The_Natural

Stradic will probably have the highest IPT, but the upper end Daiwa spinning reels offer the smoothest and most effortless retrieve of any other brand IMHO. It's just going to be personal preference on whether you go Shimano or Daiwa. I'd take the Sol out of all the reels listed.

Likely. But I've seen these isolated incidents on a number of different brands. It is kind of sad these things escape quality control of any company because some are VERY obvious. On the shelf they should at least be discounted for someone willing to live with the glitches. It is up to us to make a "good" selection I guess. I played a game with this one day while I was shopping for some plastics. I hit 3 different stores and looked at all the Premier and Triumph rods in each place looking for "glitches". Premier being made here in the USA and Triumph being made in China. I found more Premier glitches than I did on the Triumph's. Actually, about twice as many as best I remember. I wasn't real happy about that. Next time I'm going to do Crucial vs Avid. China vs USA again. I guarantee all the rods that end up on the shelf with defects come from the same builder at that particular factory. All brands end up with some defective rods at the factory...it's just going to happen when you mass produce anything. However, it is the quality control manager that is ultimately responsible for not allowing those rods to be sent to distributors. Loomis and Lamiglas for one have combated this by making each individual builder put his initials on the rod. If you look at a new loomis or lamiglas, you will see initials right above the foregrip...underneath the rod coat. If they run across defective rods, they can isolate the builder and hold him accountable.

Now just get those Eagle Claws off of there

This was only 2 rods out of about 20 or so that were on the shelf...could have been an isolated incident.

The Steez rods are good; the upper end Daiwa rods are nicely finished. However, I wasn't that impressed...they are better than a lot of rods out there, but it wasn't equivalent to my glx's. I sold them last year aftZer I owned them for about 2 months. I have recently purchased some Daiwa Zillion rods, which I really enjoy. I feel they are more sensitive than the Steez rods, and have the same look and feel. After examining several Cumara's at Cabelas, I wasn't impressed with the build quality. One rod had a guide foot that was sticking out of the wrap (like the builder didn't notice that!). Another had the reel seat turned to the right...like 45 degrees to the right. Anyway, the Zillion rod is just more rod...more wraps, better foam, aluminum winding checks, etc. If you held each rod and didn't know the prices...you would easily guess the Zillion to be the more expensive rod. It looks and feels $100 better. Great buy...

I bet it's the same guy that did the phony Curado review on Cabelas website. He said he had a 'Promotional model' Curado a month before they were available. 'Bantam 1' over on TT works for Shimano, and he said even he couldn't get one until they were available to retailers. He claimed there are no promotional models in exsistance, and he would know. I'm not sure why you would be so anti-shimano that you would leave phony reviews, just make sure the reel is available before you make yourself look like a chodeholio.

More bearings is better if the bearings are of the same quality. The low-end reels with 11 bearings use very cheap bearings, and say, a Citica with only three bearings is going to use higher quality bearings. Reels with just a few bearings use them to cover the most important spots, i.e. spool support (which directly influences casting distance). I would say that maybe 80% of the performance increase bearings provide can be contributed to the spool support bearings. I will take a reel with 3 quality bearings in the key areas versus a reel with low grade bearings placed throughout the gearbox. Manufacturers have the market broken down, and they know that the average consumer purchasing that $50 reel isn't a tackle junky...they know in this market segment just having a high bearing count will sell reels. There aren't very many anglers in this demographic that know the aforementioned information.

Uhh...wow! That is VERY impressive; better than a lot of factory baits I've seen/used.

Zoom's are a bargain; much more time and craftsmanship go into them versus a lucky craft. I love my lucky crafts, but custom wood crankbaits have a special place in my heart. Man do they ever work...and work well. You won't know until you buy one. Lots more lucky crafts are thrown when compared to custom wood baits, and the bass respond according. Custom cranks are like that little out-of-the-way restaurant you only get to visit every so often. Bass think they are a delicacy.

I've got a Z1. It is actually about the size of a bandit 100. It is shorter than the Wobbler, and has a shorter and skinnier lip. It is a tight wobbler and has a ticker rattle installed. I think bubba jacks has some right now...I need to order a couple. Great bait...

For a rod, I'd get the new Shimano Clarus (IM7...won best rod at ICAST this year). They retail for $60. For the reel, if you can get the BPS Extreme on sale for $59.99 (they do this frequently)...score one of those. It is the cheapest reel I know of that has an aluminum frame. Look at Cabelas frequently, because they put their reels on sale frequently too, and you will get peace of mind knowing they are made by Daiwa.

I recommend just going to fishingskirts.com and browsing. I just ordered a bunch of different colors and created different skirts by combining colors when they arrived. You can make some very basic skirts utilizing one color, or use one color as a 'main' color and then add a few strands of a highlight color. It is a blast to make your own jigs, and my skirts have been better than any factor skirts I have seen.

By the way...I dig the Avatar shorefisher. That movie is a classic...

I highly recommend scrounging up another $19.95 and getting a Citica E. The_Natural knows a thing or two about equipment, even though he uses the wrong line! : Whatcha talkin' bout Willis? On another note, yes, I realize what the question was; My answer stays the same. Even if you are 12yrs old, $20 is 1 lawn mowing.

I'm seeing a trend here. That is the 3rd PB that has come off of an old Lightning Rod. I did break my PB in '06 on a Loomis GLX, but I've only caught 4 fish over 7lbs in my life, and 3 of those were back in '89-'92, on my old trusty 6' M Berkley Lightning rod (black foam baby!) spinning combo. . Those rods were the sh!t back in the day.

I'd stay away from the 'Carolina Shortcut' by BPS. Putting that section of wire in your line will dull feedback and make your rig less sensitive. While c-rig fishing, feeling the bites is probably the toughest part. I'd strongly recommend using a french fry to start and then branching out to other baits. French fries work well and get tons of bites.

Older Bagleys with the brass line ties are coveted baits. There are always a ton of older Bagleys on ebay, but recently a guy has been selling a whole collection worth of baits. He had several that went for $40+. I saw that rainbow trout Honey B, and a few other Honey B's that went for $20-$30. It all depends on how many were made (how scarce they are). Just like baseball cards or anything else I suppose. I bid on a '70s B2, but I was only willing to pay $15. It looks like I will have to shell out $20 or so.

The shakey head was starting to gain steam in '05, and then KVD won the Elite Series event on Lake Lewisville here in Texas with a shaky head, also netting a lake record fish. It seems like the shaky phenomenon was as hot as ever after that, yet has died down somewhat since then. The drop shot is still utilized more often by pros, but I think the shaky head is a mainstay technique.

Sweet man...I know you are excited; nobody is going to say anything other than it's a nice reel. Congrats...

I'd get a Powell as well....

I highly recommend scrounging up another $19.95 and getting a Citica E.

Gotta go with the Zillion; it will fish as good as it looks (which isn't easy) 8-)

The clear crankbait bodies that resemble the pointer, flat mini, and bds 1 have been sold out/backorder for a long. Suppose to be good...

It is very close to your Johnny Morris because they are all made in the same place. Silstar manufactures reels for Plueger and BPS.

I bet if you use the Batson RX8 blank coupled with the same components Kistler uses...your rod will weigh the same. Just a hypothesis...