Okay, this is Rob's fault. I place the blame squarely on his shoulders! :P

So, now that I have bought a Calcutta 400TE. Is there anything I should do before spooling the line and tossing my first swimbait in the water to protect/improve the reel? Also, 20lb p-line or 20lb izorline platinum? Btw, water too clear down in socal for triplefish.

sorry! guess you better update your signature file lol.

Maybe magmaster has some tips for you. I've never messed with a TE reel.

Water too clear for triple fish? You gotta be kidding. Just tie to the green or clear section of the line, not the brown/red section. Triple fish is my mental advantage in clear water because it changes color every few feet, it doesn't just appear like a straight line to the fish. If I wasn't fishing Triple Fish I'd be using a green line like Maxima or Izorline platinum green or whatever it's called. Clear line usually appears more white in the water to my eyes anyway. Just look at whatever line you are using under water and make up your own mind though.

20lb on a CTE400 is going to be a whole lot of line. I hate to say it but a 300 would be a better 20lb reel if that's all you're going to fish on it. Not like a 400 with 20lb won't work, you'll just wind up spooling a ton of line on it to fill it up.

Well I have many tricks but they are still "secrets" but the best thing I can recommend is try to degrease the worm gear (level wind) and remove the spool and clean the spool shaft off with a q-tip and rubbing alcohol. Also clean the raceways on the frame where the spool rides and the outside edges of the spool. This should help the freespool out, also when you get the excess grease off of the worm replace it with the oil that is supplied with the reel. Anything else and you would have to send it in to Shimano and have that guy trick it out.

I hope this helps!

Thanks for the info.

what do you mean by "trick it out"? how much does it cost and how long did it take?

Just ask Rob what he thinks of his and usually the guy is cool and doesn't charge. If you do send it in to him amke sure you put something in the note about "Calfishing"

My 2 Calais got the kind treatment, well worth sending them in! I do most of my reel service myself, but when it comes to the really high end reels, have an expert do it-

You just send the reels in with a note asking for a ... what? cleaning, tune up, maintenance? never sent a reel for service. I have a te200gt that could use some loving.

Send in a note with your name address and phone number with an explanation of what you want done. Simple as that, if you have any complaints like the reel feels rough, or it's noisey when it casts then put that in the note too.

The calcutta 400TE is a great reel out of the box. Jsut degrease adn regrease like magmaster said and you shoudl be fine. I made a set of HT-100's for mine but I forgot where I put them lol
Batman

The stock drags are fine, what I do is pull the clicker spring out from under the main gear. That clicker puts constant pressur eon the gear and wears the drags and the main gear prematurely. After I pulled it out I haven't had a problem since...but you didn't hear that from me}(