NorcalBassin

Definitely has a unique taste of its own. And I sure hope it's not relabeled Makers or I've been had. ?

Cant believe the exchange rate is up to 142 right now. Couldn't resist and ordered quite a few OSP and Deps baits from Japan Lure Shop last night. I definitely don't need any reels, but the bait/reel monkey keeps telling me to choose between a zillion sv and the new bantam. If they ever get any more Steez A's in at this exchange rate my wallet is toast. ?

His whole crew and nearly everyone else struggled. Can't believe how many skunks there were in that tourney. Good news is when the bite picks up the fish should be tanks from all those minnows.

Considering all the jdm tackle I've been purchasing the past few weeks it was inevitable I'd also be trying their whiskey. Just like their tackle, I'm a fan.

Crazy that what 21 years ago. I still remember the feeling of that day as though it was just this past year.

NRX/NRX+. Incredibly sensitive, pretty much any size/taper you'd ever need outside of swimbaits or BFS, and the warranty is top notch and incredibly simple. I really like higher end Megabass rods, but after 3 years you're SOL with the warranty and I've already been sol 2x.

Maybe mix it up a little bit and get 2 SV's but put the HD version on your 806. I've been really pleased with the one I picked up a few weeks ago and I'm pretty sure its permanent home will be on the Dobyns 795 I use for magnum topwaters, large wakebaits and rats.

Guessing my home lake is finally off the list now that it's 203 ft from full. Sure be nice if they put the plug back in at some point instead of just wasting all that water.

Definitely don't forget the frog rod!

Agree with the St Croix LTB 73MXF. Great rod in their lineup with the added bonus of matching with the blue.

As a bit of a Shimano fanboy with 15+ of their baitcasters (Curados to Mets/Aldes), I have to say I've been very impressed with the Zillion HD. It's ridiculously smooth, casts well, and a pleasure to fish with. I don't have the sv but with all the raving reviews I imagine it would be more of the same.

Had a great last summer trip with my oldest. Got to the lake about 30 minutes before sunrise so we'd have time to run up to where I was hoping the best topwater action would be. She's done really well with small swimbaits, grubs, tubes, Neds, senkos, and drop shot over the years (I've always just tried to put the girls on fish when I take them out), and I figured it was past time to set her up for topwater. First fish of the day a couple casts in with a whopper plopper. My turn on a rover Nice upgrade on the plopper Double hookup... she won. She'll be reminding me of this one for a while... And then she followed it up with her new PB... 19" and close enough to 4 pounds to let her call it a 4 pounder. Day couldn't have gone better.

I haven't added that to the arsenal yet, but the Tactical Bassin guys rave about that rod for lipless and general use crankbaits.

For me nose hooked drop shot = spinning, T-rigged drop shot = casting. Never a good time when your nose hooked soft plastic flies off with a baitcaster.

I'm guessing the ROF is quite a bit slower than 1.5ft/sec (Huddleston 12 sinks like a rock and it's 1.2ft/sec, 12ft/10s). The somewhat thick mono or a fast retrieve could be what's not keeping them down where you want them. Inserting a couple nail weights may be all you need to get what you're looking for. I don't have active target but it does seem like you should still be able to pick up a 6-8" bait.

ST 36's or gamakatsu g-finesse do well for me.

Size 1 Owner mosquito light has worked great for me with a nose hooked dream shot. Caught many 3-4 pound LM at Clear Lake on that combo and never had any issues hooking or landing them (drag fairly loose w/5# test).

Our spots in NorCal can get really big (past 5+ world records IIRC), and I love having them around since they stay fairly active and aggressive year round. Plus they sometimes fight like they're possessed.

It's nice to mix it up and I'll definitely have one rigged up through the fall to give it a long look. I've been rigging weedless with 3/16-1/4oz and an ewg, and I've had to retrain myself with that setup since I'm used to just reel setting most of my finesse setups with an exposed hook.

My oldest heads back to college in a few days, so we're sneaking in a couple last trips before she heads out. Took the kayaks out for a lazy morning on a local mountain lake with a small population of SM and a ton of planted trout. Starting to feel really comfortable on the pdl 120 and will hopefully get a chance to take it out on the bigger water soon. Invested in some small Japanese minnow baits for trout and bass when they're on small bait, and I have to admit throwing those on an UL rod was a lot of fun. Running 3lb fc and it's going to be quite the fight when I run into a decent sized spot or LM.

Never want to see smoke in the sky around here this time of year... Dink of dinks but it always amazes me how aggressive small SM and spots can be. First cover scat fish on a free rig. I was pleasantly surprised how many bites this drew.

It's a unicorn. Matt Allen is a longtime swimbait fisherman and has said many times the IMX Pro 966 (3-8oz) is one of the only rods he felt could do a good job throwing an 8" Hudd or 250. A couple other options that do really well with one and could pull off the other are the Dobyns 807 (mag heavy, 3-10oz that would be great for jig hook soft swimbaits and would do okay with a 250) and Dobyns 867 (4-16oz that would be great for a 250 and okay dragging a soft swimbait).

Darn jdm and the hook up tackle both got me. Needed another versatile spinning rod, and since I've heard so many good things about the St Croix Victory 7'3"MXF and the hook up had them on sale I couldn't pass it up. Teaming it up with the Exsence BB and it feels pretty great in hand. Bait monkey also informed me I needed to try cover scats, jdm finesse jigs and a couple small swimbaits.

Excellent purchase and congrats in advance! I switched the previous gen Bantam over to my deep cranking rod a while back and couldn't be happier. Everything I've read puts this MGL A as a solid upgrade from mine... I imagine you'll be quite happy with it for many years to come.