fishnkamp

Unless you think throwing DD22s and such fits your needs, I would consider a CT in 6 or 7 to 1 range and maybe a rod that can handle the lighter baits. A rod like an Irod Genesis Harold's Lone Star Special IRG 693C.

A line like P Line CXX in 10 pound test might be a good compromise. If you go that way use 20 pound in moss green. It breaks around 23 pounds. Also treat it with line conditioner. It has a bit of memory.

Here is the type of "abuse" my friend Bryan's equipment must endure That fish was caught on a Lexa, It weighed nearly 14 pounds! Not much left of the spinnerbait. Take a few minutes and read his fishing report here http://www.baybass.com/node/268 It is worth the read and best of all it was delicous he says. All of his Lexa, Exceler, and Tatulas have to stand up to these snakeheads, bass, stripers up to around 36 inches and big blue cats. My biggest cat so far was a 18 pound blue. That fish nearly doubled over an Irod 7 foot medium mod rod and almost spooled my Tatula before my partner got the trolling motor up and I could work the rod around the front of the boat.

If you want that rod now is the time to order it,. They are on sale for $69. They have to be backordered but I would lock in the savings big time. If the rod you have now is the 7 foot drop shot model than I highly recommend getting the 6'10 M xf model. That is the rod I would throw shakey heads, light texas rigs ( up to 3/8 ounce worm weight) Sencos both weighted and weightless, grubs, tubes etc. If your 7 medium spinning rod can handle drop shots that is exactly what I would do. It also means that the 7 footer would be my backup if I found the drop shots were not useful, I might have a Senco or texas rig on the 6'10 rod and a follow up bait like a grub with a 1/8 to 1/4 texas rig setup or even a tube on the other. I can not help with the reel I have never seen it, but if you want another reel to look at as an option check out the Okuma RTX 30 and the Helios reels I fish one of the RTXs and so do several of my buddies. Nice light weight reel, smooth and sturdy and has a high gear ratio.

I will answer it this way I have a friend Bryan that got me hooked on Daiwa, He fishes at least 3 to 4 times a week HARD! He has his own website called baybass.com. Go spend some time reading his fishing reports that always include equipment used. He fishes almost all Daiwa, Excelers, Tatula 100 series and Tatula HD 200 series reels. I have used his gear, and now I own 7 Daiwas which include 1 Exceler, 4 Tatula Type Rs and 2 Tatula CTs. Before the summer I will upgrade all of my reels to Excellers and Tatulas. If ai had you cast all of my reels and you could not see which one is which you can not tell in casting distance or smoothness, in my opinion. The Exceler handle fine, it is a $99 retail reel currently available for $60. The Tatula CTs can e had for roughly $100 shipped to your door. You will not be disappointed with either. Another good option is the Fuego for about the CTs price.

Not too many brick and mortar stores will compete with or price match any online retailers. They can not afford to do that and stay in business. That is why the Dicks policy is to price match only local retailers. Sorry dude. Next year ask for Visa gift cards and you can use those anywhere. That is what I give all of my nieces and nephews. There are accepted anywhere.

I can't really say since I never try to use a baitcaster for baits lighter than 1/4 ounce. I really think it takes a high dollar reel to accomplish those super finesse baitcasting techniques. I use my Exceler to throw rattle traps, red eye shads, square bills, and some shallow cranks. Probably the lightest I throw on it is a Mann's 1/4 ounce Baby 1 minus or a Bomber Shallow A which weighs about 3/8 ounce. Most of the time when I throw lighter texas rigs, say 1/4 or 5/16 with a finesse worm or a unweighted Senco then I am using a G Loomis 6 foot medium spinning rod. That IMX rod just makes it easier to handle those baits. If I want to throw a Rapala floating minnow I throw that on a 6'6" Okuma spinning rod as well. Once I get up to say a Rattling Rogue then I have my Ike series 6'4" delay series rod and a 6.3 Tatula CT in my hand. Those baits weigh 3/8 ounce if I am correct.

I own one Exceler 4 Tatula Rs 2 TatulaCTs. I love them all. Actually if I blind folded you I doubt you could tell them apart. half of my reels are lefties and half are righties and I have 6.3 and 8-1 gear ratio reels. My friend Bryan (baybass.com) got me addicted to Daiwas. He fishes roughly 3 to 4 times a week all year long. His Excelers and Tatulas hold up well and so have mine. The biggest difference between an Exceler and a tatula is the T wing system. I will be upgrading the rest of my reels over the next 6 months. They will all be Excelers and Tatula CTs with the possible exception of one Tatula HD for pitching with 17 pound line ( the HD has more capacity. Realize the Exceler is a $99 retail reel. It is no beginner reel by any means. Go take a few minutes and read some of Bryan's fishing reports on his website baybass.com then choose fishing reports. Scroll down to some on both of the first and second pages. He catches some enourmous snakeheads while bass fishing

It does not mean that when comparing a Tatula 100 series to a Tatula CT. Unfortunately I have not seen the Aird yet to be sure.

I have a friend that fishes 3 to 4 days a week, so he fishes his gear hard. He use a lot of Daiwas including a couple of Tatula HDs. He spools them up with 17 pound P line CXX and 20 pound P Line CXX. Sometimes he throws jigs and t rigs as well as blade bait in deeper water on them. He loves them. If you are interested in getting a personal opinion go to baybass.com and post a question under his forums/rod & reels section. Here is one of his fishing reports that he speaks about them Bryan runs that board to give real time fishing reports in MD and VA. He has a group of pro staff and they do a great job. I have spent a few days fishing with him and learned a ton. I personally own 6 Daiwa Tatulas ( CTs and Type Rs) and one Exceler. I love fishing all of them. Since we fish the Upper Chesapeake Bay tidal rivers as well as the Potomac river our gear has to stand up to big bass, stripers, double digit blue cats and snakeheads.

If you read the description it actually says it has a aluminum deep spool providing 30 % more capacity. They did the same thing with the Tatula CT when it came out. The body of a Tatula CT is a bit narrower and a bit lower in profile compared to a standard 100 series Tatula. They made the spool deeper in order to hold the same amount of line as a 100 series Tatula and Tatula Type R reel. Daiwa has been going in the direction of smaller bodied reels so I doubt it was made larger in physical size.

Instead of the Winn Grips go to Mud Hole and go to the components drop down menu. Look at the Handles and Grips, then select TAPE CORK and SHRINK. Look at the colored heat shrink grip material. My custom rod builder has used that on a few rods. It worked great over EVA foam. If you look at the blue handled rod with the X pattern that is that exact material layered over some wearing eva. The rod's owner is very picky so it must have worked out well since I know he is still fishing it that way.

Go look on West Marine's website. They list a Penn Battle 2 4000 series reel (and a 3000 series reel ) available in combo with a Penn Battle 7 foot Medium rod for less than $120. Now normally i would say go a little smaller reel like the 3000 ( and you could decide to) but you could hit a fish that can really run like a snook or even a baby tarpon so line capacity should be important. For your needs I would either spool with say 40 pound braid or maybe 15 pound to 20 pound mono. The thing is that you have 52 West Marine stores that are located in Florida. Chances are you will not have too much trouble going into one. They will have people in their fishing departments that really know what you will need to fish for the fish in your area, as well as help you pick out the right gear. I am friends with the manager of the fishing department in our store here in MD. We have enough serious striper fisherman, as well as guys that go after perch, sea trout and croaker, that he stocks and sells quite a few of those combos.. That store is located right here next to the Chesapeake Bay.

Go to youtube Go watch the explanation Ikes give for his 6'4 delay series jerkbait rod. Highlight and copy the following then paste it in the search box on youtube. IKECW64-5 Rod - Abu Garcia Ike Series I own that rod and it is a great jerkbait / topwater bait rod. This is not my rod for buzzbaits though I prefer a stiffer faster rod for them. The rod works more like a 6'8 rod but has a shorter handle so you do not smack your arm when you jerk the rod. They sell for about $130. I have been fishing mine for most of the last year and really like it.

Here is my two cents. I presently fish with over a dozen baitcasters. Most of mine were Shimano Chronarchs and Curados, BPS Extremes and a few Quantums. A good friend, I met on his own fishing board a couple of years ago, put me onto Daiwas. He fishes HARD like 3 to 4 times a week on the Potomac and Upper Chesapeake Bay tidal rivers. He fishes for bass, but also catches big stripers and snakeheads. My first Daiwa was an Exceler as others have mentioned. That reel retailed for $99 and often would go on sale for $60, It is a smooth- nice handling reel. Right now NEW it is available for that $60 price from Tackle Warehouse. If your budget is sub $75 this is the reel to get. If you can go to around $100 then step up to a Tatula CT. Often they are available brand new online for around $100 shipped to your door. That is a terrific reel that normally retails for $129. Both of those reels will serve you well for many years. So far I have replaced over half of my reels and over the next 6 months I intend to replace my entire lineup. This will leave me with a mix of both right and left handed Tatula CTs, Tatula TYpe Rs and the one Exceler. I have them in a mix of retrieve ratios as well.

Yes

Here is my opinion. Your arsenal is a bit limiting because you have too many of the same rods. First, you almost have to pair the 5.4-1 orra with the Phenix or else the reel has no purpose with your other rods. This will make a decent combo for big deep running cranks, but limits you when you want to throw small to mid sized cranks, traps or square bills. My preference would be to match that crankbait rod with a 6.3 Tatula CT. This combo makes your crankbait rod more versatile. I would spool it with either 12 pound copolymer line or even good old 12 pound Stren mono. Using that combo you should easily throw the smaller cranks, traps, squarebills and even get away with throwing spinnerbaits on that rod as well. However that leaves a question as to what the purpose would be for the Orra 5.4 reel. Perhaps you sit on it and add a longer 7'6 or 7'11 crankbait rod that would be better for deep divers, If you throw baits like DD22s and Manns 20+ or 30+ baits it would be worth it. If not, I would trade/sell it and get another 6.3-1 reel. Lets forget about the wild card, the 6'9 Vengeance rod that is now a 6'6". We have no idea what it throws well as of now. You will have to experiment with it later this spring. So now we have a pair of Vengeance rods. Try putting the 8-1 Tatula CT on the 7' MH Vengeance. I would try to use that rod for throwing frogs or pitching and flipping and carolina rigs. It would be spooled with 40 pound Power Pro Spectra braid. I would test throwing hollow bodied frogs with it. I use a MH Abu Garcia Veritas rod that rates 1/4 to 1 ounce for frogs, so your 3/8 to 1 ounce rod might work well. I usually say 65 pound braid for that purpose, but 40 pound will work okay and be good for real big jigs on deep ledges and as well as flipping and pitching. Next, I would pair the Shimano Sellus 7'2" worm and jig rod with your Lews Mach 1 reel. I would spool it with either 30 pound braid like Suffix 832 or a quality copoly line like P Line CXX in 10 pound test. Berkley Big Game in like 14 pound test would be another possibility. I would use this rod for texas rigs, and jigs mostly. That leaves the 6'9" Abu Vengeance and the Lews Carbon Fire as the next combo. I would spool it with some 12 to 15 pound mono. I would see if it throws buzzbaits, poppers, spooks etc. These rod/ reel combos and each one's purpose will take some fishing time to see if what i have suggested will work. I have not felt those rods to see how well they will play, but I am certain they should be good at the jobs I suggested. If I had your arsenal I would forget about the Orra and the broken Abu for now. Go fish the combos as I put them together. Then think about what rods you have and what each one does well. Do you fish in places that you will throw a crankbait that gets down 22 to 30 feet. I have fished for 45 years and never thrown those type of baits, maybe the 5.4 -1 gear ratio and a super long rod is useless to you. Maybe you trade/ sell or buy another 6.3-1 reel like the CT. Perhaps a good choice might be a lighter action baitcasting rod that would allow you to throw baits like a fluke or Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper, with a lightly weighted swimbait hook. That rod would also be good with light weight swim jigs . I have a 6 foot BPS Extreme that throws those lighter baits a country mile with accuracy. Maybe you should look at a real nice medium action spinning rod. It could be of more use in order to cover the Sencos, Ned Rigs, and light weight texas rigs. I hope this gets your ideas going. Let me know what you think of my matches.

Here is a few suggestions. If you stick with square bills, small to mid sized cranks, minnow baits, traps etc as well as a spinnerbait the Falcon Bucoo micro series Trasp Caster is a good choice. A Dobyns Fury FR 734C is probably the one to look at in the Dobyns lineup.

My favorite jig rod is an original series Powell Max 683 CEF. It is listed as a 6'8" inch mh ef, If you bend the rod it bends down to the 5 guide (tip plus four) so I think it would fall into Team 9nines definition. Powell suggested using this rod for jigs, Sencos, spinnerbaits, flukes and texas rigs. By far this is the most versatile rod of all 12 baitcasters I own. They now make that rod in the new Max3D and the Inferno series. If you are interested go read the review of that rod on Tackletour. The rod rates for 1/4 to 3/4 ounce lures. They threw all kinds of things on it all the way up to 2 ounce swimbaits and were amazed at its abilities. I would never try that myself but it does what i wanted it to do. In a Max 3D that rod costs $160. I am also a big fan of Irods and the Genesis II IRG 704 and 744 rods are great rods also. I do not own them, but do owna 703CC for cranks, traps and square bills.

As many have said we have been afflicted with bass-itis longer than you, so we would all have a ton of rod reel combos in our arsenal. For an all around rod their are some good choices. Start with looking at a Dobyns Fury. These are quality rod blanks with quality components. Take a look at a Dobyns Fury FR 704C. Fury's run a bit lighter than other brands in their same spec range. Another rod to consider would be a Falcon Bucoo micro series rod called the Trap Caster. Go read the Tackletour review of a rod from Powell. It was called a Powell Max 683 CEF. They now make it in the Powell Max 3D series and it is still a great all around rod. I own one and love it. Realize all of these suggestions are compromises, but they will do what you want. Then as you grow you will enjoy whichever one of these you purchase and target your next rod to do what you think this rod compromises on most. I will say all three of these are great rods.

Well I do not remember your other post. So lets start with these questions. First what type of water do you fish. Are you fishing from a boat or shore? Next are you fishing dirty tidal waters, deep clear lakes, heavy vegetation, fast moving clear shallow rivers. shallow ponds and small lakes? All of these present different needs. Now let's go over your rods. Since we do not know the brands nor full rod specs lets ask it this way. You have a 7 foot MHF action baitcaster. Is this a good rod for bottom bouncing baits like jigs, texas rigs and carolina rigs. Does this rod spec for lures that rate 1/4 to 3/4 or 1/4 to 1 1/4 or 1 1/2 ounce lures. You have a 7'6" MHXF does this rod handle frogs, flipping and pitching? I am assuming it does. If the first rod handles bottom bouncing baits well, than I would seriously consider adding a rod like a Falcon Bucoo micro 7 foot Trap Caster rod. It is listed as a MH MF. It has a really nice tip that transitions to a beefy mid section. Falcon suggests using this rod to throw traps, cranks, spinnerbaits and buzzbaits. It is soft enough to keep trebles hooked up, but has plenty enough power to throw a big crank a mile and have it dig down deep. This would sorta bridge the gap of what I think you are missing. I would match it up with a 6.3-1 reel. Here are some other examples of rods that could work. Check out a Dobyns Fury FR 705CB. Next look at an Irod either the IRG 703CC or the IRG 733C. Lastly look at a St Croix Avid X 7 foot medium moderate. These rods are designed to handle reaction style baits.

If you are looking at adding a really nice ( read moderately priced) combo look at a Falcon Bucoo Micro Trap caster. It is listed as a 7foot medium moderate rod. I would consider it to be just a tick faster, for me it handles my traps really well, but also some larger deeper diving cranks. Mine is matched up with a 6.3-1 Daiwa Tatula CT. it works well for me. Sometimes the Bucoos can be found for less than $50 online. It retails for $100.

Here is another two options to look at before you spend your money. Okuma has stepped up their game in my opinion, especially in the spinning reels. I fish a lot of Pfluegers, but on the advice of a friend that fishes at least 3 or 4 times a week, I picked up an Okuma RTX 30. That is a nice reel and even nicer is their Helios reel. Very smooth and lightweight. They seem to be doing well for Bryan while standing up to some reel big bass, stripers and snakeheads.

If worse came to worse you could find a good rod repair guy. I had a defective reel seat ( the section you tighten up to hold the reel) allowing the reel to get loose all of the time. This was on a brand new IMX G Loomis rod and they had changed from the original all metal setup. My so;ution was to change the reel seat (which you would not have to do) and replace the full cork rear grip with a split grip from Winn Grips. It did not cost much and I am thrilled with the results. Now I chose the "natural" look but you could easily consider the all black set so it would look like eva foam. The bottom pic is the before and the top is what I love in my hand. For more examples go to my friends website and look under galleries. Here is his website. http://www.tomscustomrods.com/custom-rods-galley/ Another option is to go to Mudd Hole and look at their shrink tube.

Check out GETBIT they have all kinds of winding checks.l