hawkoath

Let me give you another example. Your drift float fishing in a river and like any time when your float fishing you need to mend your line. In this particular situation you can't or don't want to mend your line with your rod but you are using your hands as well. Suddenly a fish hits your presentation while this happens. You immediately close your bail and reel in your excess line in preparation to set the hook. Unfortunately, the line gets caught up in the oval thing without you realizing it. Unfortunately the design isn't like other designs so the line isn't easily accessible and you can't just unravel it. So with the fish on you go to the bank and try using some needle nose pliers to get at the line which you are unsuccessful at doing and you finally just give up and simply find some place you can walk up along the bank and keep walking until you drag the poor fish wild steelhead onto the rocks (which your aren't supposed to do and in my state is considered illegal) to set it loose or end up cutting the line at the reel with a good 30 feet of line still stuck to the lure and the fish.

Don't get me wrong. I love what Daiwa has done in introducing Mag-Seal to the mid market and the precedent it sets within the recreational fishing industry. The looks of the new reels are extremely nice as well. One of the reasons why I went with a Certate was that I felt it was a lot more bang for the buck for my needs vs. a Sustain or Twinpower and looked a lot better. I loved the look of the oval thing as well and it might have been one of the many reasons I purchased it but in hindsight I wish Daiwa would have stuck to something a little more functionally conservative in terms of that oval thing. I mean the Mag-Seal and the new looks are fantastic, but that oval thing...

Interesting, I've never read it anywhere. The arm guards or whatever they are called, I'll just refer to them as that "oval thing" I feel basically serve as an apparatus to drive me nuts because it sticks out and grabs the line. The 2d pictures on the Daiwa website don't do the oval thing justice in how much it sticks out and how it can easily grab any loose line. Let me just give you one example. Imagine using supple braided mainline and hooking up to a 25lb salmon on a windy day (the wind blowing from your right to left). You're fighting the beast but it suddenly takes a turn for the worst as it beelines it for the the logs on your right and suddenly breaks your mainline in the wood causing a ton of slack which you quite rightly try to reel in. What you don't realize is that the that loose line has suddenly been grabbed by that oval thing and when you are reeling in the line you are actually wrapping the braid underneath the oval thing. You finally realize this after the reel won't reel any longer and you take a look and realize that the stuff is tightly wound underneath that oval thing. Unfortunately it's pretty hard to get those 10x+ loops of wet braid loose as its underneath the oval thing. Taking out the spool won't help at all because the braid isn't caught underneath that. You can't really unwrap the braid easily either because the you can't reach the braid easily as essentially the braid gets caught underneath the oval and is wet and tightly wound around it which sucks more in some cases as you will have a hard time giving any extra line to this problem. Essentially it's so easy compared to previous Daiwa reels and others to get it stuck in that oval thing and very hard to get it out.

The G.Loomis Classic Popping Rod series would be absolutely perfect for you. Go onto Ebay and grab one for around your budget. The prices on Ebay are always ridiculously low for these rods compared to MBR and other series. For some reason people in Florida don't know how to use the internet or the prices you usually get them for would be a lot higher

Not exactly Black Friday but a little before it I grabbed a Shimano Vanquish for <$200. Supposedly it was used but from my examination and some fishing it appears to be new.

It's pretty important to actually try out the grips yourself as there are a ton of options out there and everything is different. Btw, why not call St. Croix and ask them for a different handle? Loomis and other companies can change things up for free or for a small fee.

Go to any tennis club and ask the receptionist nicely if you can just feel the grips on the tennis handles. Find one you like and ask which one it is and then go buy it. I'm sure you can probably do this at a bicycle store as well.

Lol. The Shimano vs. Daiwa threads always have the most posts! Well, I guess it's time to plug in my input. Before I begin fyi I have both Shimano and Daiwa reels (along with one Abu Garcia) current generation and older. In terms of spinning reels, I feel there is actually quite a bit of differentiation now among Daiwa and Shimano lines that's it's really hard to compare now. I feel that Daiwa is trying to make things a little lighter in the Ballistic and other reels vs. Shimano which I feel has some robust reels. And each reel has their own feel to it making any comparison an apples to oranges one. In terms of spinning reels even the mid tier Daiwa reels now have mag seal technology which is supposed to keep water out of the reels which means you don't have to carefully stuff your reels with grease like I do if I dunk my reels which happens about once every two trips for me. It doesn't really matter to me as I usually do a light maintenance and grease after purchasing anyways. But it can be useful. One issue that I've found with my Daiwa Certate and which no one else seems to have an issue with is the oval design of the arm guard which in my situation always catches the line and is almost impossible to get out. For that reason alone, I'm probably never buying another Daiwa spinning reel until they change it's so easy to screw up an entire fishing session if you don't have backups. In terms of construction, I would lean a little towards Shimano as I've had one foot break off of a good Daiwa reel but this is purely how I feel about it and there is no empirical evidence that supports this. I've never really had an issue with my Shimano spinning reels really and if you search the Internet for some decent non-US Shimano reels and be patient you can get better deals on new Shimano reels from the dealer/distributor. Baitcasters, I 100% believe that each reel is different and it depends on your needs and likes. Zillions, Steez EX, Chronarch CI4, Calais, Metaniums, etc... are all extremely different reels to me and I think it really depends on your preference. I like my Steez EX better than the zillions because it's a lot lighter. But I think I like my Chronarch CI4 just as much as any reel because it palms better to me.

I have extra spools for two of my spinning reels but each of the spools on a reel is for a different fish species. I never bring a spare spool with me while fishing. It's too much of a hassle to change an entire set up and I would rather have another setup already at hand. It's also extremely easy to lose as well. On my 1000 Shimano one spool I have sinking braid for drop shotting while another spool has 6lb monofilament/fluoro for lure fishing for trout. On an Abu Garcia 4500 I have one spool with 30lb braid for light shark fishing in saltwater or bobber fishing for salmon while the other spool has 12lb monofilament for freshwater applications.

It really depends on what the fish are eating at the time and that would determine what I use. In some cases when I'm combat fishing with 20 people stuffed together in 20 feet of space (which happens more and more often) the distance you can cast your presentation out there will be the greatest determining factor in how many fish you catch. Not really knowing the area my preference would probably be the spinners first. If I can get the casting distance I would use the 1/16 first for a less disruptive presentation which I would hope would increase my fish count in the long term. I would then work my way up to the 1/8, the spoon and finally use the jig. Two lures that you can use and have been greatly effective to me are Kastmasters with added flash and Tasmanian Devils. You can also use a weighted clear bobber with a fly if that's what the fish are feeding on. Probably more important are three ideas for you to consider. 1. Hook selection and maintenance: I have also found that it's extremely important to make sure to sharpen your hooks before and after each outing and to use wide gap treble hooks, single sickle hooks, or if you can do nothing else just slightly bend your hook outward. It can make a huge difference between a bite and a hookup and losing a fish vs. landing one. 2. Value Added Attractant: Adding additional flash (additional color to suit the environment), bait (piece of worm), scent (long lasting garlic scent, etc...) or action (bending the spoon or replacing the spinner blades to create more of a desired action) can have a big impact on the amount of fish you catch. 3. In your situation I would probably use bait first. Also, learning to read the water, and being able to identify and understand the environmental variables are just as important.

In terms of line, your UL rod, lure selection, target species, and locale definitely suggest the usual 2-6lb test. Nylon monofilament should be fine but if you can, get fluorocarbon. I have found it can really makes a difference (my testing consisted of casting two exact bait presentations to the same spot fishing for rainbow trout). Right now is the perfect time to get some Seaguar InvizX Fluorocarbon (or Seaguar Tatsu, etc...) from TW since it's on sale right now and there is a 10% off gift cards promotion which gets you an additional discount.

Good information.

This actually happened recently to one of my favorite fishing spots. There are usually a few decent resident bass (5lb, 3lb, 2lb and 1.5lb and a lot of smaller ones). Some person posted about the spot on Fish Brain and what ended up happening was that several guys went there one day when I was there and kept them. The spot is now not worth fishing. I showed them the regulations about not keeping the 13"-17" size ones but not one cared (you are only allowed to keep ones under 12" and one above 18") and 5 total per license. Anyhow, my personal take is that for the time and money it's more cost effective to buy them from the store. And the annoying thing is around my area there are many fish that taste better.

I don't know what going on with the QC/QA in the factory that produces Vanish, but seriously steer clear of it. I've lost a lot of lures, hooks, etc... and fish using that stuff before I read on various forums how horrible it is. Even if you get it for free it's not worth it for the amount of gear (i.e. money) you lose, the sheer headache, and the heartache.

Jig: Blue/Black, Brown Worm: Green Watermelon, Black Crankbaits/Spoons: Chartreuse Frogs: White Belly