rippin-lips

That all depends on the person spending their money on a rod. The Powell Endurance was worth its retail price tag. Too bad they discontinued that rod series. There's plenty of others too. Just imo the champion @ $250 isn't.

It's honestly not worth it in just about any reel. The only reels that I've noticed a real difference in were my finesse reels. That's because they have very light spools and the faster bearings aid in startup of the light spool when using light lures under 1/4oz. That said I have cleaned stock bearings that will spin almost as long as a dry boca will. An aftermarket bearing allows you to achieve the same distance with less effort. You aren't magically going to gain 30ft on every cast. I've put bocas in every reel I've owned. That's ranging from $80 reels to $600 reels. So I have plenty of before and after on the water experience with each reel. None of them made me say "oh wow" that's a big difference. For an all purpose reel throwing baits 1/4oz + it's not something you need to do to a reel.

Regular champion Dead .... No worth retail price .... No worth 1/2 price .... Yes Same goes for the extremes too. I've owned 2 champs and 1 extreme. Both very nice rods and plenty sensitive, but not worth their retail price tag. Soley my opinion and others might agree or disagree.

That clump I pitched to is in about 1' of water. I wasn't expecting that bite.

I hit up my friends farm pond on Monday. I was there for all of 10 minutes and I got this 1 bite. It was the only one for the day, but worth it! Not sure why I thought that particular clump looked like a good target, but you can see I look at it and bring my bait back in quickly so I can pitch to it. Size 10 for reference in the picture. #5.5

Another solid WMD fish. No scale but it's a solid 5 if not close to 6. Size 10 shoe for reference. Got that bite in the first 11 minutes and nothing after that.

I've noticed no difference between those two, and other brands. It's just 1" expandable braided sleeving that's used to make the covers. I prefer the outkast slix rod cover because they have an elastic band you can put around your reel to keep the cover from coming off. It also has a tag so you can write something on it like... Jigs - #20 fluoro

I prefer using the 3/8 heat shrink over the O ring method. With the O ring I seem to be able to catch about 2-4 fish on average 'depending on how feisty they are' before the senko tears to the point of being useless. Heat shrink basically doubles my catch rate before it's no good any more.

I do something similar.

Light penetration plays a role. As you go deeper in the water the less light gets through and the darker it becomes. So in theory coloring the last x amount of line allows it to blend in better as it goes deeper. Does it work? I don't think we can honestly say since we don't exactly know what a bass sees when looking at something.

The PP is the rod you want. It's hard to explain the rod until you own it, but it's got a great tip. Next choice would be the TV if you wanted a shorter rod. I sold my TV because it's too close to the PP and the PP loads better because of its tip. Don't ever waste your money on the j&w rod. Nobody cares for it at all. The EMTF is rated as medium power so it's a no go. This chart should help a bit.

#7 Sunline sniper fluorocarbon fill it up and go fishing.

Tie the line off to something like a soda bottle full of water. It's a way to simulate the load of a fish, and then see if you can narrow it down to being your technique. If your drag is set tight and there's backing on the reel then you can probably throw out slipping.

It always seems to hold a bit less than stated but I use #10 on my spinning reel so it's still way more than I'll ever need. Another thing I noticed on some spinning reels is it states to not fill the spool as much if using braid.

On my reels with a shallow spool I will use 2 wraps of electrical tape on my spool first, and then tie on my braid with an arbor knot. I also tie an overhand knot on the tag end so it can't slip. So far it hasn't ever been an issue. I still do the mono backing on certain reels that have a more normal spool capacity. Since you're new to fishing I would suggest learning first with a mono line in the #10-12 range. That way if you do get a birdsnest that results in having to cut your line off, you aren't out much money

There's a stickied thread right at the top of this page you should check out.

I've walked off forgetting a combo that I laid down but luckily I didn't drive off before I remembered.

Yes, we know the fish don't care. Heck give me 10ft of mono and a hook and I'll catch a fish without a rod or reel. It's not about the fish at all. It's about the angler and the enjoyment he/she gets from his gear. Different strokes for different folks. Some either get it or they don't, and that's all there is to it. Good day gentleman.

Only the person paying for the gear can be the judge of if it's worth it. A buddy just picked up this nib limited monoblock for just over 3k. To him it's worth it. To me I couldn't justify it, but it's his money and he can afford it. It's a work of art though and I can appreciate it.

Some people just get enjoyment out of using high end gear. If anyone actually thinks higher price equals more fish then I feel bad for them. @Red Bear There is nothing wrong how you look at it. However, for a lot of folks it's more enjoyable fishing with a $600-800 combo verse a $200 combo. Some people are budget minded and choose the 'Cobalt' and some are enthusiast and prefer the 'Corvette' I know people with bass combos that hit the 2-4K mark. I'd rather make a crappy drive to work everyday in a Corvette. If one has the money to afford it I highly doubt they are concerned with any of the things you mentioned.

You can drive to work in a Corvette or a Cobalt. Both do the same thing but one is more satisfying. I know what I'd pick.

It all depends on what you need. At one time 8 rods would of been my answer. As mentioned there are a lot of solid offerings at that price and I could of built a good arsenal. I used my boat a fair amount and was fishing some tournaments. So 8 rods would of been good at that time. Now I use my kayak more than anything, and I haven't fished a tournament in over a year or longer. I can only take so many rods on a yak and 4 would suite me better than 8.

The XX series is the best bang for the buck you're going to get Megabass wise. They can be had used from $175-225 all the time. A member on here had 5 for sale @ $200ea. I sold my last 2 for $175 shipped. The Levante series is considered okay, but not comparable to the xx. Their versatility is great and makes it so 1 rod can do multiple things very well. That's why I sold 2 of them. They overlapped with others I owned and weren't needed anymore. What are you wanting to do with the rod?

I owned one spinning combo and it rarely got used. If we floated the river I'd take it. It's easier to use on a kayak and it could be replaced cheaper than anything else I have casting wise. I recently spent good money on a Megabass spinning reel after having your same debate for quite a while. Why drop that much money on a reel that will never get used. It seemed totally pointless to me. After some thought I figured if I'm only going to have 1 it might as well be one that won't ever need replaced. I'm happy I made the purchase though. I now use it every trip basically and it's sometimes the only combo I'll use because it's just a joy to fish with. It's only money and you can't take it with you anyway. Might as well put a smile on your face now.