Recurve1

Hi Bulldog - I pulled up your link and the price for US is $161.42. Not gonna quibble over $10 but wondering where you saw it at $152? Thanks

The rods I have on NFC blanks are nice, especially the fly rods. However, the things that bug me are that they are very quick to take your money (credit card is charged almost immediately) but they are slow to ship and slow to respond to email. They sit on your money for weeks or more. Fortunately I have all the rods I need and am unlikely to build any more. No need to order more blanks.

Ahh - the Tundra made in Texas. The Tacoma is made in Mexico https://www.4thgentacoma.com/threads/where-are-toyota-tacomas-made.938/

I heard they were made in Mexico? The Crown Signia is reportedly MIJ. Likely my next vehicle. Some Mazdas still MIJ, those are worth a look too.

I want my car to be made in Japan. Don't care where my fishing reel is made.

I just saw there is also a new Ultegra spinning reel - the FD model. Looks to have most of the features of the current Stradic except has CI4+, cross carbon drag and no AR-C spool as the main differences. https://fish.shimano.com/en-US/product/reels/spinning/frontdrag/a075f00003slwxfqas.html

I Thanks - is it the FM or the FL that you have?

I strictly wade fish rivers and creeks for smallmouth. When I flyfish for them a big difference for me is the amount of fly line outside the reel and on the water, talking about retrieving flies like Clouser minnows and streamers. I end up with a lot of fly line around my legs whereas with a spinning reel the line is on the reel. Then the flyline gets pulled into the current and when I go to make my next cast I need to gather line to shoot it. I have started holding the retrieved line in loops in my line hand which is OK but next year I am going to put a box/basket on my wading belt to hold this line. For reference I'm talking about 40-50 feet of fly line at times. Managing this line is the biggest pain for me flyfishing for bass. If you are on a boat where you can stand then the line will lay at your feet and not so much of an issue.

I only ask because there have been some spotty reports of noises, "geariness", etc. I'm presuming these are the minority but wanted to get a consensus opinion now that the reel has been out a year or so. Planning to order from Japan so no US warranty. Thanks

Thanks - I should say I don't have a boat so would be looking at wade fishing smaller rivers and creeks. Any particular waters/states I should be looking at? NC, SC, Georgia? Thanks

Hi folks, What are the smallmouth fishing opportunities in the SE USA in the winter time? I'd like to spend some time during the winter chasing more active smallmouth. In the NE things have cooled off now so wanted to get into some better smallmouth action and hoping warmer waters there might offer more active fish.

Thank you all for the thoughtful replies. It makes sense that if a client is not catching fish after say 30 - 60 min the guide should try some techniques or areas to see if fish are there, what lure works, is the client the issue or is it the fish/water, etc. hopefully he could do this in a limited amount of time, then when he finds something he can instruct the client with the new information. This makes sense and a limited amount is understandable. BTW the guide my friend is going with charges $300/half day and $500 for whole day walk and wade on public rivers that I already fish (and always catch fish) on. No limited access areas. No meals or transportation provided that I can see. Needless to say I will not be paying for his service, I can use that money for a new rod and reel or waders! Thanks again to all

A friend of mine got a guided fishing trip as a gift, a wading trip for river smallmouth. He wants me to buy a trip so I can go with him. It seems this guide fishes while you are paying him to guide you. He does attend to your needs and does some teaching. Is it common for guides to fish while you are paying them to guide you? I am hesitant to pay a guy hundreds of dollars to fish when he should be teaching me about rigging, reading the currents, fish lies, drift depth and speed, etc. Thanks

Thanks folks, I'm sure one of these will work fine. The bigger hooks are what I need for the 2.75" - 3.5" tubes.

Hi Folks, I'm looking for 1/16 oz tube jig hooks with hooks big enough for 3 and 3.5" tubes. Creeks here are low and clear and 1/8 oz jig heads are getting hung up way too much. Any suggestions for a good tube jig head in 1/16 with a proper hook size would be appreciated. Thanks

I'm loving my Tatula XT medium rod with Shimano Sahara 2500 reel for smallmouth wading. Get the reel from Japan and save yourself $20 or 30 (Digitaka). You'll come in well under budget. The reel is very nice but looking to upgrade the reel to an Ultegra or Stradic when the dollar/yen becomes more favorable, only because those reels will likely last longer. I built a couple NFC (Gary Loomis current company) spinning rods and the Tatula fishes as well as the NFC. Using 10 or 15 lb braid with a mono or copoly leader. Fishing 1/8 - 1/2 oz lures.

Thanks to all - the replacement in line hooks cannot get here too soon - this morning I got a plopper 60 treble in my thumb unhooking a wiggly smallmouth. fortunately superficial but it was quite a time unhooking the back hook with the front hook in my thumb. able to push it thru and smash the barb. backed out ok after that.

Thanks a ton Peace, this is exactly what I was hoping for. I will get some size 2 and also some #1 to try on the plopper 75 size. The plopper has been my go to top water for smallmouth in the local rivers/creeks and it is working pretty well. I saw a YT video where they also are using Mustad Kaiju in line hooks. will try them and the Owner.

Some follow up - I ended up with a Lew's speed spool LFS mostly because the local sporting goods store had them marked down to $50 and they had a left hand wind 6.8 speed so I couldn't pass it up. I have about 20 some smallmouth on it, using 10 lb mono casting 1/4 - 1/2 oz lures on a daiwa tatula xt 7' medium and BPS cranking stick ML and it works just fine for my river/creek smallmouth fishing.

I fish the plopper in size 60 and 75 for smallmouth and while it works I'd like to go single hook, at least the back hook. I'm concerned about size cause this is where the propeller spins. Has anyone done this replacement and if so what size single hook did you use? Thanks

Thanks folks - going to the local sporting goods store this weekend to actually hold them and compare.

Edit for clarity - looking at the 24 Tatula 100, around $110 on the Japanese amazon site. Have read that the lew is pretty good. Lure weight ranges about 1/4 - 1/2 or 5/8 at most.

Looking for one reel to use for all types of cast and retrieve lures on rocky creeks/ rivers for smallmouth - topwater, flukes, crankbaits, etc. I know very little about BC reels and use them about 1/3 of my fishing time. Which of these 2 do you like and why? Thanks

Check out folks impressions of Sage fly rod s after they were bought be Far Bank Corp. Both the change in lifetime warranty policy and repair/customer service.

Thanks ! - great stuff. The pictures are very helpful. Good to see the relative line lay also. Greatly appreciated