Phil77

Put about 40-80 hours on it really fishing then report back. Makes about as much sense as complaining about a boat before you've even launched it.

I'll check it out, thanks.

I have a bunch of old tap handles and just for a side project would like to make a few fishing rods with them. If anyone has done this where can I get the reel seat that screws into the tap handle and how do you attach the section of rod to the threaded part of the tap handle? These will be for decoration only on my trophy wall so they don't need to be perfect.

Met B or Aldebaran. JDM Zillion G pretty cheap on Asian Portal at the moment. Just remember the bass don't care about the reel and fish what you can afford.

BPS Crappie Max 7UL, BPS Airstream PTC 7UL, and my new favorite Lews Wally Marshall classic signature series 7L. I only tight line 1/16-1/8 jigs so any of those three will work from the bank.

St Croix Mojo Bass MJC70MHMF $130. Great rod can do square bills spinner/chatter and more. Lews tp1 black closer to $99.

I'd go with the MH. Haven't fished the lowriders for a few years but they are great rods. The heavy seems like overkill for the weights you listed.

Lews superduty G, or lews BB1 pro. Both are aluminum frames and hold 150 yd of #12. If you want the 13 look for a first gen A, the new ones are composite frame. You also cant go wrong with a curado . I like the 6 gear ratio for a frog as well, I've not had any outrun me.

I like them both but prefer the 6GR for everything but square bills. I like to burn a square bill parallel to the bank with my 7GR. I'll agree with the youtuber that the 6GR is the best all around because you can always reel faster if needed, hard to slow down a moving bait with a 7 or 8 GR.

My local hooked on fishing club buys the smash casting and spinning combos to give kids who join the high school fishing club. They are entry level gear like any other combo in that price range but the kids seem to like the color. Academy has the Hack attack casting combo, think it's $159, reel is dual brake instead of magnetic. The rods aren't that bad, we had one kid slinging a 3/4 jig with a spark shad with one last spring picking off the deep schools. Easily a little over an ounce with no problems, pretty sure we only donate the 6'10 version.

Shame they went with the IVCB-4 brake system. I have the Ike reel with a similar brake and its just a finicky as the SVS.

The 13 Fishing reels I have used are the aluminum frame C and A models and the original Z. They are great reels and have a simple brake system under the attached side plate. They worked great for me as long as the brake ring was cleaned and oiled weekly. If you want a DC reel go for the JDM Scorpion DC, it has a better brake system vs the USDM I-DC4.

I don't skip so no need for that model but it looks cool. Let me clarify on my opinion of the current daiwa reels. I didn't always despise daiwa, in fact the one in the picture is the hands down best USDM reel they ever released. I bought this one new in 05 or 06 cant remember the exact year and fished it until 2020. Hands down the best reel I've ever fished. Won a ton of money and caught countless bass and the only thing i ever had to replace was the palm side spool bearing. It still has the original drag and i would put it up against any reel they have released in the last decade. They used to have so many truly awesome reels, the original Sol and Fuego's, the JDM TDZ's i mean they had shimano and the others beat in style and performance. Then some genius came up with the t wing they had to incorporate into almost every reel and the 20 variants of the tatula. Even the lone holdout the Alphas now has that stupid t wing.Talk about 10 steps backwards, you can accomplish the same thing by moving the line guide farther from the spool and making it a cone shape. When shimano started with the SVS i tried giving daiwa another chance. I tried the tat sv and wasn't impressed at all, tat ct type r bulky but way better than the sv. Tat 100 was just ok nothing special. Two Steez models, the A and the SV was another huge disappointment. A $500 dollar flagship reel with a plastic drag star give me a break. I might give the new zillion a try when the JDM models get down to $200, they are already at $260 so shouldn't be much longer. To try to put their current reels in the same class as the older reels is just laughable. If they would simply re release the 100SHA with none of the stupid hyper or boost marketing and no t wing they might be back on top until then I'll stick with my 2nd tier reels.

The ten dollar hoodie goes better with my 2nd tier reels. In all seriousness I've fished every manufacturer over the years and if I was to rank any manufacturer second tier it would be Daiwa at the moment. The lews reel in this picture is twice the reel the steez is for half the price. Palms better, casts way farther, and might be lighter. I've had the steez on FB marketplace for two months and not one inquiry.

I would go with a JDM Bantam or the Met.

LOL, the Lew's clamshell reels will fish circles around any of the 20 spider reels. Do you at least get one of those stupid wide bill hats for free? Lew's gives you a nice regular cap, shirt, or hoodie for 10 bucks when you buy a reel.

Either will do fine, flip a coin.

No experience with the mono but I bought a spool of the braid back in 2020 or early 21. Only complaint is the price, about $12 more than a spool of J-Braid. Still going strong just a little faded. I fish a bunch of SK products from the Ocho to red eye shads and could care less who owns it or where it's made.

That's why I had to ask because I have two K's that I have abused thoroughly over the last few years that have no issues.

Was it the wormshaft that was bent or the worm gear? I've never encountered a bent plastic gear.

sounds like gunk or debris in the worm shaft and pawl.

I like a 7 GR for square bills because they don't give much resistance running 4-6 ft. If I was going to fish a deep crank it would be with a 5 GR.

Here is my go to square bill, Booyah XCS citrus shad. Had probably 300 or better before I smacked a dock with it. Funny how you can watch them gorge on black and silver shad but this color will out catch the natural shad color where I fish.

Sunline Sniper or P-Line CXX in #12. I prefer the mono but the FC has its time and place.

I remember seeing reviews about all Abu reels on a certain website complaining about the side plates flying off during the cast. It has happened to me once on a different make and it was completely my fault. I was on top of a school and in a hurry, luckily I was in a yak and the side plate landed in between my legs. I knew immediately it was my actions and no fault of the manufacturer. After seeing multiple reviews blaming Abu for poor design i chalked it up to BS or a dude who got in a hurry and deflected the blame. I don't put to much faith in reviews.