PGA Dropout

The 2014 Conquest is a spinnerbait/chatterbait machine that will also crank deep and slow-roll swim jigs with a big paddletail. The 2013 Metanium is a fantastic all-rounder that comes in a variety of retreives. If you want to jig, worm, or frog, this one has the high speed ratios to match. I'd go with one of those depending on need.

Not even a little bit. They ugly.

I have a lot of fun with a Blue Fleck KVD Finesse Worm rigged on a size 1 O'Shaughnessy (had to look that one up!) and a 1/8 oz Siebert tungsten.

You keep saying this, but I don't lose fish with trebles and braid. If you're tearing holes in their mouths, you're horsing them in or your drag's too tight.

I have a couple reels that someone could consider "the one" but for fun's sake I'll keep it hypothetical (and sub $1000). Zillion Type R on an X4 Destruction. I figure I could do everything with that, get some style points while I'm at it, and find another just like it if I dropped it in the lake or the Terrier Army got hold of it.

Yeah, don't pay retail. I believe it's also price-efficient to order direct from Japan if you're buying a number of them at once.

Straight braid is amazing for walking baits. The near-zero stretch helps get a good hookset at long distance. I use Carbontex drag and I do not lose fish.

Keep in mind that TW has %15 off sales and 10% off gift card sales several times throughout the year. You likely won't be paying $200 for these unless you need one now.

Nice. I've been looking at those.

Yeah if it's graphite, I'd consider keeping it. Moderate action with braided line is legit.

You might be happy. The seat is comfortable to me and the lack of a locking nut and exposed threads above the reel is something I wish everyone would change to.

Good, good. My girlfriend is obsessed with Keitech baits so I'll be ordering some when we have soft water.

Yeah, 7:1 is definitely good for spooks and flukes. The problem is I would want a floating line for the spooks and a sinking line with some slack-line sensitivity for the flukes. I'm going to echo some earlier posters and recommend a quality nylon mono.

I hold reels with three or four fingers in front of the trigger so they work for me. If you like to cast with one finger in front of the trigger, don't buy them. You will be sad.

I just wanted to use the evil bat smiley.

It's not a DC. It's still a sin though. Now I want to go put my CQ101 on a Skeet Reese rod.

Speaking as someone who works in pharmacy and long-term care, Big Pharm is in fact out to get you, just not through vaccines. Apparently whooping cough is a thing again in my area; good thing I stab myself with rusty hooks all the time and it's bundled with the tetanus shot now. Also get flu shots unless you're sensitive to them or you really like fevers. I won't judge.

Might go after class tomorrow. The hunger for a finesse cranking rod is real.

I would have really liked to see a 781 or 841 CBR. However if they beat the Tatula and *** in sensitivity, I could see owning a few. I like lime green.

20 lb. braid is fine, especially if it's Power Pro (you know, not round). Click three internal brakes on, set the spool tension to lure slowly falling, and fine tune the mag brake starting from around 5 on the dial. PQ's are strange reels in that they seem to behave a bit better with more tension and braking.

Here's hopin' there's a 7' ML Crankin' Stick in Auburn Hills on Saturday.

You probably don't need bearings, but you certainly need Carbontex drag.

I prefer braid for bottom contact but fluorocarbon has its place on techniques where you might get bit on the fall. It definitely stretches a lot more than braid. Sometimes that is a good thing and other times not as good.

Frogs, walking baits, jigs, Texas rigs, Carolina rigs. Like rippin said, 7:1 gear ratios are great for taking up slack line quickly.

Yeah, I'd either stick with Big Game or try some CXX. I have a hard time trusting $30+ baits to just any line.