War Eagle 44

For plastics I only use two brands, Owner and Gamakatsu.

If I were forced to only have one "nice" piece of equipment it would definitely be the reel. There's tons of good quality $100 rods now so IMHO it would be easier and more enjoyable to fish one of them with a higher quality reel as opposed to the other way around. Of course I've always been partial to reels, started as soon as I picked up the hobby.

I've posted on this subject in the past and my findings go against what most here experience. The Rage craw just doesn't get bit for me in the waters I fish. It does well as a jig trailer but as a T-Rigged bait it just doesn't work for me, I'm not sure why. I have no problem at all catching bass on a T-Rigged Zoom speed craw or a baby Paca craw. These are the two craw baits I fish the most by far, love both of them. I really enjoy other Rage products, the toad has worked excellent for me as well as the Menace grub, so I know Rage baits work in my area but I just can't get them on the craw. I've asked a few other local guys and they've found the same thing with regards to the craw and our lakes. This made me feel slightly better because I was starting to think there was something wrong with me, lol.

Another fan of D & M here.

FX 2 braid has to much stretch for me but I will say it does come off a reel beautifully during the cast. I've tried quite a few different braids over the years but I always come back to Power Pro. I'm currently using S8S on a few select rods, there are a few techniques that I prefer it over regular PP. I use more regular PP than anything else.

He beat me to it, lol. This is a fantastic trailer for skipping and swimming.

I also really only fish lizards in the colder months around the spawn. My favorite method (by far) is weightless. I only use the 8" Zoom lizard, great bait that's easily cast with casting gear. I also keep my colors simple, it's either green pumpkin, watermelon, or pumpkin. Obviously I use these in shallow water around any type of cover I can find. Grass, boat houses/docks, wood, rocks, seawalls, where ever I think a bass may set up to spawn.

100% agree.

I always fish my jigs without rattles, just a personal preference thing.

Spro LJ DD is one of my favorites. The 6XD is also a very good deep crank, and no self respecting angler would do without a few DD22's.

You just beat me to it, these are fantastic Fluke hooks.

No unfortunately it's a Crucial. I only have one first gen Cumara spinning rod but as you say it's fantastic.

Nothing fancy here guys but today was the first time I've gotten it out on the water. I was very pleased with it as a whole, nice reel for it's price. Rod was nice also but I kinda feel they were a smidge over priced when they first came out. (Which embarrassingly that's how long I've had this rod and today was the first time I've fished it )

I have only ever broken two rods that were an actual warranty issue. One broke while I was spooling it with line and the other on a hookset. I take very good care of my things so therefore I've had very little use for the warranties that come with rods. Not saying that others don't, I'm simply saying that if a rod has a defect it will show itself before the one year warranty runs out. If you like Shimano rods then go ahead a buy with confidence, just my opinion anyway.

I have Lightning 5's in five reels and Orange Seals in a couple others. There's very little difference IMHO, I don't find the 5's any louder than the 7's and their performance is about 90% of the 7's. It's totally up to you whether or not you feel the price increase between them is warranted. I still buy 7's every now and then but I'm totally happy with my 5's, I've never considered replacing them with 7's if that helps any. As a matter of fact I've actually started to gravitate back toward Shimano made SS bearings, I know this really doesn't have anything to do with your question but I only brought it up to mention the Abu brand bearings that Japan Tackle carries. They're suppose to be really good bearings. Might want to check them out.

Thanks TorqueConverter. HardcoreBassin, no glue but I do use a lighter to burn the tag ends of the line even with the knot. This prevents it from ever loosening or coming untied. I just use 3 simple overhand knots and then the lighter.

GLX 896 FPR with a Metanium XG.

I prefer the Fat John to the Little John but that's neither here nor there. My favorite color is Cell Mate for sure followed by Chrome Olive.

I use braid, it works great.

Thanks guys for the kind words. It's nothing fancy like some of the gear shown here but I'm more of a performance over appearance kind of guy anyway so this reel fits my personality. Don't get me wrong, some of the Aldies & Core 50's with those sky blue dress up parts look amazing I'd rather spend that money on other things. I've thought about going this route, I might just have to get in touch with him. Thanks for the suggestion.

I agree that there isn't any concrete evidence either way. I also agree that you can fish a swim jig just about anywhere. I've seen plenty of you tube video's and read plenty of articles that say it was the Coosa River so we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one.

Thanks for the replies fella's but I actually like the matching green drag star. Also the fact that it's plastic doesn't bother me either. I'm looking forward to fishing with this one as soon as I find the "right" rod. I thought I had that part figured out but I was surprised at the amount it costs to ship a one piece rod from Japan. So much for that and I don't really like the idea of a two piece so I'm still searching.

I disagree, swimming a jig started on the Coosa chain in AL. Or at least a certain style did, swimming them through shallow shore line grass quickly.

Finally got around to putting this little guy back together as well. As with my other recently completed CH 101B reel I haven't "tested" this one either but I hope to before to long. Just have to decide on a rod for it. I made numerous changes; Core 7:1 gears, Core clutch bar, Carbontex drag, ARB pinion bearing, added two additional bearings per knob, "upgraded" Shimano spool bearings, and of course the Yumeya BFS MG spool. I decided to do an "all Shimano" BFS reel so I stuck to using only Shimano parts except for the drag washers. Not really sure where the idea came from but I just wanted to see how it would turn out so here it is.

I'll agree with some of the other guys on this one, I think you can fish these fairly effectively with just three colors: black/blue, white (with or without flake), and green pumpkin. My favorite brand right now is D&M.