe all Lews are labeled like this? Sure looks like you should turn it in the direction of the arrow associated with the Free and Max. But that's not the way it is.

Reel works much better now, but still playing with it. Still tends to be a little hard to control with weightless 5" senkos, but is better with more weighty lures.

[Big Guy]

Don't get what's wrong? Clockwise more tension

[jejb]

Yeah, that's the way it looks. But it's the opposite. If the dial is turned counter clockwise toward the Max word, more tension. If the dial is turned the direction the arrow is pointing that is next to the Max word, less tension.

[Big Guy]

Gotcha John. Like the guts are reversed

[jejb]

It's the arrows that threw me off. I think what the arrows are for is to indicate where the slot on the dial will be pointing when it is all the way Free or all the way Max. But it's pretty confusing, and poorly thought out. Should have used a round or square symbol. Or pointed the arrows the other way.

[Big Guy]

Well now I'm lost. That's every reel. Arrow right or left. All my Lews are the same way

[BrentR]

Just checked all my lew's reels. Clockwise free's up the reel, Counter clockwise tighten. The last one i bought just has numbers and the larger numbers means tighten. I have never payed any attention to arrows are the numbers i just turn the dial in the direction i need to adjust the reel to my liken. It's funny no one has mentioned this before now. I would like to know what Lew's has to say about this. I think I might give them a call.

[jejb]

Just checked all my lew's reels. Clockwise fee's up the reel, Counter clockwise tighten.

As I said, this is my first Lews.

The last one i bought just has numbers and the larger numbers means tighten. I have never payed any attention to arrows are the numbers i just turn the dial in the direction i need to adjust the reel to my liken.

Numbers would be clearer. And some of my reels have numbers, some just have the Max and Min words on them (with no arrows), some have the numbers on the dial with just a pointer on the reel body, etc. None are as confusing as this one.

It's funny no one has mentioned this before now. I would like to know what Lew's has to say about this. I think I might give them a call.

It's a new for '17 reel, so maybe not a lot of them out there, and maybe most of the ones that are out there belong to folks that already own Lews and knew to ignore the arrows. If you do call, let us know what they say.

[jejb]

Also of note, the bearings in this reel were soaked with oil. I've never had such a hard time getting OEM bearings to run clean. And even fully cleaned, one of the three did not free spin very well. I knew the bearings were a bit lower quality than the more expensive Lews reels, figured I'd just upgrade to Orange Seals or the like after I fished it for a while. But given it's somewhat wild character thus far, I'm wondering if this reels just work best with severely over oiled bearings in it.

Anyone else a bearing cleaner/upgrader in this reel?

[Big Guy]

Well I be damned. My bb-1 pros are as you described...counterclockwise to tighten up. Never noticed

[mrpao]

If you notice the dial or numbers are not backwards or reverse, the dial read towards the front not the back.
It adjust from the 1 o'clock position to the 5 o'clock position by turn to front not the back.
Yes, I have the same reel and several other Lews, and never had a issue with the controls.
Lew's reels seem to be sensitive to over filling though. Too much line and it will backlash very easily.

[Big Guy]

Never been any problems. Just never noticed

[jejb]

Well I be damned. My bb-1 pros are as you described...counterclockwise to tighten up. Never noticed

Do they have the arrows like mine does?

[Big Guy]

They do

[BrentR]

As I said, this is my first Lews.

Numbers would be clearer. And some of my reels have numbers, some just have the Max and Min words on them (with no arrows), some have the numbers on the dial with just a pointer on the reel body, etc. None are as confusing as this one.

It's a new for '17 reel, so maybe not a lot of them out there, and maybe most of the ones that are out there belong to folks that already own Lews and knew to ignore the arrows. If you do call, let us know what they say.

I contacted Lew's and this is what they told me. The arrows are not meant to give a direction to point to max or free. If you put the dial on the free arrow it will be completely free. If you put the dial on the arrow at max it will be completely tight. I told them how some people were thinking the arrows were going in the wrong direction because of the reel being loose or tight. They did say they could understand how some would take it that way. I told them they needed to be consistent with all their reels so people would not be confused and the guy i talked to said he would pass the message along. I told him i thought that would be a good idea if he would do that and he promised he would. He told me that i was not the first person to call about this concern. So maybe and i mean maybe they might take it under consideration. I went to a couple of sporting goods stores today and looked at a bunch of Lew's reels. Believe it or not some reels had 3 arrows on them, some had 2 like yours, some didn't have any arrow and some had numbers. At least you know now how to tune your reel and i hope we have all learned a lesson by your experience. I myself only own 2 brand of reels...Shimano and Lew's and I really like them both and i don't see myself owning any other brands. Take care and i hope i helped you out if only in a small way.

Tight Lines....everyone

[jejb]

Thanks for the efforts and the reply, Brent. Good to know they'll at least report it back to folks that can make the decisions about how the reels are designed. It's not a huge deal to me, but it was sure confusing at first.

[jejb]

Still proving to be a hard reel to fish, no matter the bait. I have tried with the brakes turned all the way up, 4 pins out on the spool and more than recommended spool tension, but still get too much fluffing and overruns, even on windless days. I've had it on different rods, too, Dobyns, Kistler custom made and NRX's. I can get it under control with enough spool tension, but that severely limits casting distances. I've been using bait casters for 40 years, and have plenty of them. But even my Steez reels are easier to control than this one. I guess I need to send it into Lew's for them to check out. Not very impressed with my first Lew's reel so far, though.

[BrentR]

Still proving to be a hard reel to fish, no matter the bait. I have tried with the brakes turned all the way up, 4 pins out on the spool and more than recommended spool tension, but still get too much fluffing and overruns, even on windless days. I've had it on different rods, too, Dobyns, Kistler custom made and NRX's. I can get it under control with enough spool tension, but that severely limits casting distances. I've been using bait casters for 40 years, and have plenty of them. But even my Steez reels are easier to control than this one. I guess I need to send it into Lew's for them to check out. Not very impressed with my first Lew's reel so far, though.

I think you're right John. If it's giving you that much trouble something might be wrong with the reel. If you have someone local that can check it out for you it might save you some time on getting a answer. Then if need be you can send it back. I hope you find out soon because no one likes being without something that they just bought. I wish you luck.