Hooligan

Best rod I've found for Massive swimbaits is the Dobyns 908. I initially bought it to throw big plastic swimbaits like the Suzie sucker and Curly Sue, but found it to be astonishingly effective for throwing big, heavy wood baits. The Loomis MUR 967 is also quite adept, although not optimal. Agree with Speed and JF on the Legend Muskie. It just doesn't have the guts to do it in a wood bait. It can handle 8ounce bulldawgs but much more than that and it is taxed pretty hard.

I tend to disagree with that. I've had many, many inserts pop on rods through the years from brand new rods to rods 15 months old. Inserts pop for a large variety of reasons, not the least of which is sizing issues from the component t manufacturer.

Interesting thoughts here. If your rod is under 90 days from point of purchase, return it to the store you bought it and exchange it. Beyond 90 days, the entire rod: guides, reel seat, all components are covered under the warranty. One aspect that you need to keep in mind, regardless of money spent by having a rod builder do it locally, is that if it is not an approved Loomis warranty center and you have them repair or replace anything on the rod, it will void the warranty. The same is true of all manufacturers of modern rods. Part of that reason is that they want those rods back in-house to determi e the failures and the issues. They cannot correct them if they don't know about them.

Uhhh... They aren't direct drive. They have a gear ratio and reduction, as well as a drag that is fixed. Were they direct drive, as you state, it would be a 1:1 gear ratio, with no anti-reverse, and no drag. They're great reels for the purpose of flipping and pitching. I've never had a problem with my 500 or 700 reels. The reason they are down that far is they were discontinued two years ago in favor of the 700 series that has a couple extra bearings.

There isn't a standard, period. The sizing is determined by the measure of gap from point to shank. That said, the size should be uniform by brand and style, which in your instance seems very, very inconsistent. Having a 1/0 equal a size 1 and a 2/0 equal a size 2 in the same make is completely off. If anything, the 1/0 should be comparable to a 1 or 2, and the 2/0 should be a 1/0 or size 1. Having it drop from 2/0 to a 2 is three entire size drops, and from any manufacturer th st is unacceptable. Case in point, the VMC flipping hook in a 4/0 is equal to a 2/0 Gamakatsu heavy cover worm hook. Yet the 3/0, 2/0, 1/0 sizes are all relative to the 4/0.

I like graphite for some applications, and glass for others. I actually like glass for deep cranking wood because I can really put the wood to fish, if you will, to get them moving and still be fairly safe. I usually have no problem feeling the way the bait is running with glass rods, but don't much like them for fishing squarebills or traps unless I am in grass. Just a preference thing.

Odd, indeed. I've run into greenfish deep on Tablerock several times when diving in the 75-100 foot range. In all instances, however, they were there to eat crawdads for a few minutes at a time, then they would move back up to around the 45 foot marker relatively quickly. The spots would stick around right below the 50 foot thermocline mark for extended periods, seemingly never going above it. (You are able to gauge depth because of the ascension line we use diving, so the depths are fairly accurate.) Funny thing, too, is that I have never seen a smalljaw over 50 feet deep on The Rock. Deepest Portsmouth I've caught there is 61 feet, 77 for a spot. Brownish- 34. I maintain that fish don't read the same books we do. The time I spend fishing and the time I've spent diving continue to back that up.

Tournament practice load as a boater I generally have 35-37. As a non, generally 5-7. Tournament load if I am comfortable on a pattern around ten.

I fish anything from 10-25 for squares. Anything more than that gets 10lb.

Huge fan of Stringease fast teach.

Keep in mind, too, that Shimano is notoriously slow on shipping. Last I had checked there were zero orders th st had even been released. That's not a good indicator to be in stores mid-month. It's possible, yes, but not entirely likely.

E21 was purchased by Catonics earlier this year. That said, they might be worse now than ever before. I had hoped for a turn around but it does not appear it is going to happen. Many retailers are dropping the rods altogether. Their production and delivery has been horrendous, and the outlook is not good. Some are saying that Catonics has only driven them further in the ground.

The 7-8 is a really well built crank stick. It's a full on glass rod with a more traditional action. I like the rod an awful lot. It's perfect for big, deep cranks. But it's pretty worthless for anything under 1/2 ounce.

I'm a Northstar guy through and through. Their jigs and spinnerbaits have put an awful lot of checks in my bank account the past three years. I have been extremely happy with the spinnerbaits for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which is that they come through cover extremely well, the heads are balanced well, the bearing swivels and the blades spin under very little movement, and the baits run true at very high speeds. The wire tied skirts are an added bonus, too. The set back hook on the Northstar also helps with hook up rates. It's one of the best, if not the best, I've ever used for keeping fish pinned. Northstar jigs are ridiculously well built, too. I've had a lot of fun with the black series this year, and the Knockouts are just that. I've had a jig fishing year this year, no doubt about it. They're still on jigs pretty heavy on quite a few of the lakes I fish, and I've been knocking them with a Black Series in Frogger and Alimony. My son and I fished a lake Wednesday and we had 29.86 for five fish. All came to a Frogger/Lobster combo. I wasn't happy with the MegaStrike bait for a few reasons, mostly due to preferences. It didn't fit what I was looking for in a spinnerbait, really. They're built ok, and the components are good, but it didn't fit my needs.

I'm odd man out, I guess. I prefer the 6" ROF5 for about 85% of my Hudd fishing. I've caught some genuine Midwestern pigs on them, often in tournaments. I've taken to throwing a Hudd when I really need a kicker in the boat on day 2. Seems like it is usually a Hail Mary situation, but it is ultra rare that it doesn't produce. As far as setup- I've got two that I throw. #1 is a Shimano Crucial MH. Some say its too stout for fishing Hudds and the like, but I absolutely love it for the purpose. On that is either a Lexa 300, Calcutta 300, or Daiwa Pluton. (Not all three of those rods are in the boat at the same time with me...). The second setup I use more for 8" Hudds and big wood baits: that's the Loomis 956 with a Calcutta D 300. All that said I've got 1/10 the experience with swimbaits as guys like Speed and Francho. It isn't until the past three years or so that I've begun to rely on them more in tournaments. I still don't have ultimate faith in them, but I am learning to, for sure.

Some time ago I posted about failures that occurred and this is exactly the sort of thing I was talking about. But, those things don't happen in the real world, people argued. Yet, here it is plain as day. I've seen it happen with casting reels as well. GOOD luck with AG customer service, they're usually decent to deal with.

You can go ahead and send all those you don't want to me. I'll take them off your hands.

If it's any indicator I buy them by the thousand count in four colors. Usually I'll have to stock at least one color more than once a year.

Lake I was fishing is known for some 8-10lb Northern Strain fish with the odd 11-12 thrown in. I've caught a lot of 7lb+ fish on Punkers and Triples, and decided to throw the Roman Made at them. There also happen to be Muskies in this lake. I just didn't think about it, usually throw a heavy fluorocarbon leader on baits like that. I just forgot, grabbed my rod and chucked it. About 25 casts later my line went right, I set the hook, felt the weight, and then nothing. Like I said, my own stupid fault.

I'm unsure of the micro cut gear. The Chronarch E isn't going on sale, or going anywhere.

Lost a Roman Made Mother last week. My own stupid fault. At least I didn't pay retail for it.

Looks right now like it is 2 ratios, 7.6 and 6.2 in just the 150 size. Retail of 269.99.

Different reel than the JDM release Morrum ZX. The JDM reel doesn't have the carbon fiber handle and it doesn't have the upgraded cast control, yet. The new reel is also made in Sweden, the Asian market reel is made in Korea. The differences there are yours to call.Frankly, I'm excited to see the name back in a USDM reel. They're super reels that I have several of, two of which are collector grade reels and will remain that way.

If you hit that cypress knee just right on the 10th cast, one could argue that they failed to see it the first nine times.I maintain that you can't force feed fish, regardless of how many times you put it in front of them. I also think that a lot of times they swipe in anger with a closed mouth, which is how you end up with foul hooked fish.

Odd. My 7-2 MH and Med XF don't do it at all. My 6-8 MH XF doesn't., the 6-8 M touches. The fast rods all touch. How odd...