The_Natural

These blanks are very close in performance senstivity wise. You really just need to grab one of each and see which one feels better in your hand. I know that doesn't help much, but at least you can't go wrong with either.

Well Kent, he did say almost ;D. Uh...no. I owned a couple of extreme lite's when they first came out, and I thought they were good for the price, but the Calais is in a different league. Like a Honda Civic versus a Acura NSX.

I recommend just going to your local tackle store and looking at reels in your price range. Once you have a few in mind you like, post up and get the concensus. I like Daiwas and Shimanos, but in today's age any of the well known manufacturers will last you a while with proper maintenance.

This rod uses the same blank as the Team Daiwa V rods that were discontinued. This blank won't win any weight contests (it's a little heavy) and sensitivity is average. I'm a Daiwa guy generally, but Shimano dominates the rods that are under $80. Under $80 I'm going with the Clarus. As mentioned though, if you can save up just a hair more....$90 will buy you a Mojo. You will go from a rod that everyone recognizes as somthing to get-r-done to a rod that you want to show off. That pride will give you some added confidence in your setup (it would me anyway).

My pic of the pointers I scored is neat and all, but I would seriously heed my advice and buy some beaver bugs. I'm tellin' ya...it's like Roadwarrior talking about the fat Ika (granted I'm sending him some beaver bugs, so we'll see how they compare). I use Reaction Innovations Beavers as well, but that Roadkill Beaver Bug dominates.

Just curious, but whats your job that allows you to afford all that!? You had enough different line, scents and stuff to last you a lifetime! I'm a banker...I make a middle class workin' mans salary. If you know me from the forum, you know I am the bargain hunter extrordinaire. Shopping constantly is the key to great deals. I was going to buy a new rod, but the opportunity to buy a bunch of pointers at 70% off changed that. I'll probably sell them on here or ebay them. Even the Scents like Bang and Kick-N-Bass....we're talking $1-$1.50 each. When you find them at that price you buy ALL of them.

Probably, for two reasons: 1. It's black and harder to come by 2. It has that cool handle Besides, it will be a little cheaper I think when most of the shops in Japan start picking them up. I would look for the price to settle around $459 - $479 like the rest of the limited Zillions have. Most of them can be had for $450 now. Still a lot of money to pay for something I can get right here for less than $300. There's no method to my madness or should I say sickness. I won't deny it has a couple of cosmetic 'touches' that Daiwa Japan did versus the US version, but I think it is waaaay overpriced for an aluminum framed, borderline heavy reel. If it was an Mg I'd be all over it. That said; I can't imagine why the US Anniversary zillions aren't sold out. With the price increase of the regular Zillions; you are paying a measly $30 for a lighter/more refined spool and more bearings. It seems like a no-brainer to go with it versus the 7:1.

I haven't been to the Classic yet; the only thing I need is more Beaver Bugs. The BPS Beaver Bug is lumped in with all the other generic beaver imitations, but it is totally different. It's a cross between a beaver and a tube; a gliding tube if you will. This thing dominates...especially in Roadkill. It's one of those baits that works so well you want to send some to everyone on the board just so they know what you are talking about. The new Tube Dart has my attention as well, and I will be buying a few packs of them as well. The Tube Dart is basically a Vertical Lures Tube-X with twice the tenticles. Anyway....Cabelas is competing with their own sale, but it is their HUGE clearance area that emptied my pockets. I bought like 60 pointers and countless Spro Aruku Shads.

Indeed, the Revo's and Pfluegers roll out of the same plant in Korea and share a lot of parts. The Patriarch is a nice reel....you should be proud of it. Some will always shun them due to them not being message board ferrari's.

Toray spools most lines that come out of Japan, including Sunline. Both are excellent brands. I think Toray and Seaguar are the only manufacturers of fluoro in Japan. Sunline FC Sniper is very limp line...one of the first main line fluoros to act like mono. I think the Trilene 100% is better all around line...albeit it isn't quite as limp as Sniper, it is limp and has a lot better abrasion resistance.

Dude that red Zillion is bad to the bone....it would even make one of your shitler rods look good ;D

I'm not talking about the red one...Muhahahaha There's a JDM version due to be released around the middle of April. You're not really going to pay almost $600 just to have a black anniversary are you?! Daiwa Japan is charging $579 because they know those crazy Japanese will pay that much for it solely due to the 'limited' stamp on it. The USA Anniversary reel has CRBB's coming out it's ears; so Daiwa Japan can't put any more bearings in it. The spool isn't drilled out as much as the USA's version either....which surprises me. I'm all ears as to why that reel worth nearly twice as much as a US version. Maybe I'm missing something.

2oz for those reel knobs?! You've got to be kidding me! I'm honestly not a fan of them anyway, but I'm a very conservative ol' asss. I can't wait to take a pic of my lineup this year.... because that will mean I'm DONE with painting. I'm a huge procrastinater!

I've handled them several times while in cabelas, and they feel nicely constructed, albeit the blank feels a little heavy. Granted I'm spoiled with only rods $200+, so that may sway my opinion.

Low gear ratioed reels were the norm for crankin' in the 80's/90's and even into today. However, the advent of today's power-fishing has high-geared reels being used for crankbaits regularly. KVD cranks with a 7:1, and is in the top 2 or 3 of the best crankbait fisherman of all time (arguabley the best). I like a happy medium....a reel with 25" of line pickup or so (6.3:1). You can't go by gear ratio though....IPT varies greatly betweend manufacturers boasting the same gear ratio.. For example; the Japanese scorpion has a gear ratio of 6.3:1, but only has an IPT of 22". The zillion 6.3:1 reel picks up 27" of line I believe. Anyway...just some food for thought....

The Daiwa Ike rods are probably nice for the price, but Ike uses the Steez rods 95% of the time. Just because he uses a higher end rod doesn't mean he can't endorse/recommend a rod that is less expensive for everyday anglers.

The BCR is the pinnacle; the retooled GLX blank coupled with recoil guides equates to the benchmark of sensitivity. The LTX II's top of the line Rainshadow blank is good, but not on par with the GLX.

Very popular around here. I was almost talked into buying one at academy as a piece to carry with me fishing. Very versatile little gun....snakes and bad guys beware!

You don't have to prime them. I started painting my 6 TD-Z's in November, and have just kept postponing finishing them due to my 90 other projects. I'll give a tutorial soon...I've started on them again, but you must have an airbrush if you want it to look like a factory paint job. I used House of Kolor ready-to-spray airbrush paints available at TCP Global.com. There are ways to mask that make it easier I'll share when I have the time to do the whole tutorial. I'm no expert though; there really isn't any info on this out there...and I kind of just went at it and will share my trials and tribulations.

A small loop or kink forms in the spool that rubs the inside of your reel when you cast until it severes. A lot of time you can can hear it rubbing on a hard cast...zzzzzzzz....and then silence as your lure sails into no-man's land. That is why it is important not to be lazy when you get a small loop in your spool and take care of it. Regardless...even the most seasoned angler will have this happen; some of the loops or kinks are so small they are undetectable until your lure sails into the sunset .

Cabelas No-Vis is a good line...it's made by Seaguar.

7'..H..Fast...Zillion...15-17lb fluoro

Sweet....nice variety in there.

I bought two of them right after I made this thread, and fished with one all day Wednesday. I'm heading our the door to meet up with friends, but I'll post a review later.

What you don't know is that I had sold several rods right before that . As far as the thread topic; I don't know anyone that has replaced their entire arsenal with high-end equipment at the same time. After I bought my first Loomis, I decided I was going to upgrade my entire arsenal and probably mentioned it online....but not at the same time of course. It may be another subject entirely, but the great thing about going with high-end rods is their resale value. You can decide to try something different after a while and get most of your money back from your current outfit.