aavery2

Good fish, congrats!

N.P. hope it helps.

It requires a lot of disassembly and reassembly, if you do not have much experience in this area, I would suggest having someone do it for you. You can upgrade the bushings in the knobs on the handle as well, it is very straight forward, and does not require much if any experience.

http://www.bocabearings.com/bearing-inventory/rc-car-truck-bearing-ten-packs/-99-cent-bearings/4x7x2-5/99mr74zzx10

Tatula is a good reel for the money, the only negatives that I ever hear are that it is wide in the front end and the brake dial is not recessed enough for some. The prices are good so you wont be out much money if you don't like it, and they seem to sale fast when some on puts one up at a good price. Spend a few extra dollars and upgrade the bushings in the levelwind and handle knobs and it makes for a very smooth reel that cast very well.

I like aurora black and american shad, my next favorite is ghost minnow

It's cool, it wasn't meant to be all that serious, was just trying to have a little fun with it.

I going to have to throw a penalty flag on you, the ARB is in the total bearing count on most reels today, and while you are correct about it's type, it is still a bearing. You have to decide which one to give up.

Interesting thought, where would those bearings be installed at in your reel.

Something about the green Ito that speaks to me.

Congratulations, nice choice.

I you want a smaller bodied bait that gets good depth take a look at the Norman Deep Little N, it is a quality bait at an affordable price.

Let me give you an example of how bearing count plays little in the difference. Take a reel like the popular Daiwa Tatula, it has 8 bearings installed from the factory. For $5 I can purchase 4 additional bearings and add them to the reel, two in the levelwind and 2 in the knobs on the handle. Now it's the same reel, a little smoother on the retrieve side after replacing plastic bushings with bearings and the bearing count is now 12. While in my eyes the upgrade from bushing to bearings is worth the little money required, it actually does very little to improve the performance of the reel, but now the bearing count looks more impressive to the uneducated. A good quality reel will use quality bearings in the right places, a cheap reel with a high bearing count is just that, it does not transform what is a poor reel into something special.

Hootie, that 1993L is great, I always liked how ornate they are. Going to have to add one to my collection.

Keep in mind that a large number of the comments you are reading are most likely being made by people like yourself, and I don't mean that derogatory. They are repeating what they heard others say, and what they have read in threads exactly like this. There are a large number of people here that have used and know these rods well and can offer their opinions based on experience with these and many other rods, but when posts are made with little to no knowledge of a product because it is fun to stir the pot, then the credibility of the thread is low and no one truly gets to learn from it.

I own many and use to fish them a lot, but got tired of retrieving the bill without the bait. DT's are to fragile for my fishing.

I respect your opinion, but I want to know do you own a G. Loomis rod? I am not asking if you have used, borrowed or even fished with one, I want to know if you have ever laid your own hard earned cash down for one.

IMO, you are thinking correct, the 3 power NRX is good up to a total weight of about 1/2oz, and then it seems to me to be a little more loaded than what I prefer. 4 power should be great for what you are describing.

Let's see some pics, everyone seems to enjoy them.

Do you know if your body of water forms a thermocline or not? If so, at what depth? It is hard to find smaller profile baits that will cover the deeper depths,.

Frog fishing is very exciting, one of the most enjoyable ways to fish in my opinion. Once you find that rhythm for the frog it becomes like riding a bike, hard at first but something that is very natural after that. Keep working at it, I guarantee it will payoff for you. Almost forgot to ask, are you using the braid or mono?

How deep is the water you are fishing. I try to have billed crankbaits that will cover the entire water column from 0-20ft. It is harder to find good baits that cover the 16 to 20 ft depth.

Sounds like you got it figured out, congrats. A tip on the frog, it is all about slack line management, leave more slack in the line than you are use to when walking a frog.

Solid

Kind of cool, the NRX bears his name, and Zbone and Edge are his blanks. I think the Edge would be the one that I would like to try except for the spiral wrapped guides, I understand the concept but I am not a fan. With the Zbone I have spoke with a lot of people who own both it and the NRX, many have told me that they like the Zbone overall but they still give the NRX the edge in terms of sensitivity. I have handled the X4 series rods and they look to have very good build quality and feel great in hand, this will be one on the next rods I own. Some solid suggestions, thanks.