bulldog1935

again, as I mentioned above, oscillating spool in Zebco begins with Delta, which also has brass gears (metal frame returns at Omega) - the oscillator assy is p/n's 14-A through -C Here's 33 schematic - no oscillator The point of spool oscillation - it Eliminates line dig and improves cast distance.

Pretty sure those are all the reasons I didn't consider those models when I was shopping to take my dad fishing - these times are getting rare, and reliable tackle is important. My buddy Lou has landed some honking fish on his Bullet 30 - but to me, at 13 oz, you have to want to lure-fish it. Also can't complain about the dozen salt-finesse years we got out of UL-1 with my daughters. Zebco has always made a disposable reel - if you sent one in for repairs, they sent you a new reel gratis. Their customer service was the biggest part of what you bought. They're moving away from that now, making reels with higher function and design quality. I seriously considered Kast King Brutus when I was shopping over the winter - all it really had was light weight. Having direct experience with Lou's Bullet, and finding such a great price on Omega Pro, the choice was a no-brainer - the reel has already earned its keep.

@fin that's why I was surprised by ZO3 - it's not supposed to cast this far. I know it outcasts my buddy's Bullet. Certainly when my daughters were growing up fishing UL-1, the switch to Penn 4200SS improved cast distance for them. Should also be mentioned that Zebco was made for mono, and each size works best with a narrow range in matched mono diameter. When you leave mono for threadline braid, spinning and BFS excel - you also say adieu to line memory. But again, it's surprising how well ZO3 casts 10-lb mono and light lures in direct comparison. Somewhere on the forum a few weeks ago (didn't search up), another BR member mentioned he went to spincast when his baitcasters couldn't cut the distance.

I'm pretty happy with ZO3 setting 2-1/2 to 3 lbs drag with spring balance. It's not easy to knock it out of adjustment, but as described, the adjustment range is very narrow on the dial. Best to set for the line and know what you have. As you can see above, it works. These 2 videos talked me into buying ZO3 earlier this year - that, and the $45 price (then) on Amazon. Current Amazon price is $60, and the smaller 6-lb-test ZO2 is $50.

Made me check - I do have main gear side-play in small-frame Stradic, but not in small-frame Vanquish or med-frame Twin Power. If you want a guess, the difference is Malaysia assy line vs. Japan-bench parts-matching. Hasn't been a long-term issue with hard-fished Stradic, still going strong (5 years). If you think about it, you always thrust inward when you wind, never pull outward (can't), so gear contact will always be total. I noticed initial scratchy wind in my Twin Power that went away with use - I suspect it was fit-up in the labyrinth seals, which ran-in smooth.

The 5' composite-butt (one-pc) blade I showed on the previous page is a 3-power. The 1st kayak photo I show is a 5-1/2' S-glass 2-power stopping a healthy bass before she took me into watercress stalks. Here's the fish. That said, I wouldn't be fishing either rod in frogger cover, but would go to at least a 4-power. The trick to find the right skipping rod for heavy cover, find the widest range you can in your shorter MH+ rod, and you'll have the right tip for skip casting. I don't recommend you run out and buy this 6'4" 4-power (think I bought the last stock, anyway), but note the reported range is 1/4 to 2 oz, 4-axis graphite made by Tenyru.

Zeboco 808 was an adolescent trauma for me, trying to teach my dad to fish (he let me pick my own spinning tackle). To this day, he still can't leave a tackle store without a spool of 25-lb mono. Grown, I put him into baitcasters - problem solved. Just this year, I bought Omega Pro, because at 94, my dad can't throw a baitcaster anymore. Beginning with Delta, higher grade Zebco oscillates spool pitch for improved line lay - just like a spinning reel- + metal gears and SiC line guide. I found killer Amazon half-price close-out on '11-model ZO3. Note this reel is 3 oz lighter than high-geared Bullet. In March, it landed the trip fish, but even with low gearing, had to pump the rod to gain line against black drum shoulders. I'm pretty floored with the cast distance. When I was testing for a loaner bike-fish combo, ZO3 matched with Legit Design MM 6'8" multipiece would send 1/8 oz past 120', comparable to a BFS combo casting 3 g.

@Woody B I skip cast from kayaks with the right rods. This bass came out of the overhang on the right bank. Can't beat S-glass for skip casting. My best freshwater river rod for skip-casting close is 5' composite butt and S-glass tip. Best salt marsh kayak photo I have is Josh's sister Nina casting to redfish back. I put together this 6'4" 2-hand S-glass just for mud marsh skip casting to redfish. extended grip is not for casting, but for stopping redfish at the boat

this guy is showing off a bit - doesn't have to be this energetic, but the best skip-cast (reverse spiral cast) demonstration I've seen on the internet. Where to use it, under cypress overhang, under mangrove overhang. Note that intentionally skipping on the water surface is not required (myth) - what you're shooting for is low trajectory. ps @ol'crickety - this is also something you can practice, casting to the bottom of shrubs in your back yard - you don't need blazing distance here, but accuracy. A shorter, light-tip rod helps, and if the weight you're casting under-loads the rod, the trajectory will arc upward.

I have to thumb my Zillion to keep out out of my friends across a tide pass casting 1/8 oz. How you set your brakes is up to you. If you dial it down too much and it results in start-up backlash, um, don't do that. From direct trials, the bearings I suggested will add 10+% distance to your cast - the difference is both at the start and the finish. It's oranges in an apple conversation, but my latest BFS on Steez and Silver Wolf with AMO and Roro-X non-SV spools, full-silicon-nitride bearings, fixed inductor mass are both so small, have to run brake dial at 10 to 12. It doesn't matter when you're casting 1/16 oz past 130' I'll admit backlash is a little hard for me to fathom (can describe all the physics). It never happens to me on the water - the only time I get close is intentionally searching for incipient backlash when I'm setting up a reel on the back-acre casting range - may even add a little bad habit to test the result. 45 years of cast stroke and thumb are involved.

One thing, Daiwa comes with their shielded spool microbearings (left). Replace these with KTF/IXA dual-race wide-range microbearings (right), and Zillion will cast 1/2-oz frog so far it will frighten you. While it takes a Japan broker to buy from KTF, MC-squared makes their version you can buy direct from Hedgehog.

fixed @Bandersnatch - if it helps, JY is at an all time low, 160/US$ https://www.amazon.com/Daiwa-Gillion-1000H-Right-Handle/dp/B08NNZ2VT1/ref=sr_1_2

It has plenty of backbone with 1/2 oz, would likely throw 3/4 oz well, also.

I think the horse has been breezed, run, walked, and stabled

That's why it's good there's a choice. For me, I'd rarely cast more than 3/8 oz on the multipiece - up to 1/2-oz kastmaster. My use for an MH rod is limited to big topwaters and Corkys on winter mornings.

There's 1/2 oz difference in the rod weights, 3" length difference, and 1/8 oz difference in the top end.

If "damping by water" was universal, fish wouldn't have lateral lines, which are their ears. Sound travels farther, faster and stronger through water than through air. The rod itself is a source of vibration, and there can be harmonics that amplify each other. The other end of your line is a vibrating lure, and the line is under tension just like a string-and-tin-can telephone.

My favorite US-direct vendor, and where I bought my L/D rod, and several other rods. If you can find what you want there, it will be discounted. They will send you an e-mail with a total that may include a moderate rod shipping charge - if you don't like it, reply, "no thanks" Kirill is in Miami, perfect English, and fields US orders - they don't do anything quickly, because they confirm available from distributor, you pay, then they receive from distributor (about a week) and then ship - when they do ship, UPS is Very Quick - 40 hrs. Make sure you register an account - easy to go back through your orders, find the link to pay, etc. Great place to build up a $200 lure, lines, and Meiho lure box order - logged in, your cart will remain indefinitely, so you can come back and work up to $200 free shipping. They will give you bonus points to cash in next time. They're also the Whole JDM catalog - if there's stock available anywhere, it will be them (they buy from distributor).

@Rockhopper I don't think you could go wrong with a Daiwa rod in that grade. Except I question whether the 3/8 oz low-end is versatile enough - that wouldn't work for me. I mail-ordered the Legit Design 5-pc that met my pack-size need. But I suspect the L/D 6'11" MHMF would be a great bass rod. My L/D feels more like a bass rod than any other multipiece I've handled. I like the looks of the L/D MHMF, starting at the same 5 g rating of my 6'8" rod. I wouldn't pass go on that one - that's a versatile range. (1/6 oz, btw = 3/16 oz = 5 g) For most of my shore fishing, I need to sail 1/8 oz into next week. One reason I like the Legit Design, rated 5 to 18 g, it fishes well beyond both rated ends - it feels like a substantial rod with a nice blend in fast/moderate action. The L/D 6'11" looks like more of everything - same light end, plus extended range.

There's always the assumption on BR that braid = braid. There are 3 generations of braid currently on the market - bare spectra, coated braids, drawn+fused+coated braid. Of course there's a noise difference fishing 50-lb spectra vs. 25-lb WXP1.

@Bazoo - lawn-casting trials with Omega Pro - in case I want to loan a shore-casting combo to a friend on a bike-fish. I compared my 6'8" Legit Designs casting result with an 8-1/2' Ali Express rockfish 7-pc. The Zebco cast farther on the shorter rod, which I attribute to lower mono friction in the quality Fuji guides on the (much) higher-grade rod. In fact, the Zebco combo cast 1/8 oz as far as a BFS combo will cast 3 g. Also interesting, threadline braid didn't care about friction in the cheap guides - a BFS reel would send 3 g past 130' on the long cheap rod.

If you want Crazy-Versatile, and price is no limit, Transcendence Pulchra 62+ includes an extra butt section, so you can assemble a 4-pc 6'2" medium-action rod, and a longer 7'3" with the same action: https://www.hedgehog-studio.co.jp/product/4592 Pack length is 21" while they call this ML, it matches the range of the Legit Design 6'8" M If you want a quality telescoping rod for moderate price, look at Daiwa BBB - and a price that's hard to pass at current exchange rate. The problem with cheap telescoping rods, they don't have near-enough guides, especially for a rings-up bait rod. Daiwa BBB has floating guides on the 5-section telescope that seat at intermediate positions, improving the number of guides for a quality rod. Another nice thing about telescope, you can move from place-to-place with the collapsed rod assembled and baited. You just have to freespool the reel and stretch the telescope.

In last fall's kayak Redfish Rodeo (normally a week, but weather limited us to 3 days), Kurodai Prototype BF caught every fish that mattered, and likely made all the difference in presentation when I was on 200 redfish moving toward the tide pass, and a staked guide boat that was waiting for them.

I got lucky, and scored mine, pre-owned but never used, on Yahoo auction for 30% less than retail (add 6% broker fee). Also when I bought mine, there was still retail stock around Japan. There's one listed on ebay with shipping for 30% over retail/ make offer. They like this rod in Japan - it's the one rod in the BLX series that's sold out everywhere. The Xrossfield XRFC-654ML-BF-MB fishes well beyond its price. Baitfinesse is a forte for Abu rods. @softwateronly found the 2-pc Abu Prototype Kurodai 7'3" ML Baitfinesse at my recommendation, and he sounded delighted with it.