stkbassn

Thanks John, very true. I do have one of these on a Poison Adrena rod and I absolutely love it. I will be getting more of these reels for sure! Casts like a dream and very hard to backlash!

Dude, the E series in my opinion is the best Curado ever made except for the exclusion of a 6.3:1 gear ratio option. The E5 and E7 are easily some of the best reels I've owned to date. I like them better than any Chronarch E or Curado I. I saw a comment about palming....listen, the E is small and palms very well....how micro do we need to go folks?.....Just my 2 cents from my experience. Get one!! You'll be pleased. I've owned all of the reels you've mentioned just so you know where I'm coming from. All great reels but the E's are special.

Beautiful smallies!! Nice work!

You're welcome. I hope you enjoy whatever you decide on. The combo sounds good! A lot of folks here like Lew's reels as well and there must be a reason. They just haven't been for me. If you pick one up be sure to review it on here. Same with the Tatula. Let us know how it turns out for you.

Sorry Jeeper, I missed your question here. I don't really care about the extra gear ratios myself. I've used 6.3 for pretty much everything over the years including worms and jigs. If you want more I'd go with the 8.1:1 though. Can't hurt! The HD by the way is a reel with a bit more line capacity and it's been tagged as a big bait reel by some. I am curious about it and might pick one up for my smaller swimbaits.

Yeah, I understand. I think everyone has their own preferences about feel and what they're used to. For me the Tatula didn't seem like much of a transition from my Curado's or Chronarchs but someone else might feel that it's a stretch and something they just aren't comfortable with. I think the trend toward lightest and smallest is a little overboard these days but again, that's only my opinion. Everyone has to fish with what's most comfortable to them so there's no wrong or right. Balance is more important than weight to me anyway. A very balanced combo with more total weight might actually feel lighter or as light as a featherlight combo that isn't as balanced. I've ran into this many times.

Sure thing! I had 6.3 in all of the Tatula's except for the one power version which is the 5.4:1. It's really IPT that's going to vary within the same ratio across brands. I'm sure the 7.3:1 will do the trick for you on your worming and jigs. I don't know the IPT right off but I know my 6.3 ratios cranked it in pretty quickly. I love those Tatula's. The Type R is pretty sweet too. I like the standard and Type R and at the 100 price point the standard Tatula is hard to beat in my opinion.

For the Tatula's , I think heavy and clumsy is a bit of an over-dramatized description unless you have miniature hands similar to the T-Rex. I had 5 at one time and didn't find this to be the case and I have average sized hands I'd say. Between Lew's(which I've also had) and the Tatula's I'd go Tatula every single time and that's any model. I really loved my Type R though. I will have another Tatula or 2 come Spring time. I liked the Lew's BB2 that I had the most of any Lew's so far because of the braking system. It was a smooth reel too. So I won't knock Lew's but I will say I prefer the Tatula's. Good luck with your purchase and enjoy whatever you get!

Bojangles Turkey again this year....off the hook!

Loomis E6X Spinnerbait rod. It's been a great sb rod so far.

Just a gripe really but maybe someone can help me understand this rule/law. So my friend and I are going fishing on Friday to a lake that stocks trout but we are going bass fishing, neither of us fish for trout and never will or at least not somewhere where a license is required. I have my freshwater fishing license which I've paid my $23 bucks for. Why can't VA create a temporary/daily trout license for those who are in the situation we are? It's not fair to require us to pay another $23 to have a license for a fish we won't fish for to begin with and won't have a use for after the ONE day...... It's absurd to me....anyone else? I'm a bass fisherman, not a trout fisherman. Really VA?!

Check out the 6th Sense Flow Glider on TW too. I'm looking to pick one up. I think you'll love the S-Waver 168. I haven't bought anything bigger like the 200 size or the DEPS 250 but the DEPS is the next one on my list. It's around 9 inches. I just got the Butch Brown bass DEPS 175 and it's a beauty. Perfect size in my opinion. I also have the DEPS Bullshooter which is arguably the most awesome bait I've ever thrown. It's a gorgeous glider for sure! Good luck and have fun with these baits. I will be picking up the larger S-Waver soon as well.

You don't exactly give me the warm and fuzzies either. I didn't start the thread by the way and you've responded on here as well so you are also arguing "hypotheticals" by being part of it. KVD is not my hero, I don't have any. I just know where I sit on the food chain no matter what romantic and naive ideas might be floating around in my head from time to time. So what if I win one or two battles against KVD or any pro, it proves absolutely NOTHING and I won't be walking away with my chest puffed out like I've accomplished something. I am still not that good and no matter how much I believe in myself after watching after school specials I know I can't attain his level of greatness. I'm good with that. Ignore away. I do have a smart mouth, you got me there.

And some just can't admit when they don't have what it takes. As far as I know, unless you're a pro and operating under an alias here you aren't going to win the battle against the likes of KVD. To me, I'm not the one being arrogant or ignorant on this thread, quite the opposite in fact. I would accept the challenge but not expect to win. It has nothing to do with my attitude, just my grasp on reality. Some don't have that.

Yeah, time on the water is key too which leads back to more experience and being able to adapt when things are tough. When you have those little golden nuggets stashed away you can change the game faster than someone who might slay the fish on their home waters when it's great but not so much when it's tough. You also brought up something that I hadn't thought of that's a big factor, the cost and the time. Not that it's easy for any pro just starting or even someone who is established on the tour but the investment is massive. If you can afford to put the time in and take the time to fish a lake you're going to have a leg up on those guys just scraping to get from one tournament to the next and working a job to support a family. I know a guy here in Roanoke that fished the tour and we've had a lot of discussions about what it takes. He was working full time and fished the Bassmasters tour for a short while. It was extremely tough, period. He's a darn good fisherman and much better than me and he struggled on the tour against these guys. Talking to him made me that much more aware of how amazing these top guys are or just the guys that consistently cash. Even the guys who don't cash are most all great fisherman at the very least. If you're in the top 50 you are really doing something in my opinion. So hard. The guy I know finished 70th once and that was his best result. I admire him and respect him tremendously for his accomplishments that are far greater than any in fishing I'll ever have. But man it's TOUGH stuff boys!

I don't like it. I hope it doesn't stick. I don't much care what the "image" of tournament fishing is to those who don't love the sport and it's traditions and neither should BASS. Where is this coming from? Put this on the list with Delta issue, the sports teams having to change their names, college mascots being changed along with college team names and the list goes on and on and on. I'll say no more, I don't want warning points again.

I think you're right. They live a very humble life, maybe working in a cafe or even as a cashier at Walmart. They could hit the big stage and make millions but because they feel that fishing is a place for them to escape and find peace they wouldn't dare ruin the purity of that by making a name as a pro with all of the annoying sponsors, tv shows, tournament appearances, large pay checks...why would anyone do that when they can stay home eating tv dinners and watching A River Runs Through It on VHS.

I can say from experience that the original Max series is great. I don't see how you could be disappointed with one of those if you decide to get one. I love Powell and don't think they get enough positive press. Awesome rods, period. Even the Diesel series is a great rod. I've had quite a few of those and they've never let me down, not once!

I'll comment one last time. I'll bet on KVD every single time against anyone on this thread. No disrespect to anyone here because most of you guys would whoop me I'm sure. I think my wallet gets fat 99.99999999 % of the time and the time he loses is when he gets an emergency call and has to call it a day before either angler boats a fish...and I think it might even end up as a tie on that occasion

I love PayPal but I've had my issues with them too. I've definitely had more good experiences than bad though. I do wish more retailers accepted PayPal. I have used it for TW purchases many times and all have gone well.

Not to derail but this is very similar to the pool hall. Every year we have a Toys for Tots tournament here and Allison Fisher comes to play exhibition games to raise money for the charity. For those of you who don't know she's a top pro in billiards and is also a pro snooker player. You can pay 20 bucks to play one rack against her and get an autographed picture as well as a photo with her. First of all this lady is all class. Second of all there's a lot of guys that run their mouth and say they're going to run out on her and she's not that good and we hear all of this chatter. So hours later when she's done running out on everyone and making them look like chumps all of that chatter is replaced with silence and awe. Point is there are some strong players that attempt to beat her in ONE rack of 9 ball and it rarely goes their way unless she's being generous. I'm not saying you can't win one once in a while and if you played for hours that you wouldn't get a few racks but in the end there's no chance you're going to be victorious over someone who's made it their life's work to get where they are. It's just unrealistic.

Yes, do not listen to the bait monkey and do not try to reason with him, don't even speak to him. He would ask you to spend your last few bucks on a bag of plastics rather than eat and he's not interested in what you can afford, just that you have enough to buy more baits! Foul creature he is!!!

Sure, Ned Rig supplies $15....Baitcaster to throw Ned Rig, $350 , super duper light, shallow wiffle spool made from space age top secret materials, made in the deep, dark, underground secret labs in Japan, $90....you're ready to go! LOL!

No way. By the end of the day he'd have me wondering if there really was something to that cheap combo and I'd be convinced that I needed an entire arsenal of them....lol

This is helpful and somewhat inspiring. I haven't fished a worm in a long time. It used to be my go to bait and I caught a lot on it. Now I've gotten so much into glide baits, cranks, swimbaits, spinnerbaits, etc. that it makes the worm seem awfully boring. I've lost my confidence in it and need to get it back. I will try the wacky worm and see how it goes. I haven't given it much of a chance in the past but I hear it's productive. Same with the ned rig...I tell you guys, if you had to fish in the few places that I do I swear you'd leave with a complex most of the time....nice bodies of water with excessive, constant pressure and if you don't have spots marked in your gps and brush piles you might as well go home. Junk fishing is rarely productive. However I don't get to go much so I don't get to choose best conditions so the odds are the day I go is gonna be tough anyway. Maybe I just suck!! LOL