FishTank

I had two orders finally come in and one from Omnia. I have been hunting for this dumb Megabass hat for a while. The Big M should be fun and I finally found a place that has the Respect Series Onetens in stock.

I didn't mention it above but you're right. It bugs me but it's not a big deal though. One other thing that bothers me is the grips but again not a big deal.

Same. Anytime I get a new rod, reel or bait, I go straight to my honey hole. I like to try techniques I struggle with and see how I can improve on them. Some ponds are different though. They are a smaller closed system that bass have learned to adapt to. Some days I could throw a bottle cap with a hook glued to it and the bass would smash it. Other days, I could fish my go to baits and nothing gets bit.

Watched it the day it came out. The guy is awesome and a truly amazing angler. Also, I take Randy with a grain of salt. I like his videos and take from them what I want. He was a good angler but it appears he is in a position to make more money from videos than tournament fishing.

I have around 22 set ups now and I look at it in two different ways, tournament fishing and fun fishing. Each rod to me has a different feel and personality, including a specific purpose, this increases my fishing fun. I pick the ones I want to catch fish on the day before I go and enjoy them with no real expectations. On the other hand, when I tournament fish I take 5-6 setups catered to what I think the fish are after. Unless nothing is working, I try to stick with what I put on to maximize my time in the water. If I had to do it all over again for my tournament setups, I would pick 5-6 rods from the same brand and the same lineup that are technique specific to me. I would pick one particular reel, made in the speeds I want for 3 or 4 of those setups. The rest would be one spinning reel and one large, slow speed round reel for big crankbaits and swimbaits.

I have it and it's not bad for the price I paid ($160) but I got mine before the price increase with a coupon. It's well made for the task and feels like a much more expensive rod. I have other rods I use for jerkbaits, like a G. Loomis 783C GLX and a St. Croix 6'8'' MF Legend Elite. These rods are much better made and the blanks are better but the Levante works well for jerkbaits. So no real complaints. It's just sometimes I feel like I should have picked up the Orochi XX instead. But again, for the price I paid, I can't beat it.

You might reach out to Sieberts Outdoors. They are a sponsor of this site. They may not have exactly what you want but they could point you in the right direction.

I am not familiar with the one you mentioned but I use either a Megabass Okashira head or the Dirty Jigs Finesse head for small swimbaits. I have tried a thinner hook crappie head for small swimbaits and got tired of bending the hook.

Love mine so far. It's solid and can handle some pretty rough water. I just wish I had more time to get out on it. And tell Kristine to stop stealing all my fish. ?

I would put the Antares on the Super Destroyer and the Metanium on the 844C.

Thanks. They got me for a couple of them that I needed to replace.

I like bright colors for stained water, green pumpkin for somewhat stained water and black and blue works anytime. Here is this year's best color and trailer so far.... White Jackhammer with a rainbow shad Keitech.

It took me at least 6 months to get a rod replaced under their xpeditor service. Under the circumstances, I understand why it took so long. But to get a new rod replaced, for a fee, that was my fault is just great service.

It's a fun reel. I think it's intended use is for squid. If you get one, pay attention to the model. Some have a light drag. Also, the drag on the one I have starts slow and tightens up, which is great for hook sets. I paired it with a NRX+ NRR. It's a pleasure to fish.

I'll add another I picked up earlier this year. The Daiwa Emeraldas Air FC LT. Just super fun to fish, smooth as any spinning reel i have owned and weighs nothing.

I used the rod form for the two I sent in but if you have a bill break or a cracked lure they will probably not cover it. It can happen easily with any jerkbait. It's just plastic but it is expensive plastic. https://megabassusa.com/rod-warranty-claim/

I have a new BB1 and so far it's been pretty good. My only gripe is that the breaking is sporadic at any setting. I definitely need to keep my thumb at the ready. Also the drag slips a little and is not as smooth as I would like it but it's not a huge deal. Now, outside of this reel I have not been the biggest fan of Lews reels. On the plus side, up until lately, their service has been stellar. If you search about Lews reels on this site and others, you will see the recent complaints about parts and warranty. Hopefully things will return to normal for them one day. My one thing with Lews as a whole is that they mark up their reels and then discount them. Many companies (Kohls, JCPennys, etc) follow the "Mark it up, so it can appear to be on sale" philosophy. It's just not how I operate.

For a bluegill color I like the Rapala pictured above. Another would be the Secret Gill color from Megabass.

Senko 5in, Black with Blue Flake or Green Pumpkin Black Flake.

Jigs with a crawl trailer have been great the past few years, pretty much anytime. A Texas rigged craw has been the opposite. Can't figure out why. Could be rate of fall, stained water. Its just weird but everywhere I fish has crawdads.

Add a low/no salt trailer or a Keitech Fat Impact. It will stay up and off the bottom and they tend to make the skirt fluff out. I have only lost one in several years of fishing them.

In the past few years I have used Megastrike and Bang. Both seem to work. I just picked up some Bait Fuel and it seems to be the real deal. I have had fish hold on to a bait for a long time before I have set the hook. Not sure what's in it but it doesn't smell like anything.

I have tried a couple since the 6in Magdraft came out, which is about 1.25oz. It was too light for the big swimbait rod I have and almost too heavy for a Heavy rod. So a few weeks ago I picked up a Megabass Valkyrie 7'1" Heavy. It goes up to 2oz. It will cast a Magraft like a jig. It's truely amazing. I can skip under docks, I can bomb cast it a long way with this rod and it's got just enough flex so that big bait doesn't feel fatiguing.

I have had good luck with Boca bearings. I have replaced them in about 6 reels. I noticed a lot of improvement over the stock bearings with ABEC 7's non orange seel and some improvement with the ABEC 5's but this was in older reel models. I tried a pair in my Shimano Bantam and didn't see much difference. With that said the bearings I did replace weren't fantastic out of the box, some took hours of fishing before it became big difference over the stock. Some have seen an extreme amount of use over the years and still cast a mile.

Could be a lot of things but this is my guess..... AR bearing. They don't go out often but usually happens from not being cleaned and oiled or using braid while trying to winch out a snag. The other possibility could be from being over greased instead of oiled but this would be rare.