kickerfish1

If you wait until the black Friday sales you can get 20% off with free shipping so the Powell line, dobyns savy, and phenix recons will all be well under $150. If we compare these three to a veritas I would take them any day of the week plus the lifetime warranty to boot.

Nice collection... of refreshments! Oh and the tackle ain't to bad either. I think you put that bad boy on the Super Red Demon! Truly stunning my friend!

Can't wait to hear what you think of the performance once you have time on the water with it! Thanks for the photos and early impressions.

Go for the Fuji bait keepers. They run $3.50 and will work for any rod. They have a handful of colors as well. Places like *** will have them.

This reel probably was a shade over a grand! Apparently they are so impressive the fish surrender before the angler even casts! Very cool! Would love to see a few shots of the outfit matched up together.

Don't get the gl2. Loomis rods really only become justifiable once you get to the imx line and above in my opinion. For around that price point $150-$170 take a look at the dobyns savy series, the Powell endurance series, and phenix recon rods. I have all 3 and at that price point the recon is my favorite and in my hands feels the most sensitive. I would suggested the 714 or 744 for all around use but if you are wanting to use heavier weights and have some pretty thick cover you may opt for the 715. If you do some digging online you may be able to locate a shimano cumara marked down to $180 give or take. Also the St. Croix avid rods can be had for under $200. These would be better choices than a gl2 in my opinion and can be had for under $200 for the most part. Lots of good choices that will give you lifetime warranties once you jump up to $150+ rods. If you are leaning toward staying closer to the $100 price point the veritas is one of the best options out there.

I know a few guys that really like sunline shooter and torray superhard when fishing around zebra mussells. I don't have any experience personally with zebra mussels so I am of no help there. Both of the above lines are very tough and low stretch but spendy!

Many high end reels from the mid 90s used lower gear ratios. TDZs and alphas come to mind but thanks to performance upgrades one can now replace the gears with 6:3.1 and 6:8.1 ratios depending on the reel. I am using a slower 5:8.1 ratio alpha Ito AI as finesse reel but coneltemplating upgrading the gears to speed it up. They do help me keep the bait slow even when I may want to speed it up. However at times it limits my hookset % as when it is windy or on a slack line it can be difficult to recover line to do so. Slower gear ratios have their place and certainly got the job done "back in the day" but it usually just boils down to personal preference.

More than likely if you haven't bought any rods/reels/line you will likely have a few decisions to make with respect to upgrades given you budget. Rods have changed since then. Better balance and sensitivity plus micro guide options are now available among select rods. If you fish bottom contact baits or baits where sensitivity is of high importance you could benefit from a new rod. Lots of good options in $100-$200 price point and of course higher as well if you need and or can afford it. Reels now a days have seen the biggest improvements in weight reduction and palming ability. Newer materials and more refinement is going into reels to help performance wise. Also the gear ratios have gotten much faster. If you have older chronarchs and curados you have good reels built to last, just a bit heavier less refined. Lots of options out there for good quality and lightweight reels that can be had for $100-200 and many more above it. For your line options braid has become improved and more popular and the same can be said for florocarbon. Of course mono lines like Trilene XL and xt are still good lines for most techniques. If you do plan on keeping your reels like others have said you may need to do a complete cleaning and relube or send it in to have it done. Take advantage of buying new items during the 15-20% off sales at big retailers. Also don't overlook buying used from reputable sellers as you can score some good deals that way. If you decided to rebuild your arsenal feel free to post your questions or do searches for the items you are looking for. Hope this helps and good luck as you move forward...

On the champ extreme rods they are really nice and it sort of matches the letters on the rod! I would recommend some 8-10lb floro for it. Sunline shooter for sensitivity or sniper for castability and handling. A great rig for drop shots, shakeyheads, or flickshakes without having to go too light...ie pixy!

Both. The angler needs to pick a rod and reel that will accomplish the specific techniques needed. For that matter I would throw in picking the correct line as well. I used to prefer buying nicer rods but now I spend equal on both or slightly more on the reels on average but part of it is doing external and internal upgrades.

Give the good folks at dobyns rods a call. You will likely get Gary or his son both are very good people and very helpful. You can ask him specifically about the weight of the rod and the full vs split grip handles. He will probably tell ya he prefers full but more and more anglers are wanting split hence the reason they offer the same exact rod in both. I have and fish both and prefer split for bottom contact baits but full for swimbaits, spinnerbaits, and cranking.

Great breakdown Raul!

The 744 would be perfect with the 200 sized e reels. You can probably get away with the 743 and use it to pull double duty with weightless senkos and flukes as well. If you are regularly throwing jigs and t-rigs between 3/8 and 1/2 ounce the 744 is the rod of choice. I prefer split grips for bottom contact and full for moving baits. This is just a personal preference though!

The 6:8.1 gear set should be plenty quick. The reel will be similar in size to the sol. Just a bit lighter with a different spool. The sol is the American version of the Japanese purple alphas and Ito AI. There are slight differences among all the reels most are pretty small like color, spool size and weight, and any internal tuning. If you pairs it with a phenix recon 6 foot 9 inch rod in a ML power your combo would be under or around 10 ounces.

It is sort of confusing thing when you get down to tracing Daiwa reels. Best advice I can give is to japantackle.com and start looking through the reels there. They have current reels, discontinued reels and limited production reels. Once you click on the reel you will get a description of the reel and usually at the bottom will be Jun's comments. They have the pixies in there! You may also try ichibantackle as well. The orange colored pixy you are looking at was a finesse reel that was the predecessor to the pixy type r and pixy 68. The red and yellow models are pretty much the same reel with a different paint job. Also note the line sizes for pixies are very small. More than likely 6-8lb line for most people. It is lighter than a curado 50e and very palmable. Make sure you have a light or medium light casting rod for it. That price is pretty good. Usually market is $240-$300 for ones in good shape. If you hear people speak of a pixy that has been tuned into a "pixilla" it means it has upgraded parts... ie line guide, bearings, drag, worm shaft etc... If you like the profile of the pixy but want more line capacity look at a alpha or a sol. Very similar less the spool size and line capacity. Also may be a bit cheaper. If the external condition doesn't bother you I would buy it. If it does you could always have the reel painted. If not as long as it has it under the hood and the reel has been properly maintained you should be good to go.

I would stick with proven braids like power pro, suffix 832, Daiwa samurai etc...

You may want to share some background information first... Are you fishing braid on casting set up or a spinning set up? What size baits are you throwing? What kinds of cover or structure are present? I don't use braid very often but have 50lb on 7 and half foot MH casting rod and it casts quite far. I didn't notice much difference in distance when I was using 30lb braid. If you aren't getting the distance you think you should be getting try sending your reel off for service... cleaning, lube, tuning etc. If you are mechanically savy try it yourself. I am not sure why it wouldn't be casting far unless the tension knob is too tight or there are too many brakes applied.

Flukes and frogs are typically 2 different rods for most folks. I would say a compromise would be a 4 power rod around 7 foot maybe a touch longer. You didn't mention price so it is hard to give precise rods. I have thrown frogs and weightless flukes, caffeine shads, and d-shads on 4 powered dobyns before in heavy cover.

I am one of the few people that don't care for the pq. I have sold the ones I had. For your price range my recommendations would be: 1. A shimano citica e 2. Lews speed spool 3. If you include used reels check the flee market or eBay for reels that would have been out of your price range new that will be a bit better quality and higher performance. On a side note the quantum escalade is junk. I had 2 and now the gears grind beyond my liking. I got 2-3 years out of them with regular maintenance.

Nice arsenal Mike! You will like the destruction. Another idea for a reel to pair with the destruction rod that would look nice on it is the shimano core 50 or 100 series.

Another vote for the chronarch e series.

What price range? How light of baits will you be throwing? Do you want a new or used reel? Pixies, alphas, sols, cores, curado or chronarch 50e, chronarch 50mg, and conquest 50s all come to mind.

I wouldn't be the one to ask if you decide to go with a St. Croix rod. Sorry the sales are over. This would probably rule the dobyns extreme series out. Given the price point the recon or cumara would be good picks. Since you mentioned weightless plastics or lighter jigs I would get the cumara in the 7'2' medium action model. Do a Google search and a few should show up. If not the recon would be good. I would go with the 744 or 714 models. If you want a true finesse rod for fishing lighter cover look at either the 7 foot medium action i-rod air or the recon 714. These rods wouldn't have the power of the other rods but will be more fun to fish with lighter baits. These are not good all around rods though.

There are places that will strip the reel down and inspect the parts for you. They can let you know what needs to be replaced and the prices of the part(s). They can then finish cleaning the reel and lube/oil it and reassemble it. Depending on what is broke it will be much cheeper than a new reel. It will perform as good or better than when it was new. Get in touch with Deleware valley tackle or pro reel service.