John G

I bought a M/XF casting rod with a 1/8 to 3/8oz rating for dropshotting if I ever get a boat. If it works out, that's fine. If not, I will get a spinning outfit.

You kinda mentioned price when you mentioned bells and whistles and high quality so my recommendation is the Shimano Antares HG. I have no idea how it stacks up size wise to a Curado 300 but I do know that in my hands, it's feels considerably larger than a 200 size Curado. It also has all of the bells and whistles that one could possibly want in a low profile bass reel.

If you are using braid from shore and you hang up, there is no reason to cut your line, break a rod or pull on braid with your bare hands. You can either carry a wooden dowel or procure a broken tree limb that is on the ground. Just wrap your braid around the limb or the dowel and pull. You will wither bend the hook, bring in the object that you are hung up on, free your lure or maybe break the braid at the knot.

After you make a cast when using braid, it doesn't hurt to look at your spool just to make sure that you haven't got a little bit of an overrun that might cause the jerky kinda backlash that you are talking about. It also doesn't hurt to pull 2 or 3 feet of line out after a cast just to be sure.

Buy a Black on Gold Rapala minnow around a 1/4oz and just cast and retrieve.

With everything that you posted, if you use any lead at all when you fish, no matter what it is or how much, then you are a hypocrite!

Tatsu is some great stuff! Problem is is that I have to save my pennies to be able to afford it! LOL

They say if you are doing a job that you love, then it's not work!

FedEx is usually around $30.00 for a 7' rod and if IIRC, the USPS was about the same but that was years ago.

Thanks for the tip! I just bought a six pack of the 1/8oz weights. I have bought Tungsten Bullet Weights on eBay before but right now, they were not on a my radar. But $25.00 for 24 weights is a good deal any day.

Duck Tape! JK

The technology may be the same 4 or 5 years down the road but if it doesn't say Stella, it's not a Stella.

I still haven't bought the Daiwa yet, but I did learn how to spell Daiwa since this Thread was started and many other things. In the near future, I will be down sizing a bit and if I keep my MBR842, I may get a Daiwa for it to throw weightless plastics.

If you can't afford more than one rod n reel, don't worry about it cause it ain't no big deal. I did a lot of fishing as a kid with one rod n reel and I was content with what I had back then. If you can afford a different combo for every technique, that is nice too but it's definitely not necessary. The best thing that you can do is to buy a decent to good quality 6'6" to 7' MH/F rod and a Shimano reel and go with that.

Remember when you only owned one combo and you referred to as your rod n reel.

Thanks!

Sounds like you need another green NRX!

It's like Loomis had the CU50E in mind when they made the green NRX. It's a shame that they quit making it and I am still kicking myself in the butt for selling mine!

You gotta love upgrades by Avail! I know I do!

Help me out please! What is a 13 archangel? ***?

I'll bet a gold Conquest 100 would look great on the green 7' MH Crankbait Crucial!

X2

Not saying this is your problem, but it's amazing how much affect dirty spool bearings can have have on your ability to cast lures, especially lighter ones.

Where I am from we would ask 'did you put it back on crooked'?

I'm looking for a cheap flippin rod. I hope it's black or a shade of red with a cork handle.