jeb2

Just to answer this question, the STX is a great reel. Both are nice reels, but the STX has better range of lure weights. It's dual braking system allows you to easily adjust for throwing light square bills to heavier topwaters and deeper diving cranks. I use the 200E mostly for 3/8oz and up jigs and rigs. I'm sure it'd work great for deep diving cranks, but I'd not want to use it for an KVD 1 or 1.5 sized bait.

I own a Stella 2500FD. It's an okay reel. Certainly nothing I dislike about it, other than the price. The drag was grossly over greased from the factory, but was fine after I cleaned it up. I also own a Certate and Caldis. It's hard for me to really notice much difference between them, except the Caldis does not have the line roller bearing (upgradeable). Looks wise, the FD Stella blows the other two away. But that's not why I buy a reel. I only fish spinners about 5-10% of the time, so will likely never wear any of them out. But I think that's one of the Stella's claim to fames is they are built for a lifetime of use. Something that may be worth the extra money to a person that fishes mostly spinners. Personally, I would never invest that much again in a spinner. I just had to see what all the hype was about. I'll be looking more at the Abu Premier or something similar the next time I'm in the market for a spinner, though.

MB's are also bad about busting tails off. Fragile baits. I've yet to break an STX (except a hook barb on one with the original hooks on it), and I've fished one Pro Blue model a bunch now. And that broken barb was on an 8+lber. Still got the fish, though.

Yeah, I'd think 4's would be too big. This bait suspends well for me right out of the box, so heavier hooks would likely cause it to be a slow sinker.

I use Daiichi Death Traps in size 6 for the STX. I weighed them with my very accurate reloading scale, and they are within a 1/10 of a gram of the OEM hooks.

Shhhhhh! Let 'em think what they want. The less folks throwing it, the more fish I'll catch on it.

I wouldn't say it's not on the same level as the 110. Actually, in my experience thus far, it's a better bait than the 110 for catching fish around here. And I think the split ring problem was just on some early baits. Most of mine have come with good split rings, but I did have a couple with noticeably whimpy rings, which I changed out.

While I respect your opinion, that is not my experience. I've had many of the 110 hooks break. Now I just swap them out. I'd be happy to sell them to you, but I toss all of those since they're unreliable for me. I agree, it does not replace all my other jerkbaits. I still fish various LC's, Spro's, etc also. But the 110's have been staying in the box for the most part this winter. The STX has just plain been out fishing it for me.

It has caught some nice fish for me so far. My MB110's are gathering dust at this point. Why risk a $25 bait when the STX works at least as well? And I'm more willing to throw them into possible snaggy areas, too. You'll want to change out the hooks, but that's true on all my 110's as well.

The STX are great baits. At least as good as my MB110's for catching fish, if not better. But LC makes some great pointers, too. I have several of their 78's and 90's in SP, DD and XD sizes. Overall, I probably catch more fish on the LC's than the STX, so if I had to choose between them, I'd probably go with the LC's. Spro McStick is another great jerk bait to consider.

You can use all 5 arms of an A-rig in MO, but only 3 of them can have hooks. I was up at Table Rock the other day and just substituted other baits like grubs for the non-hook arms. I used "hitch hikers" to attach them to the A-rig. Here in Ark, we can use hooks on all 5 arms.

Not knocking Zona. I understand he's producing a show that he believes the audience wants. And that's great. But we're all different and like different things. I watch fishing shows to learn things. I'm not interested in seeing a guy haul in fish after fish all day if he never shows me EXACTLY how and explains it well. Sure, I understand guys having fun while fishing and celebrating great fish. If it wasn't fun, I wouldn't be out there so much. I just don't go in for what I consider the over the top stuff. Obviously, there are a lot of guys who feel differently about it or his show would not be on TV. And it's all good.

Just watched it. I'm surprised. I'm usually not a big fan of Zona's on the water antics. But he toned it down this week and the show was much more enjoyable.

The 4 power, at least in the Extreme series rods, is rated up to 1oz. I have the DX784ML and it easily handles 1/4-3/4 and has great sensitivity. I don't think I'd buy a 5 power unless I was throwing a lot of jigs bigger than 3/4oz.

I'd think the 4 power rods would be better fits for that weight range.

Maybe I missed it, but what size jigs/trailers are you going to be throwing with the rod?

4 races and 4 different winners. I'm liking this season so far!

That's awesome! Love watching that show, and really like that father/son combo. Seem to really respect each other.

For sure worth the little extra money over the SX. IMO, the SX is over priced for what it is. The STX is not. The dual braking gives you a lot more control, and makes the reel much more versatile.

I have a love/hate thing going with the NRX's. I got my first one, 803C, in May of last year. Wonderful rods to fish with, even compared to my GLX's and Dobyn's Extremes. Light, verstaile and sensitive. I gradually added 3 more casting models to my collection. Every single one of them has gone back to Loomis for various issues, mostly the reel seat glue issue. But you can see 893C's issue in the pictures I linked to. I just got 2 new green NRX spinning rods via the THUT trade-in program, 822SYR and 822DSR. The DSR seems perfect, but the SYR has a few build issues as you can see in my pictures. All 4 pictures are of brand new, never fished rods. Not 2nds, not refurbs, sold as brand new, perfect NRX's. I've never been real picky about rod build issues. If a wrap isn't perfect or something, I don't really care. But these NRX's have got me inspecting new ones a lot more closely. It's really a shame that the build and inspection quality on these pretty expensive, top of the Loomis line rods is so horrible. I enjoy fishing with these rods enough to tolerate the hassles, but I'd recommend inspecting the rods closely when you buy them. If you're expecting perfectly built rods, I'd look elsewhere. NRX822SYR Foregrip issue NRX822SYR Foregrip issue NRX822SYR Guide epoxy issue NRX893 blank issue

Hard to say on Bubba. He took his normal soil sample, but it didn't hurt him this time. But he got passed, so not looking like the bubba of old, that's for sure. My guess, which is worth exactly what you paid for it, is that he's just not working at it as hard as he used to. Sucks for Canard for sure.

Didn't figure Reed for any more wins, but there you go. KTM/Dungey now in the points lead. Looking to be a very interesting season at this point.

Like every other lure, the fish will quickly become accustomed to it, at least where they see much pressure at all. It's already getting much less productive for me on the waters I fish, which do see a ton of pressure. So I totally agree with you, just another tool.

I pretty sure that is true nationally. It's a USCG law. Sorry you were caught unaware of it. It was certainly pointed out to me in several ways when I was in the market for my inflatable vest. I still carry enough "normal" vests in the boat to be legal no matter what, but I wear my Mustang 100% of the time I'm in any boat. That's the reason I bought it over another normal life jacket.

Interesting idea. To carry it a little further, what if you could get an NRX rod with no warranty for, say, 1/2 the price of the current rod?