Bronzefly

Beautiful fish and a sweet reel too!

Roadwarrior made a fine suggestion with the Yo-Zuri. I also really like P-Line Premium on spinning gear. I've had bad experiences with the P-Line Flouroclear however.

I have a CBR 906 paired with a Calais DC7 for lipless cranks - the casting distance is absolutely insane and the rod hasn't let me down on hooksetting abilities. I also wish the handle was longer, but it is an ideal lipless crank rod for me. I will throw 1/4 to 3/4 oz. traps on this setup with no trouble at all. I'm not crazy about this rod for deep cranks, however. It handles them "ok" but I like other rods for this app.

Same here and great advice!

From my experience, there is a substantial difference in quality between the carrot and the St. Croix Avids. That additional $20 is well worth it to get the Avid. Also, reputable online retailers are the way to go!

The Shimano Stella is the finest spinning reel I've ever used. They are expensive, but absolutely amazing quality and performance. Their Sustain and Stradic are excellent reels as well. Daiwa has several phenomonal spinning reels as well - the Steez and Certate are top quality as well. The Fuego is a very nice spinning reel as well. I have had the pflueger president as well - it's hard to beat at its price point.

The biggest difference between those two rods is the handle length. The BCR 874 is a "carolina rig" rod with an extended handle for two handed leverage casting. There isn't going to be a HUGE difference between the two hooksetting or otherwise. I like the 874 for football jigs in deep, open water - but the 854 and 855 also work very well. All three will work fine for smaller single hook type swimbaits, but I don't like the BCR's for treble hook type swimbaits.

Creative for sure, ugly, but creative ;D

That all depends on the reel

The newest Calais series are the "A" series - 200A, 200APV, 200ASV, 100A - They are all amazing reels with one major "drawback" - their weight. The trend these days is to make the lightest, most flashy, high performance models - ie. the Daiwa Steez - which is an incredible reel itself. I do like the lightweight high performance reels, but the Calais casts and retrieves like a dream. We each have to decide for ourselves whether or not something is "worth" the price. I will say that the Calais is an extremely well built, long lasting, high performance reel.

There are baitcasting combos out there that will handle ultralight presentations with amazing results. They are sometimes very expensive, but a real joy nonetheless. The recently discontinued Daiwa Pixy is an absolutely phenomonal reel stock, but supertuned it is a thing of beauty. Is it necessary? Maybe not, but it certainly is alot of fun.

I think it's the best budget FC line out there. I use it regularly. I have grown to like the new Berkley 100% but still think that the Gamma Edge is the toughest FC I've ever used.

The Loomis SHR 822 in GLX and the standard version are sweet shakey head sticks. The BSR 802 and 852 GLX are also amazing shakey head rods. I like larger spinning reels, so the Stella 3000 is sweet, but the Sustain is very nice as well. The offerings from Daiwa are very nice starting with the Fuego and of course the Steez...

Very nice! What will be your weapon of choice for your fine new acquisition?

I wasn't aware that anyone other than Shimano and Daiwa made reels... ;D

A good friend of mine who is a drop shot fanatic absolutely LOVES the DSR820GLX as a dedicated drop shot rod. I've used it several times and have to agree that short of a few exotic rods, it's the best out there. I have the SHR822GLX and love it for shakey heads - I had the standard 822 which was great as well. I wasn't crazy about the 821 because I fish the SH in deep water frequently and wanted the additional power of the "2" models.

Aside from the reduced weight and reduced line capacity and ergonomics, I'm really curious about the performance differences between the Chronarch D7 and the Curado E7. While the E7 does well with lighter baits, I expect the D7 to shine in that arena. I'm curious if the D7 will even come close to the 50MG when it comes to lightweight stuff. Just on pure casting, the E7 is a casting beast stock, so I'd imagine you will be able to spool that D7 while tossing a lipless crank. Very excited to hear some of your impressions...

If you would specify the model, that would help greatly. The DSR 820 is much less versatile than the DSR 822 IMHO. I think the DSR 820 makes a better true dropshot rod than the 822, but the 822 will dropshot fine and expand your options.

That is a beauty!! Congrats to him!

Did you buy the D7 or the D5? Let us know how you like it - you'll be one of the first to have it in hand. It does look like a sweet reel!

I use a 5.0:1 or a 5.8:1 for slow rolling large spinnerbaits in deep water and a 7:1 for burning them or fishing them shallow.

Very nice work!!

+1 for the DD22 suspend... slow, slow, slow...

some 3/16 oz shakey head jigs and some good shakey head type finesse worms. 1/4 oz brown jigs and tiny paca chunks...

1/8 oz. white fly with a hint of chartreuse tightlined on light spinning gear!!