Jason Penn

i've had great luck with the dark wolf ultra, and kastking kestrel, kestrel elite, and valliant eagle 2 reels. it sounds stupid to me, but i was all daiwa rods & reels before i got hard into bfs. i haven't purchased a daiwa bfs reel yet. the reels above have worked so well for me with tsurinoya rods that i haven't felt the need to go high dollar.

those pics show what is so fun about bfs to me...catch anything that swims, but fish how i feel the most comfortable.

sorry, i'm an old dude, and if i've been using "bubba bfs" for a pretty good while, it's been around for years! ??

i've had a shallow spool in a tatula sv for a few years, and was happy with it. i got a dark wolf ultra, and a kestrel elite in june, and both of those reels seem to throw 1/16oz jig heads better than the tatula. bfs setups have really been a blast for me. i've used spinning a pretty good bit over the past 25 years, but i didn't grow up using them. when i was a kid walking the banks of local ponds, i used a diawa spincast reel on 5' or 5.5' pistol grip rod throwing a jig trying to catch crappie. so using bfs gear pretty much takes me back to my childhood lol

i've gotten bit by the bug as well. probably what i've enjoyed most about it (on top of basically catching everything that swims) is at the end of the day, i don't feel as tired through my shoulders from slinging 1/2oz baits. i've got 3 setups right now, and will add a 4th when bfe gets the tsu legend rods back in stock

after inserting tungsten weights, i don't really break off fc anymore prior to that i had problems on t-rigs. i use the eugene slip knot to tie t-rigs & jigs, and a clinch knot for everything else.

i use casters on the right and spinning on the left. i've tried to use left crank baitcasters, but i can't really get a good hookset with my right arm although i am right handed. same deal with spinning, but that's why i use left crank. i don't want a power hookset, i just pull into a hookset and not jerk. i want light wire hooks to penetrate and not rip a hole. that's why i want spinning rods in my right hand.

how many blades do you have to buy to get them custom made?

hope daiwa uses these blank on other series of rods. i have the 6'10 mh regular rebellion and love the blank, but hate the skinny reel seat

i may just order 1 also lol

i'll get in on thread also. i missed the 6'9 jerkbait rod on the tatula elite blowout sales, so i am thinking this rod may work well for jerkbaits, light cranks & topwaters.

if you are looking for compact and durable, the bassman compact is it. the wire out of the head is so short, it's really hard to bend. the whole profile is too small to have a double willow blade bait. as munkin mentioned, they are expensive and they don't put high quality blades on them.

i agree! but the head sure looks good as a bladed jig

i'm no help with the reels you're asking about, but just a tatula sv with a diy spool will cast an 1/8oz jig head with 2" baby shad a pretty good ways. i'm using a 6'4 l daiwa blazon rod

how about reworking the poisontail collar to be more like those?

i have no experience with this rod, but a tw review said it was a great 6xd rod. take that for what it's worth. after having a couple of the tatula elite rods, i've decided what the pros like, and what works for me are two completely different things. there's nothing wrong with the rods, but what they use them for, and what i use them for are different.

yes that's what i was talking about lol i have 1 of the 6'10mh regular rebellion rods, and love the performance of the rod, but can't stand the air sensor reel seat for moving baits that have a lot of resistance.

i've been waiting for reviews of these rods. these will end up being the only rods without the new reel seats daiwa seems to be going to. i think they're about to redesign the tatula elite rods, and will probably change the seat on them.

the bassman compact is a really small bait. in fact, it has a colorado on the front blade because the frame is too small for a willow. they are expensive, and don't have super high quality blades, but the frame is very durable. it's the super stainless/camo wire.

according to measurements, yes. i have some #6 indiana blades from barlows and also have some #5 hildebrandt indianas and there's a definite difference. i can't seem to resize a pic properly to show the difference, but a #5 hildebrandt is a little over 2" long, and a #6 from barlows is showing 1.6" on their site

#5 hildebrandts are pretty large. barlows site has blade measurements down on the bottom of each blade page, and the #4 hildebrandt and #6 indiana from whoever makes blades that they sell are more compareable

anybody use those big eye swivels on spinnerbaits? looks like nichols is using them, and i was wondering how they perform

i have found out that apparently the fish around me don't really care how pretty the skirt is ?

no, the ones i'm using are down towards the bottom of the page. they come already assembled with the blade. i do apologize, the hooks are way too small for what you are looking for. i'm really more of a spinnerbait guy than bladed jig, but i've been trying to make myself use them more. i'm just using a split tail trailer on them, some the 3/0 & 4/0 have been fine for me.

i'm in no way a bladed jig expert, but i've just been using the ones from omfishingsinkers. the only way i've figured how to get a skirt on them is to wire tie it though.