Smallmouth Hunter

Looking for a cranking rod to fill the niche of 3/8-1/2 oz medium depth divers. Don't want to spend to much on this. 7' to 7'4. Medium power. I was going to get the BPS crankin' stick, but they don't carry the 7' medium anymore (or at least just not currently) for whatever reason.. Then I looked into the abu veritas 7' winch medium/moderate, but I can't seem to find the old models anywhere for a good price. I won't pay over 70 shipped for a veritas. Not that I don't like it, but I never buy anything that isn't on sale. I am not interested in any micro guide rods as I'd prefer to stick with standard guide rods. Should I wait for some of the newly introduced (at icast '14) rods to come out or are there any other rods worth looking at currently in my price range. If you know of a site that carries the veritas (old version) winch 7' med/mod for a great price, or any other good deal on rods, please list it here or PM me. Also, my price range is 100 but that doesn't mean I won't pay 100 for a more expensive rod on sale so feel free to list any sales or promo code deals too! Thanks!

The tatula isn't a huge reel, but it is definitely bigger than a lot of other LP casting reels today. I'd take a look at it.

carbon fiber IS graphite. They are the same thing. Graphite is an allotrope of the element carbon.

Where can you get a veritas for $40??

See if there is some line wrapped up under the spool.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/58394716/edge-first-strike-bass-rods-by-gary-loomis?ref=discovery Apparently it is completely legit. Read further in the description to see what you can get by spending more (5,10,100,150,200,500,1000 dollar packages)

I'd grab a mid range rod to match the curado and maybe even a whole 'nother set up before buying a hawg tech. I'm not bashing hawg tech or anything, but I think that it would be best to have a few set ups that cover many techniques before you trick out a single reel.

Edge rods is doing a kickstarter website thing and you can get one of the new EFX rods for $150 + bonus stuff. It is a special edition version too. They look like sweet rods but no one really has any time with them yet. They retail for $199

Last thing I forgot to mention is the no stretch claims by fluorocarbons. I feel that they do stretch some but not quite as much as some mono/copolymers though. The problem is that once you stretch the fluoro, it will become very weak because it doesn't have the same elastic properties of monofilament lines. If you stretch fluoro too much, it cannot recover and will break very easily which I have found to be a big issue.

I didn't realize they were keeping the avid line up with the full grip too.. Woops

Just out curiosity, why do you put the gl2 over the avid and champ?

I am going to say no, fluoro doesn't matter all to much. Maybe in really clear water is will be less visible, but there isn't any really clear water around me so I don't worry about it. I hear a lot about slack line sensitivity, and while I agree that this is true, I don't feel it is really that big of a deal. You can feel slack line bites just fine with mono/copolymer, and if a fish takes your bait, you will know it. There is no way I would shell out $15+ for 150 yds of line. Line that is slightly more sensitive, but casts worse and has poor manageability and knot strength. The cons outweigh the pros. that being said, id buy fluoro if it was priced similarly to mono lines. I see all these fluoro lines priced over $20 and it really makes me wonder what kind of profit margin these companies are getting. Especially lines like tatsu, JDM fluoros, etc. Some guys say it doesn't make sense to spend hundreds on rods and reels yet cheap out on line, but I think it does. Line is basically disposable. Your rods/reels aren't.

Switching to split grips... Lol. Dumb move. I am not liking this new trend with st Croix.

Mag V is the same exact thing as mag Z. The only difference is that mag v is what they call it when it's on a reel with a V shape (like the tdz 100 spool), and mag z is the name for the dynamic inductor on a flat bottomed spool (tatula spool, zillion spool, etc). We haven't seen a reel with a V shaped spool for a while so that why there hasn't been any mag V lately. I don't think they will ever go back to V spools cause the complaints about line lay on them. The tdz 100m spool is harder to control most likely because the much faster start up speed due to being lighter in weight. Also, there are probably some differences in the inductors and inductor movement range. Every daiwa spool I have played with has a different inductor movement length. The zillion inductor moves out a small amount, where the tatula moves out a much longer length, and so on. I don't know what the exact effects are of the length the induct can move out, but it seems like controllability is a characteristic of most the spools with the inductors that move out more.

I actually prefer the tat to the last gen zillion. The zillion is smoother, but doesn't cast as well. Also, the zillion is finicky and can be difficult in the wind whereas the tatula can handle it.

By the way, the only Tcs rods with that extra guide close to the reel are the flipping rods.

Worst rod under 250 for the price IMO. You can get much nicer rods for 100. It seems like you just pay for the name these days.

Look away and hold your breath and just click the "buy now". You won't regret it.

They are hand made and top notch. You can't just whip up a high quality swim bait like that in your garage. Takes time and talent.

I would say any of those reels are just fine. If you wanna spend a little less, go for a curado G which will run you about $99 on eBay. If you wanna spend more, I'd go with the curado I.

Haven't found mine yet, but I think it will be a st. Croix as I really like their blanks and how they feel when fishing. Definitely a MH, just not sure which model and which length.

Edge EFX. And the Phoenix maxim are on the top of my list. I'm not very interested in the new shimano Clarus because in the icast vids I have seen on it, the rods are described as having the same blank, but with less resin and cross wrapping. The last gen Clarus has a very dead feeling so if they use the same blank it doesn't sound too great. Just my thoughts.

What is the pricing of the terex series?

E series reels are great. I series is also great. I wouldn't go any older than E series though as I find the D series curados to have a very disconnected feeling which I can't stand. Also, most d series curados have lots of handle backplay. They are bulletproof though, and will not break on you. The e series won't either

Line capacity is not as important as spool diamter in most cases. With larger diamter spools, the spool can spin less revolutions than a smaller diameter spool because the circumference of it is larger. Also, spool width is important. With a narrow spool, the circumference of the line on the spool will decrease faster if you will, because the layers of line are not as long. On a wider spool, there is more wraps of the line per layer so during a cast, the circumference of the line on the spool will not go down as fast, and therefore the spool will not have to keep spinning as quickly to keep up with the bait. Hard to explain but I think you get the picture.