Conquest of Gold Member

How do you pimp a reel that's already as groovy looking as a Gold Member? Inject some contrast and remove some gold to give prominence to it's flashy golden bits!

Gold Member in question here is the Shimano Calcutta Conquest. A new reel out of the box and yet old news as they've recently just announced an updated Calcutta Conquest for 2014 which will be available by the end of the first quarter.

Again, the pimped bits were all year end sales opportunities just like the Daiwa Tatula pimp up process. Bits of carbon fiber complimented by black and gold trim, black anodized parts and most importantly, hybrid ceramic bearings for some extra spinning momentum and distance.

Vanity shot of all the pimpy bits ready to be loaded into this Gold Member. A nice mash-up different brands and parts.

I'm starting to appreciate more and more of Shimano's reel designs that allows you to easily swap out parts as replacement or upgrades. To swap out the free spool support bearings, all you need is a just a tweezer. You don't even need to whip out any screw driver. Kudos to Shimano!

Bearings replaced without lifting a screw driver. Most tweezers would be able to pick out the pentagon shaped spring wire retainer. Top: bearing tucks inside SVS brake access spool cage. Bottom: unscrewing the mechanical brake knob reveals the other spool support bearing.

As usual, I would give any new reel a nice coating of marine grease all over internally to give it that extra layer of protection to dispel water. I find it rather critical for my application of not just fresh water but also salt water exposure to my reels. This Shimano Calcutta Conquest comes with pretty beefy multi-disc drag system and yet very smooth. It's a tad dry on stock and additional drag grease can be added for the extra smoothness. The drag system design looks like it can easily take larger dimension discs without any problems and I suspect the Ocea Jigger discs are also compatible. Time will tell and I will give it a try when it's time to swap them out to smooth drags.

Gold member's gearbox exposed, nicely lathered with salt water grease for protection. Wet drag washers a tad too dry for my liking. A few trips in and I'll swap them out with smooth drags in custom sizes for stronger stopping power.

The handle swap is more of a cosmetic job and a little bit of a weight reduction using carbon fiber handle. I opted for the swept handle with black anodized star drag and foam knobs with gold accents to match the grooviness of the gold theme.

Black and Gold. Knobs and handle's a custom chop job from 2 different brands. Not in favour of the red bits but not a deal breaker too until I find something suitable. This is a 98mm length handle and recently there's a longer version of 108mm which will work better with stronger cranking power.

Tramp stamp on the outside of what to expect inside.

A nicely designed & built reel, once again yet to wet the lines with mouth watering looks. All I need now is a decent trip to put this Gold Member to the test to see if the bling pimpness would be able to help lure in some victims.