rippin-lips

Yes, sir.

Well that escalated quickly! If you have a special spool, it deserves a special reel to be painted up.

That’s a rabbit hole that you don’t want to go down.

I have not done a group photo. Looking at my reels it seems that at least all but maybe 1 or 2 have been posted at some point or another. 4 of them in the last few months for sure. Nothing wrong with Lews at all. I actually started buying Lews after my first casting reel which was a bps pq. All of them treated me very well. I just got sucked in to Daiwa because of the customization aspect of it. Coming from a background in cars as a hobby it just appealed to me.

Speaking of Japanese newspapers, this showed up today from Japan. Some will know what’s so special about it.

Mine generally smell like Japanese news papers.

The star fell in my lap for cheap, so I couldn’t pass it up. They were sent out to be anodized orange. Pricey, but they add a nice touch.

Picked up a discontinued HHS drag star for the SV103.

Dobyns rods run 1 power lighter than advertised. Nothing in fishing is set in stone so don’t get caught up in manufactures labels. 734 champion is what you want.

I was gifted a cool set of old school zpi knobs from a nice Australian fella.

I’d never hook one on a guide foot and my reels are way to nice to scratch up with a hook point. The Fuji ez keepers, and others like it do work but the rubber O ring always ends up breaking after awhile. The one posted above attaches the same way and I would say it’ll do it also. There’s one offered by PROX and it is a zip tie hook keeper. I use them on all of my rods. I put a wrap of electrical tape around the area and then tighten down the zip tie. The tape just gives it something to bite into and stops it from slipping.

Base your choice on the weight of what you’ll be throwing and the cover you’ll be around. I have a 1st gen perfect pitch and I’ll never let it go.

Timeless beauty, with some personal touches.

The 705cb is rather whippy feeling to me. I bought one for squarebills and it felt too soft for what I like. Just an FYI.

A Simms dealer will actually measure you and fit you properly for your waders. Best $500 you’ll spend if you plan on using them a lot.

Reel - questionable Rod - good Line - good Lure - questionable If it’s the small frog then try something heavier to start with until you get the hang of it. With a decent quality baitcaster you can use it with little to no thumb at all until right before the lure hits water. I have no experience with KK reels so I can’t say if it’s good or bad in terms of quality. I do know a lot of times in life the whole “you get what you pay for” saying rings true.

???

It’s just a reel. It casts well, and you can throw anything with it. It’s not foolproof and will still backlash.

If it’s new then just return/exchange it. Daiwa also has a 1yr warranty on new reels and will fix it for you. I just got a brand new gear set from Daiwa and it was bad. The reel sounded like it had a bee trapped in it when reeling the handle. A new set was installed and it’s like whipped butter now.

Heard nothing but good things about ALX rods. Same goes for Alpha Angler rods. You could also step up to the Expride lineup.

Nice reel Not foolproof Set tension knob 1/2-3/4 turn more

That reel requires the tension knob to be a little tighter than recommended in the manual. The manual states to set it tight enough to just barely eliminate side to side play. Setting 2 with mono and add about 1/2-3/4 turn of spool tension to the knob and you’ll be good to go. I could throw a plopper 75 as hard as I wanted to and it took no thumb to control until it hit water.

I have the 1st gen model 7’2 mh. It’s a really nice rod for the money. The taper is a little less than fast but it still works well for a multi purpose rod. I’ll sell it to you for a good price ?

Buzzbaits and poppers are 2 different rods for me. I’m using the same rod I’d throw a spinnerbait,swimjig, or bladed jig on for buzzbaits. Something around 7’2 that’s mh/mod-f. I’d also throw a plopper on it. For poppers I want a shorter rod about 6’10 and my preference is a med/f.

Yes, it’s fine. Some use oil and some use grease. I prefer grease after using both.