poisonokie

I would get the 68L. It is more versatile because it is a regular fast. It can be used for any finesse technique from moving baits yo Ned rigs. The 69ML is Xtra fast, so casting 1/8 will be limited. In my opinion, the 68L is perfect for any lure in the 1/8-1/3oz range. It is very very sensitive and more than enough backbone to set little finesse hooks, plus the flex to control fish on small cranks. That pixy will balance it out perfectly, too.

Man, I'm in. Anybody with me will have to deal with fishing from a glastron. <*)405>€

I do fish cranks with braided line and would use the 6.4:1, but the 7.1:1 will probably work of it feels powerful enough. Just reel slowly. P line probably won't outcast braid of equal diameter. Are you judging the casting performance based on the same rod/baits?

unless you can move the reel seat up the blank I don't see the point in cutting anything off the butt.

the difference won't be just night and day. More like night and tomatoes.

the only time I backlash a tatula is when I do something stupid. Just today I was fishing from the bank and tried to sidearm a t rig between to trees growing along the shore and of course it shot right into the trunk of the one to my right. Gnarly backlash. But I picked it out in 3 minutes or less and was back to fishing. That says a lot about power pro super slick, too.

that's the other thing, you can't beat that 65ml for spooning for sand bass.

My favorite rod is a Major Craft MS-X 6'5" ML (3/16-1/2, 8-14). It has a MF action, but has very crisp response, and is extremely sensitive so it will fish any type of lure in it's weight range. It pitches and casts extremely easily, and what it lacks in distance it more than makes up for in laser beam precision. It's primarily a finesse stick, though, and I don't know that I'd like that length in a MH rod. It and my 6'8" bfs Volkey rod I like to use so much have really opened my eyes to the virtue of sub 7' rods. I'm really keen on getting ahold of that 6'10" MH/F tatula now, if I can't find a deal on one of the similarly powered Major Craft rods.

No problem. I know some of it isn't exactly budget friendly, but if you shop around, you never know. FWIW the two Light setups are my favorite to fish and biggest producers.

that's right. I love them on my bfs rods, they pass a 20# braid->6# fluoro uni/uni knot just fine when I use one and do seem to allow for more controlled and accurate casts and probably contribute to sensitivity and balance. They are k series micros, which aren't as micro as others and I wouldn't want them on a flipping/pitching type setup. Every innovation has its place, but none is all-encompassing so everything's a compromise. The upshot is that if you want the most versatility, don't use micros; if you want the best for specific techniques that benefit from micros, by all means use them.

Yeah, I wouldn't mind one of those. I think I'd rather have a Zillion, though.

I really like mine, too. Solid reel. I haven't upgraded the levelwind yet, but will over the winter. I use mine for flipping (8.1) and it has all the muscle in drag strength and cranking power that I need. Pitches like a dream, too. I have 2 tats and 2 different t3's and have yet to have any line guide issues. I use various strengths of PP super slick with them.

I have the flip rod and I can pitch jigs from 3/8-1oz no problem and the 7'2" has almost the same length on the business end because it has a shorter handle. It will absolutely launch a 1/2 oz frog.

Daiwa Tatula 721HFB. $99 on amazon. Read the TT review and pitch to your heart's content.

See, I love the reel seat on those, at least for a tatula reel. For smaller framed reels like the T3 and SS sv, I think the ACS is more comfortable, at least for a while. It is harder to shift your grip around on the ACS than it is on the tatula seat, but with a small reel mounted it doesn't feel to me like there's enough to hold on to for a secure grip. The other side of that coin is that a larger reel like a tatula mounted on an ACS feels too bulky to get a secure grip. I wear size large gloves like most guys.

The volkey I got from shimreels through eBay and the ms-x I got from a private seller on eBay. There are a few good deals on Amazon, too.

I happen to use 5 myself. Looking at a 6th, but could make do with 3 or 4. 1. Tatula 7'6" H/F+Tatula type r 8.1 2. Tatula 7'1" MH/MF+Tatula 7.3 3. Tatula 7'7" M/M Glass+T3 Ballistic (1016) 6.3 4. MS-X 6'5" ML/MF+SS SV 6.3 5. Volkey 6'8" L/MF+T3 1016 (sv1000) 6.3 1) Flipping/Pitching, Frogging, C-Rigs, Deep Cranks 2) Pitching, T-Rigs, Squarebills/Vibes, Spinnerbaits/Chatterbaits, Jerkbaits 3) Cranks, Topwaters, Jerkbaits 4) Mag finesse (Wacky rigs, Finesse Jigs, Spybaits, etc.) 5) Anything finesse (Ned rigs, Mojo rigs, 1/8-1/4 cranks, etc.) I use appropriate dia braid on everything, with fluoro leaders when necessary and move reels around as gear ratio dictates.

which model are you contemplating? The 7'2" H/F standard tat is $99 on Amazon right now. That's a stupid good deal. I'm having an immense amount of trouble not giving in to that temptation myself. I, like everyone else, agree about the hook keeper. While the xt looks to have it in a better place, they should just knock it off with those, anyway. They didn't bother in the steez xt, so maybe that's a harbinger of better times to come.

lol, geez guys, it's Friday, come on.

I think it depends on the foam/cork. High quality cork that doesn't require filler surely comes at a premium, while certain ultra lightweight, grippy foams seem to be limited to high end rods. Case in point, the foam grips on my ms-x are much nicer than those on my tatulas. Personally, I don't have a preference for either eva or cork. I like both, provided they are decent quality and well sculpted.

Right, and if you open it up, you'll find 7 bearings. It's a 7+1 reel. If yours came with the typical 2 bearing / 2 bushing handle, BONUS!, you got a 9+1 ss sv.

I understand that alphas have one bearing per knob just like a lot of other models, that's why I suggested that a box of alphas handles got mislabeled and sent to the Ss sv assembly line or something like that. Who knows, just speculating. I thought we were being civil. I have no idea why.

My point is that different people are saying different things regarding the handles, sometimes in the same review, I found seven bearings inside the reel and 0 in the knobs. What is more likely, that someone swiped 2 cheap bearings from the knobs, yet added 2 somewhere internally to a NIB reel or that it was manufactured that way? The review on TT says it both ways, but the picture with the caption reading 1 bearing and one bushing per knob is of one knob, a screw, and 2 bushings.

a 3/4 once jig will cast farther on 4# line than it will 14# line, but should you be casting 3/4 ounce jigs on 4# line? Probably not. More weight will always cast farther provided you have the tackle to handle it.

I know it! That ms-x 65ml/ss sv pitches shakey heads and wacky jigs like nobody's business and will launch a spinbait 80 way further than you'd expect. Plus it's built for accurate target casting and for that it's laser-beam precise. Very hard to put down. Though, there's very little reason to... I'm glad you like it. Not sure who wouldn't, but if you didn't I'd have felt bad, anyway.