thehooligan

With a $260 budget, id go for a used curado 50/51 or alphas, pair it with a 6'10 medium light ***. Get a little extra money down the road and put in an avail shallow spool...

Great finesse platform, id spool it with 8lb line and have a blast with weightless plastics

Haha, couldnt agree more with these guys... Ive always been a collector and im always hoping any used reel purchase comes with the original box. All my reels get modified right away and i like to keep all original parts in the box. On the other side of the coin, a used reel with no box wouldnt stop me from buying it... Talk about downsizing !!

6'8 medium 1st gen Cumara is my goto drop shot rod.

Ive been trying to lay off the brew, the d**n pumpkin ales are killin me right now...

^ Nice, im wondering out of those 3 blanks which offers the most options for lengths and powers. Im looking for a 6'6-6'8 medium light blank for a finesse casting rod...

Favorite popper by far would be the Megabass Pop-x Favorite walkers are the Sammy 85/100, Zip Baits Fakie Dog/irony, Zenith Carols, Megabass Giant Dog/Dog-x, Yozuri Banana Boats, and the Shimano Splashroller jr's Favorite Buzzbait is the cavitron

Thats the reason ive always been so happy with my cumaras & cumulus rods. Definitely not as sensitive as an nrx or other highend blank, but with 10lb braid and a short flouro leader, i really dont think i need anything more sensitive then that. I have been using less braid lately, and more flouro/copoly, makes me wonder how that would feel on an nrx/custom. Id really like to get the SC5, K2, or NFC HM blank in my hand to see what feels best...

My thoughts exactly. Can't wait for my first custom...

5 casting combos 2 spinning rods Sold my spinning reels to force myself to get better at finesse fishing with casting gear. Favorite setup would be my 6'5 cumulus with aldebaran bfs xg.

Haha, one of these days I'll pickup a Zonda or other alphas platform again. What do you like better, the TD Ito or alphas ?

Someone took the sticker off this one, id like to replace it... I think the performance is about the same between the two reels. The ktf alde has a brake block more like a 4 point avail block. KTF doesnt offer a brake block for the bfs xg so you have to use the factory block. Its actually really nice with the clear brake pins. After all my testing and tuning with bearing mounted spools vs non bearing mounted spools, the performance is really close. If ktf products were easier to get, id buy a new mg7, ktf spool, ixa bearings, dragstar, and the aluminum hardware. Im thinking about doing ixa bearings in all my reels now... Heres my shallow spools, avail spool for conquest. I have the avail mag brake and stock block. Purple Avail spool for the bfs xg. I use this with the avail mag brake and 10lb braid. Blue alde ktf spool, and gold ktf spool for bfs xg. Sold my purple zpi spool for 50 series shimanos. Thats the best mag brake system ive used yet for shallow spools. I just prefer centrifugal braking...

Nice fish and reel, love my cores !!

Its pretty sweet, really cool to see how ktf tunes there reels. Very lightweight, the ixa bearings are awesome, alot nicer then the hedgehogs. Had to mess around with the brakes for a bit, got it down to one pin on, 3 off. Its right on par with my bfs xg with ktf spool. Ive been all over the place these past few months with tackle, sold alot and bought alot For reels, i sold my conquest 51 to get your 51s. Picked up a daiwa pxl-r, new daiwa ss air, new scorpion 1001 xt, and the new conquest 101. Ended up selling the ss air, didnt like it...Sold the px, sold the scorpion, and traded the new conquest to get my old conquest 51 back, lol. This is my lineup right now, regretfully selling off the conquest to get some money back, trying to tell myself one is enough, haha. For rods, i found two new 6'5 & 6'10 cumulus rods, so i scooped them up and sold my buddy my old ones. Also sold him 2 of my 1st gen cumaras. Ive been wanting to try the quantum smoke rod for a few years now, finally picked up the 6'6 medium at the TW sale, and grabbed a new 6'8 medium cumara. Was pretty impressed with that smoke rod, especially at $100. 3.1 oz's, pretty balanced, should be a good rod to take out in the kayak. First quantum product ive bought in 15+ years Hoping i can fish more this fall and get the baitmonkey off my back !! I have 4 cases of crankbaits im selling to get some money back

Sweet reel man, almost picked one up not too long ago. Good thing your not selling the lefty ito, im broke !!

If you have a budget of $180 you should be able to find a ci4+. Grab a 2500 and you'll love it...

Trust me, there was a brand new 6'10 mh cumulus in there, I was nervous...

The reason i hate cardboard tubes. This is how my cumulus showed up today. Shocked it was still in one piece

I used to do 6, ive been doing 5 lately with no problems.

I havent fished one yet, but i handled a 201hg in my local tackle shop. Only thing i could fault it for was it seemed the external brake adjustment was very sticky. Sort of hard to adjust. Other then that, seemed very nice, still up in the air if i want to add one too the arsenal or not...

I picked up a new gen cumara the other day and it showed up in a 7ft soft cardboard box, lol. I had a cumulus delivered like that before as well and was absolutely shocked it was still in 1 piece... I prefer PVC tubes but it I've been shipping in cardboard tubes lately and just insuring it.

Cheapest I've done is USPS priority mail and print your label online. Its usually $20-22

Wow, you scored big time !!

If your throwing 1/2oz and heavier hardbaits, stock bearings flushed out and relubed is all you need..... But, once you get into the lighter baits, throwing 1/16-1/8oz baits, the hedgehog's, ixa's, and zpi bearings are a Huge upgrade...

I agree with this. Really depends on the rod manufacturer. My shimanos are always the same, if its rated 1/4 - 3/4oz, the sweet spot is 99% of time 1/2oz. Throw a 3/4oz bait and its most likely gonna be too much weight and the rod doesnt perform right. Now, grab a st croix with the same ratings, 9 outta 10 times that rod will throw over 3/4oz with no problem. Same with alot of abu rods. I use the ratings as a guide, but once i get my hand on the rod and out on the water i know what the rod can handle...