kickerfish1

Did someone say gin

Get the one that says Daiwa on it.

Short pants? Aren't those capris?

Some nice looking pieces fellas! I'll admit, I don't care for Abu LP reels but these rounders I could get on board with!

I haven't used another stock reel can outcast the Met MGL from 3/8 to 1/2 oz.

Nothing worse than eating rock hard plastic for dinner. Might as well add some wax fruit for desert!

I am sure both the Daiwa and Shimano loyalists will support there favorite brand. Both are good reels from all accounts. I recently bought an SV 103 and while I haven't used the Chronarch MGL I have a lot of hours on the Met MGL which utilizes many of the same features. Both are reels that would serve you well. Weight and frame materials would be one difference. Breaking systems will be another plus the lack of tuning options currently for the Chronarch MGL. If the Chronarch MGL performs like the Met MGL it will likely edge out the SV 103 in shear distance. I would probably buy the SV103 from the simple fact they are being discontinued and will be harder to find in the upcoming weeks as many places have sold out of the RH models. At $203 they were a steal at TW. There probably isn't a wrong decision here and I suppose you could buy a used SV 103 down the road if you don't get one now.

I will bring the snacks! lol

The last time I had those very same conditions I blanked that day. Pretty sure I didn't get bit on anything. A few other times the fish seemed to prefer the reaction bait. Something with flash or in a brighter color. I remember an odd day several years ago where the fish were favoring a drop shot plastic with a lot of silver and gold flake and it outproduced everything else that day by a wide margin and accounted for all the big fish. Again the jig was untouched that day even though fish were relating to the bottom. As much as like jigs sometimes I just have to tell myself that the fish are into something else. Finding that something else is the tough part but it sounds like you have had success going with a plan B type of approach.

Cold muddy water is the worst to fish. You find yourself in a tough predicament because everything from experience and reading tells you cold water equals a dead action trailer. However everything about dirty water says vibration and action is what you want so that can fish key in on the bait. I don't catch many fish in conditions like this as it is just tough fishing but when your local lakes setup this way what is a guy to do. For me I may try a jig rod with both types of trailers on junebug or black/blue jig. Most of the time I can't buy a jig bite and end up going to something with more flash and vibration like a chatterbait or spinnerbait.

I am a huge Siebert and Norsthar jig fan. I probably have over 500 or more of both combined. I have burned through a lot of jigs in search for what I would call the perfect jig. These two companies check more of the boxes than the others I have used. If you want some very realistic swimjigs take a close look at the 6th Sense Devine swimjigs on the 6th Sense Website. Another really sharp looking swimjig is the Dirty jigs swim jigs. Great skirt and custom painted heads on these but the price like the 6th sense is more than Northstar and Siebert. I also think they should be wire tied but I am guessing they are selling so many of them they don't want to mess with the labor cost to do this. I have a batch of 24 swimjigs on the way from Lockjaw Custom Jigs as a recommendation from a few guys. They have a buyback guarantee should the skirt fail and come apart. They are very realistic but I have been waiting 7 weeks now for the jigs so build time is in issue if you are needing them sooner rather than later. If you are wondering about colors I like a lot but you can get by with a few. For swimjigs something like a shad and bluegill and then a green pumpkin variation will cover you really well. For you bottom contact jigs I would black/blue, Green pumpkin, and then maybe an in between color like a bama bug or okechobee craw. For head styles I like a swim style and brush or alien head unless you fish a lot of sand/gravel/rock then you may want to look at football or ball style heads. Jig fishing can be as simple or as complex as you want to make. Start simple and as you develop a better understanding and preferences you can expand from there.

So you can buy the rod for just a bit over $300 if I am understanding you correctly? I friend of mine has the very same rod and uses it for drop shots and shakeyheads as well as flickshakes. He really likes the rod and he also a few other NRX rods like the 893. He says the feel is really good but I have never asked him to compare it to other NRX rods because he says he can feel everything he needs to while finesse fishing. I would say roll the dice on the rod. I am sure if for some reason you weren't absolutely in love with it you could sell it for what you paid for it locally maybe a bit more or less.

I would think any reaction bait that I wanted to move at a slow to a normal pace would be the ticket (just not something for burning baits). Any crankbait rod/reaction bait rod would be a good choice as would a Loomis MBR series rod like the 843 or 844.

I wouldn't put WD-40 anywhere near any of my rods or reels.

For under $300 you have the Alphas SV 105, SV 103, Tat Ct SV, and the Zillion SV TW. I would probably opt for an Alphas SV 105. It is a great mag finesse bait caster and the lightest of all of them. I am pretty sure all 4 could toss a weightless plastic like a senko or fluke just fine. The Tat CT SV is the newest SV reel and also the cheapest of the 3. The Zillions SV TW gives you a few more features and some consider it the best distance caster of the 3. The SV103 is being discontinued but has the most aftermarket spool and gear swaps.

Custom rods and $150 budget won't mix. Unless you know a builder personally who will cut you a deal on labor. Most builders will want a minimum of $75 to $100 to build for labor alone and that does not include shipping or all your parts and components. If you call up any custom builder ask them to build you a rod and ship it to you, good luck getting a quote for under $200. I would just buy a factory rod with that budget.

Both work very well as a jig trailer or as a texas rigged plastic. My buddy uses the pit bosses while I fish more of the bugs. We both catch plenty of fish.

Nice! Ironman would be proud.

If someone stole all my jerkbaits and only left the LCs I would be just fine. I still toss others but I would say 90% of what I use is a Slender pointer, 78 sp or 100sp plus a few other variations. Sure they are $15-17 a piece but I have bought some used for about 1/2 that and the NIB baits during a 15-20% off sale. I don't fish pike/muskie infested waters all that much but if I did I would probably toss more Rogues and KVD jerkbaits.

Used anywhere between $140 and $180 as a ballpark. NIB I would say $180 to as much a some yahoo would spend. I would say anything under $200 would be a good deal

KP- that was a good catch. I probably would have never noticed had you not pointed it out. Maybe one of the rod builders got a bit carried away with mine! Did you order your rod from the Tackle Trap? Maybe Loomis had some odd batch that went out that I received with an additional piece of burled cork.

Wo, they look like dyed Easter eggs! Good stuff for the Abu gurus!

Prices are up roughly $100 over what the series started with years ago. Granted everything in this world has gone up but that is still a pretty steep climb. For the OP the new rods are quite nice. I have no issues with the reel seat or components used on my MBR 844 though I only have a few hours on it. The blanks are very nice and I dont think there is much of a drop performance wise from my NRX. The balance is far better on the MBR rods so I couldn't tell you if they are good or bad on some of the longer models. You mentioned a 3/8 is tungsten weight plus plastic. Depending on the plastic used you will easily clear a 1/2 oz weight and likely be nearing 5/8oz. I would give the 844 the nod or maybe the 894 if you fish heavy cover. The 843 would be pushing its upper limit around 5/8 IMO. The 844 is one of those rods that seems to have the "it" factor

New GLX MBR 844 with a modded TDZ. Yea, it matches and fishes like a dream!

Zoom horny toad as well. Casts well, reasonably priced, good color selection and fairly durable too. Also makes a very nice jig trailer as well.