fishballer06

I've only fished my one Bantam for one outing. I've bought both my Bantam's within the past month. So I don't think I can make that assessment quite yet.

That's definitely too thin of a line. Bump up to 40lb at least. I use 832 as well, and that's the smallest I can use on my casting reels with issues. It will happen intermittently, but a soft toss cast may not give you an issue as much. Bump up to 40 pound braid or 12 pound nylon/fluoro and see if it fixes your issue.

Long cast. I spooled it up with 14lb Gamma Polyflex and I'm hoping to test it out tonight.

The swimbait bug bit me.

New Tatula Elite Long Cast. Spooled up with 14lb Gamma Polyflex. gif hosting

I'm guessing that your braid is digging into itself and this is your issue, not the reels fault. What pound test and brand are you using? If you have some cheap 12-15 pound mono, spool it up with that and just see if it fixes the issue before you pay to send it away.

Just curious... Are you using braided line?

I guess the better question to ask is what are you using the reel for? The Metanium MGL is a hell of a reel and no one is going to argue with that. I used to own two of them. Then when the Chronarch MGL came out, I ordered two and fell in love with them. I ended up selling both my Metanium's and bought two more Chronarch's. I have since bought two Bantam's and absolutely love them as well. Honestly, you aren't going to go wrong with either reel here.

I've had good luck with them, but I don't fish plastics a ton. My most experience with them is on the Eco Pro Thunder Spin, which is my favorite underspin jig. Those hooks do an excellent job of hooking up at the end of a long cast for me.

Pretty neat design! Great work.

This is exactly what I was going to recommend. Tie directly with braid, and the 8lb line you were using was way too light for almost any application other than maybe a dropshot setup.

Best of luck in your adventures Ford. I got into making my own baits this year because I wanted to make my own spinnerbaits and swim jigs. It's certainly addictive and I've got over $500 sunken into skirts and jigs already.

DVT - Soon to be bigger and better!

I had to try one of these out. temporary image hosting

No Academy stores around here either. Wish there was though. I hear great things.

Without getting into politics, from everything I've been reading online, Dicks sales have dropped a significant amount since they took their stand on gun sales. I've noticed a dwindling selection around here too, and DSG has their headquarters right here in Pittsburgh. The first Field and Stream store that they opened is a mile from my house and their selection just keeps dwindling off. When that store first opened, they had an impressive selection of higher end reels and rods (Shimano, Diawa, GLoomis, St. Croix, etc). They've now reduced themselves down to everything in that $50-120 range of everything, and they carry the bare minimum at that.

With Shimano discounting the current Curado70, I'm hoping that the next version of this reel takes after its JDM counterpart.

Some of my best days have been in the pounding rain or howling wind. It's certainly not just a coincidence.

It looks like Dicks Sporting Goods is no longer sponsoring the Bassmaster Classic. The new event sponsor will be Academy Sports. Honestly, I'm not too shocked. It's been all over the news for a while that Dicks has been hurting for sales in recent years. https://www.bassmaster.com/news/academy-sports-outdoors-title-sponsor-50th-classic

I have that same model. It's a great little reel and I love the handle on it. I wish I could buy half a dozen of those handles.

Are the kings up in the creeks yet?

The DT is my go to crankbait and I fish them more than any other crankbait. Throughout the years, I've only ever broken two of them. 1. Casted it into the side of a concrete bridge pillar. The bill snapped right at the body. Leaving the bill of my lure attached to my line and the lure body floating. 2. I slapped the lure against the water to clear some weeds off of it, totally forgetting that it's a balsa lure. The body of the lure split in half at the bill, and the bill separated as well. As with ALL balsa lures ever, they are more fragile in nature than a plastic bait. Doing things like mentioned above can/will break any balsa lure. I believe Rapala and Bagley both advise against doing this on their websites and product packaging.

This little reel has me curious because of the MGL spool. I'm debating getting one, but I can snag a Scorpion MGL for only $40 more (which I already own and love). One thing to keep in mind is that this line of reels is a budget price point reel, so you aren't going to get all of the bells and whistles that come on the higher price tagged reels. Doesn't mean that they aren't great performing reels, but it's like comparing a Honda to a Cadillac. Please report back with your on the water findings. I'm curious to hear what you think.

As crazy as it sounds, I have heard from numerous sources that bass and many other species of fish can end up in new bodies of water by way of birds and other animals. Whether its true or not, who knows.