Ocea Jigger - no metal mincer edition

After we've discovered that the metal mincing edition of a Shimano Ocea Jigger can be fixed, a friend hesitated no more and got himself a new Shimano Ocea Jigger. Straight out of the box before the mincer part was removed, he was complaining about a light ringing sensation when cranking. The Ocea Jigger is a dream to use when paired with a slow pitch jigging rod, especially with Evergreen's Poseidon Slow Pitch Jerker. The thing with the ringing is like buying an expensive luxury car you paid through blood and sweat to discover that on the day you drive it off from the showroom, there's rattling noise coming out from the interior trimmings.

Right after our recent offshore trip, he immediately handed it to me to get it fixed, lube the insides and give it a drag upgrade.

Do not be deceived by its tiny stature. This reel would later haul up a lunker of a grouper after its performance upgrade without breaking a sweat.

This is a PG model with lower gear ratios for more cranking power versus speedier retrieve on the HG.

As expected from a new reel, it's bone dry with plenty of improvement to be found for protection and damage risks reduction.

Metal mincer edition parts in red. Where they used to be in green. Simple.

The first part you see is the metal mincer upon opening the crank case. It's easily accessible and removed without complications. Layer by layer as you peel them off to lube and coat every imaginable surface of the insides.

Sum of all evil parts. Don't think it'll be missed much. Not especially that it rattles like a toy. Body bagged!

Once the offending part's been removed, it's time to lube up the internals for maximum protection as this reel isn't waterproof but water do pass through with drainage ports around the bottom of the case. Therefore it's only logical to coat every surface available with marine grease to displace any possible salt water build up inside especially in the event of total reel submersion into salt water.

Looks bare but fully functional without the metal mincer.

We'll start from the furthest end of the reel where the sole bearing that supports the spool sits snugly in the housing. Retainer pin removed, bearing packed, all surface coated and back into the housing.

Marine grease brush down, bearings packed with marine grease. Note that this isn't use for casting, therefore grease is fine for spool support bearings for maximum protection instead of free spinning ability. Additional grease to fill the void between the bearings and spool shaft+body.

Stock drag that comes with this reel is somewhat too light for the kind of fish we haul up from the deep and we felt that it doesn't have enough stopping power to deny fat lunkers lunging for their homes. Custom and beefier carbontex drag is needed for the job for more stopping power.

A comparison between stock drag vs custom sized carbontex drag discs. Note the big difference in diameter as well as the amount of space available on the drag disc system. Thickness of the drag needs to be matched against the stock drag to avoid misalignment of gear and the entire drag stack.

As usual, layer by layer of rebuild is interspersed with marine grease coating for maximum protection. Thread locked screws need not be reapplied as it is still very new with plenty of hold available.

Here's how a Shimano Ocea Jigger - no metal minder edition looks like with beefier drag system.

Right after the fix, we had another off shore session and that's when this reel managed to stop a lunker and hauled up a fatty grouper. Ringing sensation gone, drag pull was steady and strong. Another happy slow jigger with many more happy endings for this angler.

Fatty lunker denied its home run.