21farms

i've had numerous daiwa baitcasters. i don't like the twitchin' bar...even if you don't use it, it adds weight and makes it difficult to palm the reel. do yourself a favor and rule out anything without a one-piece aluminum frame...that in itself makes the single biggest difference in smoothness and durability. the daiwa exceler for about $70 is the best buy at the low-end of the daiwa line.

lots of different ways to go here and i've tried most of 'em. in the end, my favorite is a 7' MH fiberglass rod moderate action and 25 lbs. mono. any decent crankbait rod would make a good choice. the heavy mono hangs the spoon up longer for a more natural dying minnow fall. the moderate action keeps fish buttoned on better. the longer the handle the better because jigging gets tiring and, with a long handle, you can tuck one end under an arm or using two hands.

looking back over my earlier post, i think it came out harsher than i intended. i really like everything about the rod except for the weight. i can't but think that the thick layer of glossy epoxy clearcoat they put on the bottom third of the rod is mostly to blame. the lockdown reel seat is many times more secure than most of my other rods...it never comes loose on its own or needs retightening. i have to admit that i was attracted to the rod mainly for the recoil guides and i do like how tough they are (i nearly cried when i mangled a guide on my g.loomis rod opening my boat's storage compartment lid). i've read/heard rumors that the blanks are g.loomis...i dunno about that. cabela's, to their credit, has a great return policy and they offer a 60-day no-questions-asked return policy with their XMLti rods. definitely worth serious consideration at the $110 sale price. otherwise, i think shimano crucials and powell max's at $140 are a better buy.

i have their 6'9" ML prolite finesse rod...i HATE the powerhump but love the rod.

i have the 6'10" pitchin' model. i like it but don't love it. for some reason, they're heavier than you'd expect (equivalent crucials and powells are much lighter). if you're patient, they occasionally go on sale for $109.99.

i have one in the bone/chartreuse color and must say that i'm pretty disappointed in it so far. unless you're using a fairly fast retrieve, it doesn't wiggle or rattle. in this regard, the xcaliber one knocker does a better job.

this sounds like one of product reviews on basspro.com but i literally caught a fish (a keeper striper) on my first cast with the blue back herring, slow sink model. however, that's been my only fish so far. it got to be a little frustrating to fish because it sinks so slowly...too slow, in fact. i went out and bought the fast sink model but haven't had much confidence in throwing them anymore so the jury is still out.

the instructions say to turn the brakes on/off in pairs but i turned them all off except for one and it works best that way for me.

thanks, all, for the replies. like i said, i use mostly owners and gammies but bought the eagle claws cuz i was in a pinch. anyway, i been using them for my last two outings and they've been working out pretty well. i noticed on the eagle claw website that their "lazer sharp" line is their premium line. i do wish they were sharper out of the box but, once i sharpened them up, they've been holding their points pretty well. those that have had bad exeriences, were they with the lazer sharps or with the standard eagle claws?

tom also designed worden's timber tiger which supposedly carried his design ideas further than the speed trap.

it must be a regional-thing but i never heard of speed traps until i moved to california and started fishing the delta. out here, speed traps are very popular. they're my favorite crankbaits and i have one tied on all the time. the 1/4 oz size in "crystal crawdad" and "sexy shad" (new) are my top producers.

i usually replace stock crankbait hooks with owners but my local tackle shop was out of owners and gammy's in the sizes i wanted so i picked up some eagle claw lazer sharp trebles in 3x and 4x to get me by. the eagle claw 3x hooks look like my owner 1x hooks in terms of wire thickness and the eagle claw 4x hooks look like my owner 2x. anyone else notice how thin the eagle claws lazer sharps are compared to the competition? btw, i had to sharpen every single point on the eagle claws to get them sticky sharp whereas most of my owners and gammy's come sticky sharp out of the package. of course, they cost twice as much as the eagle claws

crucials are excellent rods (i have two myself) but the only casting ones that come with split grips are the flipping sticks and the dropshot models.

704CB...excellent choice. powell rods are incredible for the price.

i figured it out. just do a search for NGJ-122487 and you can still get it for $74.99.

IIRC, daiwa invented magnetic cast controls and, IMHO, they still do it the best...very easy to set and not nearly as fussy as some other implementations. back in the 80s, most of my baitcasters were daiwas. nowadays, most everybody makes a decent reel and the higher-end daiwas seemed to get relatively expensive in comparison which is my reason for branching out to other brands. always had good luck with them though.

what i've noticed is that different forums have different personalities and, thus, different favorite brands. i participate in another forum that raves about the prodigies (actually, rebadged daiwa tierras).

yes, i think you're right. i looked up tackle tour's review of some quantum reels with that same look and they said it was hi-temp titanium deposition which is "actually extremely hard, and much more durable and scratch resistant than the painted finish of traditional reels"

isn't that look achieved by color case hardening? if so, not only does it look cool but it makes the finish much more durable as well.

i just returned from the new BPS in manteca. they had a few of the BBZ-1 shads in the blue herring slow sink BUT they wanted $24.99 for them!

sure, retrieve faster than usual with your rod tip at 10 o'clock. heavy braid (50 to 65 lb. test) will help too. i do this with the full-size BBZ-1 swimbait and that one weighs almost 5 ounces. the only problem will this is that you have to fish it faster than you might always like. the plus, however, is that if you get a missed strike, you can let it fall and the fish will usually hit it again, thinking that it killed it.

well, you could say that...one could also say it is "badge engineering" (a la general motors) if memory serves me correctly, it was actually daiwa that pioneered many of the features we see in modern reels, including the low-profile, gearbox-slung-over-the-side design

my initial thought was that it looked very similar to the new BPS pro qualifier. here they are side-by-side

the new pflueger president2: http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_103342

wow, that's a toughie. my fishing partner has the 702CB glass and i've fished 1/2 oz. rattletraps and 1/4 oz. speedtraps with it and thought it was more suited for those applications than my 703CB glass. i have not fished the 704CB but i have used his 765CB and was quite surprised at how much i liked powell's maxumfiber since i love my 754CB glass. i would think that the 704CB would be more versatile but the 702CB would be better-suited for your specified needs.