FrnkNsteen

I always thought I was a big man when I got a chance to fish with my Dad's 808!! 😊😊

Anyone know where these are going in the price scale? I assume mid to upper levels since they already reworked the lower level Mojo rods.

Yeah, it's weird because their home page says GLX $299, but if you look close, it says "as low as". The shorter casting rods like a 782c MBR and 783 MBR are around that, but the longer rods are at higher prices. The 853c I got was $326. Still quite a bit cheaper than regular retail, so I said "What the hell,... Likely won't see much cheaper than that".

Sale isn't reflected on their website. Must just be in-store. Update,.... The bait monkey was whispering in my ear this morning and cohersed me into ordering a GLX 853c JWR on closeout this morning from ALF. I'm not a big Loomis guy, but I have an IMX Pro 854C JWR I picked up last year and have always wanted to try a GLX. Figured the 853c would make a nice worm rod. I currently have my worm rigs on a Kistler Zbone and a pair of Helium rods, but the Zbone is a clean MH MF I picked up used and might make a really nice swim jig rod or something.

I've got one I recently picked up for about $75. It had very minor boat rash on it. I always liked the shape of them. Kind of a round reel meets low profile kind of thing. I have only seen them in right hand model and I prefer left hand, so it sits on the shelf currently. I would estimate a like new in box might be worth $100 - maybe $150. I've seen others priced higher, but they don't seem to sell. They don't pull the value that the TDZ 103 and 100's do.

Hey Tim...Use the silver with black back in the 90 size up on Rainy when you go. Sunny day,....Swim it slow,.. Just fast enough for the prop to turn steady. Throw it up on the rocky banks and points and roll it over the rocks. The smallies tear it up when the conditions are right up there!!

I will give an alternate perspective,.... I can see the benefit of stepping up to higher quality (and price) offerings on bottom contact rods where sensitivity is a gain, though I DO believe the law of diminishing returns kicks in pretty quickly. For instance, I have Jigs and Texas Rigs set up on rods ranging from Zodius to Kistler Helium and Z Bone (with the NFC blanks) to Loomis IMX Pro and St Croix Legend X, Elite, and Extreme. All are very light, balanced and sensitive,..... But I don't see HUGE differences between the $200 Zodias and up thru the $400+ legends in performance. There may be differences, but they aren't drastic enough to REALLY justify the price differences. I mean the Legend Extreme isn't 3 times nicer than the Zodias! When it comes to moving and reaction baits though.... That sensitivity becomes less of an issue to me. I want a light, balanced rod that does what it needs to do. I've got moving bait rods ranging from Dobyns Fury 705cb to various kinds and brands ranging from Dobyns, Daiwa, St Croix Mojo, to smaller companies like Doomsday Tackle, Bird Dog and Academy Ethos. In regards to the jerkbait rod question from the OP... No way I would spend the $350 x $400 for the PA when lower level stuff like the Expride, Zodias, or others work just fine. If certain models of Exprides are flying off the shelves and the Adrenas are sitting on them,.... The market has spoken! For the record,.... I am using a Kistler Jerkbait Special, A 6'9" Bird Dog Rod, and a 6'6" Academy Ethos HD rod for jerkbaits at the moment. I like the ($79) Academy Ethos! It works great with it's short butt handle and short length, it doesn't hit me in the stomach or slap the water,.., Not sure on the $180 Bird Dog yet, and just got the Kistler used at the ALF open house last weekend ($106). Love the feel of it! Looking forward to trying it out as soon as possible. Just my experience and opinion!

I usually either sell on consignment at a local shop or trade-in at American Legacy. Have given away a lot of them to friends and coworkers too.

Agree with above. I have had the same issue if tensioning with my fingers close to the reel and not centered properly. As others mentioned though,... It should even itself out quickly with a few long casts. Worst case. Cast it out and walk it back, then reel it all back up with some tension on the line.

ALF had all of theirs marked down to $299 last Saturday at their open house. Don't know if that is who you were referring to or not.

The majority of what are in my crank boxes are: Rapala Strike King Berkley Spro Bomber Bandit A few other random items, but I mainly use the top 4

Rule of thumb I have heard is set your drag to 1/3 - 1/2 of the lb test of your line you are using. I don't have a spring scale to check that, so I just set mine so it slips a bit when I load up the rod. I'd rather have it set a little light and slip a bit on a hard strike or a strong hook set than be breaking off my line or snapping rods on hooksets.

I think a lot of them, especially in the bottom list, would throw a weightless worm around 3/8oz. I assume as mentioned above that you are thinking a Senko or maybe a trick worm or something. I'd tie one on and see what you like if you already have those rods. The ability to cast what you are wanting to cast is most important, but almost as importantly,... See which one balances best with the Zillion and feels comfortable in your hand for casting. You won't use it if it is uncomfortable and a pain to fish with. I spend a lot of time with my rods finding the right reel on the right rod for a given purpose.

I haven't tried to skip those, but have watched videos of people doing it. Also saw Montgomery skipping his Thundercrickets and buzzbaits in under docks and trees, so I guess it's possible. Never seen anybody skip a spinnerbait though. I would have thought the blades and bent wire would catch make it dig in. I guess it's not much different than a buzzbait though. I have just never tried it!

For cheaper bulk mono, I typically use Berkley Big Game from about anywhere, or I have also used Suffix Tritanium. Academy sports carries the Tritanium for about $10/spool. Amount varies by size. 17lb has about 900yds/spool and 12lb has 1200yds/spool. I don't like either on my spinning and typically use Trilene XL on those with mono.

Had to laugh at this because I was thinking the same thing. Lot's of good advice,... It's just completely different than each other. The only thing I will say is there are a few good videos on youtube. The one that sticks out to me is a video with Edwin Evers and Andy Montgomery. I believe it is an episode on Edwin Evers youtube channel where he is asking Andy Montgomery for some skipping tips. There is also an episode of Pro Team Journal where Montgomery is talking about skipping that is pretty good. As for reels, if your SV103 with the stock spool is the old Zillion style body that has the oval line guide and not the T-wing.... Mine is heavily braked and works pretty good for skipping. Otherwise,... Trying the ither SV options is good idea too. Mike from DVT had good advice to pull off enough line to allow for the cast, then tape the spool and reel the line back in. That way if you DO backlash it, you only have to pick out down to the tape. As for rods.... I think I would start with your 6'6" MHF GLX and then if you don't like that, go to your 7' MHF rods. Montgomery recommends about a 6'9" to 7'1" that he says should have some tip flex, but then gets into the backbone pretty quick. He describes that it should have its tip flex in the upper 20% of the rod, then transition to the backbone quickly. He shows it in the Evers video. Beyond that is practice. One thing I try to do is gently lift the tip as the jig is starting to skip. It seems to help keep the line out of the water and allow the lure to skip easier without getting bogged down. Have fun!!

From what I have read, the spiral guided rods were originally designed for heavy lure applications while trolling so it doesnt keep wanting to torque the rod around when pulling at the guides.

Agreed^^ I've got a 5.7 speed 100ML US Trail on an older Techna AV I use for throwing a MiniMax Chatterbait on. It works great!!

Looking for a drooling emoji,..... Wait,.. Here is is!! 🤤🤤🤤 I've recently developed a strong fondness for the older TD reels, and am a big fan of lefty reels,..... So I applaude you good sir! Nice grouping you have there! Glad to hear you are using them too!!

That tornado hit 2 weeks after I moved down here from MN. My ex and I lived just north of Martinsville off 37. I worked in Spencer and she worked in downtown Indy on the circle. It started by Spencer, went through Martinsville and passed just south of our house on its way to Greenwood. Small world!!

I remember and liked Galyans. Sucked when Dick's bought them out shortly after I moved here. I went to the one in Plainfield and Greenwood a few times before they were bought.

That's where I bought mine. I didn't see them last time I was in there though. They may have still had them back in the archery section where they were during the expo a couple weeks ago.

@WRB @Eric 26 The new company is a local company out of Mooresville Indiana by me called Bird Dog Rods. I bought their 6'9" Jerkbait, popper, topwater rod. I weighed the rod once I got it home to put a reel on it. I think it weighed out at abot 5.1oz which is actually a tad heavier than the 704cb I had been using, but the slightly shorter 6'9" rod balanced out well with the SLX 71 reel I put on it nicely. I ran it over to a friend's pond yesterday since the ice came off it and made a few casts. It throws a vision 110 style jerkbait pretty nicely and is comfortable working it back. I looked at some if their spinning rods and not a big fan of the handle and reel seat. Plus they put the hook keeper right in front of the reel seat, so if you fish a spinning reel with three fingers in front of the stem like I do, the hook keeper hoop is right there where your index sits and it's uncomfortable enough to stop me from trying another. While I like to try out startup companies and give them a shot, at a price of $189, there are a lot of other options I like better. They were at the Indiana Fishing Expo today so I chatted with them for a bit and gave them my opinions on the rod I bought and others I handled. Seemed to be good people! Saw a couple other options at the expo today that caught my eye. One was a company called Thunderhawk rods. They had a Tico model that felt really nice, but at $280, I wasn't in a position to take a chanctoday@Wrb, even if it was Buy One Get One Free. Another one I hadn't seen was a Rapter brand.Nice light rod with yellow grips that was selling for $120

I just held a few of these at the Indiana Fishing Expo earlier today. Nice rods. Felt light. Hard to say anything past that though. They sell for $280 and were doing a Buy One Get One Frée offer. Thought about taking advantage, but really don't NEED anything right now, and that being the case,... Hard to drop $280 for rods I know nothing about. I was actually searching for opinions on these myself when I saw this thread.

Could be,.... Just kind of goes against what you would expect. And Yep,.... Fury has the EVA down on the butt grip