FishTank

With all the Black Friday sales starting, I was reminded yesterday how important it is to support your local tackle shop.... I stopped in at a local shop which use to cater to a different group of fisherman (they now carry bass equipment) and they have a ton of stuff by all the brands that restrict putting things on sale. So typically they don't see a lot of traffic this time of year. For instance they have about 50-75 of the new Shimano Miravel which is a lot of stock for a small shop. Since they don't have a website or deals like discount gift cards, it's hard for them to move a large volume of one item but they are required to carry/order a specific amount by their suppliers which makes it tuff on a small business. So if you can, please support your small local shops this time of year. They are getting hit hard by being excluded from the big sales and online stores.

Well I'm good on jigs for the year. ? If you place an order, one color (besides black n blue and green pumpkin) that was great last season was Fire Craw. Something about the red and black around tree stumps and lay downs was killer.

I back all my reels with the cheapest mono I can find. I fill it about 25% of the way. I'm not fan of braid with hard baits unless I use a leader. I would go with Seaguar InvizX for the Carolina Rig and Texas rigged stuff and Sufix Seige for mono on the hard baits.

I change mine as needed but clean my reels every year, sometimes twice. All my reels have backing on them which never gets changed. Some reels have backing on them that's around 12 years old.

I think @bulldog1935 has one as well. One other thing with this reel, I really like it for braid. I very rarely get loops on the spool. It seems to lay the line perfectly.

Shimano Vanquish 3000 (JDM). Super smooth and light. Also one the best drag systems I have seen on a spinning reel.

Glacier Gloves Pro Anglers have been my favorite. They are heavy duty and warm. Down side, it's hard to feel a fish bite.

Owner and Gamakatsu have been my favorite. VMC and Trokar might be tied for third but Decoy and Ryugi are giving all them a run for their money. If I make an order from Japan, they are about half the cost. It's nice to have choices ?.

I might have the same ML St. Croix Avid. It's a great rod for Neds. My personal favorite though is the G. Loomis NRX+ 921S NRR. It's a little softer at the tip, the sensitivity is what you would expect from an NRX, and it can be used for more than just Neds.

I have a couple. Think of it in the same way you do a 110 but smaller than the Jr. It's works great on BFS gear and on a spinning setup. I fish it on BFS setup with 6lb Sunline Sniper Invisible. Here is 110, the 110jr., and the X-75 Nanahan for size comparison.

Best lure was the Megabass Baby Popmax. I used a Dobyn's Seria BFS rod with a Shimano Aldebaran BFS and 6lb Sunline Sniper Invisible. I tried mono on this setup and hated it. Missed a few fish and overall it was just a bad idea. The FC was amazing. I have caught well over 500 fish on this setup this year, including Largemouth, Smallmouth, Whitebass/Wipers, Crappie, Bluegill, Drums, Catfish, 1 big Carp, Walleye and Sauger. Honorable mention.... Bellows Gill on a Megabass Evoluzion with a Daiwa Zillion and 14lb Sunline BMS FC.

Wind knots would be my guess. If you are getting line out and it is breaking, it's either digging in or it's looping and digging. Also, 10lb braid is probably too light for casting gear. I would replace both lines with 12lb mono and keep a close eye on the reel after a cast.

So I have an older 7' MH St. Croix Avid casting and a 6'8'' MH Avid Spinning. The choice use to be simple for me, when it's windy, I use the spinning setup and for rest of the time I'm using casting gear. I would throw pretty much the same thing on both with the exception of wacky rigged senkos and jigs. I would use spinning gear for the senkos and casting gear for jigs.

I have used it a few times. It's great and powerful. The first 7min of this video explains pretty close to how I feel. This rod, and any like it, gets heavy if you use it all day.

Never had this issue with Tatsu. I had one set up that I changed last year where the Tatsu was 4 years old. Other lines that I have had coil on me, I just drag the line behind the boat until I'm happy with the amount and reel it in. Also, I don't use line conditioner on Tatsu.

I like it. It's feather light. I have had no issues with it. Overall a fun reel but I would say it's not the most practical. I have been using it for drop shot and light finesse stuff. Depending on what you are going to do with it, I would also look at the Shimano Vanquish. Overall it's a better reel. I bought the Emeraldas because I wanted a Daiwa that was different from the other Shimano spinning reels I have and I wanted it to be light weight. I also just wanted something that was fun and different from everything else. This reel definitely scratched that itch.

It's great. I use either a Shimano Bantam or 2012 Antares on it. It works great for most crankbaits that go down to about 12 feet. Deeper diving baits can be a chore if you use it all day but it's really not bad. For deeper baits I been using the St. Croix 7'4'' MH Mod Legend Tournament.

I know that feeling. Each rod and reel I have sort has its own personality too me. I enjoy them each in their own way. As far as the rod goes, I have 7'2'' M Legend Glass and really enjoy it as well but it might be too heavy for what I want to throw. I'm thinking more of a ML that can do around 1/8 - 3/16oz lures, maybe up to 1/2 but totally necessary.

I can't speak for the Kistler rod but I have a Jerkbait Special Levante and it's been great so far. No complaints. If you decide to go with Megabass, look at Kittery Trading Post. Get an account and sign up for emails. They will send you a coupon that usually works on whatever.

I pretty sure I will be ordering Millionaire CT SV. So a few more questions...What rod do you have it on? What line? And what do you use it for?

Thanks. Good to know. I may not go completely BFS on this real but having the option would be nice. I might also look into a longer handle. I think I read that it is 80mm. We'll see what my Christmas Bonus is this year and I will decide if I want to pull the trigger.

I was going to start a thread on the Millionaire CT SV but I found this.... So how do you like it? I was looking into the a new small round reel and was hoping to find a used Calcutta 51 or get a new Conquest BFS. I didn't care for the Conquest BFS when I held it in hand and no luck finding a mint Calcutta 51. So I narrowed it down to the Millionaire CT SV. I want to use it for small cranks and small jerkbaits. Not sure yet which rod I will put in on but I will figure it out.

Ya, it's a heavy big bait. I have a Megabass Valkyrie that can go upto 2oz. I have thrown the Big M, which is 2oz., with no issues. I was planning on trying it out yesterday since my wife let me snag a few goodies from my shipment before it went into her Christmas vault but never got around to it. The fish were biting on BFS stuff.

It was one of the better days on the water. I caught 11 wipers/white bass in the 2lb range, at least 30+ crappie and 7 large mouth. Most of them were caught on these two lures. Broke some hooks while I was at it too.

I have tried several FC. My favorites are both Invizx and Tatsu in 6lb. In the past I used Trilene 100% FC XL but the last two spools have been nothing short of bad. Currently I am using 6lb Sunline Sniper Invisible and it has been great. It may be my go to in future if I can get at the JDM price.