bulldog1935

If you're going to the trouble to customize, might want SLP Works Zillion, which is based on the '22 HD, and comes without handle and spool. Handle is Studio Composite RC-SC Ex Plus.

I fished my 4-yr '21 Zillion SVTW week before last next to SLPW Zillion, which is based on '22 HD. I like the HD better. It has an edge in drive smothness, clutch feels stiffer, more positive. This one I haven't been inside yet, but the main gear is reported to be brass. I was inside my '21 Zillion this week, for post salt-trip clean and lube, and it looks really good. Especially happy with the pinion gear, which is stainless steel. Alloy main gear still looks new.

BTW, with shields removed, you don't need soap. Grease is paraffin, and denatured alcohol or even hexane is a 100% solvent. Extraction chemistry is in my bailiwick.

That's Avail power handle T4S (complete kit). also sold as bare handle. But with lower gear ratio, you would likely prefer shorter Avail S-Trad. Note that the T4S takes Shimano-A/ Daiwa-S knobs, but S-Trad only takes matching (short) Avail knobs. Both handles are very light, with titanium knob spindles. Here's S-Trad on my Headhunter BC620 Maybe @redmeansdistortion will chime-in with Daiwa SLP parts.

Mid cast backlash is caused by gravity slowing the lure before it crosses the hump. It's also called wind backlash. You need either a heavier lure, or a higher setting on mag brake.

borrowed a (bench-built) Millionaire photo from @redmeansdistortion note bent handle also needs matching bent star drag. here's a straight (new) Avail handle on a different round reel.

I did get a keeper trout on East Flats - 16" New reg this year, fewer smaller fish in bag limit - the 2 big trout that broke/.shook me off, I'd have to release, anyway. It's fish tacos tonight. Secret ingredient in fish tacos is a thin stripe of Remoulade sauce on the fish. Cabbage blend. Fresh pico de gallo would be better than the salsa.

hi friend, yeah, don't remember when it showed up, but I was casting finesse lures into grass. Saw it roll up on my spool, and it was small enough to shoot my guides, so I kept fishing. here's Nina and I aiming cameras at each other on Cavasso - she's on T140, and I'm on orange T160. Noteworthy, we're both smoking cigars. here's a photo Josh took of me on East Flats two days later - beer-thirty break Another Josh photo, tailing red in Talley Is. slough Lighthouse Lakes mangroves - amazing he found this much wind shelter His paddle trail on Lighthouse Lakes

I wrote up a gear report pm for @Eric 26 when I could again see daylight from catching up work and cleaning gear. Since I posted it on FFR long daily reports, also decided to post it here. My wood plugs held up well in the salt (1st lure box I washed at home), but didn't catch a fish. The reds in the marsh and mangroves weren't after mullet, but tiny shrimp. and "Mr. Peanut" (Supra 65) fished on BF came through for me. I took 6 rods total, Zillion/ Omen Green 7'1" ML; SLPW/ Kurodai 7'3" BF; Silver Wolf/ Xrossfield 6'6" BF; 2500C/ Rockfish 7'8" BF; Headhunter/ Glaflex 6'4" 3-power (S-glass);, and BC720/ 1800 6'4" 4-power (IM6). The plan here was 3 short rods for mud marsh, longer rods for drifting grass flats and tide pass. First day at Cavasso, took out the 3 short rods, and only caught fish on the BF. Saturday on Lighthouse Lakes, I brought two 7' rods plus Headhunter combo, but only fished the ML and BF rods drifting - I never found reds in the mangroves, and honestly, I wasn't fishing too hard by Saturday - might have been different in less wind. Didn't catch fish on my round reels, though the BC720/1800 combo was a joy fishing both the wood plugs and TSL Grasswalker. Deeper in Cavasso marsh/sloughs on the 1st day, I was disappointed with Headhunter combo casting 1/8 oz bunny shrimp. While it made reverse-spiral skip cast well, it would windage swing with overhead or sidearm cast - I compensated and fished it a bit, but the bunny shrimp needs BF. I could have swapped to DOA shrimp, didn't want the weight-splash in the calm sloughs. When I came home, ordered the Buggz Click-Shrimp above, which is stated to sink like 1/8 oz, but cast weight is 6 g, which I hope will be just right. Bread-and-butter lure for drift fishing was Minnow-Z on 1/8 oz Texas Eye jighead. Most productive color was Mood Ring, which transmits pink and reflects mullet blue sheen. (reflected light/ transmitted light) On Thursday, I made it to Little Cut tide pass late morning for stretch, food and beer break. While the pass was dead, I really enjoyed a few casts with 2500C/Rockfish. The rod ain't Yamaga Blanks, but my bench-built reel was flawless per my plan, and I enjoyed casting 4-g plug across the tide pass. This will get some more shore-fishing time at Arroyo in January. Full SiN bearings in both Silver Wolf and SLPW out-performed IXA doubles in my Zillion SVTW. Taking the Zillion down for post-salt clean and lube, swapped those spool bearings to full SiN. After 4 salt years (Spring '21 to Fall '24), Zillion looked great inside. One last note about structure, tide timing, and experience. When we launched at Estes Thursday morning, I told Lou to be inside Little Cut at 11 am. He wasn't there, but that's where I hooked up the over-slot red, right at 11 am. The tide was swinging from out-going to incoming. Last year on the same tide timing, I was on 200 redfish on the shoal inside Little Cut, all moving toward the tide pass. Limited in 12 casts, which included releasing 3 more under-slot fish.

Thanks, friends. Still Austin is quite good - I think the best neat bourbon we had on the table. @AlabamaSpothunter - it's easy to be inspired when you hang with a young man as talented, organized and gracious as Josh.

A note for the OP's normal vs. microguide observation. I run fluoro leader primarily for shock tolerance, and tie them with improved Allbright knot. On BF rods with microguides, my leader is 18" and doesn't have to pass the microguides. I fish longer leaders, 4 feet, on rods with normal size guides, and of course no worries about the knot passing the guides.

On his TKF and FFR reports, Josh posted an afternoon photo of him enjoying a Paloma. Also need to mention he mixed up Old Fashioned for me and Lou using the exceptional Maverick Rye.

My buddy Josh and his sister Nina have hosted the annual Rockport kayak, um, bacchanal for this many years. Through the evening's firepit haze, I got the sense Josh was foreboding the 13 Omen. Nothing could have been further from realized - everyone had a wonderful time. Eight to a dozen kayakers turn out at their extended family digs on Copano Bay. The historic property on Live Oak Point is the highest elevation on the TX coast (sorry, only had winter-trip photos for the gazebo and firepit). There's no way to do this trip justice, but can show off a few photos and talk about a couple of days on the water. Some folks will come and go through the week, may show up early or stay late. We haul kayaks to different grass flats and mud marshes covering about 100 mi of the coast, typical paddle trail for a morning fishing is 8 to 10 mi. We cook or go out for an evening meal, and end the evening at the the firepit with cigars and libations, planning the next day's travel around tides, wind, and a binder of embossed Google Earth charts. Normally, the first organized trip is Wednesday, and the last organized meal is Saturday night shrimp boil. While wind was stiff on the back of the week, Wednesday's light wind was wonderful for sight-fishing. We launched at Cavasso (salt) Creek. Though only 10 minutes from Copano digs, Josh had never fished this spot, and the last time Steve and I fished it was 30 years ago. Parks & Wildlife release gators here they snag in Goose Is SP. Great hard-pack launch, and paddle into the sunrise. I was behind Josh along the grass, sight-fishing his rejects. Prop-tail topwater shrimp cast into the grass caught my first and best red. After doing the math, I caught 5 redfish each morning, though not all in the slot. Great photos of Josh with a fly rod red. My day ended with a small wind knot in my braid, and the knot breaking an over-slot spec right at the boat. All part of the fun, and a great day. Josh's special Cioppino with cod, crab, shrimp, and mussels hit the spot for the evening kick-off dinner - Josh and Nina competing in the kitchen always exceeds our imaginations. Thursday brought us back to my favorite Estes Flats, and a reliable NNE wind for drifting down Trout Bayou. Launching at Palm Harbor, a mile to the turn up Talley Island, and 2 miles to the top of Trout Bayou. My morning began in Aransas Bay, drifting back into the tide pass. Plenty of small trout were slashing. I brought a nice big spec to the boat, but she tore the hook out with a head shake. Began my drifts down Trout Bayou, and landed 3 absolutely 19" reds. I was happy to get one more that measured 20" for my stringer. I ended bringing an over-slot red to the boat. Thought I had him set with 3 solid pulls. But the little slack I had to give him while pulling in drift sock was enough for him to shake the hook. Again, all part of the fun. The group meat haul from Estes. Friday, we took our boats across Port Aransas ferry to fish East Flats on Mustang Is. It was our longest paddle and toughest wind, though with some shelter, and everyone brought home fish. GPS trail for the day. Saturday, another big wind day, we fished Marker 1 trail on Lighthouse Lakes. Josh traveled farther upwind than everybody, and sight-fished a banner day in the mangroves - he deserved his results facing the wind and currents to get that far. The rest of us stayed close in the first 3 lakes, and Andy pulled a couple out of the mangroves. Caught this photo of Stevo crossing back Aransas Channel. Josh's trip-fish 27" red. Josh's shrimp boil gets better every year, decided to spend some electrons on the master at work. Another feast, and easy clean up - we were hungry, not much for leftovers. We also made a good showing sampling the single cask bottles into the last evening, before packing out Sunday morning.

If you notice in some older reels, they will crank quiet when tilted with handle up, and make gear noise when cranking with handle tilted down. This is from end-play in the main shaft/ drag stack. No experience with OG Daiwa - '19 Steez was my first Daiwa since 1979. But if you've isolated the noise to the LW, you may improve it by swapping the LW bushings with 740 ball bearings.

No forum can accept liability for classifieds listings. Buyer Beware fits Everywhere. In the early days of "the fiberglass renaissance", the choices were venerable rods from the '70s, custom rods from Japan, and only two cottage makers hand-rolling blanks in the US. Backlog became so great, FFR forum devolved into gripe sessions, and one of those cottage makers got banned from the forum - and so did some of the buyers...

Look at Abu Garcia. I'm taking 3 ML rods after redfish next week - two of those are JDM Abu Garcia. The shortest one, though, is 6'5" - the range is 1/16 to 5/8 oz. USM Vendetta offers a 6'3" that will probably match your lure range. https://www.abugarcia.com/products/vendetta-casting-rod?variant=42039898669195

yes, that's not a knob, it's the shell of a broken knob. that's only a piece of a broken knob - make your claim - there should be no way to separate the knob shell from the knob tube - the knob tube is not a replaceable part - they are integral in a completed knob

That doesn't make sense. You need 7x4x2.5-mm ball bearings which will come from your old knobs, or find them from a bearing supplier (e.g. HPR bearings on ebay) The spindle diameter is the I.D. of the bearing (4 mm). The knob I.D. has to be larger, seats one bearing from the bottom of the knob, and the other from the top.

The problem is line memory, which is why I never looked back after switching to braid, and didn't stop with spinning tackle. If you're tying knots on spinning tackle, the cobwebs are only going to get worse, adding line twist on top of line memory. Begin with 6-or 8-lb Sufix 832. (don't fall into generic "braid" trap, but stick with quality coated new generation braids) - note, you'll probably need backing with braid this small. Get yourself an Ott lamp and magnifier and learn a good leader knot - NOT double-uni, but improved Allbright, FG, etc. You can keep your leader short, it's mostly for shock tolerance. Never tie the lure direct to leader, but Always use a micro-swivel snap. It works.

Not even. It even works fine with reel covers.

G-Nius https://www.hedgehog-studio.co.jp/product/4215

Daiwa thumb-bar is a full take-down, and difficult to replace. https://kakedzukass.com/daiwa-steez-assembly-procedure-explanation/ If you go to the trouble to replace it, should upgrade with the KDW metal thumb bar. https://www.hedgehog-studio.co.jp/product/7772

You might ask that question of @Eric 26 who owns both. I'm guessing his Stradic (worm drive) has greater line management precision than his Miravel. I own Vanquish, Stradic and Twin Power. Vanquish was designed to be the ultimate finesse reel, lowest drive inertia of all time, and met its mark (Zero start resistance, doesn't push your hand when you stop). But you need all 3 reels side by side to recognize the slight differences. Shimano worm drive is that good. The no-brainer part is these reels will all keep their line management precision over longer life than lower-grade reels. The worm-drive series (Stradic to Stella) all share Stella design, and interchange parts. Here's my mid-frame Twin Power with a shallow Vanquish spool to let me fish PE#0.6. It makes a killer finesse reel.

Daiwa Black Label has sleeve-over-butt ferrules, which make it lighter, and mechanically makes bulk modulus (stiffness) steps at each joint. But they've designed these with really effective tapers. I also have have the 6'8"-M Wild Side, which is has spigot ferrules, making it slightly heavier, but perfectly smooth taper that duplicates one-piece. Compared to my Black Label ML, this feels much more like a bass rod. Comes in a sock inside a neoprene case, all inside a Meiho box for bulletproof travel.

Last thing with a reel coming off my bench, drag gets set using a spring balance. Proper drag set is 1/4 of weakest link - line or leader breaking strength, or rod max line rating. It won't get touched again until the next bench trip. That way, I'm always fishing with a Known.