FrnkNsteen

Another option,.... With the new Fuego MQ LT coming out, many places have the old Fuego LT discounted. I had seen them as cheap as $55 - $59 around the holidays, but am not seeing that currently. However I did see them for $79.99 at Scheels. Don't want to keep pushing up your spend, but if you were considering the Regal at $59 or the Excelor at $79, the Fuego for $79 is the way to go. If not,... All the lower priced Daiwas have been pretty good so I honestly think you'd be happy with the Revros or the Regal.

I agree,.... I always question all the rod breakage I hear about. In all my years of fishing, my wife and I have only broken 2 rods while actually fishing. One was an older model Fenwick HMX (late 90s version) that broke on a hookset my wife made when it was about 10 years old and had been fished ALOT by me. The other break I had was completely my fault due to grabbing it right up by the tip when landing a fish and the tip snapped the off right above my hand. Any other time, it has been me smashing it under the TM support rod, closing it in a compartment or door of the truck topper,... Ceiling fan in my living room!! 😜😜 I have not had any breakage issues on any of my other rods,... St Croix or other brands. My issue has just been not liking the more recent reel seats and handles, though I've heard multiple stories of people having issues with the reel seats lately. That being said, I have had reel seat issues with other rods over the years and it wasn't any particular brand.

I agree with the comments on the Fury spinning rods. I have a bunch of Dobyns casting rods from various levels ranging from Fury to Champion Extreme, but not a single Dobyns spinning rod. The reason is exactly what PBBrandon said above. I will add the Fenwick HMG to the mix as well as Daiwa Tatula models that have the larger foregrip. Both are fairly common in shops and may be available near you to try.

Well, that's positive to say that they aren't as bad as you think! LOL! Call me weird, but I've really got more than enough rods than I would ever need without spending $120 - $160 on something that I have to convince myself that it isn't as bad as I think! 😂😂 I'm sure they fish fine and maybe hold up fine,.. But this is just something I can't get into enough to spend money on, especially considering all the other options out there. And I understand what Hulkster is saying about the pandemic hitting companies hard, but I don't know that making things so cheap and ugly that people don't want to buy them is the answer. Don't get me wrong... Not specifically talking about just the Mojo Trigon. I actually like the outside the box thinking of the truangle shaped cork portion. Just not a fan of the plastic portions on the rest of the handles on their recent releases, especially the Panfish models for example.

True,... There is no actual friction in the Daiwa system like other centrifugal brake systems. My point was just that they apply more braking at the beginning cast like a centrifugal brake, then back off again as the spool slows down where the normal braking works for the rest of the cast. The main difference I see is you can't adjust the centrifugal effect without swapping out the inductor springs, but I have heard of people who do just that to get the brakes working exactly how they like. As for why someone would want magnetic braking only,... The only reason I could think of is when pitching or making light casts where the rod isn't fully loading and the spool doesn't achieve high enough RPMs for the centrifugal brakes to kick in. Mag brakes are on all through the cast so they help even at slow spool speeds.

Well,.. While I agree with the dual breaking being convenient in having both options,.... The Daiwa Magforce braking system is a true hybrid that is centrifugal AND magnetic and has the benefits of both in one easy to adjust dial. I know some will say the straight centrifugal cast further and are more free casting,... But in my experience, I rarely find myself wishing I could cast further. Typically i can loosen up the brakes to get reasonable enough casts with either.

Most of my crankbait rods are Dobyns Fury 705cb mentioned above, Champion 705cb, amd Champion 704cb. I also have a Dobyns Champion 735cb Glass that I use for 5XD and 6XD and a couple 736cb Glass I use for heavier chatterbaits. The 735cb glass and 736cb glass are composite carbon/glass rods that are lighter than typical glass rods. Beyond that I have a St Croix Legend Glass, a couple Mojo MHMF "Spinnerbait" rods that also work well for small cranks and Whopper Plopper/Choppo and a couple Daiwa Tatula "Regular" action rods. I have always thought that a moderate or moderate fast were slow enough in action for me and don't have many pure glass rods. I just recently bought a little digital scale and have been weighing some rod and reels. The 704cb and 705cb seem to be running around 4.5 - 4.7 ounces and I like the way they fish!

Agreed. My Revo S reels (Gen 3) are centrifugal only and the same generation of STX have both magnetic and centrifugal.

I was down at American Legacy this week and they had a couple of the Bates rough machined frames there on their counter. Neither of them had seen their final cleanup passes and you could still see the rough machining marks, but it was interesting to see. I was told that MSRP was going to be roughly $350. While I personally think entering that market and competing with reels like the Zillion SV and the Shimano Bantam MGL with your first release might be a little optimistic,.... But I'm willing to look at them and check them out. I haven't had the opportunity to see a full reel yet, but I'm not against checking them out and seeing what people are saying once more people have a chance to check them out. I don't see the issue with having more options and people thinking outside the box. I actually look forward to seeing more of them.

I FINALLY got a chance to see these in person and hold them in hand. I'm just not a fan of the plastic St. Croix is using on their handles on their new rods. The Bass X has it, the new Mojo Trigons have it. I even looked at the new Panfish rods today while we were at the Bass Pro and Cabelas stores by Louisville, and the whole reel seat and handle on the new Panfish models have it. It just feels cheap to me and I don't understand why they are going to it on everything. To each their own, but I am not a fan.

Agreed. I was using my 704cb for those things too, but it felt a little long when working poppers and walking baits, especially if sitting after long days on the water. Saw a forum thread somewhere that had Gary Dobyns saying a few people had commented that they REALLY liked a Sierra 682C for poppers. Tried it and they were right. The 6'8" length is perfect and theslightly slower Sierra action works well with the trebles. I love it for small light poppers like a chugbug or smaller walking baits like Spook Juniors.

Too funny!! So have you been happy with the 854C? I'm normally not a Loomis fan, but got a good price on an IMX Pro 854C this fall and picked it up,... So I am curious.

I have only sold anything to them once, and brought them to the store with me. I have bought TONS of used items from them though. In all the items I have bought used from them, only twice were there any issues. One was a Daiwa spinning reel that was listed as a Ballistic MQ that turned out to be the older Ballistic LT. I'm sure they would have sent me a shipping label and took it back but the price was good either way so I kept it. The other was a rod that showed up at my local USPS broken in half (As in the whole shipping tube was snapped in half). I called them and they had a shipping label emailed to me before we even got off the call. They didn't even wait for the broken rod to arrive and instantly credited me with a gift card so I could get something else. Bottom line,... They are great to deal with. In my opinion.... If your stuff isn't the most popular stuff that will sell quick, they seem to discount your trade-ins a bit much. My Ducketts I traded in were in mint condition, but I got around 30% of new and they listed them again for about 80% of new. Not knocking them though. They have to cover their costs if they don't sell right away and the burden is on them. I usually buy when they have their used stuff on 15-20% off like now. Condition is ALWAYS as they describe. I like to drive down and wade through the used stuff. They typically have more stuff in the store than on the site and it can be fun to see what you can find. Found a couple old school Fenwick Techna AV that were pretty much spotless and cheap! 😁

Same as above. I never used it anyway.

I get what you're saying, and I support capitalism. It's what keeps many of our jobs intact and our investments growing. That being said,.... I don't classify "Make the products we want for us or we'll remove your product from our shelves" as straight capitalism. Had a friend who worked for a company that sold products to Walmart. They did the same thing, saying "you'll sell this product to us for this price, or we will no longer carry any of your products".

That would explain why BPS carries very little Spro, and strengthens why I don't like BPS anymore. They have become the Walmart of fishing and use their weight to try to bully other manufacturers. I'd rather spend a bit more and buy Spro (or other manufacturers) I HAVE been pretty happy with the Academy baits as a cheaper option though!!

I like a larger reel on my rods, as MN Fisher mentioned, as long as they balance well. I just think the larger spools cast better, less affected by line memory, and in some instances have better drags. For instance, I believe the Stradic 3000 has carbon drag washers while the smaller sizes have felt washers I have 3000s on the majority of my rods. My wife prefers smaller reels, so hers typically have 2500s, and the smaller crappie rods currently have Fuego 1000s on them. My suggestion is put the 3000 you already have on the ML and see how it feels!

I like a 6'8" to 7' ML or M power with a fast action (Speakung in general, not just Aid-X). My Aird-X rids I used were a ML and a M. My favorite spinning rods I have right now are mainly ML, but have a handful of medium action as well. Depends what you are using them for. I use my ML for wacky rigs, small plastics, hair jigs and #3 and smaller inline spinners. Medium action are things like dropshots, shakey heads, small paddletails, etc.

Yep,... Getting harder to find. The Daiwa Fuego 2500D meets those two points but those are going away too with the MQ series coming out. Personally,... I never use the anti-reverse switch to be able to backreel, but I know people that do.

^^Agreed^^ I had a bunch of President spinning reels from the older ones with wood handle grips up through a few different generations. They were a very good reel for the money and I was happy with them. As Mike said though, other reel companies have advanced and upped their offerings, and in my opinion,... They've surpassed the President reels. I just gave all my larger heavy 35 series Presidents to a friend for backups or parts and replaced them with clearanced Fuego LTs.

I have never used the Dobyns Maverick, so I can't say. I have used the Daiwa Aird and liked it better than anything in its price range, but that before the Maverick came out. One thought,.... I just noticed Fenwick released a new version of the HMG. You might look around to see if anyone is clearing out the older model. I have both of the last two HMG generations and both are pretty nice rods for the money!! I just looked and Scheels also has last generation HMG rods on clearance at $79.99, marked down from $119.99 or $129.99 I think. Nice rod for that price!!

All good points above! I'll second the notion that if we are talking one "Do-All" rod, then rod over reel. But if I'm buying a setup for bottom contact or moving baits .... Rod is more important for bottom contact and a smooth reel is more important to me for moving baits. I don't want to use a rough grindy reel if I am casting and reeling all day!

No way I would go with the Revros or Regal at the moment since Tackle Warehouse and others are closing out the Fuego LT for $59.99 right now with the new MQ reels coming out. You'd be crazy not to jump up to a Fuego at about the same price! Fuego LT at that price is a no-brainer to me. Couple it with an Aird-X and you are well under your budget with a nice light rig that has good sensitivity! I agree with what Paul said above. If you go with lower level items already saying you don't like them, you might as well not buy them. Get the better quality reel that is marked down!

I have the pitch and flip version and if I remember correctly, it has a shallower spool so not as much line capacity. Can't confirm though because it is full of line. You might want to look up line capacities of both and compare, Just looked them up and Daiwa site says line capacity is 125yds of 12# on regular Elite and 100yds on the Pitch and flip. Guess that means 25% more line capacity on regular elite

That would work well for jig heads for flukes and paddletails. I currently have them in bins separated by type, but you still have to dig through. The one you posted seems like it would be easy to see the different sizes and styles so you can grab which one you want. I might have to order one of those!