PhishLI

Daiwa Tatula 150 and 200. Both can be grabbed for 109$ from sportsmens outfitters or the auction site. Both have metal gear side sideplates The 200 is a nice entry level small swimbait reel. The braking is consistent and it'll cast as well and far as my Tranx 200. A steal. If you don't have baby's hands the 150 is a great all around reel. It's on a pitching stick right now. So nice. You get alot of reel for the money in both cases. Mend-It. If you don't know what this is you should take a look. It's amazing how many times you can fix a soft plastic bait with it that's been torn by a fish, cover, or just from casting and retrieving. Gluing your soft plastics with super glue pretty much wrecks them, IMO. The repairs with Mend-It are undetectable as there is no hard residue left like you'll get with super glue gel. If you're put off by the price with shipping for a measly 1 oz bottle, think again. This stuff goes very far as a repair requires very little of it. 1 oz can fix hundreds of torn baits. Just don't expect it to work as quickly as super glue. It's best to let the bait rest a while and cure until you use it again. I've joined two separate pieces of 6" senkos and not had it come apart at the repair while fishing it hard. Once you've gotten a bottle and repaired a few baits, try not to think too hard about all of the plastics you've chucked in the past or super glued and ruined. You'll find it depressing. What a waste. Lew's Carbon Fire Casting Rods. These are DSG specials as far as I know. They are light, tough, and quite fish-able. Sales will put them between $39-$59. The standout for me is the 7'3" Heavy Fast. I think it's a great frog rod for little $. It loads great with typical frogs, so I can launch them, and has a "just right" taper for hooksets. Also, it hasn't blinked dragging fish out of dense pad fields during last season. No popped eyelets, no loose reel seat, no problems. My brother has one too without issues. I also like it for 1 oz baits like the Beast Coast Miyagi on a 1/4 oz 6/0 Beast hook and other medium sized single hook baits. A real bargain. Owner TwistLock Light Weighted CPS hooks, 3/32oz . I fish a bunch slim bodied of 4"-6" paddle tail swimmers as they are my best producers by far. For me these are the ultimate hooks for those type of baits. The position of the weight keeps the swimming attitude of these baits right on the money, and it cuts through grass and muck remarkably well. They feature an unusually long shank which places the hook's point farther back on the bait which really helps with short strikes. Don't let the lack of gap when compared to a typical EWG hook scare you away. Just choose baits with the appropriate torpedo profile for it similar to the Berkley Champ swimmer. My hookup ratio has been fantastic once I switched over to these hooks. Baits like the Megabass 4.2" Hazedong Shad get fitted with the 5/0. The Champ Swimmer, 4.8 Fat Swing, J-Shad, and similar baits get fitted with the 6/0. Trust me on this recommendation.

Yup, and if the general public understood what the actual total cost must be, from end to end, for a manufacturer of a $100 retail rod in order to be profitable they'd be shocked. The margins are so slim that it's almost not worth it without big volume sales.

Very few people people can throw an actual lure, even a 3/4oz lipless, anywhere near 200 feet on a typical 7' bass rod. If you'd really like to know what's what, do what A-Jay said. Go to Wally World and pick up some OmniFlex in the same diameter as the Fluoro you'll be using. It's cheap as dirt. Tie on a 3/4 oz Dark Sleeper, which is as close to a casting plug that you'll find in a lure, then bomb it out. Put some tape on the spool once the lure lands. Go home and measure the length of the line. After you've measured, cut the line where you taped it then tie it to the remaining line on the spool and wind it back up. Go back to the lake with some of the lures that you'll be throwing day to day and see how close you get to the connection knot. You can tape it off again at your farthest cast, then measure what's left. Do the math and see if 66 yards will do the trick taking into consideration the exposure of the connection knot and for extra line for re-tying multiple times , etc. It's the only way you'll have your answer without speculation.

and no option for Paypal, plus $18.95 for ground shipping.

Tour S3 PT for a hundred clams! Lord have mercy! Thanks!

It usually takes a few days of stable temps after a cold snap before they come around. The 3rd day is usually best. Friday and Saturday we were frozen stiff, mostly due to the N winds. The water was noticeably colder while wading. It'll be 68 today, so tonight they may be active, but tomorrow should be poppin with the cloud cover, low pressure, and warm rain. P.S. The depth of the lake or pond is a factor. We have mostly shallow lakes around here, so the effect of temp swings is felt to a greater degree.

Unlike Daiwas of the past, the LT's spool sizes are more in line with the rest of the industry. The 3000's frame is small, but the spool diameter is comparable to other maker's 3000 sized reels which is desirable for line management compared to sizes below it. This is a bigger deal if you're spooling with straight mono or fluoro, but not so much with braid. You'll get better distance because of the larger spool regardless of line choice. The CHX has a shallow spool, so you're not wasting line, but get the advantage of a larger diameter spool lip. If it matters to you the LT still has an anti-reverse switch where the Stradic doesn't. I don't want to live without it personally for reasons beyond back-reeling. If you have concerns about the size, or want to make whatever comparison you can just by holding the reels and spinning the handles, call J&H. They probably have both in stock and they're just a few miles from you. They have a ton of reels out in the counter display, which is huge, and they seem happy to let anyone play with them.

Daiwa Tatula LT 3000chx. Silky smooth. Never had a wind knot. You'll never look back.

We believe you. ? WaaaHaaHaaaa!

I do a tad less than a 3rd of a spool of 50lb braid as a backer. Two small 3/8" squares of Super 33 electrical tape placed 180 degrees apart on the spool before tying an arbor knot keeps it from slipping. Braid never wants to jump off the spool like heavier mono does, is lighter, and the uni to uni connection knot to the main line is slimmer than when using mono as a backer. I use it for lighter braid main lines also. Works for me.

I fish off a boat and a kayak, but the majority of my fishing is done by first walking through the woods in the dark and fishing with trees close by. I also lean my rods not in use at that moment against trees when I'm wading. Between snagging tree limbs on the way in, unavoidable at night while carrying 4-5 rods, leaning rods against tree limbs, and occasionally swatting branches on the backswing, which happens sometimes, $140 is my limit. I park $300 reels on some of them, which might seem goofy, but I like cool reels. Up to this point I haven't busted a single rod, but that's because I've capped my spending at $140 per rod. The second I give in and buy a pricier rod it'll get busted pronto, no doubt. I know, you know it. That's how it goes. Truthfully, I'm quite happy with my choices at that price point and below. You get a pretty good stick these days, even at lower prices than $140. High end tech makes it's way down stream. Even a $54 Daiwa Aird X fishes just fine.

7'3" MHF 13 Omen Black 2 . Daiwa Fuego CT 8 speed. 15 LB Trilene Big Game.

I put a light coating of oil on my jig heads and hooks before installing salted plastics, and always hang them to dry after an outing. This does the trick for the most part.

When I checked the 7 day forecast last week I was happy to see that Monday - Wednesday we'd be back in the 50's, but once again Saturday and Sunday would be harsh. 20's with high speed N winds on Sat and not much better on Sunday. More post cold front challenges. Uhg. Yesterday we had blustery S winds, so I hit the N cove right off the bat at 9pm. They wanted nothing moving fast or moving much at all, so I stuck to the bottom nice and slow. No bite and runs, just slurp and spits. I kept missing until I didn't. I had 2 shake off at my feet, but got one in finally. We moved up the shore to deeper water and threw some big wakes and glides. I didn't get a sniff, but my buddy hooked into a whopper on the Bull Shad slow sink. He almost got her in, but one jump and a tail slap and the big girl was bye bye. I only wish I was filming the scene. You could 've heard his cries of OMG a mile away. Rolling around on the ground, feet up in the air, arms outstretched. Whyyyyy! Priceless

Well that's bad. Aren't you like 300 yrs old? Looks like I'll be fishin' with at least 301 year old fishing line. Wish me luck.? P.S. It came off the filler spool smoothly, not as rough as Big Game does. I did a few break tests with my hands and it's definitely stronger than 12lb Big game at nearly the same diameter. I guess I'll find out.

New rides for the Daiwa Catalina and Curado K 6 speed. 13 Omen Black ll 7'6" MHF and 13 Defy Black 7'3" Crankbait.

Do you have the Tactical or the Ambidextrous? I have the Magellan sling for wading and love it. It also swings to the front and opens in the "up" position. I need to wear an additional shoulder bag occasionally for 3600 boxes. I was looking at a White River sling, but the Simms is on my radar too.

I'll keep throwing red until the wheels fall off. It just hasn't happened for me yet. White, natural, perch, and greens have been working up to this point.

I don't think this guy makes a bait that doesn't swim right/well. Mattlures Ultimate Bluegill 5".

They'll continue getting fished. I never quit anything. The reel feel temps here were in the 20s today with cranking NW winds. I should be out there, but I'm trapped inside. I'm just venting. Don't worry, bro, the gear's safe.

1 or 2, maybe

Good idea. I have plenty of Owner CPSs. I'll try your method using worms if I run out of Boogers.

Yeah, out of the 3 I listed I've pegged red at the most hopeless, hence the bonfire.

The spools are in fully enclosed cardboard boxes. I grabbed one earlier. We'll see. Thanks!

No worries.