Hooligan

Thanks for the heads up. I've been eying the Pinnacle since July; don't quite know why I haven't taken the plunge.

I agree, the MGX is a great little reel, really. I've got two ordered and a third to come. They're going on a pair of NRX and one GLX.

Pitzen is the best way to go with Super 8.

I know first hand the Carbonlite micro has had a couple issues. There is, indeed, a bad run of guides that are on the rods. There's a fairly large run of them that aren't worth a squirt. There was a fairly good number of rods, however, that are not affected. Overall, they're not a bad rod, really.

Great rods for the money. One of the best value priced crankbait specific rods out there. The Glass rod is a joy to cast and fish.

I, too, like the Excalibur baits as a squarebill, They run very, very well in that 0-3 range. Another super bait, and I mean super, is Bass Pro's branded Lazer Eye Nitro Shallow Cranks. They've a decent color selection, and they run very well. I was turned on to them a couple years ago and for a $3.99 bait they are one heckuva value.

Blind hate? You haven't a clue how many reels I've abused, and of what brand or type. It isn't blind hate at all, it's first hand experience. And it's spelled that way intentionally. If I have to explain it, you're already beyond it.

Give the Pflooger a bit more time and it will feel much older than it is. Initial quality is very high, but they have very, very low longevity. Is it worth tuning? No, there's not that much to make enough difference. You can simply add a bearing or two and smooth it out, as well as quiet it down a little. Some of the "whir" is actually air movement from the rotor, too. IMO they're one of the best reels made for general use, the new FJ series is incredible, too.

I've heard that from a lot of kuys, Hammer, but I've also heard from a lot of guys that have seen the same things I have, too. It seems like it's limited to 55 and 70, or has been from what I've used. I have used, literally, 3,000 yards of Samurai since late 2006/early 2007 and have seen it with what I would call infrequency. I have yet to see it with Kanzen, but also don't have the amount of it on reels that I did Samurai and am not fishing braid nearly as much.

I'd say that it's pretty similar really, Deep. The thing, though, that I really notice is that there are fewer inconsistencies in Kanzen than in Samurai. Granted, there are few, but every once in a while you will notice a snag, or a place where there is a diameter change or something in Samurai; I've yet to notice that with Kanzen.

I believe that at Icast I was told that Kanzen is either an eight or ten strand carrier. What I know for certain is that it is the only braid I will fish, period. It's smooth and quiet through the guides and has very good behavior in terms of abrasion. It's not particularly resistant, but because it doesn't have a coating on it, it's a lot easier to tell if there IS wear on the line. When you pay attention to it, you end up cutting a lot less line away. Also, because it is uncoated, it's soft and flexible from the start, similar to samurai. I feel that it has better strength to diameter ratios than Samurai. It's definitely a very dense finish, moreso than Super 8 Slick, which shows in the diameters.

Gotta disagree 100%. Fluorocarbon is more sensitive than any braid, even 832 (that doesn't really sink, mind you, it just doesn't belly as bad...) in those situations that there is any sort of slack line. That's the nature of the beast, and fluorocarbon will kick the pants off braid for those situations. I also prefer it for flipping and catching those drop bites that I've missed with braid.I absolutely prefer fluoro for 99% of the situations that you swear by braid for. Fewer lost fish, more consistent behaviour, better feel for tight lining, and better abrasion resistance. For the record, 832 is not some sort of magical sinking braid. It's got a fiber that slightly increases its density which in turn allows it to not float. That's not saying that it sinks, it's saying that it doesn't float. They've done nothing to approach the density of fluorocarbon which is why fluorocarbon remains more sensitive in the situations listed above. Braid cannot transmit a slack line bite, it's against the laws of physics, plain and simple. Braid, even magical 832, gets a belly when it's chasing a bait to the bottom. it hinges. That is to say, if you will, that it creates a point of slack in the line that the density cannot be overcome and it eliminates the possibility of feeling, or seeing, a pick-up. There are many reasons why a large number of pros do not fish braid for the majority of their bottom contact baits. Most use it very situationally, none use it exclusively.

Better solution than the button is this: http://www.ecoprotungsten.com/diamond-pegs/ I've been fishing the diamond peg for a couple months now, and they work phenomenally. The best part is that I've yet to lose a peg, I have every one that I started with.

I've never needed a stinger rig on the BV or Robo Rago, but I could see they'd be useful in some situations. Most of the time, though, the smaller baits don't have any issues with short strikes.

Odd, they showed on-hands just weeks ago, say a month after ICAST. I also know people that have gotten FULL orders filled. I know that Jason Sealock said they would be available mid-September. I got the three I ordered prior to a Wilson Tournament, and that was the second of October. Regardless, they're out and available now as I've seen them in stores as well.

8.5 of ten. The Citica is still a workhorse of a reel, and the Pinnacle rod is seriously under-rated. Another Crank rig, then, shall we? Lamiglas SR705 Calais DC 10# Tatsu

It's middle-ish, for me. Not too low, but could have been slightly lower, really.

100% incorrect, they're out and available now. TW has had them, as have others. They have plenty of real world reviews out there, including a couple here on the site. They're not the end all, but they're a decent bait.

I'd take the PQ, personally. They're a great value reel.

Bass Pro has licensed Browning fishing for a very long time, completing the agreement something like three years ago. Pflueger has not made BPS reels for a number of years, actually, they don't make their own reels, either. They're made at an OEM facility in Korea. The same that makes many other manufacturers reels. Ultimately, BPS has the manufacturing rights to their own reels, there is no other company other than the factory that they deal with.

I got my mitts on the pair of these reels recently to do some "testing", if you will. Initially I was really, really impressed with the EXO; it's incredibly light and the frame, sideplates, and foot are pure genius. The spool itself is really cool, and the brake system is clean and works simply. The lack of any exterior adjustment also presents the reel in a very clean fashion. It's compact, too, which doesn't hurt a bit; size-wise it's comparable to a CH51MG (which will forever remain a special reel in my mind...) The G series Curado is a great looking reel, harkening back to the B series in terms of exterior look. It's got very soft, rounded features much like reels of old, it's a neat reel to look at. Down to the nitty and the gritty. EXO- The reel that I have is the 7.3:1 variety. It's a wicked fast little reel that is very light and very castable, particularly with light weights. I initially stuck the reel on a NRX852C with the intent of fishing double ringers on a 1/8oz kickstand. It worked beautifully for that purpose, pitching the little rig in and around docks with little effort at all. If I wanted to pinpoint cast the same rig to a corner from 45 feet, it would do that too. I decided to up the ante on the reel, seeing just how it would perform with a 1/16 slider and finesse worm. It worked very well for that, no doubt about it. I couldn't cast it more than about 35 feet, but I couldn't really ask a casting reel to do that, either, it would simply unreasonable to ask more of it. (This is on 10lb Tatsu, mind you.) What the reel failed at, however, was having a smooth, reliable drag. I was beginning to love the reel until that first brown fish hit. It performed well on green fish that had relatively low spunk in cool water, but failed miserably on smallies. It would stop-start in the middle of a run, and stuttered constantly. If I backed off any more on the drag, I'd have been set at about 1.5 pounds and would have eliminated any possibility of landing the majority of the fish we were catching. I was seriously crushed that the reel started this behaviour, as it was going to be the first Quantum I'd owned since the old tear drop cranking reel. Would a carbon-tex fix the issue? I really don't think it would, as it's more from the thread size on the shaft than the drag surface itself. There was just too great a variance in pressure, there was no happy medium with it. Shortly after this occurrence, the clutch started to only partially engage. If I turned the handle with force, it would engage fully. If I lightly turned it to engage, as I would when fishing, it would only partly engage and it took double the effort to turn the handle. It felt like everything was in alignment, but it just doubled the force. It was also nowhere near as smooth to reel; it felt tight. That fact alone eliminated my use of the reel. Because I like to CATCH fish, not dink around and lose them, I went to old Green. The Curado G series, from all aspects, is still the workhorse of the Shimano line, just as the older Curado reels. The G6 was paired with a Loomis NRX893 and 12 pound Tatsu, throwing hair jigs and 3/16 ounce finesse jigs in 12-15 feet of water to spots and smallies. The reel is only slightly less smooth in comparison to the E series reels, and has lost nothing in the castability and, it would seem, the fish handling departments. It's still a reel that you can manage to have a dozen of them out on the deck, trip over them, cuss them, abuse them, and they'll come back for more. What I seriously, seriously dislike about the reel is the solid handle that seems like it came off your grand-dads 1930's model Abu. It's very heavy, very heft in hand, and would, in fact, turn just slightly enough to engage the reel on a hard enough cast. It has enough mass that I'd seriously consider either drilling the handle or finding SOME sort of replacement for it. That, really, is my only complaint of the reel. I've fished it pretty hard for a month or so now, and have had zero issue with it. The drag is a little light, but not so much that it presents a problem. A guy can stick a washer in it for very little, and it will eliminate that problem entirely. I've punished the G reel quite extensively, and can say that, without a doubt, I'll continue to punish them on a wider scale. (I'll punish the Chronarch, too, because they just look so good on my rods, and...well...they're bulletproof.) The G will rightly earn its reputation in time, once people have had their hands on them for enough to give them a real shot. It doesn't like light lures much, say 1/8 ounce jigs, but it will manage a 3/16oz jig and trailer with no issue. The spool is still smooth enough to handle pitching light jigs and small T-rigs with no issues. It will also handle bigger jigs incredibly well. I'm not sure if the thread for the tension cap has changed, but it does seem easier to fine tune the tension than in reels past. It could just be me, so take that one with a grain of salt. While it's not as smooth as a E series reel, it's also not as spendy as one, and yet it performs just as flawlessly. Is it a bargain at $159? Probably not, but it's a reel that you can count on performing time after time for that price. It's definitely worth the money. There you have it, my completely unbiased, poorly worded, albeit real fishing situations, opinions of the two reels. I'd been looking forward to the EXO for some time, and was genuinely excited about it at Icast. Yet after holding it in my hands and fishing it for some time, I'm more impressed with the Curado G than I am the EXO. If you want a light weight reel that will perform flawlessly, not to mention look sharp and clean, save another $100 and get a Core. It's a far better reel in the end. (Note): After continuing to have issues with the EXO clutch engaging, I have since torn down and completely cleaned the reel, taking all bearings and components to a "lube dry" state. After reassembling and properly lubricating the reel, it worked for two to three days of fishing, then proceeded to have the same issue. I've since spoken to other EXO owners that have had the same issue.

No rod so: My favorite river smallie rod- Loomis SMR750S-SP Shimano Sustain 1000FE 6lb Toray Bawo SuperFinesse

What young fatty sayeth is dead on. Same graphite, different resin, different components. I would look for some expansion, but don't know that for sure.

It's got a great action and a very slow fall for schooling fish. It's a very, very different take on a "spoon" while still fluttering and waving, it falls at half the pace of a flutter spoon. It also just doesn't roll.

I use several varieties. I tie a jig with craft fur that works really well for smallies and spots on southern reservoirs early in the year. I fish a couple different silicone hair jigs, and will be using Northstar's a lot more. I sometimes fish them with a trailer like the tiny Paca chunk or a single tail grub, but most often fish them bare.