FishTank

Being able to find fish is the first step No white rods - old family superstition No Crocs on the boat or at the boat ramp - I saw it again on Friday. A guy was on his own, trying to put his boat on the trailer. He climbed out on to the tongue of the trailer to attach the winch hook to the boat and slipped. He went head first, hitting the side of his head on the trolling motor mount but then he fell split legged onto the frame, busting his you know whats. So no Crocs. Fish the conditions you are given not what you plan on fishing. Learn to adapt. Fish live in the whole lake not just at the bank Do what you can to make fishing fun

I don't look at either one of these reels cancelling each other out. They are each their own thing. The Zillion is a do all workhorse and Aldebaran is more of a finesse reel but not quite BFS. I do believe the Aldebaran is due for a revamp though. Also, to me, the new Metanium 100 gives the Zillion a run for its money. It took some of my favorite reels and mashed them together. It has the feel like the old Core 100 and the Bantam put together, plus the insides of the Antares 70A. Even though it looks like an Aldebaran, it seems like a different reel. I might be over thinking it but it's definitely fun to fish and it casts a mile (maybe further than any reel I have used).

I buy either Sunline, Seaguar, and now Varivas FC from JLS anytime I make a JDM order. Compared to the bulk spool the OP purchased it comes out to about the same costs as they only have 100m and 200m spools. I do like Invizx though but I feel like the lines I have been getting are a step up from it. For instance, Seaguar R18 LTD is very similar to Tatsu but at a much cheaper price.

I like the Woo Tungsten Weights. I usually use an 1/8oz for most softplastics but depending on the application, I will use an 1/8 to up to 1 oz.

Not trying to start anything.... I'm just curious why? I have one Kistler BFS rod and so far it's been great. When I called to ask questions, they gave me straight answers. They emailed a weeks after and wanted my opinion on it, both good and bad. Not sure if I have experienced this with any other brand. If I had a complaint, I don't like how they mark stuff up just to mark it down and I never thought their higher end rods lived up to the hype they use to boast about. The Hunt BFS rod is favorite out the BFS rods I own though. So it's made curious about their other offerings. I would be good to hear other people's experiences.

I purchased a new Metanium a few yeas back and on the first cast this happened. I had everything set up the right way but unfortunately Shimano didn't install a few parts correctly. The end result was this mess. The guys at Omnia sent me a replacement after going over the bad reel and the new one has been flawless.

That's another one on my list. I have a few of the Great Hunting 110's on order. We will see how they differ when they come in. If you are looking for a slow floating jerkbait, take a look at the Nishine 115's. They have a few different models. I got one last year but have only used it a few times. It's a weird one but it allows you to adjust how the bait sinks or floats with the weights that are included with it. They also have a shallow version (0-1 foot) which I have been wanting to try.

There are three jerkbaits from Megabass that offer an odd kind of retrieve, the 110 R, the 110 High Float and the LBO. The 110 R has an odd upward dart and weird action on straight retrieve. The 110 High Float you real and pause. The 110 LBO has a rolling action. For me the regular 110 is still where it's at.

Not a huge fan of braid with BFS gear but I do like it for some topwater. I have tried lines from YGK and Varivas. My big complaint with most braid and BFS baits is that the line floats causing the baits, especially hard baits, to not move the way I want. Also any wind can be an issue. I'm over stating it....Ever seen spider webs floating in the wind? Another big thing with braid, even when you have your drag set properly, you will bend some hooks if you're not careful. This is where I'm at in my BFS line choice. The line from YGK sinks and works great especially with leader. Overall, I prefer fluorocarbon 5lb Sunline Invisible. I haven't tried the BMS below yet in 5lb but the sizes I've used have been fantastic.

I decided to stop buying any of the brands that are owned by Pure Fishing and Rather Outdoors. These two have checked all the bad boxes.... not treating employees and pro staff well, giving false pretenses about their products, copying original JDM baits, product monopolizing to family owned bait shops, etc.

When the normal stuff doesn't work, I go big and I go small. Meaning I throw stuff like a 6in Magdraft or 10in worm and then I am also throwing BFS stuff (which seems to work all the time). Sometimes this time of year, all the bass a grouped together. If you find one, you will find them all. And there is always the chance that they're just not biting.

I have some. They work great, especially on big hooks, but you have to be disciplined with keeping them organized once you take them off and needing to put them back on.

I went down this rabbit hole late last year and early this year. I was wanting something more for trout streams. Some of the streams I have tried have tight spots so I needed a short packable rod that I could hike with. I ended up with a Tenryu Rayz Integral 4'8'' L 4 piece. Despite it being short, it can cast a 4g lure just as far my 6'8'' Kistler BFS. I have caught a handful of bass on it and it's surprisingly powerful, almost too powerful for the small trout I'm after. With that said, I would always use a net and I would probably not use it on a boat. May not be the rod for you. So which leads me to the rod that was my second choice but it's always out if stock on most JDM sites due to it being one of Japan's best selling BFS rods, the Megabass Triza Aello. This is the rod I should have picked up for bass. I got to look at the next step up the Sparna. These rods are just built different and worth the money. By the look and feel, you would expect it to cost more but it is still $370 US retail. You can get it for around $275 on few JDM sites if you're lucky.

In what weight range are trying to throw? Are looking for a trout or bass BFS? Something in between? Streams or lakes?

I remember those being as popular as a Senko. The shop I mentioned carried custom colors that the owner supposedly asked for himself. I remember having a black version with blue tails and a yellow skirt. The best though was green pumpkin with a yellow and black flake skirt. I've still seen them show up from time to time.

Typo on my part... the 1990's . I think they started up in 1994. There was a shop in Indiana called Anglers World that was able to import them prior to Lucky Craft USA opening up. They also had Megabass. They sold a ton of it. I still have one of each from that time. I will post a picture if I can find them.

I don't know if I would lump Lucky Craft in that group. Granted, they are the ones that made JDM baits accessible to the US but at about $15 a bait in 1990. There success was due to successful production and quality but also for being small. If you haven't seen this they are a very humbling group of people.

I could go on about this topic but I can remember when brands like Bomber and Manns were premium baits. For example a Bomber A use to be $4-$5 in the 80's. I would buy one every now and then with my allowance as a kid. The rest went to baseball cards and arcade games. That $4 in 1981 is about $15 now. So really what happened is that bait went into mass production by a plastics manufacturer and just wasn't the same but it was cheap. Another thing to consider is your corporate greed in this case will all ways be with larger corporations and not the small businesses, like for instance Huddleston, OSP, Nishine or even Megabass for that matter. There market share is way less than Rather Outdoors or Pure Fishing. JDM baits also end up spending more in development than these marketing group owned name brands only to have their designs ripped off and rebranded in a cheaper bait by these corporations. I asked a local company here in Indiana that makes a well kept secret bait why their lures were so expensive ($20-$25). He simply said, it takes 4 guys working 12 hours a day, hand making lures a lot longer than it does a sweat shop. I have a few of these and they are perfect right out of package and catch fish like crazy under the right conditions but that perfection isn't cheap. The only problem is they can't produce enough to keep up with demand.

It's pretty amazing. I have an older version. It's the MB 30th Anniversary Edition of the Super Diablo II. I have it paired with a Daiwa Zillion SV. I can pretty much fish anything on it but it's so sensitive that it makes cranks and jerk baits feel off. Jigs, Texas Rigged plastic, topwater, spinnerbaits, and paddle tail swimbaits are great. It's the one rod that I baby more than anything else but it has brought in some nice fish.

The Megabass Evoluzion comes to mind. Carbon and titanium mix. There are others. It's just marketing. Also, I will trust what a rod builder says.

Any time the subject comes up, I cringe. This one is an oldie but a goodie. https://www.rodbuilding.org/read.php?2,156787

I like mine for windy days. It will backlash less but that's about all I use it for. It will bomb cast lures but not any further than the reels I have with the MGL spools.

It's been years but my old fishing buddy use to buy five new ones every year. He was retired and fished all the time, all year, and everywhere. These reels would be shot after a year's use. Some were held together with glue and duct tape and missing paint. He might have one that would be almost new. He would trade them in at the spring sale. BPS would take all of them no matter the condition. He would save up $500 for it and that would be his fishing budget for the year. I can't say if they were good, bad or just fair but they were not made for the abuse my buddy put them through.

Hate to tell you but in recent years I have purchused 12 NRX+'s and 2 IMX Pro crankbait rods. I didn't pay retail for any of these. Deals are few and far between but they can be had if you are in the right place, at the right time or if you know the right guy. Patience is required.

The guy I was fishing with was older (maybe 75). He knew what to look for and he had probably fished this lake since the water was poured. He had specific way points already set in his graph that we were targeting. He would fan those areas. Then, at this point for once, I was the guy that got technologically lost. He would point and tell me where to cast.