Delaware Valley Tackle

The tip top needs replacing.

A good rainbow or brown will give you every bit the fight a bass will or more. Float fish the seams with a Trout Magnet or wollybugger

The Tat combo looks like a good deal.

Generally speaking Shimano bearings are on the higher end of the quality scale in my experience. Corrosion resistance wise...hard to tell. Just take care of whatever you have.

In a perfect world, yes dunking would indicate tear down time. In reality a brief submersion in clear water probably isn't catastrophic if addressed as best you can. Lingering submersion in dirty water or laying on the bottom requires more active response. Laying reels on the ground or worse yet sand is arguably the worst.

No not at all. Just lay it out to dry rather than stick it soaking wet in a rod locker, car trunk etc. if it gets dunked even more so.

I'm not privy to every element of every reel but as far as I'm concerned "ARB" is marketing jargon for a slightly higher quality bearing. There are grades of SS and assume this is the difference. I can't see a bearing company making anything to intentionally rust or worse yet a prominent reel company sourcing them. The OP is a clear case of neglect. Always makes sure all your tackle: rods, reels, baits, hooks, tools... are dry before storage and keep each clean and properly lubricated. As brand vs brand spinning reels, Shimano's heavy duty, self contained design is unique and worth points when comparing apples to apples.

A friend of mine had a short bed truck and use a 10" SonoTube (concrete pier form) with rods slid down butt first.

If I had to guess, it got put away wet. Worst thing you can do.

Also that the spool shaft is not bent.

They're nothing special. Decent but not worth stressing to source specifically. Let us know what you want a blank to do and you'll get recommendations.

Examine your brake settings and thumbing technique. Sounds like you have line ballooning off the spool

Personally I won't pay more than 60% of retail for any second hand tackle. I agree, fish it and see how it goes.

Single hook baits should be ok if they're thin or fine wire

Hit me up when you're ready

Loomis blanks are not head and shoulders above other top blanks like they were when Gary pioneered graphite technology rods. In fact, the MHX blanks were designed specifically to fill the void when loomis cut off supply to custom builders. There are as good or better components to build with than any production rod and the attention to detail exceeds anything a factory is capable of.

Email me and I'll walk you through it.

I don't recommend the uninitiated get into spinning reel ARs. As pointed out already most are not self contained as in casting reels. Spinning reels definitely benefit from deep cleaning but are often overlooked.

If you're going to lay down the $ for a high end rod you shouldn't have to settle or compromise on any detail.

Many modern reels have more feel and sound once they free up. I believe it's the result of light weight rigid materials transmitting vibration , same as a high end rod. Factories tend to pack reels with grease which initially masks some of this. I doubt there's anything wrong with your reel

If you're walking the frog you're likely throwing some slack into the line and spooling over loops. Same fix: occasional long cast and tight respool.

There are better platforms for a BFS project.

There's no right or wrong. Fwiw in selecting a reel I look for overall build quality , line capacity, drag, ergonomics, weight , aesthetics. I can't force myself to add unnecessary weight to a blank I paid top dollar for due to its light weight. I fish for steelhead holding a 13' rod all day. It would take 1/4 pound or better to make it "balance "

It's not so cut and dried. All these term are subjective for starters. In very general terms a mh/f casting, mh/mod casting and Med/f spinning setup will cover all the most popular and effective bass techniques. Personally I find myself moving more toward ML spinning setups. We're talking Ned's, small hair jigs, 3-4" worms...

You'd have to try to go wrong with any name brand reel msrp >$100. Put the rest of your budget toward the best 7' MH/fast rod you can. Fwiw I'm right handed and use mostly left hand casting reels. If you don't go with a daiwa, look for something with centrifugal or dual brakes.