kickerfish1

Totally awesome! Glad it was a good time Blue!

I posted this in your thread in case you didn't see it... Pretty much looking at a difference in the taper of the rod. The MBR or Mag Bass Rods have what some what call a versatile taper meaning they are not so much a one trick pony. You can fish a variety of baits on them like spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, swimjigs, texas rigs, jigs, small paddle tails, decent sized jerkbaits, and smaller cranks and lipless baits. I like to think of them as great all purpose rods for folks that can only bring a few rods fishing with them and need them to be able to fish a wide variety of baits. In the Loomis MBR series there is also a 842 and 844. Let the rod model you select be dictated by the weight of the baits your throw and cover you fish. Your 853 is from the jig and worm series. Meaning it is pretty much a "feel" presentation rod so bottom contact baits and weightless plastics. You may find other uses for it but Loomis was thinking more jigs, texas rigs, weightless plastics, shakey heads, etc. I have and 842 and 843 from MHX Hi Mod (these were custom builds but the blanks are very similar to the old Loomis blanks) and a current MBR 844 GLX. I use them for so many different apps it is hard to list. What I can tell you for sure is that I am not a fan of any of the MBR rods for frog fishing, Carolina rigs, or larger jigs fished really deep. Outside of that you can really use them for wide variety of presentations vs a rod from the Jig and Worm series. Like with any other rod your mileage may vary and others experiences may vary.

Pretty much looking at a difference in the taper of the rod. The MBR or Mag Bass Rods have what some what call a versatile taper meaning they are not so much a one trick pony. You can fish a variety of baits on them like spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, swimjigs, texas rigs, jigs, small paddle tails, decent sized jerkbaits, and smaller cranks and lipless baits. I like to think of them as great all purpose rods for folks that can only bring a few rods fishing with them and need them to be able to fish a wide variety of baits. In the Loomis MBR series there is also a 842 and 844. Let the rod model you select be dictated by the weight of the baits your throw and cover you fish. Your 853 is from the jig and worm series. Meaning it is pretty much a "feel" presentation rod so bottom contact baits and weightless plastics. You may find other uses for it but Loomis was thinking more jigs, texas rigs, weightless plastics, shakey heads, etc. I have and 842 and 843 from MHX Hi Mod (these were custom builds but the blanks are very similar to the old Loomis blanks) and a current MBR 844 GLX. I use them for so many different apps it is hard to list. What I can tell you for sure is that I am not a fan of any of the MBR rods for frog fishing, Carolina rigs, or larger jigs fished really deep. Outside of that you can really use them for wide variety of presentations vs a rod from the Jig and Worm series. Like with any other rod your mileage may vary and others experiences may vary.

-Competitive sand volleyball -Fitness -College football and basketball -JDM fishing gear

Both to be honest. Sometimes I feel like just catching fish especially after a disappointing previous outing or a rough start to a current outing. Other times after catching a lot of smaller fish I may see what I can do different to upgrade the size of the fish. Other times I just want to catch them in a way that is more exciting like a topwater for example possibly trying to sight fish them if I am on a clear lake. I love jig fishing so to me that is both effective and fun. May change colors, styles, trailers, or weight of jig.

Doesn't that melt the reel seats?

Phoenix seems to be on the slower side of fast as does Megabass.

You have 1 spinning reel and 1 spinning rod. Remember that those should be paired together and the rest should fall in place. Your 200E can saddle the 744 to help balance it and the rest of pieces will fall be just pairing what is left. Welcome back to bass fishing. In case you don't know there have been several Shimano reels released since your "E" series. Some like them and some do not. You will find that among the die hard "E" series guys you can still sell those reels for a respectable amount.

I would skip those rods and move right to the 873 CRR. It was the rod I bought when I was in your shoes looking to make the same decision. Don't let the 3 in the rod description fool you. The 853 and 854 as well as the 893 and 894 are in the Loomis BCR series or Bottom Contact Rod series. The CRR is what the label as a Carolina Rig Rod. It is much more than that though and actually fishes heavier and more powerfully than a typical Loomis 3 powered rod. I only use my 873 for jigs and Texas rigs. Usually a 1/4 oz tungsten weight and a plastic bait or a 3/8 or 1/2 oz jig plus a trailer. Never had an issue with the rod in terms of feel, power, or getting a good hook set. Keep in mind also that there was a point in time where there was no 894 or 895 in the NRX series. These were added at a later date after the series was released. Outside of the 80* series and 85* series the only longer rod options were the 873 and 893. So one of the more popular choices for what you were wanting was the 873 as it is sort of a tweener rod. Now it seems like a lot of guys that have the $ will buy a 893 for weighless plastics and jigs up to 3/8 oz with trailer and a 894 for those bigger 1/2 and 3/4 oz jigs. There are several rods that can obviously do what you want with but the question becomes length and of course the cover you fish. If you are fishing some pretty nasty stuff you may want to look at the 894 as it feels more powerful than the 854. The 873 will be more powerful than both the 893 and 803. IMO I would look at the 894, 854 and 873 as rods that can do what you want to do.

For bigger topwater I would think something that is in that 4.5 to 6 inch class. So your bigger whopper ploppers, Super Spooks, full size Evergreen Showerblow, etc. As far as jigs go weight doesn't necessarily dictate size/profile. I like bulky jigs that are either all living rubber or a combination of living rubber and silicone. When the tow are combined you get bulk plus movement. Add a big trailer like the Rage Lobster or Double Wide RI beaver and you have a really big meal offering for a bass.

The finish on the SMB looks better than many mounts and replicas I have seen. Very sharp looking baits!

The SK coffee tubes seem to have pretty solid durability of the tentacles. I have had the same bait last for a half day before. Most of the time for me the area by the hook and weight will tear first on a tube of any brand for that matter. For the $ I would get a pack or two and see what you personally think. I really dont have any complaints about them or failures while using them.

I have used quite a few. Cabin Creek, Zoom, Yamamoto, and Strike King. Really like the coffee scented Strike King tubes in the 3.5 inch size.

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For $175 it wont get you much in terms of a JDM Shimano reel. You may find something that is older or used on various forums or somewhere like Ebay that may be around that much money. I would consider getting something USDM or possibly saving up a bit more money to buy a JDM Shimano reel. If you were buying a USDM reel I would probably just try to find a deal on a Curado K or a used Chronarch MGL. If the reel is going on a MH rod you probably don't want to put a finesse/BFS casting reel on it.

True and well said but I will say this. While I do fish ponds on occasion I fish more smaller public lakes. With that said a few years ago a friend and fished a really small pond. We fished it from a two many kayak in a few hours. He was tossing baits targeting bigger fish like jigs and bigger hard baits while I was just simply want to catch fish and sort of see what other species were in the pond. I tossed a drop shot with a small Jackall Cross tail shad for an hour and caught a good mix of species but to our surprise I also caugh the largest bass of the day by a landslide. It was just shy of 6lbs and we never caught another bass that day that was over 3lbs. Point is that while I wasn't targeting big bass I did catch the biggest fish that day by a wide margin on something most would consider a numbers or limit filler bait. I also catch some of my biggest bass of the year in the spring on weightless zoom flukes on public lakes here. Sometimes the harder we try using what we feel is the ideal big fish bait, the harder we fail. How many times do you see someone say that the bass they caught was about the same size or smaller than the lure they caught it on? Like a swimbait for example.

I can sleep better now

Depends upon the side of the pond. If it is fairly small I would almost stick to traditional bass baits. As long as I wasn't catching dinks I would think just based on the odds you should cross paths with the larger fish. I would fish more low light conditions in the morning and evening hoping some of the bigger fish had let their guard down. Target them with slightly larger topwaters big jig and trailer combinations and sort and hard body swimbaits.

I would think that would be an ideal rod bigger reaction baits. Something like hard and soft body swimbaits, bigger spooks and whopper ploppers, larger chatterbaits and spinnerbaits, as well as big swimjigs and medium sized cranks. I would probably fish it with baits from 1/2 oz to 1.5 ounces. It wouldn't be a great choice for jigs or plastics. Give it a shot with some of the above baits and see how it works for you. If you have no desire to keep the rod after using it for a bit and can keep the rod in great condition I am sure you could sell it for pretty close to what you paid for it.

No for both

To me it sort of matters but then again I like to keep my gear in pretty good condition and fish it as well. I prefer the sort of subtle things like a dark grey reel with a dark grey rod, or a red and *** with a red and black reel. You can spend a lot of time, money, and effort getting things to match and compliment each other aesthetically but that is up to the user and what they prefer. Most of my reels are black, grey, dark charcoal or some variant of the above. Some have aftermarket parts to add a little color to them like a cast control cap, drag star, or handle nut retainer. I am not a fan of lime green nor am I fan of yellow or white rods or painted blanks for that matter.

Yep

I pretty much only use the 90. Bought one of the 110 sized baits but haven't tossed it. For the 90 sized my go to setup for it this year has been: Shimano Cumara Gen 1 7"2 MH Shimano Exscence DC 8:1 13 # Sunline Defier Green Today I had 3 bites on the plopper and went 3 for 3 on fish. If I was tossing the 110 or 130 sized I would probably be looking for a rod that can handle up to 2 oz baits and has a little give to it like Moderate fast or regular taper

This post gives me the creeps!