John G

These knobs fit both Daiwa and Shimano and they are not uncomfortable at all. The thinner plastic piece is for a Shimano handle and the thicker plastic piece is for a Daiwa handle.

I asked and he is from New Jersey. Small world. LOL

How good of a price? Plenty of guys have them and from what I can tell, most really like it. The real question is do you have a rod that can take advantage of the reel because it is strictly a finesse real.

Thank you Matt. It should work fine for throwing finesse jigs into tight spots. I met the owner of Ultraskiff this morning and I found out that we live in the same town. You know him?

My first Megabass, F2-60X Criffhanger.

Are those knobs black or gunmetal? I bought gunmetal knobs because I did not think that they made black but your knobs look darker than mine.

I have not paid any customs fees yet and both of the rods that I bought are one piece.

I can't wait to see it. All I have been thinking about lately is what rod to buy next and something from Megabass is high on the list.

If the EX6 is like the Classic Mag Bass 844's that I have owned, it will have a really nice soft tip with plenty of backbone and nowhere close to being a broomstick.

Wayne, what model 844 did you buy? I have had the IMX and the GLX and they were excellent rods with many more uses than just jig n worm.

What rod did you get?

If you limit yourself to buying only JDM rods that are sold in the U.S., you are extremely limiting your choices. My experience in buying JDM rods is that the two JDM rods that I have bought from overseas, I did not think that shipping was overly high.

Instead of spending money on G-Loomis rods, I would have researched JDM rods and bought nothing but JDM rods. For reels, I would have bought nothing but JDM reels and I would have also put more thought into what reels to buy. That means that I would have really put some thought into what I wanted to do with each reel instead of just buying reels. A great example of this is that I, at one time,I was the proud owner of 5 Conquest 50's. I am now down to 2 and I could have used that money for different purchases.

I didn't know that SC had any Tarpon. I thought that they were more of a Florida and South America fish.

I found 21farms Thread over at TT. It was on page 57 of his posts. I will say that Norm takes the best pics by far of anyone that I know on these Forums. http://forums.tackletour.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=51011&p=399174#p399174

IIRC, 21Farms did a real quality side by side pic comparison between the Scorpion XT1000 and the Antares HG over at TT. It would be great if he saw this Thread and posted those pics here.

How big your hands are should be a deciding factor. I like reels the size of the 50 size Shimano's up to the 200E size Shimano's. When I had my Antares HG, I kept telling myself that I wish this thing was as small as my Scorpion XT1500's but that was not the case. The Antares is a big reel and other than being too big for my hands, it was perfect in every other way.

Japan

You would think that is true but I remember someone posting that their longer NRX was lighter than their shorter NRX. What Tom is worked up about is people ask for recommendations for a rod or reel and A LOT of guys here give opinions on rods and reels that they have never even touched and yet they are recommending that particular rod or reel for purchase. I know that I am guilty of that in the past but I do not do it anymore.

The places that I fish at suck so getting motivated to go is sometimes hard to do. I will definitely say that I have been much more of a Tackle Junky lately than a fisherman but that's ok with me.

No hands on experience with the Lews but with my Shimano's, when I hear a little squeaking sound when reeling, I put a drop of Bantam Oil on a Q Tip and I rub it around the brake drum and the squeaking goes away. Before I posted this, I looked up your reel and I saw that it has Centrifugal Brakes too so it's worth a try.

Before I buy the Loomis, I would check out the Falcon Lowrider Salt Series. The Falcon Coastal can be found at Wal Mart for about $90 and just handling it in the store, it feels like a darn nice $90 rod but for me, I would splurge and get the Lowrider Salt. Sirsnookalot should hopefully be by and give his very educated opinion. He likes the Hurricane Redbone rods and I believe Star Rods and they can both be had at DSG for around $100. BTW, Loomis doesn't make custom rods. What they make are some of the best mass produced high end rods around and a bunch of lesser rods that are for the most part, overpriced.

Thanks and it will be my pleasure to give a full report if I can get motivated to go fishing. LOL