Jrob78

I have braid on my frog rod, a heavy pitching/punching rod and a topwater rod. It works great for those techniques but I don't like it for anything else. I hate how it handles, the lack of stretch, the huge bows in the line and slack line sensitivity, or lack thereof. That said though, it's personal preference, if you like it and feel confident with it then by all means put it on every rod, who cares?

I keep my spool tension loose enough for some side to side play and use the brakes accordingly. Sometimes that means the brakes are turned up pretty high but that's what they were designed to do. I use mostly Daiwa reels and often get some line fluff during hard casts for distance but the brakes straighten it back out before the lure hits the water and the thumb finishes it off. I feel like I get really good casting performance doing it this way but it's also what I'm used to.

This applies to pretty much everything, jigs, jigheads, buzzbaits, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits etc...

Nice, I've almost pulled the trigger on this one a few times. I just don't fish braid much, it's either one of these or another HD.

Mine should be here early next week, I'm a sucker for poppers too. All of these Shimano World baits look really good.

That was the first nice rod I ever bought back in about 1996, when Allstar was still making rods in TX. It needs a guide replaced but it's otherwise still going strong.

Cool, I am going to put one of those on my list to try out. I think the rod that was supposedly heavy was the 7'3" heavy glass chatterbait stick.

Is that the Combat Stick with the camo grips or a jdm rod? Evergreen is one rod company I haven't tried yet because the JDM rods are so expensive and I've heard some of the Combat Sticks are really heavy, but that might have been the glass rods specifically.

If I don't know you're coming there's a good chance I won't even go to the door, let alone answer it.

I don't know that specific rod but you can absolutely fish a shaky head on a casting rod and a 3/16oz jig head plus worm is pretty heavy. You should be good to go.

Most rod blanks aren't perfectly straight but are built in such a way that the curve isn't noticeable. Most custom rod builders don't build on the spine but the straightest axis to minimize the appearance of the curve. This is pretty extreme though and I would definitely take it back.

I'm not even going to ask why. It might be tough to find a bass spinning rod up for punching duty, I would probably look at inshore rods.

I would get the mono of your choice and go with that. Fluorocarbon is going to give you problems too. Sufix Elite is a good place to start for mono.

I'm good with 90-100mm handles on all casting reels and I prefer Daiwa I shape cork knobs.

Yikes, entitlement much?

I'm a big fan of keeping things as simple as possible until you have a reason not to. If I were you and you are dead set on using braid with crankbaits and spinnerbaits, I wouldn't throw leaders in the mix until you encounter a situation or problem that they would fix. Keep it simple

I'm glad you got it straightened out but why are using a leader in the first place?

I use Daiwa and Shimano but Daiwa reels palm better than Shimano for me so I have more Daiwa. I've owned reels from all the major manufacturers but I don't think I will stray from Daiwa and Shimano at this point.

They should be rated higher than what's on the box because the actual line diameter is way larger than the normal diameter per lb test of most lines. For the record, I've used YZH a lot and it's good line, I'm not knocking it. But if you are used to YZH and go to a different line in the same lb test it will probably be considerably thinner and in turn, not as strong as what you're used to.

I'm a big fan of Sniper but InvizX is good too. Sunline also makes a fluoro called Sunline Super, it's another good budget option worth trying out but in my experience, a good fluoro is worth the extra money. I really like fluoro for certain applications but it does have limitations. It's often stiffer than mono or copoly, which can require a little more care while casting, and it's more likely to break if not treated properly. Make sure you're careful tying knots and that you lubricate them well, fluoro can burn and weaken when cinching knots dry. If you get a backlash be careful while picking it out, bad kinks will often result in breaks. Also, 12lb Yo Zuri Hybrid has basically the same diameter as 16lb Sunline Sniper. Keep that in mind when picking a lb test to use.

Yep, St Croix does run a little more powerful than some other brands but I put that on other brands being underpowered more than St Croix being "not accurate." St Croix is always consistent and you know exactly what you're going to get, in my experience.

My HD is still rodless so I haven't even put line on it yet. It has the longer 100mm handle, 2 bearings per knob and the big foam knobs, but I put cork knobs on mine. It also has brass gears, while the JDM Zillion has aluminum, and a different spool but since I haven't even cast it yet I can't speak on the spool. Other than those minor differences and the color it doesn't really seem any different. I'm not sure what is heavy duty about it. It looks sweet on the Adrena though.

Luckily it's a general purpose reel with gear ratios to cover all bases. I have a 6:1, 8:1 and a 7:1 HD. I don't think it matters too much what rods you put them on but you will love it when you get it.

I use the 6'10" M Expride for all my popper fishing and it handles them really well. Primarily both sizes of Yellow Magic, G Splash, Rico's and Pop X/Max. It's also a great jerkbait rod. I wouldn't throw anything but smaller shallow cranks with it but it might be what you're looking for.

I use #2 and #3 on 99% of my baits but if it fits and allows the bait to move freely I'm sure it's fine.