Faulty Drag On Daiwa Tatula SV TWS? 2025
ResoKP reply :
Hi All,
I got a brand new Daiwa Tatula SV TWS this past fall paired with Megabass Orochi XX Perfect Pitch and I was pitching & punching heavy cover with it on 50 lb straight braid. Had the drag all the way on max and right from the very first bite, I set the hook as I normally do, and the drag peeled. I remember thinking that the drag was pretty weak and thought maybe these Tatula SV TWS reels just have weaker drags than what I'm used to. Continued to use the reel for the rest of the season and absolutely loved the reel, minus the weak drag. Caught a ton of fish but also lost some due to the drag slipping. I also loosen up the drag all the way after each outing.
Last night, I remembered about the drag "issue" so I decied to test it. Daiwa advertises this reel to have 13.2 lb drag. I took the reel off the rod, set the drag as tight as I could, with the reel on one hand and a digital scale on the other hand attached to the line, I pulled until the drag started to slip. The spool on my Tatula SV TWS started to turn from between 9 - 10 lb range. Is this normal? 9 lb seems quite far off from the 13 lb this reel is advertised at. I'm wondering if the drag on my reel is faulty.
Also, on a separate matter, I hear a loud clicking sound when I push & pull the on the handle. Is this normal as well for the Tatula SV TWS?
If anyone is able to test their reels for me that would be appreciated!
Thank you!
BaitFinesse reply :
Both are normal. 9 to 10 pounds of drag is plenty. If you are slipping with that much force then it is doing you a favor or you'll be bending hooks and losing fish. The bass isn't pulling at 9 to 10 pounds of drag that is you and your rod doing that. If you would like more drag pressure you can upgrade to carbontex.
ResoKP reply :
On 1/12/2019 at 1:18 AM, BaitFinesse said:Both are normal. 9 to 10 pounds of drag is plenty. If you are slipping with that much force then it is doing you a favor or you'll be bending hooks and losing fish. The bass isn't pulling at 9 to 10 pounds of drag that is you and your rod doing that. If you would like more drag pressure you can upgrade to carbontex.
I suppose it depends on where you fish. Maybe I'm just using the wrong reel for the job but where I fish, apparently 9 to 10 lbs of drag is not enough to rip through all the thick grass and pads. I'll post a pic below to show what kind of stuff I need to pull them out of (you can actually see the line I made from the bank to the boat ripping through the thick stuff). I use Gamakatsu Heavy Cover Flippin' Hooks and pretty sure it takes a lot more than 10 lbs to bend those out.
Anyways, my point is, this reel was advertised at 13.2 lb drag where I only got 9-10 lb. That's a 40% margin of error which, if true, is a little disappointing.
TackleTour reviewer seems to have gotten 13.8 lbs out of it.
http://www.tackletour.com/reviewdaiwatatulasvtwpg3.html
Should I should get mine exchanged?
Junger reply :
On 1/12/2019 at 12:57 AM, ResoKP said:Also, on a separate matter, I hear a loud clicking sound when I push & pull the on the handle. Is this normal as well for the Tatula SV TWS?
You mean push/pull inward/outward into the reel on the handle? There shouldn't be that much play and it shouldn't make a clicking noise. There's a stack of washers held down by a nut that threads onto the main shaft. Maybe that's loose if you're getting inward/outward play and affecting the compression on the drag.
I'm not a rea(e)l expert though. (couldn't resist the chance to insert that pun)
Here's the schematic, the nut I'm talking about is #88.
http://www.daiwa.com/us/service/manuals/image/baitcasting/TASV103H_300HS_300XS.pdf
Otherwise, the reel has a 1 year warranty and send it back in for service.
ResoKP reply :
On 1/12/2019 at 2:12 AM, Junger said:You mean push/pull inward/outward into the reel on the handle? There shouldn't be that much play and it shouldn't make a clicking noise. There's a stack of washers held down by a nut that threads onto the main shaft. Maybe that's loose if you're getting inward/outward play and affecting the compression on the drag.
I'm not reel expert though.
Here's the schematic, the nut I'm talking about is #88.
http://www.daiwa.com/us/service/manuals/image/baitcasting/TASV103H_300HS_300XS.pdf
Otherwise, the reel has a 1 year warranty and send it back in for service.
Yes! The handle can be pushed inward/outward into the reel! There's a fair bit of play and it makes a very audible clicking noise when I do that.
Junger reply :
On 1/12/2019 at 2:19 AM, ResoKP said:Yes! The handle can be pushed inward/outward into the reel! There's a fair bit of play and it makes a very audible clicking noise when I do that.
Definitely not supposed to do that. Opening the drag stack shouldn't be too difficult, a pencil pusher like me can do it.
Give it a try.
BaitFinesse reply :
On 1/12/2019 at 1:54 AM, ResoKP said:I suppose it depends on where you fish. Maybe I'm just using the wrong reel for the job but where I fish, apparently 9 to 10 lbs of drag is not enough to rip through all the thick grass and pads. I'll post a pic below to show what kind of stuff I need to pull them out of (you can actually see the line I made from the bank to the boat ripping through the thick stuff). I use Gamakatsu Heavy Cover Flippin' Hooks and pretty sure it takes a lot more than 10 lbs to bend those out.
Anyways, my point is, this reel was advertised at 13.2 lb drag where I only got 9-10 lb. That's a 40% margin of error which, if true, is a little disappointing.
TackleTour reviewer seems to have gotten 13.8 lbs out of it.http://www.tackletour.com/reviewdaiwatatulasvtwpg3.html
Should I should get mine exchanged?
Reels rarely hit their max lockdown drag number. What is more important is the smooth drag rating and 9 to 10 pounds is plenty. Drags are supposed to slip. They're there for a reason. Manufactures could easily lock the handle shaft to the main gear and forego drag altogether if it was desirable to do so. It is not.
I've always been perplexed by the complaints of drag slipping when fishing heavy cover. I catch plenty of fish in the slop and my drag will do it's job and slip when needed. Just how many fish are you losing due to the drag slipping? In any case you can upgrade to carbontex drag disks and omit the grease for a higher peak drag.
As far as the handle in and out play, again that is normal for every reel I have ever owned. There is a tiny bit of play at the base of the handle shaft where it is seated into a bearing in the frame. The play shouldn't be excessive however. Maybe 1 millimeter at most.
Junger reply :
On 1/12/2019 at 3:54 AM, BaitFinesse said:The play shouldn't be excessive however. Maybe 1 millimeter at most.
Yep, should be barely noticeable. He said fair bit and makes a clicky noise too. That seems abnormal.
ResoKP reply :
On 1/12/2019 at 3:54 AM, BaitFinesse said:Reels rarely hit their max lockdown drag number. What is more important is the smooth drag rating and 9 to 10 pounds is plenty. Drags are supposed to slip. They're there for a reason. Manufactures could easily lock the handle shaft to the main gear and forego drag altogether if it was desirable to do so. It is not.
I've always been perplexed by the complaints of drag slipping when fishing heavy cover. I catch plenty of fish in the slop and my drag will do it's job and slip when needed. Just how many fish are you losing due to the drag slipping? In any case you can upgrade to carbontex drag disks and omit the grease for a higher peak drag.
As far as the handle in and out play, again that is normal for every reel I have ever owned. There is a tiny bit of play at the base of the handle shaft where it is seated into a bearing in the frame. The play shouldn't be excessive however. Maybe 1 millimeter at most.
All I'm asking is why my reel is measuring less than 10lb drag when it was advertised as 13.2 lbs.
I'm really not here to debate how much drag one needs when fishing.
To your point, if 9 to 10 lb was plenty, manufacturers wouldn't make reels with more than 10 lb drag. But they do.
And to answer your question, sometimes I will need to hand-line to pull all the weeds. Sometimes the fish is still there and sometimes it's gone. With my other reels, I could just horse them in.
BaitFinesse reply :
On 1/12/2019 at 4:14 AM, ResoKP said:All I'm asking is why my reel is measuring less than 10lb drag when it was advertised as 13.2 lbs.
I'm really not here to debate how much drag one needs when fishing.
To your point, if 9 to 10 lb was plenty, manufacturers wouldn't make reels with more than 10 lb drag. But they do.
And to answer your question, sometimes I will need to hand-line to pull all the weeds. Sometimes the fish is still there and sometimes it's gone. With my other reels, I could just horse them in.
The the peak drag number is rarely hit by most reels. Look at most tackle tour reel review and you will see that the peak number on their drag testing machine rarely equals the max rated drag. It either falls below or in rare instances exceeds the max rating. In any case the peak drag is never smooth and is not what you should be relying on for consistent drag performance. My point is that what you are seeing is comon with just about any fising reel and if you wish to have more drag pressure then an upgrade to carbontex drag would be advisable. You can get another Tatula or even another reel but don't expect it to hit its max drag rating either let alone be consistent at max. If it is under warrenty the by all means sent it in. If not then a dry carbontex drag upgrade is recommended to get your desired results.
BaitFinesse reply :
Also, how are you detemining that the drag is slipping at 9 to 10 pounds of pressure? If you are not using a force meter of some sort such spring scale to test the drag and are estimating the pressure at which the drag is slipping then it is possible that it is actually slipping at much lower drag pressures. It the Tatula is slipping at pressures your other reels do not then I would suspect that It is slipping well below 9 to 10 pounds of drag as that drag is fairly common among modern baitcast reels. The Curado K is only rated to 11 pounds for example.
ResoKP reply :
On 1/12/2019 at 4:20 AM, BaitFinesse said:The the peak drag number is rarely hit by most reels. Look at most tackle tour reel review and you will see that the peak number on their drag testing machine rarely equals the max rated drag. It either falls below or in rare instances exceeds the max rating. In any case the peak drag is never smooth and is not what you should be relying on for consistent drag performance. My point is that what you are seeing is comon with just about any fising reel and if you wish to have more drag pressure then an upgrade to carbontex drag would be advisable. You can get another Tatula or even another reel but don't expect it to hit its max drag rating either let alone be consistent at max. If it is under warrenty the by all means sent it in. If not then a dry carbontex drag upgrade is recommended to get your desired results.
Measured max drag by TackleTour:
Tatula SV 13.8lbs (13.2lbs advertised) - http://www.tackletour.com/reviewdaiwatatulasvtwpg3.html
Tatula Type R 17lbs (13.2lbs advertised) - http://www.tackletour.com/reviewdaiwatattyper.html
Fuego CT 14.1lbs (13.5lbs advertised) - http://www.tackletour.com/reviewdaiwafuegoct.html
Zillion TWS 18.7lbs - (13.2lbs advertised) - http://www.tackletour.com/reviewdaiwazilliontws.html
You keep preaching your own opinions on the "hows" and "should" of fishing.
I never asked about how to fish.
I simply asked if others have experienced similar "weak" drag from Tatula SV TWS (in my case, measuring less than 10lbs).
You're telling me less than 10lbs of drag is normal for a reel advertised with 13+lb. Okay. I understand what you're saying. No need to go further than that.
If there are others who measure similar on their Tatula SV TWS, I can just keep this reel. Otherwise, I will need to send it in for warranty.
BaitFinesse reply :
On 1/12/2019 at 4:53 AM, ResoKP said:
Measured max drag by TackleTour:
Tatula SV 13.8lbs (13.2lbs advertised) - http://www.tackletour.com/reviewdaiwatatulasvtwpg3.html
Tatula Type R 17lbs (13.2lbs advertised) - http://www.tackletour.com/reviewdaiwatattyper.html
Fuego CT 14.1lbs (13.5lbs advertised) - http://www.tackletour.com/reviewdaiwafuegoct.html
Zillion TWS 18.7lbs - (13.2lbs advertised) - http://www.tackletour.com/reviewdaiwazilliontws.html
You keep preaching your own opinions on the "hows" and "should" of fishing.
I never asked about how to fish.
I simply asked if others have experienced similar "weak" drag from Tatula SV TWS (in my case, measuring less than 10lbs).
You're telling me less than 10lbs of drag is normal for a reel advertised with 13+lb. Okay. I understand what you're saying. No need to go further than that.
If there are others who measure similar on their Tatula SV TWS, I can just keep this reel. Otherwise, I will need to send it in for warranty.
The only other person to chime in on their Tatula drag pressure with their measured results posted in your topic on the TT forum and reported 11 pounds max drag and the same handle in and out play. I would test my Tatula SV for you but I have no means to measuring the drag pressure. I would send it in for service if you do not like the drag performance and if you did not get the drag pressure you like then upgrade to carbontex drag.
ResoKP reply :
On 1/12/2019 at 5:00 AM, BaitFinesse said:The only other person to chime in on their Tatula drag pressure with their measured results posted in your topic on the TT forum and reported 11 pounds max drag and the same handle in and out play. I would test my Tatula SV for you but I have no means to measuring the drag pressure. I would send it in for service if you do not like the drag performance and if you did not get the drag pressure you like then upgrade to carbontex drag.
Do you have a scale you can use to measure the drag like I did? Even if we're not using the correct method, at least if we're seeing similar values, we'll know if its normal or not lol.
I just really like this reel for pitching so I was hoping it would serve me well for that purpose but that particular lake I enjoy fishing just gets crazy with vegetation. If my Tatula SV's working normally, and the drag is really this weak, I guess I'll just have to use my other reels for that lake.
BaitFinesse reply :
On 1/12/2019 at 5:14 AM, ResoKP said:Do you have a scale you can use to measure the drag like I did? Even if we're not using the correct method, at least if we're seeing similar values, we'll know if its normal or not lol.
I just really like this reel for pitching so I was hoping it would serve me well for that purpose but that particular lake I enjoy fishing just gets crazy with vegetation. If my Tatula SV's working normally, and the drag is really this weak, I guess I'll just have to use my other reels for that lake.
No but I was planning on lifting a 10lb weight with the reel tonight to see if it slips. I have 50# braid on it so it shouldn't be a problem. You can always upgrade the drag for like $8 rather than use other reels. It is a wear item and it meant to be easily serviceable. If you don't dare open it up you can send it I to the Tackle Trap and they will install a carbontex drag from smooth drags for a nominal fee. It is a really common upgrade on older Daiwa reels that has 7 or 8 pounds of max drag.
ResoKP reply :
On 1/12/2019 at 5:34 AM, BaitFinesse said:No but I was planning on lifting a 10lb weight with the reel tonight to see if it slips. I have 50# braid on it so it shouldn't be a problem. You can always upgrade the drag for like $8 rather than use other reels. It is a wear item and it meant to be easily serviceable. If you don't dare open it up you can send it I to the Tackle Trap and they will install a carbontex drag from smooth drags for a nominal fee. It is a really common upgrade on older Daiwa reels that has 7 or 8 pounds of max drag.
Yeah haha. Try lifting a weight with it!
I'm in Canada so sending it to Tackle Trap might be a hassle. But I could try asking the shop I bought the reel if they can install Carbontex for me. Too nervous to try it myself lol. Thanks for the suggestion!
Junger reply :
WRB reply :
Your rod can't lift more then 8 lbs!
Tom
Junger reply :
This is clearly how to test drag:
MassYak85 reply :
On 1/12/2019 at 12:57 AM, ResoKP said:I took the reel off the rod, set the drag as tight as I could, with the reel on one hand and a digital scale on the other hand attached to the line.
Don't take this as a jab at your strength, but is it possible you simply weren't able to turn the drag star to it's mechanical maximum? When Tackle Tour does their drag tests it is usually with a truly locked down drag where they really do wrench on the drag star to make sure it's as tight as possible.
iabass8 reply :
On 1/12/2019 at 4:14 AM, ResoKP said:
To your point, if 9 to 10 lb was plenty, manufacturers wouldn't make reels with more than 10 lb drag. But they do.
That's not true. Reel's don't need more than 3 bearings, but companies advertise 11. Buyer's see this larger number and immediately think that a higher drag/more bearings is somehow better when 9-10# of locked down drag is more than adequate for anything bass fishing.
As for your issue, I just got done servicing a Tatula SV. It has has very minimal in and out handle play. It's not noticeable when using it. I locked the drag down and pulled as hard as I could tied to a post. Drag wouldn't budge. Just resulted in line digging. The reels I use for slop fishing all use bone dry drag washers with a locked down drag and they won't budge unless I hook a car.
When a drag slips, it's usually 1 of 2 things. Straight braid with no backing (which isn't your problem) or over lubricated drag washers. A 10 year old has can fix this. You'll need a 10 mm socket for the nut on the handle and then a small screwdriver for the side plate. Pop the side plate off and remove the washers and drag washers from the drag stack and run them dry with a towel. Put them back on dry in the order they came off. This might take you 10 minutes.
Handle play can be a a few different things. Your handle is attached to the drive shaft via a nut. So when you pull the handle you're putting the entire drive shaft in and out. It's possible the spacer that sits between the drive shaft and the reel frame isn't there. This is a common issue on the old TD-Z reels where the washer would become worn or misplaced when disassembling. Something could just be loose or came off inside the reel too. You'll see it when you take the side plate off.
Gorris317 reply :
Didn't want to resurrect an old thread but I'm curious if you got the reel working? I just had a slipping issue with the new Tatula 100 and sent it back to Daiwa. I'm hoping they fix it but it was slipping in clear water on hooksets. I missed a couple of fish and even had my father try it for a few hours. He missed one and then had trouble reeling a little dink.
P.S. Running Fluoro and drag wasn't backed off quarter turn from being locked down.
Junger reply :
On 6/10/2019 at 1:00 PM, Gorris317 said:Didn't want to resurrect an old thread but I'm curious if you got the reel working? I just had a slipping issue with the new Tatula 100 and sent it back to Daiwa. I'm hoping they fix it but it was slipping in clear water on hooksets. I missed a couple of fish and even had my father try it for a few hours. He missed one and then had trouble reeling a little dink.
P.S. Running Fluoro and drag wasn't backed off quarter turn from being locked down.
If you're locked down and you inspected the drag stack and it's still slipping, my guess would be pinion gear/main gear is slipping.
WRB reply :
Have you tried contacting Daiwa, they are the only folks who can resolve your issues?
Tom
Delaware Valley Tackle reply :
Admittedly I didn’t read the whole post, but did you use backing under the braid so it doesn’t slip? Beyond that 7# of drag is more than sufficient for bass fishing and is not easily peeled off by hand.
Gorris317 reply :
On 6/10/2019 at 9:53 PM, Junger said:If you're locked down and you inspected the drag stack and it's still slipping, my guess would be pinion gear/main gear is slipping.
Ended up contacting Daiwa and they want me to send it in.
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