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The Daiwa Zillion is about as much of a proven commodity as you can find. Nothing short of great. The rumor is that Daiwa will discontinue the Zillion line in favor of a new T-Wing reel, which may lead to steep discounts on remaining Zillion stock. While the Chronarch line itself is very proven the new CI4 model is redesigned and has only had a short amount of very positive testing. If handle back play is that important to you, I would not recommend the Shimano, as this has been a know situation in almost every Shimano reel produced over the last decade, as referenced in the response from the Shimano representative it is an acceptable tolerance and a trade off for better corrosion resistance.

Thanks for the clarification, it had been a while since I read it, I would never consider using a bass for live bait but I am sure there are flathead/bluecat guys that it would not even remotely bother.

I too dip a little of the tail in chartreuse dye.

Zoom Ol' Monster, as of late I have the best luck using Watermelon or Green Pumpkin Magic Red. My old standby was Plum.

I think what you perceive as a problem is apparently more of a dimensional tolerance and a trade off for better corrosion resistance. This is a reply from Shimano Product Support when asked why they did not address this with the release of the new line of Shimano reels. "There is a certain amount of tolerance for the parts first of all. The roller bearings we use could have a slight amount of play, but it is not considered excessive. There are only a few bearing manufacturers out there for this style of roller bearings. We use the one that meets our specs for overall holding strength and corrosion resistance. We could go with a tighter bearing, but they tend to have poor anti corrosion properties. The bearing style in the CT-D is different and much larger. Also the way the drive shaft is built and drag adjustment allows for a different lock up. The way the bearing works you can force back play because the cage is plastic with fingers that press against the rollers. They move to a point to cause the bearing to stop rotation in the opposite direction. This is what you feel as back play. The engineers at Shimano decided on the bearings they use because they meet the requirements that have been set by the R&D team. I have passed the complaints along and I receive the same answer. The tighter feeling bearings do not pass our QC standards for corrosion resistance." If you are experienced with reel disassembly the lateral play in the handle can be tuned to your liking by using very thin shimming washers in the correct location. Because of machining tolerances and the time it would take to precision adjust the amount of play in this area some reels have more play than others. My experience has been that they use the same sized shim on all reels during assembly and that a certain amount of play is within tolerance.

I would not suggest a micro guide rod for frog fishing. They clog fairly easily with any debris dragged in on the line.

Bluegill and Crappie can be used as live bait if caught on a hook in KS.

Not legal in Kansas

Save the blades and press on, it is a very normal occurrence especially if the wire has been straightened out a couple of times.

Crappie and Bluegill are legal in Kansas if taken on rod and reel, Bass are a no no.

If you can get the spool out of the reel, I find it easier to take the line off it this way. You might also wan to read up on taping your spool so your backlashes do not go so deep.

I bet that was a fun catch, I was really hoping you were going to post a pic of a giant Small Mouth, but congrats on a great day none the less.

I find no need to cut them, while I fish other frogs 95% of the time, I have no problem making the Killer Gill SPRO walk right out of the package.

It's not the (modern) line itself that usually damages the guides it is the sand and grit that it traps in it, so a part of what is hard enough has to do with the environment that it is fished in. I have heard many stories of chrome guides being damaged with the use of braided line, but that has died off with most rod mfg's using guides with harder inserts. It would concern me if were my rods.

This is a table of common materials used for guides and its hardness as measured on a Rockwell scale. It is subjective but is a good reference. It was borrowed from another popular fishing site. Stainless Steel (SS): 400 Chrome: 800-1000 Carbaloy: 1000 Aluminum Oxide: 1200-1400 Alconite : 1300-1500 NanoLite : 1800 Zirconia: 1000-1400 Zirconia PVD: 1600 SiC: 2200-2400

Sorry and surprised to hear that, I fish the Iobee almost exclusively and have never had one that was less than perfect. I would be tempted to contact them and have them make it right. These are not cheap frogs.

Tatsu, is a little better than InvizX it is Seaguar's top FC line. 12lb test seems to be the line that offers strength and manageability.

With them only being a couple feet off the bottom a light shakey head 1/8th oz and a 6 inch straight tail worm might work well, the jig should be light enough to sit on top of the heavy grass. Another thing that may work for the ones that are suspended a little higher in water column is a jigging spoon.

Go with as long of a rod that you can easily use in a tip down manner, that is how frogs are typically worked. The longer the rod you can work in this manner without issue will benefit you on the jig side of things.

I have the Premier 20, one of it's best features is its smooth drag system, looking at the schematics for the SX it appears to use the same sealed drag setup. Glad to hear you like your reel, I may have to check one out next time I am out shopping.

What type of drag does this reel use?

Personally I have never seen anyone use an additional trailer hook on any crankbait

The Lews Speed Spool and the BPS Pro Qualifier are both good reels in their respective price range. The Speed Spool is a magnetic based reel and has an external dial on the palm side plate that is adjusted to increase braking. The Pro Qualifier is a dual braking reel, having both centrifugal and magnetic braking, the centrifugal braking is adjusted by removing the palm side cover and engaging the braking pins, the magnetic braking is the same as most reels with an external dial that is adjusted to increase the magnetic braking. Both of these reels internally are based on the same design as the Abu Garcia Revo series of reels, the primary differences being spool design and form factor. Of the two I prefer the PQ, it is a little heavier than the speed spool, but the advantages of dual braking IMO outweigh the weight savings.

I tied the Yucatan knot and the Alberto knot both using 50lb 832 and 20lb CX as a test to see if there was a visual diameter difference. It appears to me that the Alberto is just slightly smaller in diameter, but I don't know if it would be enough to be noticeable during casting through micro guides. Might be worth your time to try out the Alberto.

What knot are using to join your leader and main line?