bgaviator

I’ve seen videos and read things to where it shouldn’t even make a clicking sound with the side-to-side movement and others that say it should make just a slight clicking sound. I’m coming from a Zebco Bullet actually. I’m used to having to really wing it to get my lure to go far. My backlashes seems to be happening more at the beginning or middle of the lure launch. Most of my backlashes have happened just as the lure is crossing over the water.

Well I took it out to our local pond. Didn’t go so well. Numerous backlashes. A couple I had to completely cut out. The most casts I was able to do was 15 in a row. Seems like my tension knob was TOO tight at first. Once I loosened it a bit I was able to cast more without a birds nest. I learned if my thumb even nicked the spool as it was casting out I’d get a birds nest. Seems like when I’d try to wing the rod too hard I’d be more likely to get a birds nest as well. At one point I was able to take the brakes down to a 8 and I was able to get a cast almost to the other side of the pond. But then I got too cocky on my next cast and winged it really hard and it blew up. Seems like all my blowups were as the lure was still casting out. If it blew up it happened when the lure was about 25-50% over the water. Pretty disappointing day.

Ok so I bought my first baitcaster, a Daiwa Zillion, directly from Japan. Of course the instructions are all in Japanese. I just got it spooled up. I put on a squarebill lure. In my garage I released the button and my lure dropped quickly and I got an immediate birds nest. I thought maybe I needed to change the brake settings but after a few birds nests I tightened the spool tension. This caused the lure to fall at a slower steady rate and the spool did not birds nest. I guess what I’m confused about is Daiwas term of zero adjuster knob. I thought it was supposed to be set from the factory? Am I still going to have to adjust the spool tension every time I change lures if they are different weights? I am new to baitcasters so this is confusing to me. Also, any good starter brake setting for me to use for my first time taking it out? Thanks.

I fish at Sardis Lake in Mississippi below the spillway. A little muddy. Lots of rip rap below the spillway but I think more smooth pebble bottom at the beach I often like to fish at past the spillway rip rap. No weeds. I don’t target anything specific. Just whatever bites.

Why not braid? Isn’t braid better for not having memory issues thus less backlash potential? I actually like my medium Daiwa AirdX Rod over the more expensive Dobyn’s Medium Heavy.

Just ordered my first baitcaster from Digitaka. The Zillion SV TW 7.1 at the recommendation of some of you on here. Now what line am I spooling it with and best/easiest way to spool it? I mostly like to fish crankbaits/squarebills, Texas rig worms, and swim baits. Occasional lighter stuff under a bobber. I don’t target any particular species. Just whatever I can catch. I’m not sure what rod I’m going to put it on. Either my Dobyn’s Fury Medium Heavy or my Daiwa AirdX medium. My lake has white bass, largemouth bass, crappie, catfish, and drums and sunfish. Thanks.

I currently have a Dobyn’s Fury medium heavy and a Daiwa AirdX medium. I like my Daiwa more even though it’s cheaper. I like how light it is. But the Dobyn’s allows me to feel the bottom of the lake more. I’ve thought about getting a Daiwa Tatula or Tatula XT rod. I’ve heard good things about them. I don’t think I need anything more than medium for what we have around here.

They have 1 of the 6.3 gear ratio ones. I’m not really sure what gear I need. It seems like a lot of people like the 7.1 ratio ones

Does anyone know why if you look at the Zillion SV TW on Daiwa’s web site, it shows gold accents…but if you look at it from any sites that sell it, it appears all gray?

Just did. They don’t have any 7.1 gear ratio ones in stock. Oh well, I’m in no rush.

They look like fantastic reels. People seem to really love them. I went to this Digitaka website and they have them for $230 usd which is a lot cheaper than what Tackle Warehouse sells them for, but alas, Digitaka is out of stock for the gear ratio I’d want. Can this Zillion throw lighter weight stuff like I tend to throw lots of times?

Can’t decide on my first baitcaster. I only fish from the banks (as of now). I don’t target anything specific. Bass, crappie, catfish, drum, bluegill. Whatever bites. My favorite things to throw are squarebills, and Texas rig worms and curly tail grubs. Sometimes swim baits (though I’ve yet to catch a thing with them). Sometimes I’ll do live minnows or night crawlers under a bobber. I’m willing to spend up to $200. Some of the ones I’ve considered are the Shimano SLX DC, the Daiwa Tatula SV, or the Daiwa Tatula 100. I’m worried about backlashes, so I wasn’t sure if that’s where having the Shimano DC system would be good to have. Is the Daiwa SV system similar? I really don’t understand all the different reel systems and the advantages of each one.

Haven’t tried my jigs or a chatter yet, but the fluke I’ve tried many times. Maybe I’m just not using it in the right applications. It’s possible I don’t have the correct technique down either. I usually fish at a spillway that has moving current so I’m not sure if that’s a good application for a fluke or not. I imagine it’s better with more still water? I’ve tried flukes in still water too with no luck. I try the twitch twitch pause technique. And I try popping it up and letting it fall. Nothing bites it. I usually have it on a offset hook weightless. I don’t know if adding some kind of belly weight would make the action more enticing to fish or not.

I have one of those too. Never have taken it out of the package yet though.

I have rarely tried my frogs or Rebel PopR. I don’t have any heavy rods but I have played with them occasionally and never got a bite on them. i am surprised I have never gotten a hit on a Zoom Fluke. The action on them looks awesome when twitching and popping, but I’ve just never gotten a hit. I’m also really surprised the Creme and Zoom rubber swim baits don’t get me hits considering how real they look.

Let’s have a fun thread. “I have never caught a bass using…” (fill in the blank) just curious what the answer will be because when I first got into fishing a few years ago I bought just about every kind of fake bait under the sun…most of which have never caught me a fish. Just curious what have been duds for you…as well as constant performers. For me…I have never caught a bass using: Zoom Fluke, Storm or Creme swim baits, Storm 360 GT Searchbait. what consistently works in my arsenal; Yum Dinger worms fished weightless Texas Rigged…KVD sexy Shad colored Squarebills, and marabou hair jigs. now, I only fish from the shore…and I fish a lot in a spillway with moving current. So I’m not sure if that affects the performance of some of the baits I just never have luck with or what. I do have some swim jigs in my arsenal too which I have yet to try so I can’t comment on how well those will work for me.

I didn’t really get into fishing until this past spring. I was catching fish left and right in the spring, purely on fake lures. So much so I kept telling my friend who is mostly into live bait that I was confident fake stuff caught just as much, If not more than live bait. Seems like since summer has hit, the fishing has dropped off tremendously. I have worse and worse luck every time I go out now it seems. I thought now that it has started cooling off the fishing might get better but today (Sardis Lake, MS) I didn’t even get a bite. I threw everything in my arsenal, including live nightcrawlers. An older guy started fishing next to me at the spillway at the next set of steps and caught two decent bass fairly quickly. I asked him what he was using and he said a spinner bait, no trailer. So I tied on a spinner bait myself….nothing. Granted his was pure white and all i had on hand was a chartreuse one, but still.. Getting very discouraging.

Thanks for all the input. I’m still new to this. I just got into this last year as something to do during Covid. But I’ve really grown to like it. I promise I’ll get a baitcaster at some point. I don’t know why I’m so hesitant. Maybe it’s just laziness on my part. I just wanted to get something in that was already spooled up and ready to throw on a rod and go fish. I don’t just target bass. I’m happy to catch anything. So that’s why I figured a Zebco would suffice for me. I enjoy fishing with it albeit it is super heavy and fatiguing to hold after a short while. Sorry I wasn’t up front with what my reel was in combination with my rods.

I have never seen rods on Bass Pro or Tackle Warehouse listed as just “spincast rods”. There’s either just “casting” or “spinning”. I thought my Zebco Bullet needed a casting rod. Any spincast combo setups I see are using rods just like mine with the spincast sitting on top. Now I’m confused…

But don’t push button spincasts like the Bullet need a “casting” rod and not a “spinning” rod? I thought spinning rods were just for open faced spinning reels?

Ok so what guys are gonna rip on me now for using a Bullet? My question was about rods. I get it, everyone hates spincast reels and think they’re a joke. But I just wanted something easy to get into fishing with. I’m comfortable with spincasts and I intend on buying a baitcast at some point but I’m just not ready to.

It is quite fatiguing to hold after a short time.

Just the mono that came spooled on my Zebco Bullet reel

The Expride is probably next on my purchase list!

Ok that makes sense that it becomes more noticeable with bottom contact stuff. I was just using crankbaits and grubs yesterday. I haven’t done any Texas rig stuff since the spring. Now, I did notice when I was using my grubs on a jig head with the Dobyn’s yesterday, I could feel when the jig head would hit a rock. It would startle me at first cause I thought it was a fish, but then I got used to what it felt like when i would run into a rock. Yes my Dobyn’s did a great job pulling in the big Drum and white bass I landed yesterday.