TrippyJai

Makes you wonder if the company is actually under new ownership. A simple question was asked whether the old broken rods would be honored and a long confusing answer was given. It's best to stay away from this company. I don't see anything that has changed and if it really has, I don't see the effort.

I'm too lazy these days to buy and use separate products when you have to clean more than 2-3 reels. I use Shimano Drag Grease on the drag and gears, bantam oil on stock bearings and Boca Lube on ceramics. If you find that the Drag grease is too thick, you can apply a drop or two of the bantam oil on your fingers and mix it with the drag grease. I do this for the worm gear since you want a lighter grease there. BTW, only use drag grease on the drag washers, nothing else.

1) 10-12lb 2) I don't use backing as a mini bulk spool is cheap enough, use cheap mono if you want. 3) Any knot is fine, make sure you tie it correctly is all that matters. I use Palomar.

I find their customer service either a hit or miss depending on the rep you get on the phone. I always have to call to place an order because they don't offer shipping to Canada from the website. I noticed that their shipping charge also went from $3 to $6.

Call Shimano. Tell them your Caius is missing one of the knob caps and they will probably send it to you for free.

Full handle cork for me. Mr. Clean Magic Eraser will bring it back to life.

I love the Avid 7' M/F and have it paired with a Curado E6 (swapped the gears). I use it for squarebills and traps in the grass mostly. It's great for jerkbaits/topwater/moving baits like swimjigs/chatterbaits/soft swimbaits and with the sensitivity, weightless/lighter t-rig. It does have a softer tip than most Medium action rods out there. I've fished with the LTB 7' M/F in spinning and it definitely has a faster tip though I'm not sure if the casting model is the same action. For lighter crankbaits I prefer the M/MF.

x6

I talk to myself because I'm the only person who understands these words coming out of my mouth.

FYI, he sold them here for $100 each if IIRC. That can be said the same about many other things such as cars where people will complain about how the new series not being as refined, this and that, yet how many of them actually drive one or can afford one. I agree with what you said, but Shimano made the wrong move and it didn't sit well with their fan base. Nothing wrong with any of their reels at each price point. I have many of the Curado Es and was excited to see what the new Curado was going to be and out came the G series and Chronarch Es which was very disappointing. This is all in the past and I'm glad they took a step in the right direction again.

No, your knot should not wear going through the guides. If the knot is ripping out then it tells me you need to practice tying the Alberto Knot. It's the one I use as well and it never needs to be retied until the leader part is used up. There shouldn't be a need to retie any knots if you do it correctly. The only time you need to retie is if the line if frayed or weakened to prevent break offs.

I would replace the line like other people suggested and use at least 40lb. Set it to 1 on and 3 off and start from there. If you're getting backlash then adjust the dial. The cast control should allow your bait to free fall to the ground without getting a backlash. Feel free to bomb your baits over your head. Make sure you have your thumb on top the spool to keep control and before the bait hits the waiter or when it lands on the water, stop the spool. Flushing your bearings or upgrading them will improve your distance a little bit. The biggest benefit is less effort in casting to achieve max distant. Other things you can try is put your reel on another rod and see how it performs. After try some cheap mono and see if it makes any difference.

Spinning: Pflueger President + Fenwick Eagle

Both reels are the same except for size and line capacity. The 50 will throw lighter baits a little better and the 200 will throw heavier baits better. Both reels can handle everything you need it to do so keep that in mind. I have no issues throwing 1/4oz crankbaits on the 200. I personally prefer the 200 size. The thumb bar is more comfortable to engage when I have to press down on it a crap load of times for fishing a moving bait. It's sort of curved downwards where as the 50 size is more horizontal and flat.

What made you decide to take a shot in the dark and buy 5 rods at a time from a company you've never used before. Not only that, you bought split grips over the full handle. The full handle is fine in terms of cork size without the power hump. Many people dislike the hump and I returned my BPS cranking stick because of that. It'll take some times to get adjusted and I'm sure you'll enjoy your new rods.

Definitely the day I caught my PB. I swear I couldn't stop smiling haha...

I guess I'll go with the Senko since I catch most of my fish on that.

Really?!?!? WOW... Edit: Ok, I googled and found that them to be over $300 and even more expensive for the 7". The leather sheath is $50 alone. So what makes them so expensive?

Yeah, just soak the Magic Eraser in water then start scrubbing. It'll look great in no time.

I have the 7' medium/fast action rod from the normal Avid series. I believe the blanks are the same. It's a step up in sensitivity compared to the Mojo. It has a little bit softer tip than most regular fast action rods. The power to me is in between a medium and medium/heavy.

I have the old cork model HMGs and they are plenty sensitive and can be compared with the old cork Crucials/Avids. I don't have the recent models and not sure if they have improved or changed the blanks. They are now a lot cheaper and are worth the price. Fenwick has the some of the best sensitive rods in the lower price point.

You can use the Gamakatsu EWGs for everything from drop shot to punching. Haven't lost any fish or had hook up issues.

I buy more reels than I do rods. I'm a full handle cork guy and there aren't many options these days in the 200 price range.

All 3 McCoy (Mean Green, Xtra Clear and Clear Blue) co-coplymer lines are the same except different colours.

I guess you are one of the lucky ones who actually got a reply from Strike King. Their customer support sucks, for every person you hear about not getting a reply, another person gets extra replacement baits and a hat. I tried contacting them a few times about issues I had with the 1.5 and they've never replied to me. I had quality issues along with some breakage with the 1.5. Looks like this one is going to break too and I bately used it or bumped it against anything. I do want to mention that not all of them break. I have ones that don't have paint left, beat to death and they have held up.