jtesch

Try a Texas rigged Senko, weightless with a 4/0 or 5/0 straight shank hook with the eye of the hook Buried in the nose of the Senko. The straight shank makes it almost completely weed less. If you want to add weight, use the tungsten nail weights. An 8" lizard is another good choice. Fish it SLOW so you just sort of brush through the vegetation. It's a time consuming method but it works. The flipping hooks that Trokar makes work as well. If you want to go old school, the Johnson silver minnow is really quite weedless and can get some huge hits and the fish don't see very many of them. Make sure you bury the point of the hook in the worm so it isn't exposed as it will catch weeds. This will require you to use a big hook set to pull the point through the worm but you get to feel like a bass pro. A couple of the bigger nail weight add quite a bit of weight to get the bait down nicely.

I have 1 buy me that doesn't, a few others with limited and several with huge fishing sections, the Chicago suburbs have a DSG every 5 miles or so

The MH-F would be my choice, a little more forgiving for the spinnerbaits. That rod should do the job

I talked to the Shimano rep at the Chicago outdoor show over the winter about the exact same thing (broken gen 1 Cumara) he said send it in with the filled out return form from their website and they will replace, no questions asked, with or without receipt. He even told me to cut rod into 3-4 pieces so it fits into a big Manila envelope to lower postage. I had my new gen2 Cumara in 2 weeks. Have tried BPS a couple of times and they wouldn't exchange broken Shimanos for me until they looked at my rewards card history. Then the manager came over and said " sir with the amount you spend here you can go pick any Shimano you want in the same price range". If my wife knew that, I'd be dead right now

Don't go by their computer inventory cause it's not even close to right

I guess it's to late to ask for a finders fee from you all

I was a hater for a long time until I spooled up some Sunline treated with KVD LandL conditiner and that's when the light went on. I'll still blow up a spool now and again but that's on me not the line. Only thing I don't like is one little kink and it's done.

I've played with that one a dozen times and just can't pull the trigger. Northern Illinois isn't exactly a flipping paradise but for $90----------------/

Part of the hardcore Daiwa love is the ability to work on and trick out their reels. I've built quite a few tricked out td-x's and either use them or sell them at a nice little profit. My last score was a new/display Fuego BC for $130. I put the Gigas spool, carbon tec drag, Boca bearings and a zillion swept drag star with a swept handle and 4 bearing Megabass knobs. Total cost of upgrades was around $150. Now I've done the same upgrade package to Zillions and it really turns them into a superb reel but your looking at $450 when done. The Fuego totals out at $280 and fished side by side the Fuego casts better, is better with lighter weights and is Much lighter. The zillion is gonna have a better drag and is a more heavy duty reel. So I have to say the Fuego is a must have, even if you just change the spool and clean and relive the stock bearings it's s huge improvement

By the way, I have 2 of those rods and they are great. I use them for all kinds of medium weight bottom contact stuff and for pitching jigs in the 1/2oz range. They have several at my local Dicks and I may jump on a couple more just to stick away. I kind of think they are in between medium and medium heavy but rod ratings are all over the place so it's hard to say but I can tell you it will handle a big bass

Happy to be of service. If you think about it, one of the best deals ever. Your buying from Dicks so no questions as to the lifetime warranty being good and your getting a great rod for $90 and if you break it a year from now you'll get a better rod (I think) and I've read that the new Crucials will only have a one year warranty so your getting the last of a great warranty also

Quick update, stopped at another area Dicks ( I have several by me) and same deals plus they had a couple of St. croix Rage's on clearance for around the same as the Crucials. I didn't bother looking closely as I'm not a big Rage fan

Local Dicks by me have Crucials and Veritas on clearance. Crucials are at $120 + 25% off for a $90 total. And they have several models including a "jerk bait" spinning rod with my name on it. Great rod for that price with their warranty, can't go wrong. Veritas worked out to like $65

How do you all think the higher end casting reels of a decade ago compare to today's reels? I'm talking $200-$400 range, not ultra high end. My feeling is they haven't really improved that much until just this year with a flood of new Daiwa's and Shimano's coming out with better break systems ( Shimano) and better spools (Daiwa). The Zillion has been a great reel but I think I'd take a Z over it and I'm sure I'd take a Fuego over a Tatula type R. As for Shimano's of last decade I'm not going to comment because I didn't use them so let me know what you all think

Sounds like it's missing a washer of some sort under the spool

I feel the Zillion is the better value. It's a tank of a reel that will last forever and there are a ton of upgrades available for the reel. In my opinion it's a very good reel stock but with $100 in upgrades it can be a great reel. A spool from a TD-Z 100 and a good set of bearings and you've got yourself a great multi purpose reel that will last. The jury is still out as for the Tatula's durability but I'm seeing a lot of posts regarding braid grooving the sway bar and that would worry me. My vote is Zillion

You know, I've used ABEC 7's in several reels(orange seals) and also used ZPI's and Hedge hogs and tried the Boca lightnings and I'm perfectly happy with them. I'm a hard caster and I don't notice any loss with the lightning s. I'm pretty sure I'll get the Gigas spool as I'm very happy with the ones I put in my zillions. Thanks for the help all.

I just picked up a basically new Fuego BC reel and since I can't stand leaving my reels stock I want to try a spool change. Pretty sure I'm gonna get a Z-100 gigas spool as I have a couple and love them but I have a spool from a Zillion laying around (the red spool from a HSA I think) and was wondering if this would be an upgrade over the stock Fuego. My gut feeling is probably not much of an upgrade if any. Boca lightnings and carbon tec drag already on the way. Anyone use the HLC spools I would love an honest opinion on them or ideas on other spools

I have one and it should work well for chatter baits. To me the Crucial is a fairly all purpose rod with an action that you could even fish a jig with in a pinch.

Funny thing was, I was fishing the gen2 side by side with a gen1 7'2" M F (my favorite rod) and the gen2 made it feel heavy

I put an MGX on it and tend to palm it so the handle didn't bother me at all. I could see if you tend to put your trigger finger on the rod trigger when you cast it could be uncomfortable but this isn't a rod built for making long cast after long cast.

I broke my gen1 Cumara last fall and Shimano replaced it for me with a gen2. The rod I broke was a 6'3" m casting rod', a tiny little thing I used for poppers. The closest they have now is 6'8" M/F worm and jig rated to 1/4 ounce. This thing is LIGHT and the blank is THIN. I have been using it for a few weeks and all I can say is "WOW", sensitive doesn't even begin to describe it. I've been throwing a 5/16 swim jig and every little reed or branch I bump feels like a hit. So far I've used it for swim jigs, jerk baits and lipless cranks and it handles them all fine. Catching several 1-11/2 pound fish I got the feeling a bigger fish might be a load for this little rod. Today a few bigger fish finally moved shallow in my area and while tossing the swim jig I got a big swirl and a hit. 3-1/2 pound bass was no problem for the rod. Cumaras never cease to amaze me with how such light little rods can load up on a bigger fish. I think this rod may take the spinning rod out of my hands for fishing wacky worms this year. That's a few weeks away though

Just think about how much fun it is working on and tuning those reels. How can you possibly give that up.

That method of shipping came directly from the Shimano rep at the Chicago outdoor show. I've sent 2 back to Shimano in this fashion with no problems and had new rods in 2 weeks. They just ask that you don't cut any of the markings on the rod

Nailed it, that slack line is exactly what the deal is. Reel down to remove slack then set away