gilkeybr

As originally suggested, with a smooth lob-cast, you should be okay. It will not be ideal, but should be manageable. Casting distance won't be as far or accurate as you would get with a more suitable rod. I have exceeded the ratings on my rods by a larger margin than you're suggesting and gotten by.

True. I made my water bucket 55F, because I figured most of my suspending jerkbait fishing will be in the water temp range.

Another factor is resale. A $75 reel will likely have $0 in resale value. However, its possible to buy a $150 that has $75 in resale value. Or a $250 reel that has $175 in resale value. Or even a $400 reel that has $325 in resale value. At least, this is how I justify some of my purchases to myself. ?‍♂️

I went through my box of jerkbaits last winter in an effort to make sure they all suspended just right. Sat on my couch for a couple hours with a bucket of water in front of me dunking baits in, applying lead tape, and dunking them again. I was surprised to find that my Husky Jerks were the ones closest to suspending without any additional weight. Most of the others (Megabass, Lucky Craft, Jackall, Yozuri, etc) required some small amount of lead. This is being ultra particular though, as i'm talking about perfect suspension. Most of these baits that required weight would appear suspending to the naked eye as they had probably 1" rise in 10 seconds. Secondly, suspension is only one part of the equation. Casting distance is key. Action is of course key. Paint durability. And after all that rambling, when its time for me to tie on a jerkbait, my first option is always a Vision 110 or 110+ depending on the depth i'm fishing. Usually in a perch/gill type of pattern. The amount of side to side, erratic, action it has is impressive. I do want to throw the Rerange more this year. That bait seems to have a nice action and caught me some fish last year. Also its weight transfer system makes the most satisfying "CLACK" on every cast.

Love my Stradic CI4+ 2500. The smoothness of the drag is better than I expected a reel could be. Still haven't found a Shimano casting reel that I love...I always seem to prefer my Daiwas there

The creature bait you have the most confidence in and throw the most often is probably the one thats going to get you bit the most.

If you hear a pro (and i'd lump youtubers in with this) comparing actions of baits and saying how one is ____ times better than the other, theres a 75% chance they're just trying to push a product and a 25% chance theres actually some substance to it.

Upgraded most of my reels this year after working with budget equipment for a long time. If I can't catch fish this year, it definitely isn't the reels fault...

How are you guys seeing the discount on SFT? I pulled up some items (Vision 110+2, Stradic, Zman Chatterbait for example) and don't see any discount. Prices are the same as TW...is there something i'm missing?

I know its probably a trivial feature, but I really like the audible clicking of the drag system similar to a spinning reel. That aspect sold me on the reel.

I have used braid exclusively for the last 10 years and am struggling to picture everyone's stories of issues with braid! The lack of stretch is the only unforgiving aspect of it that I can think of, but that also has its share of perks. On the other hand, I spooled one reel with fluoro and that lasted about 20 casts before I had a birdsnest all the way down to the mono-backing and said "i'm only fishing braid from now on".

Can't beat the price/lb of omfishingsinkers. If have ordered at least $40 worth of weights, so that I can get to free shipping. For me, that will last a couple years! Shipping time is about 2 weeks based on my few orders.

I am starting to wonder if a MH would be better suited for my type of fishing, like you said.

I was one of the people not-so-patiently waiting for a sale like this to come around. So I had been checking ebay pretty regularly...don't tell my wife!

I know the title of this discussion is a bit vague. I have been planning to buy a new rod for some time now, but I am starting to get "buyers remorse" before even purchasing. The rod I had my eye on is a Expride 7'6" Heavy. I'm starting to get worried though that I don't have much need for a H action rod. Anyone with experience with this stick have some words of wisdom they can share? For reference, I already have a 7' MH/F, and a 7'4 MH/R Zillion. My plan was this new rod would be a jig rod. However, from reading some reviews i'm afraid the heavy action would be more suited to punching/flipping, which is something I rarely do (don't fish heavy cover at all really). Is there something else in the Expride line that would better suit my needs? I'm looking for something a bit stiffer/faster than my MH/R. Additionally anyone have some recommendations in this price range of other rod lines to look at, outside of Shimano?

For those that haven't seen yet, there is an ebay code live for today: PSAVETODAY. Must be used via your phone, can't be applied using the computer

The liner is a good idea. I plan to do the same, but haven't settled on a material yet. I envisioned some foam-rubber material, however when I found what i was looking for in a big-box store it was $6 which was out of the scope of this project! Not to mention it was for 100X the material that I needed. I had considered the loop side of a velcro strip. But all I have laying around is white, and i'd prefer black... Felt is a good idea. I can probably find some scraps of that around that I could use! Thanks for the suggestion.

I thought about doing something more interesting for the side panels, but since this will live in the garage for the extended future, I didn't want to go too over the top with designing it. I did use the forstner bit for the base as you described. It works well except for the big handle butt on the Okuma SBX!

Lots of pent up fishing energy when the lakes freeze in the winter. I have been picturing making a rack like this for some time to better organize the growing arsenal. While no one would ever confuse me for a carpenter, i'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I would change a couple things, namely grain direction, on version two.

I got these second hand, and paid less for them than an average SK or Rapala bait costs. That won't reduce the guilt when I lose one though. Then again, I feel guilt when I lose a Ned head none the less a hard bait!

If the DC were the only selling point for you, I would pass and get the SV (I know that makes me the outlier in this thread). I have an Antares DC and recently got a Curado DC. First time out with the Curado and I broke off from an overrun on a 3/4oz lipless!! In my opinion, the DC isn't the black magic I was hoping for. I am in the market for a Daiwa SV reel now, if that informs your buying decision

One more set of unique baits worth sharing. These are all late Christmas items that took a while to get here. Imakatsu Jaka Jack - Looks like a cool flatsided SB Imakatsu Battle Bat(s) - these have a pretty unique profile. Very wide and flat from above, but very "shad" like from the side. Also have a smaller "blade" on the rear hook hanger that should give some unique action. Evergreen CombatCrank Mini SR - Tiny, 3/16oz, but surprisingly has a weight transfer system! Imakatsu IS-100 - Nothing too unique here. Just a shad-rap type bait. Vision 110 - Sakura Coach color which I hadn't seen before. Hoping its a smallie killer Megabass X80+1 - Hadn't seen these before either. Always nice to have a jerkbait that gets a bit deeper. Megabass SM-X Spriggan - didn't have a red colored mid-diving crank. This fills a void Hopefully this satisfies the monkey for a long while!

This is an Imakatsu Berlinetta Crawler 2. A similar lure, the Aventa Crawler, is available at TW in the US. I don't know of anywhere selling the Berlinetta in the US *edit* looks like Carolina Fishing Tackle carries it! Its impressively light for such a large lure. Feels very "hollow", and definitely feels like it wouldn't bounce off a rock well! And considering its light weight for its size, I'm skeptical of how well it will cast. I remember seeing the NZ Crawler in the TW youtube videos and I think this is a decent bit smaller. Halfway between a NZ and a Pompadour.

In my experience when reeling in the bait, the jig head won't be parallel with the path of travel. The tail of the bait will end up above the head of the jig, giving a bit of a nose down attitude. This changes the relationship between the trailer and the blade compared to what you show in the pictures (opens the angle). It makes contact between the trailer and the blade less likely.

You know its a exciting day when the package you receive has japanese news print in it for padding. I'm sure i'll throw this eventually, but until then it will look just as good on a shelf!