Micro

The Koppers Blueback Herring is nice but beware it sinks pretty fast and sinks nose first. The Sebile Magic Swimmer is a good bait and I have a few of those. I've caught a decent number of fish on them. There are slow sinking and fast sinking models. They sink horizontally.

The BPS frogs are actually pretty good. BPS brand hollow bodies (and Snag Proof, too) were the first hollow bodies I ever fished. They had decent hooks and held up reasonably well. They walked well, too. haven't fished BPS frogs in quite awhile and their current crop doesn't look like the ones I had.

What was your technique on the drag star? That's the best looking one I have ever seen.

It's Micro as in Micropterus - my real BR name before we had to change them. I do remember Mirconauts, though. Cool little si-fi guys with metal or clear plastic bodies, pop-open wings, and all sorts of cool vehicles. I had a ton of them.

Has the drag on any of the reels mentioned ever been insufficient?

That is sweet looking. I have two Fuegos and love them. I'd love to fix them up like yours.

I'm starting to get into this Abu Garcia-free fishing. Picked this up yesterday with the proceeds of my recent reel sales. This will be my new light frog and space monkey rig. I'm also trying like braid a bit more.

I agree the JM rods are excellent when it comes to sensitivity. My JM rod with the recoil guides was superb. You could feel every tick with that rod. If there are rods more sensitive, they must be very good, indeed. My issue with the rod was the guides, and the powerhump, which is completely personal preference. I liked the reel seat, though.

I've owned a couple of BPS rods - two Pro Qualifiers and a Johnny Morris with the REC guides. The PQs were nice but the clear coating on the guide threads flaked off. And I just didn't like the REC guides so I gave that rod away. I had a Johnny Morris reel. The blue deposition-coated one. Nice reel, but big and rather heavy. It cast very nicely but the dual brakes were an unnecessary hassle.

It must be. There is a new snakehead mount over the cash register in the fishing section at GreenTop. I was told a lot of people are asking about where to go to catch them.

Not sure how lightweight you want to go, but for long distance deep crank casting the Zillion High-Power performs incredibly well.

As far as smoothness, none of those reels match the Zillion. The Zillion's retrieve is like greased glass on glass. Additionally, it has absolutely no backplay in the handle - at all. The Zillion is built like a tank, better, IMO, than the Revo. The gears, including the worm gear, are brass. The worm gear on the Revo is plastic. The drag on the Zillion is completely sufficient for the toughest bass fishing. My Zillions outcast any Revo I've ever had. Everything from the paint to the finish on the metal is a step up, even if a small one, from the Revo. As far as palming, the Zillion beats the Revo here, too. I like to wrap my index finger around the front of the reel. On the Zillion that is no problem. On the Revo your finger hits the pawl cap as it sweeps back and forth. You pay a premium for this refinement, but in the sub-$300 range I think the Zillion is the best reel out there. One cool thing about the Zillion, and most (if not all) Daiwa baitcasters is the ability to re-engage the spool by flipping up the thumbbar. That makes flippin' very easy. Neither the Curado, Revo nor XT have that. The Curado is extremely smooth, too. And in my experience casts any weight bait well, and light baits a bit better than the Zillion. It has a bit of handle backplay but you don't notice it when you fish. The grips are the best of any low profile, IMO. They are super comfortable even with wet fingers. The brake works very well and accessing it is a breeze. The sideplate is on a hinge so you can't drop it. The reel palms well and the pawl cap is not quite as hidden from feel as on the Zillion, but its better than on the Revo. I've only owned pre-'10 Revos and I liked them very much. They are built well and have the strongest drag out there - though you will never use it to its capacity bass fishing. They palm well, too, but yoiur finger does hit the pawl cap if your wrap your index finger around the front. They cast exceptionally well all baits from 1/4 oz on up. But the new the dual braking system on the '10 Revo and XT are turn-offs for me. It's an attempt to come up with a fool-proof brake system. It adds weight and people that can learn to cast a mag or centrifugal brake simply don't need both.

I have a friend with a bevy of all-graphite Diawa reels from the early '80s. They have no bearings at all, just bushings. They used anti-reverse dogs. Those reels have been used, abused and when he gave them to me to clean I pulled 2+ decades of old congealed grease and dried snot out of them. These reels have been dropped, used in salt-water, and caught bass, catfish, sea trout, redfish. Once clean they were, except for scratches, as good as new. Graphite in bass reels is a non-issue.

You won't have any problems. The Zillion will handle that bait very well.

Except for the Inshore, I've owned them all (Premier, STX, SX, SC, S and Winch). IMO, there is very little performance differences among them. They are strong, overbuilt reels. They cast great. They will haul up a lot of weight. And have great drags. However, I have had a high frequency of bearing problems with them. I've had to remove bearings and clean factory grit out of them. I had to send two STXs back due to developing screeches. One of those also had metal shavings in it. Abu replaced both reels, no questions asked. I just sold my two replacements reels. Abu's customer service is completely impersonal. Their customer service reps don't know fishing, and in my experience can't answer basic questions about reels. Detailed questions need to be refered to other people who may or may not call you. Their solution to any problem is to send the reel back for replacement. I once ordered a bearing for a spinning reel that was in warranty and they insisted I send it in for replacement. Can't argue with that, but it certainly suggests that their reels aren't worth repairing - whether they are or not. Over the last few years, Abu has gotten a big-box-store feel about them. For me, that's a major turn off. Is the Curado better? I have experience with the Curado BSF and that was the reel that made me start buying Revos. I've owned three 200Ds and kick myself all the time for selling them. They were fabulous performers and exceptionally well built. I currently own a Castaic and love it. I replaced a Revo S with that reel. And I just bought two 200E7s and can say they cast any weight bait as well or better than my best Revo STXs. I think the Revos were more robustly built, but the Curado's robustness is entirely sufficient for bass fishing. Choose whichever you like. Both are good reels. It's the companies that the deciding factor for me, now. For me, I sort of wish I had started where I ended up - with Shimano and Daiwa. I woulda saved a helluva lot of money and probably fewer headaches.

Here are my newest reels. Just came in today. The Revos I sold paid for these. In terms of smoothness, the Stradic has VERY little on the Symetre.

I make it from a fisherman's standpoint.

No, no built in blinds. I used Therma True doors. I used Baldwin hardware.

He learned that from Burley.

As a crank bait, the Flat Slap sucks. It is a good jerkbait and has a pretty wild action when twitched and jerked. That model in the photo run about 3 feet or so. Never caught anything on it. I only have two and don't want to loose it. :

Yeah, it's pretty raw. I should have photoshopped that picture. I just had that privacy fence installed and trucks have been backing through my yard to drop off supplies and pick up debris. Had the end of my house knocked out and installed french doors and a deck. Better?

If the replacement fee was $50 when you bought it, you should be grandfathered in.

You wont be disappointed. The new HMGs are fantastic rods. The olds ones were great. The new ones are just as sensitive and feel even better.

I thought this makes for not only a very useful combo, but an exceptionally pretty one. Curado E7, Fenwick HMG (GT66M), Yo-Zuri Hybrid 10 lb, Megabass ITO Flat Slap.

Talked to Darryl yesterday and it looks like he is pulling the plug on his business. 30-90 days is the approximate time frame. The landlord is going to let it become a convenience store. Not sure what he is going to do with his stock. He's not setting up new shop. Never really understood why he moved to where he is now. He's doesn't advertise to speak of. It's very rural so not even a lot of locals. It's close to some good fishing locations so he snags some fishermen passing by. But other than that, there isn't much business up that way. On top of that, he's loaded with high-end baits. Has half a wall of Megabass hard baits. Deps swim baits. Half a wall of Lucky Craft. Unless you have a lot of walk-in traffic with cash to blow, or an internet business (which never took off), getting over loaded on $17 - $25 cranks isn't going to generate much income. He has nice rods, but had a lot of pricey customs. Too many customs, not enough rods in the $50 range. He's pretty much had the same stock for two years. Nothing new leaving, nothing new coming in. Too bad. I really liked going there. Hope he finds something else to do.