F14A-B

Great deal, if it matters, you can use 0000 steel wool on that cork and brighten it up a good bit..

The thing that concerns me more than Ebola is mosquito borne west nile, it's in all the county's I travel, as well as the oh so lovely Flu monster..

Geez, every time I read about how heavy 8+ oz is? It blows my frigging mind... Ergo, is more important to me than weight. My Calcutta TE reels are 10.2 oz each are round and are no problem at all to use on a Heavy loomis rod, throwing Heavy Rigs.... The Tats are probably the best selling reel right now & have been the past year.. Must be a reason. I used Daiwa 20 years till I woke up to Shimano ( lol) you cannot go wrong with Daiwa.

Tube, Swimjig, trick worm, oh wait.. That's three, looks like Iam DQ lol..

Braid can also have a learning curve to it, it's a fine outfit you have.. It's going to be a rod @ 1/2 and up to begin with... Try mono or CX .. Give you're self a better/ quicker chance to hone you're skills.. You can get a spare spool and keep a braid ready spool at hand. Of course you can also just knuckle down & learn with braid... You're rod has to load to cast properly. You also need to make sure that spool is full to capacity & not over filled.. Good Luck..

Well yea Ci4+.... No question, but OP wants something less expensive as stated.. As such there are a lot of good answers to this.. I like the Saros in 1000 but not above 2500.. To much flex in reel stem.. Try a president & save for a ci4+, lol

Well.. That's to bad, the sport continues to evolve though.

Yea, rippin lips is right on the review aspect, while you may gleam some useful info, only you can ultimately determine if the equipment is to your liking.

I have seen some of his round reel photos, yea, he's got some sweet gear alright!

I wanna be careful, but, I strongly believe in curtailing air traffic..

Based on you're list, I would fill in with a spinning set up in the 6'8" to 7' range, medium or medium heavy depending..

What is you're budget for this gear? That will help with more realistic suggestions. What will you be throwing primarily?

The reel can do it, like was said, paired with the right rod, and dependent on your ability you should be able to get down to a 1/8 if need be. 5/8? That reel will zing that bait!

Neat color scheme.

To answer you're question, Both!

Of course its fine to order sight unseen, if you can't get to hold or examine the item, I have access to a few places.. I still order out.. If you are not happy, pay return shipping.. It should be fine.

Work with what you have around you... You can make something work, while it may not be optimal, it can still be productive & enjoyable.

Put a ad in the Flea Market, attach a couple pics, put up a price & you may very well sell it.

When BPS opened in my area, the great lil tackle shops, Closed, DSG even cut way back, now we have a cabelas and 4 DSG, I quit going to Cabelas with all the bridge construction so it's either BPS or one DSG, and of course on line orders.

Saros..

When the Mexican plant first opened, the blanks were made in WI. then trucked down, within a short time, the blanks were then rolled in Mexico. I first bought a avid in 99 or 2000.. I don't believe the rage is the same blank, something is different, that said, it's still a good rod. I have one rage @ 7'11" heavy w/ minimas . I like the rod just fine. USA Avids are also guide wrapped by the community in WI.. It's been that way for decades. I have also used the LTB when it first released, wasn't any better than a avid, unless it was a recoil rod, IMO LTB is a better build now though, (components)

Tis the season for Frankenstein..

Yep, ^ the leverage is all you gain, besides a trifle amount of weight lost in a carbon handle. Plus the cool factor.. Hawgtech makes a great product at a fair price.

On crabs, noo, you don't read dozens of threads on guys using them to catch LMB, would it work? Maybe,.. there are other baits I would use over a crab bait, in freshwater anyway...

I prefer fishing the new moon. The fish will spawn on both new and full, but skewed toward the full. Fishing is good on both, but tends to be best on the days leading up to the full moon and on the days just after the new moon. To simplify it, it seems the fishing is best when the moon is getting bigger, not smaller, with each succeeding day. Doug Hannon