SFL BassHunter

Sufix was the second braid I used after Spiderwire. Spiderwire was a complete failure. I could snap that 30lb line with my hands. Switched to sufix and thought it was ok.Though it did dig into itself more than I liked. Switched to Power Pro and I love it. Less digging in my opinion. Also cheaper. Walmart has the best prices on PP I have seen. Well worth it.

I use a 5/0 or 6/0 swimbait hook. Usually 1/8oz. Because I don't carry heavier hooks if I need to get down to the bottom or near the middle of the water column I will texas rig a 1/16 oz or a 3/16oz bullet weight to the front.

Jack what are you using in those grass flats? Soft plastic swimbaits work real well in that area. Burn them or swim them slower. There are big hydrilla patches in there, you can swim the swimbait into the holes in the hydrilla let them bait sink a little then swim it out.

3 MH rods. 2 H rods. I use a Dobyns Savvy 734C for EVERYTHING except punching. The other 2 MH rods do most functions, depending on what line I am using on them. But aren't as versatile as the Savvy. The two heavy rods, 1 is for HB Frog, the other is a Flip Stick.

I've tried quite a few frogs and always end up going back to Booyah Pad Crushers and Live Target HB Frogs. Booyah are reasonably priced and they make a popper version which I like. For non popper I go with Live Target. They are more expensive but are a bit more durable and they work real good.

I have a Tatula Tactical, Type R and a CT, I haven't experienced this on any of them. Sounds like there is something going on there. Have you tried playing around with your drag, brakes and spool tension? Doubt any of these would cause that issue but who knows.

Hope they don't entirely change it to powerbait. I personally don't like powerbait.

You throwing big swimbaits? Nothing wrong with braid for the swimbaits. Fluoro will give a little more cushion and invisibility. Seems fine to me. I've been throwing a swimbait that weighs and oz and one thats 1 1/2 oz on straight Fluoro.

Cool, let us know how you like it after a few tries. Should be a good reel. Did it pair up well with your rod?

You're going to get so many different answers here that honestly it won't help. My recommendation is to go to a few big box stores like BPS and take your baitcaster rod. Try a bunch of reels on it and figure out which you feel suits you best. Reason I say this is from experience. I have a Shimano DC7 which is a great reel, but it sits really high off the rod. Even though I have big hands I find it to be uncomfortable in the way I hold my rod and reel. I tried throwing a HB frog on it for a while and realized my hand was cramping up rather quickly. I then got a Daiwa Tatula Tactical (about the same thing as a Type R) which is a BIG reel. It's bulky to the point where some people weren't happy and Dawia came out with the CT line which is basically the same reel, but more compact. Even though the DC7 bothers me the Tatula doesn't. It sits low on the rod and even with its bulky width I can manage it with no problem. When you are fishing for 4-8 hours, you want to make sure comfort is an important factor in your decision. Daiwa, Shimano, Lews you won't go wrong. But eventually you may find you prefer one over another as I have. If I was starting all over again, I would purchase 5 Tatulas, maybe even throw a Zillion TWS in there since they are on sale. It took me 2 years of fishing different reels to find the ones that fit best for me in comfort, budget, and performance.

Oh good so you've gotten past the learning how to cast one phase! That's good! A Shakespeare Alpha combo is 40 bucks. My god that must have been atrocious. I wanted to throw my megacast in the water so many times, I can only imagine the Alpha...I don't want to imagine the Alpha lol.

This is just speculation, I've read that mudhole makes their own MHX blanks. So unless they are making the blanks for Netcraft I doubt it's the same blank. If mudhole is outsourcing their blank production and just designing the blank, then it's possible netcraft is being built in the same factory using similar specs. I don't know that you'll get an exact answer on this as what I've read elsewhere, mudhole keeps that info close to the vest. But it's certainly a good question. Hope someone has better answer with some better info than I do.

Michael if you could step up to 100 you could find the Daiwa Tatula CT which is a phenomenal reel. Learning to cast on it should be much easier than what I learned on. Don't skimp on your first reel, make sure you get something with good brakes if you've never used a baitcaster. The CT is such an impressive reel, that I think can do anything you'll want it to do and has a great brake system. I started with a 49 dollar BPS Megacast and I regret it to this day. I almost gave up on the baitcaster from the frustration. I was convinced to get something of better quality like the Pro Qualifier with Centrifugal brakes. The PQ is a 100 dollar reel that can be had for 50, or 75 when on sale at BPS. Gotta wait it out, but if I was going to pay 100 for the PQ I would MUCH rather pay 100 for a Tatula CT. As far as reels in the 70-80 price range, if you just can't go any higher, I've heard the Daiwa Aird is a good reel and currently the Aird Coastal is on sale for 50 on TW. A PQ on sale is a decent reel. Served me well for 2 years. But I've moved on from them. Good luck finding a reel that fits your needs. I started off just like you wanting a budget reel under 100. Now those reels are sitting in a box collecting dust. Edit: Nor-Cal mentioned Lews and they make some good reels too and are budget friendly.

Good thing is 1.5 oz lighter, the 8.8oz thing was ridiculous lol.

That is also a good solution fishnkamp lol and there is plenty of bling out there. Either way, wanted to go carbonfiber handle.

JChez and billman I sent you both PM's. Found an article review on a 7'6" cranking DX. Might help you guys out. It isn't easily found on google. For anyone else who is curious about it you can look look at Tackle Tour, in their Archive Review section. Find the rod section and look up Daiwa. They have a review on the DX Cranking Rod there.

I'm having a pretty good month of fishing for my standards! I wouldn't mind if this month ran a little longer lol.

Gotta be careful with them little ones. Momma gator usually isn't too far from them.

Thanks for your input Custer! Greatly appreciated. That seems to be the consensus on the interwebs. I ended up going with the Pro Tour Kit. The John Cox MB873 though I did buy carbon fiber rod handle and butt to replace the winn grips. Priced out the kit buying the parts separately and realized it would be considerably more expensive. So just bought the kit and the handle. I guess I'll have a few parts laying around as spares, but no biggy. I do wish you had a choice of winn grip handle color instead of just the green and black on those kits. The green doesn't match any of my reels. I am that picky, yes lol.

I went through 2 pair of SK glasses. One got lost, the other scratched up. They are good glasses for the price but I noticed when fishing with people that had Costas or better quality glasses that they were seeing things in the water I wasn't. When I compared my SK to Costas I noticed the visibility in the water was better on the Costas. Is that little bit of visibility worth it? I still don't know. I haven't gotten to the point of spending 200+ dollars on glasses. I did step up to the Walmart DVX glasses made by Wiley X specifically for Walmart and noticed it was a pretty good upgrade at $90 a pair over the SK's. I lost those then found them after I bought a pair of Wiley X's. Lenses seem to be the same, but the Wiley X's are built better. They feel far more durable. The Wiley X's were on sale for maybe 120. So not a big difference from the DVX. The Wiley X is still what I use. Happy with them and even if the Costas are slightly better I find the Wileys to be good enough for me at a price I am willing to pay. I will tell you that I have made it a habit now to keep my glasses on me with strap. When I take them off they stay either on my hat, or around my neck. If I ever set them down, its at home or in the car.

IMO patience is indeed important in most aspects of life, including fishing and particularly in bass fishing. I for one have very little patience. I do have more of it when I am fishing though when I can get in the zone. I've learned to have more and more of it. All depends on the day. Some days I am very impatient and end up throwing a ton of baits to find the magic ticket, some days I can stick to one or two and just try and figure them out that way. Those days are generally my best ones.

I think this happens not just in discussions about mono though. Same goes for other lines, reels, rods, and lures. There is no magic line that everyone will agree is the very best line. But there may be a magic line for me, another for you, and another for each person here. Like you said you need to educate yourself about the different products characteristics and figure out which ones are most important to you, and figure out which ones you can compromise on.

There is a little bit of Chuck Norris in every powerbait.

Hey Bendem I've had 10lb mono on the trion 25. I don't fish anything less than 8lb and 8 is rare. I haven't had issues with running out of line while fishing. I think you can safely go to 10lb on the trion and have enough line. WRB I also don't like the "mislabeling" of YZ. You're right, it's stronger because it's thicker.

I've used red label, but as a leader. It is a good line, but if I am going to spool up a reel it will be with invizx. I haven't use abrazx so can't speak to that. Invizx is strong, limp, very manageable, low stretch, low memory. It gets the job done for me. If you don't want to spend that much, red label will work too, but I don't find it to be as strong. I also don't know how manageable it is on the reel. Just my 2 cents.