.ghoti.

I match my rods and reels by weight. I have 5 Alphas and an SS SV. These sre spooled with either 8 or 10 , and mounted on my lightest power rods. My 4 Zillions get 14 , and are on my heaviest power rods. In the middle of the pack are 5 Fuegos, 2 TD-Z, and a Viento. These are spooled with 12, and are on the rest of the rods. What they look like has no bearing on the pairing.

That is outstanding. You are truly on a roll my friend.

That would be my question as well. I'm sold on MicroWave guides for spinning rods, but have not tried a set for casting.

When it comes to fishing line, "low stretch" and "sensitivity" are propaganda terms. Uh, excuse me, I meant to say marketing.

I bought one spool when it first hit the market. It was on a reel for one day. I stripped it off and threw it all away. As far as sensitivity goes, I don't recall noting that aspect, one way or the other. I do remember it was a lot more iron than silk.

A day without beer is like a day without,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, uh, I don't know.

Yes, young man, you are stupid. But then so am I. You're in pretty danged good company. Enjoy your gear. You earned the cash to buy it, and it's yours to enjoy. It's only fair and proper to issue a warning to you. Beware the Dark Side.

Great product. Best I've ever used.

Why did you toss your frogs into the tree? It's not squirrel season, is it?

What an awesome way to celebrate a birthday. We all should be so lucky.

Joe, the races are not ceramic material, they are steel, and subject to corrosion. Use a very light weight oil, and use very little to keep most of the little performance gain you get from these type of bearings.

I agree with MickD. I wouldn't call it addictive, but it IS very satisfying. One warning. Do not get into this thinking you're going save a lot of money on your own rods. Ain't gonna happen.

I don't have a marked preference. Cork or EVA, full or split; I don't really care. As long as the rod is comfortable to use. And, I don't care what they look like. Function over form every day of the week.

I don't own any Silver Tec gear, but I have several sets of gear from Cabelas. An unlined rain set, a light, a medium and a heavy insulated set. The heavy set is good down to near Zero. If the silver tec follows what I have, the polar weight will be too much unless you're out all day in zero, or below temps.

I don't know, Rhino. Old mad, bad, Vincent Van G might tell a different tale.

Getbit is a great outfit to deal with.

The reel missing from Daiwa's US lineup is the SS SV. I have one, and will no doubt have more. I'm with Jeff H; I'd rather have another Z or Fuego than a Tatula.

For several years people have been complaining about Daiwa releasing "just another Zillion variant". How many times have you read that online? Well, they responded. Just not like we all hoped. What I really hoped was they would emulate Shimano, and break the barrier between JDM and USDM. Hey Daiwa, start selling us the same stuff you sell in Japan. Are we not worthy?

My two favorite "fugly hats" are gone. One is in a lake at Trophy Country, and one is somewhere in the White River. I'm down to two Rage Tail hats and one Bass Resource hat.

i fish a lot of clear water. my approach is to match the background. fishing on the bottom? match the bottom color. fishing through weeds? match the weed color. fishing in wood? match the wood color. you don't want them to get a real good look at your bait. try it, it works.

beans in chili is outright blasphemy.so is hamburger.

You can say that because you haven't tasted mine. LOL

Nice work again Lee.

There is no "best" anything.

I don't normally worry too much about weights of rods. But, when I got that SS SV, and felt how light it was, I had to weight it. 5.3oz. I set the challenge for myself to build the lightest rod I could, that would still be comfortable to use. I'll be retired in about 8 weeks. At that point I will start a spreadsheet for component weights. Once I collect enough data, I'd be happy to share it with you. I'll also start building rods other than ones for me, family and friends.