Preytorien

I've used many other Shimanos, a few St. Croix,, some Fenwick spinning rods, a couple BPS brands (great rods for the money), used one All-Star, and some nice Berkeleys. Of the ones I've never tried, G. Loomis IS one of the brands, so I can't compare them side to side. But as for a thumb up for the sensitivity, quality, and comfort of a rod, the Zodias is the best I've had in my hands thus far.

I have a Zodias and it's one of the best rods I've ever used. It just feels really good. The reel seat is the most comfortable I've ever used.

I've considered buying one to pair with my Sustain. I'd like to see what people say. Following this thread....

I fish a pond once a week near my in-laws house. We go over there, and afterwards her father and I go catch a few fish. However, this year the lake (large-ish pond) seems overrun with geese. At the suggestion of a co-worker of mine, he says geese are freaked out by laser pointers and will get the heck outta dodge when you flash it at them. So I'm going to try it. I'll let you know my results.

Sounds like a fun trip! Great story!

My favorite fishing hole has now become the bane of my frustration. The smallies have started to stage in the deeper pools and those fella's will NOT hit a thing. I've thrown the entirety of my tackle at them....nada. I THINK I got a bite on a senko, but it could've been the hook slightly catching a rock or something. Tough time of year. Anything else I could try?

I'll have to follow this for sure. While I don't personally advocate bed fishing, I don't see the point of bashing those who bed-fish. If your argument is that catching bedding fish hurts population, then so does catching a fish at any other time of the year since most fish will participate in the spawn in spring. That lunker you caught and died in August, guess what, she'll spawn in May, that nice one you caught in early November, he'll fertilize some sexy female's eggs in May and have kids. ANY fish dead can hurt the population. Practice ethical and sensible C&R and good populations will be sustainable.

I agree with the Curado I....the 201HG is the higher speed reel and the 201 is the medium speed. But either will do fine and they'll last you a good while. I've been using mine now over a year and it's as smooth now as the day I took it out of the box.....great reel

I pared my collection down and have just 4 very good quality combos. An ultra-finesse spinning combo, standard spinning combo, a mult-purpose casting combo, and a frogging/flipping casting combo All seem to cover the bases perfectly, and since I sold a lot off and got good quality stuff, I don't really see myself doing any upgrades for a while now. I'd have to get a raise at work....that and a new baby is on the way

I fish quite a few ponds like this too. It seems like more often than not the smaller the pond, the smaller the size of fish I catch. But you never know, so I usually stick with a senko or Ned Rig until I start getting a good idea of the average fish size for that body of water. I've always heard it said, and it's true, downsize your bait to get more bites. That way you can start to get an idea of what size fish and what KIND of fish populate it. Some ponds, no matter how good they look, just don't hold quality fish populations.

I agree with this. It's been my most consistent river smallmouth lure this year. Last year it was a black 1/8oz buzzbait....this year is the year of the 1/4oz gold blade Rooster Tail

Yea, I reassembled a Curado with the assembly in the "pushed" state. Had to disassemble and click it back up.

Like Clayton said, it's been proven bass don't like it. I prefer long sleeve shirts, but when I can't stand it I like to spray it on, then wash my hands when I'm done, then maybe rub them in the dirt or something. Use Megastrike as hand lotion or something

Mine have all come from eBay. Particularly overseas. Particularly Australia. Our dollar is worth more than theirs, so you can usually buy one step up from your desired reel for the same price you'd pay for one model lower in the US. I just bought a Sustain for $177US + $25 shipping. Shipping's not that much higher either, and with customs agreements, I just recently got my Sustain in 6 days. Other than that, it's usually an even mixture of major outdoor stores and sporting goods stores.

You're exactly right. I can't think of a better place to learn about the sport we love. BR has been my biggest asset in advancing my fishing abilities in the past few years. The folks here are great too, the majority of us have probably never met face to face (I've only ever met one other BR member in-person), but we're all united by one little green fish

I use the San Diego Jam with great success, unless I'm frogging, I like the Palomar since it doesn't seem to catch "pond snot" quite as bad

I'm not into birthdays much, especially for myself, but this year I couldn't resist. I had sold one of my reels for $120 a few weeks back, then got a $50 VISA Giftcard from my company for my birthday. I figured I'd save it all and buy something, or a few things with the money. I searched a while online for something fishing-related to buy.....I mean....who WOULDN'T buy fishing things? I stumbled upon an Australian tackle shop that had some great promos, and ended up getting a brand new Shimano Sustain. I read a lot of places where the comparisons between the Sustain and Stradic are negligible....present, but probably not worth the $100+ price difference. However, I ended up paying $170US for the reel, minus my money from the old reel and the $50 Visa card, I paid just the shipping to the US - $28. So I got a new Sustain, for essentially $28, when from US retailers I would've probably gotten the new Stradic FK. Both excellent reels as I've used a Stradic FJ for a while and LOVE it, so I'm sure the Sustain will also probably do very well. Took it out last night, and it feels like they greased the gears with butter and Megastrike....it's the smoothest reel I've ever used, also had some decent fish pull the drag, and it's also very smooth. Overall I'm pretty darn happy with this birthday!

My local smallmouth river is.... 1. Low, and the water's dropping - like....3ft will be a "hole" 2. Slow and flow is dropping 3. Cool, and cooling by the day - probably in the mid 70's maybe low 70's 4. Clear - like whiskey What patterns and techniques should I zero in on this coming Saturday morning?

Oh yea it does. I recently had stuck a Shinmushi on some kind of rope in the water about 10ft off the shoreline. I stripped down to my shorts and went in after it. Hopefully none of the cranks get hung, I made myself a home-made lure retriever though. I've had great luck with their jerkbaits also are awesome. Great action and casting distance

I agree. I have quite a few of their cranks and all of them are top shelf. Great hooks, excellent finish, they run perfectly out of the box. I agree the 48sr is great. I use it lethally in our shallow rivers for smallmouth. I also love the Spinbait series, they catch fish in very tough conditions.

I just go to Shimano US, UK, AU, and while the model numbers are the same, the pages are just formatted differently and list features differently. I know the JDM versions are different, I'm not specifically talking about JDM, just mostly US vs AUS vs UK If the model numbers are identical I would think the models are identical

I see that. I don't know why though, I've ordered plenty of XTR and Dura Ace 7900 parts from all over the globe and never had to worry about differing specs, sizes, or measurements.

So I'm a Shimano-head.....they have websites that are different based on regions. Are the reels the same (other than unit measurements) from region to region, or are there differences? I can't imagine they make different products for alternative areas of the globe, but the sites don't always have the same features/specs on the same model of reel. I'm thinking of buying a reel from overseas (not China) as the dollar conversion makes it a bit cheaper, but the region's website lists slightly different specs. Any ideas?

I may have to convert to the ziploc or original bag method.....right now I use Shimano brand size 3600 boxes and I just have too much trouble with it.

Well that explains it. Looks like some bad stuff. Wish this wasn't around....it doesn't seem to be killing fish though, that's good. Thanks for the info.