J Francho

As far as the two shoreline scenarios posed above, I'm pretty meh. At least in both cases they were fishing.

This is pretty mild for busy waters up here. It wouldn't even register on my radar, even if any of them were bass boats.

Call him and ask. I used to get $25 + parts, unless it was a really quick fix for locals. I don't do this anymore.

I'm 90% sure it's on a rod in the rack. Whenever I grab it, I'm like what's up with the short handle? Oh yeah, this is that JDM Zillion.

Look over on the right: http://www.delawarevalleytackle.com/ He does rods, too. Price would probably be prohibitive.

Never heard that fused was 4-carrier nor that was braided. I'll take your word for it, tho. It feels and behaves nothing like a braided line. Whatever braid was before Ultra 8 was also an 8 carrier. I haven't use the Ultra 8. I don't care for 8 carrier lines in general. All my knots are sketchy with it, and gets stuck in thick veggies more. If you're a braid only type, then I'd say 8 carrier is probably better for open water and moving baits. Not my jam, tho.

Pics, or didn't happen! Get some pigs!

Last time I had guide work done, is was around $20 + cost of materials per guide. That was 20 years ago, and he's passed away since.

Answered already. You'd have to feel them both in the store to really see the differences. Based on the fraying, I'd say he was referring to fused line, not a braid.

I don't know anyone locally, though there must be someone that can. Maybe @clayton86 is willing? He builds his own.

They aren't even the same category of line. Neither stretch.

In water that deep, a drop shot would be a much more efficient way to fish a small soft plastic.

Sedona

Yes, and sometimes.

I'm having trouble with these

You want: 1. under $50 2. won't fray line 3. lasts forever You can pick two.

I think you need to widen your parameters a bit. Any $50 dollar reel I've bought in the past two decades lasted a few years, depending on use. Some less, some more. In the end, they weren't worth it. I've been using the same $200 reels now for almost a decade, one for almost 20 years. They're mostly Shimano Stradics and Stradic CI4. I have one Pinnacle that retailed for $100 new that is over 5 years old, and serves me well, too.

Try worms or leeches.

Another story, I went to sell one of my boats, so I cleaned it out for the tranfer, and while emptying the rod locker, I found a real nice OG JDM Zillion. I faintly recall buying it, but never used it. Still have it somewhere.

This Zillion is 9:1. Something like 41 IPT. It was too fast for my use.

Yesterday, here.

I can confirm that it gets a little frizzy. If it looks really bad near the bait, I'll retie.

I recently went through the entire house - attic, garage, basement, junk drawers, closets, etc. - and consolidated all my tackle. I found three huge plastic bins worth of unopened baits - mostly baits I usually use, which isn't many. Tons of Senkos, lol. Apparently smoke/purple flake is my favorite color, because that's what I found squirreled away in every corner of the house!