Hooligan

Color me jealous, Dwight. I have yet to pull the trigger on it, but after all the reading I've done, probably will.

I lurves my 200D. I've only had it a short two and a half weeks, but man it's stellar. Currently it has 20lb mono on it for throwing 6" Hudds. I wanted to try it with that, and haven't changed to what its intended use is- a crankbait reel. I haven't had the chance to fish my 300Ds yet, only cast them, and played. One is on an A-Rig stick and the other is on my big swimmer. Easily the single best upgrade Shimano has made to any reel in my memory. They're stellar. They DO have more torque, and they're very comfortable in hand, the thumb "slot" on top of the reel makes it so much more comfortable; I can't really explain that bit, you just have to get them in hand to see the bit I'm talking about. It's sort of a cutout for your thumb on top of the reel that eases palming... Anyhow, yeah, probably number 3, possibly 2, on my best buy list for the category. I like them more than my Plutons.

It's neither. It's an entirely different material than Seaguar's own proprietary materials. Cabela's specs their line to what they want, Seaguar extrudes it. Seaguar isn't making a line and putting a Cabela's label on it. They're making an OEM line for Cabela's as an OEM manufacturer.

Yeah, me too. I had three tournaments cancelled in the past two weeks. One of them was a pretty major, and a fourth was an absolute blank tournament; one person caught one fish- dead in the livewell so he ended negative on points. It's tough right now, to say the least. Mark- right now a LOT of the lakes 89 is low. You want to talk about extreme temps- there are some reservoirs that don't stratify that are hitting 96-98 degree temps at 5 foot depth. It's pretty crazy. I fished a small-ish lake yesterday that has crystal clear water and loads of springs- Even there, the temps are low 90's at three feet down. A lot of the water supply reservoirs are down by five to seven feet...

A lot of those are being sold at or slightly above dealer cost. They make a volume buy, bypass the sales agreement and eBay them. Some, I am sure, are stolen product, some are from factory seconds, some are probably straight up. With fleabay you takes yer chances.

I've got 5 rods that are straight flip sticks. 15 rods that are considered jig/plastics rods. Any one of them can be a pitch stick at any time. I have another five that are specifically deep water jig rods that I don't, and won't, pitch a jig with.

Then you need more spool tension and/or higher brake settings. It isn't the line's fault.

There are some VERY reliable stores on Ebay, guys that I won't hesitate to deal with. There are a lot of guys, though, that are selling returned reels and bunk reels out there, too. generally, if you see that it's as is, no returns, I avoid it. BTW, the new Chronarch 50E is the same reel- just gonna throw that out there. They're available.

You're crazy. I'm shimano through and through, but the Zillion is a far better reel for moving baits. The ONLY thing the Core has going for it is its weight. I love my Zillions and I won't trade them for anything but a Calais- which I have, and the Zillion is STILL comparable.

It isn't out of the question to throw the rig on a crank stick. I throw a light A rig, around 2 ounces, on a Cumara 7-11 MHXF. I'm careful with it, because the rod is rated to 1.5, but it works VERY well for that purpose. AS a general rule, though, I'd be looking a lot more for a Swimbait stick in the 3-5 ounce range to do it. They're more powerful, have better tips for it, and generally handle the rigs better.

I'm sorry, but blaming a line, any line for pilot error is not acceptable. Backlashes occur with any line. I have fewer with fluorocarbon than with any other line. The #1 cause of backlash is pilot error, that's all there is to it. It isn't the line's fault, not the reel's either. If youfeel you're having more backlash problems with fluoro, fill the spool slightly less than you would with other lines. Use higher brake settings, and more tension until you get used to the way it behaves on your reels.

TH FJ is "blow your skirt up good" in comparison to the CI4. I fish my FJs over my one year old Sustain FE, no questions asked. Spinning reel comparison comes down to a lot more than just weight. I have two Stella FE, which are more comparable to the FJ than the CI4. The FJ is THAT good. IMO, there's no reason to bump up to the Sustain for 99% of the anglers anymore. You used to gain a tremendous amount, now, though, the felt difference is minimal.

Used to use the Owner Beast, but have converted to the Moaner hook for 99% of my soft swimbaits. Great hook, awesome price.

Tatsus is incredibly superior to everything out there, there's just no comparison. I've fished them, and I still go back to the best. In terms of longevity alone, Tatsu pans out cost wise.

Almost all my bottom contact rods have LH reels on them. A lot of my Cranking/Reaction rods are RH. Just the way it is for me.

Lunker Punker and a Shell Cracker Wake are my two favorites for big fish.

Depends on what I'm doing. Cranking, spinenrbaits ,and the like- Chronarch. Pitching and non-retrieve dependent applications- Curado, and spend $40 on tackle.

The only time I care about casting distance is when I'm cranking, but then if it's 75 yards and left of center, it doesn't matter. Accuracy is everything. Practice your accuracy and everything else comes with it. That's the point of it. You get a feel for what your rods and reels will do at a given distance and you then know how much power you must apply based on a relative distance. If I can't put a jig on a 4" plate from 15 yards, I go back to the basics and practice. You're getting no distance on the spinning reels because you have no line on them, period. Full spools are the only way to get ANY distance on spinning gear.

I disagree. Every single one of my G series reels has been fantastic. They're excellent reels, just like the B series used to be. I've put a LOT of hours on the dozen of them I have and have had ZERO issues. Is the Chronarch worth a $40 upgrade? They are and they aren't. They're a bit smoother retrieve, but don't cast any better than the G series. I also have at least a dozen E Series Curado and another dozen Chronarch. I'm happy with them, but am actually happier with the G series Curado on the basis of it being what it's always been. They're just what a Shimano reel has always been, and what they always should be- bombproof and affordable. Shimano has never billed the G as an upgrade, nor has anyone with half a wit, all you have to do is look at the specs to tell that.

Rick has changed dramatically through the years, not a personality I'm fond of anymore. A great salesman, yes... As glass rods go, they're an essential tool. Not until the last couple years did I really find the perfect rod for me in a deep crank stick. I own a tremendous number of graphite crank rods and a lot of glass. The glass has so much more power in reserve, the slow recovery is generally what will save you. That said, I've not had issue with modern graphite, either. The new GLX crank sticks are incredible, and I cannot wait to get my mitts on them on the water. The advances in graphite construction and flexibility are making strides towards full glass rods being obsolete. Their weight being one of the biggest drawbacks. Anymore, my glass rods are really relegated to deep cranking, I may use one for squarebills from time to time, but they lack the moving power to get a fish from deep cover. They're excellent for controlling fish, but poor for moving fish, if you understand what I mean.

20'. My port rod locker is empty for the most part. When I'm fishing, whether a tournament or fun fishing, I want to make darn certain that I have ALL my tools. You never know what you're going to run into. Yesterday, for instance, turned into a swim jig bite, and I was throwing four different swimjigs in two colors and two sizes to get the job done. I can't do that effectively with four or five rods, along with having a Trig, a creature, a flip stick, and... I have multiples of rods so that I may capitalize on the effective pattern. You think any pro out there doesn't have at least three of their primary, let's use a jig rod as an example? The only rods that I generally don't carry multiples of are my drop shot rods and my finesse spinning and finesse casting. I carry one jerkbait rod year round. Depending on the lake I change out what I'm going to have the most of. For instance on Table Rock, I'm going to have at least 4 7-2 MHXF rods in Summer. Spring will usually find me with just two, and instead I'll have four 6-8 MXF for jerkbaits. On a crank pattern, I'll have four 7-10 crank sticks, and usually three 7-11 Crank sticks, at a minimum. You tailor your gear to what you will generally run into, and have all the extras as back up rods because you never know what will come up. My standards that are ALWAYS in the boat: 6-8 MXF Spinning 6-8MHXF Spinning 7-2 MXF Dropshot 7-2MHF Spinning 6-8 MXF Casting x2 6-8 MHXF Castingx2 6-6 MH Casting 6-6 M Casting 7-2 MF Casting 7-2MHF Casting 7-2 MXF Casting-3 7-2MHXF Casting-3 7-5 Casting- 3 7-6 Flip 7-9 Flip 7-11 Flip Swim-3 7-0 H Crank-2 7-8 MH Crank-2 7-11 Crank-2 I fill and trade out rods like Senko and variable TX rig rods based on where I'm going and what time of year.

I've never actually switched, I just have gravitated that way. Cumulus, Cumara, and NRX. I own almost all of the Cumara series, minus a couple rods here and there. I really believe they're the biggest bang for the buck out there. Sadly, however, they're not going to be available in the current configuration very long. As is the trend with ShiLoomis, I'm sure that we will see the series revamped and upgraded where it needs to be.

IT really depends on what I'm doing. If I'm crankin' even on a good day I may have five rods on the deck. On a bad day in general, I may have six or eight out. If It's a jig bite, I'll generally have three rods out with three weights of jig. How many do I carry in the boat? Usually 36.

The rod is your culprit, most likely. You're fishing a bait that is a total weight of close to an ounce, not just the head. You have to consider that. The lightest rod that I will fish a 3/8 ounce spinnerbait on is a MH Xfast.

There's another video out there with KJ on Flutter Spoons, too. The Spaits in THE BEST, really. The Nichols is an OK spoon, it twists more because it doesn't have to front to back rock that a lot do. I like it for certain situations. The best way to fish them, unfortunately, is on braid with a swivel 12-18 inches above and a flouro leader. I fish them on heavy fluoro, but braid is infinitely better. There's no wrong way to fish them, really. I catch fish vertically, on a horizontal plane, short hopping, ripping off humps, over grass, in timber and fishing it over suspended fish. They're a dynamite way to get a school of fish fired up on point in fall, too. You can do so much with them, many, many guys just forget about them.