skeletor6

Great deal. I have one, definitely excels at casting the light stuff. I would without a doubt put it on your 7' M/F Avid. This reel was made for casting light baits and a mediium powered rod usually accomplishes said duty. Save the MH powered rods for a different reel.

Loomis and Shimano are now synonymous after Shimano bought out G. Loomis. Also, dont forget that Fenwick and *** *** put out good rods in that range.

If you can afford the Stradic FJ I second that suggestion. Shimano has patented one of the best line management systems for spinning reels and the FJ is built with many quality components on top of that. I highly doubt that there will be any drag issues with this reel also.

I would, in general, like to see reels get lighter in the <$200 department. Shimano Core 50mg's are great reels, but it would be nice for them to have a cheaper alternative. I am sure that getting a reel in the 5 ounce range is tough without the reels going up in price, but I really enjoy fishing with light reels and if they were more affordable then that it would be great. Lighter equipment to me = better as long as strength and longevity is still intact.

Bought many Jigs from Siebert Outdoors. They are great jigs sold at a great price. The quality is way above the Strike King Bitsy jigs IMHO. The paint on Siebert's jigs last forever and the color selections are great. He has various jig heads to choose from. Definitely use the football heads if you are going to be fishing rocks. I like how the brush heads stand up, they are very similar to NSCB's alien heads. I agree that if you want to skip docks the arkie heads are the way to go. The flat surface makes them great for skipping. The brush heads are good for fishing wood and keeps the knot protected well. I own more brusheads than any other style head from Siebert Outdoors FWIW.

I like the Lucky Craft Pointers. Ghost Minnow's probably my favorite color. Although looking forward to getting a couple Megabass Vision 110's. Heard a lot of good things about them.

If the champion series fishes similar in power to the champion extreme series. The 742 version in the champion extreme fishes heavier than the 702 and could be a good middle ground between the 702 and 703 if you enjoy fishing with a longer rod and have the room for it.

There are many excellent points brought up here. I would just like to comment on the statement in red.I find that the best and most accurate information that is given on this forum comes from those who try to judge their equipment objectively and give unbiased comparisons based on their knowledge and experience in such departments. Often the most inaccurate information comes from those who push their favorite brands on people and claim it to be the "best" when the only experience they have is with said brand. If you look hard enough you can find the people on this forum that actually know what they are talking about. I believe, naturally, that people will gravitate towards the products that perform the best. Is that "brand loyalty"? I don't believe so, I feel those same people would switch their equipment if something nicer came along in the same price department.

Daiwa Samurai for frogging. Trilene XL for topwater Seaguar Tatsu on my Spinning gear for dropshotting, flickshakes, shakeyheads, light jigs etc. Seaguar Tatsu on my Casting Gear for Jigs, t-rigs, wacky rigs, spinnerbaits, crankbaits, etc. I am also mixing in Sunline Shooter on a couple of my jigs/t-rig rods to do a comparison against Seaguar Tatsu to find which one I prefer. Bottom line, I use mainly fluoro because it provides an overall consistent feel and allows excellent sensitivity during slack line presentations which happens in most all bottom contact techniques. Also I cannot stand the belly that braid has while baits are sinking especially light baits and also if it is windy out. My recommendations is that if you choose FC, dont buy cheap. Too many issues and downsides to the cheaper products. FC really shines in their higher end gear and Seaguar Tatsu has excellent longevity. It ends out costing me about $10 per spool not bad at all and it is totally worth it to me because when you look at how much $ you drop on a rod, reel, baits etc. Why go cheap on your line?

It sounds to me like the shimano "brand" was not the driving force for the reel changes. You just found what you thought to be the best reel at a certain pricepoint. So, you made the logical choice to change everything to what you felt best. As long as you did not think they were great because they carried the name "Shimano" then I dont find that being "Brand Loyal". I see you mentioned "as far as reels" are concerned". That leads me to assume you fish rods other than Shimano. Thus, you are not "brand loyal" in that aspect either. I feel like too many people get tagged with that term, when in reality it is not the brand that drove them there, it is the products performance.

Are you sure you didn't just buy different reels in search for "the best reel". I find this much different from brand loyalty. I don't see how someone can be in search of "brand loyalty". If you had "brand loyalty" you would have never made the switch to go out and try something outside of said brand. I feel there is a difference between the two. I get your point though, I do find that each product has its own strengths and weaknesses. Also, I purposefully enjoy buying different gear from different manufacturers just to see what is out there. I find that aspect of buying gear interesting and fun. It also makes you more well-rounded in terms of being able to know the strengths and weaknesses that some companies have against each other. I feel there is not a company that dominates all aspects of a certain market. "Brand loyalists" will argue that point, but if I were to give out my choices for "The best rod under <$50, <$100, <$150, <$200, <$250, <$300, <$600" You will probably see about 5 different name brands which supports the idea about not sticking to just one brand.

Great Advice! X2

For reference, I said rods, but Kickerfish brings up a good point. When you get to your cranking sticks and rods intended for moving bait purposes you can do just fine with many cheaper rods. You do not need all that extra feel and sensitivity, but you do want excellent castability and cranking consistency. So this technique is really geared more towards the reel than the rod. Good reason to spend more for the reel than the rod in this scenario. On the otherhand,when you are talking bottom contact techniques, I say spend as much as you can absolutely afford. I quickly progressed from berkley lightning shocks all the way up to G. Loomis NRX's when I realized at each jump I made offered me more performance and sensitivity. Is it necessary to go that far, no, but the idea here is that you are fishing a technique where sensitivity is key to feeling the surface you are on, detecting structure, finding anomalies, and not to mention detecting strikes. Therefore, since the technique is geared more towards the rod, I will spend more on my rod in this scenario. I will say that when you start climbing the ladder with rods it is hard to go back down that ladder. I see we have some similar interests

It used to be reels until I got my hands on $300+ retail rods. Casting, on any reel then becomes very easy and the amount of feel you get with just about any line is off the charts. Cast 5'' weightless senkos with a $50 H20 Mettle and a $600 NRX 893c and you will see what I mean. Really though, I would say diminishing returns begins as you go over $200 for rods and reels.

The only thing that does not vary between companies and product lines is length. Action and power will vary between each manufacturer and line of rods they put out. You are much better off with specific rod selections than just going out and getting "X" length rod that is MH/F. And of course to do that properly you will need a price range.

In theory, the M1 rod is supposed to be more durable with its blank being reinforced and the Recon should be more sensitive as their power to weight ratios are very high.. Furthermore, the M1's are supposed to be faster in action than the recons although the Gen2 recons are supposed to be faster than the Gen1 In practice, people seem to be very pleased with both lines of rods so I don't think you can go wrong with either.

If there were a reel in that price range that would go to such a low diameter, the Daiwa Sol is one of them. I have this reel and I have gone as low as 8lb and it works fine. You could always try 6 and see how it works out. I will say that my Shimano Curado 50e does not handle the light line as welll as my Daiwa Sol. Daiwa really sets the precedence for light line/lure applications.

If you read the post I quoted its a complete flop. I was joking. Supply and demand sets the prices if that were true than any product is overpriced. I have a lews tournament, shimano curado e's, Daiwa Sol, quantums and abu garcias etc. I try just about every namebrane i can to get an idea of whats out there. I love my reels and at the prices I bought them they are a great value in my eyes. If I had to choose my favorite and what I would consider the best value it would be the green Shimano Curado 50e or 200e. Its not bcuz of brand they just perform better than the other reels I have period.

I 2nd those fenwick rods for finesse fishing. I think the elite tech smallmouths are a great value, very light and sensitive. The ML/F and M/XF spinning versions.

Yes, each company arbitrarily assigns power and action ratings at their own will. There are deviances even within a companies own rod lineups as to what to what a medium power or fast action is. So if you can its always best to get your hands on a rod and test it for yourself or gather as much information as possible from peoples experiences to get an idea of how a rod fishes. Don't just look at medium or medium light in terms of absolutes.

I was being sarcastic you should read that post I quoted lol

I have the Berkeley lightning shock 7' mh. I would have loved to have such a nice rod at 11yrs old. Very good for how much they cost.

I like using them as a trailer on my NSCB Flip n Swims 3.8 or 4.8 inch and just match it up. The colors on the pictures are pretty representative to what you'll see. Perch and ayu are my favorites.

That picture is awesome!

I'm with this guy. Every reel is overpriced, stop worshipping your favorite basspro and get off of your brandwagon.