F14A-B

Take it easy guy, I was wondering which reel or reels you had compared to your named Daiwa’s so I asked.. You didn’t say, I felt it was a fair question, that’s all. I used Daiwa TDX’s TDZ, and OG Zillions.. it was only the transition to the TWing that really made me change Manufacturer. Thank you, I do believe I understand your point of view better.

My Metanium Shallow spool edition is a phenomenal reel. I mean it was explicitly designed to easily throw 3/16 to 3/8. I throw 1/8 plus bait. That said these are Aluminum gears and to replace them w pinion is close to 80$ The reel I think is like 5.4 ounces. Have it on a GLX 892. Perfect match.

which Shimano reels do you have? I couldn’t help but notice you left the exact models of Shimano reels out while explicitly naming your Daiwa reels.

Totally agree with you. Not to insult anyone, we all have different budgets to work with, but I’ve never heard anyone ever complain about a reel that was too smooth (Zillion) Truthfully I have more respect for South Koreas rod manufacturing than their reels. Yep & KVD had a unlimited supply of both rods and reels..

Yea Junebug has always been king in Florida, can’t say I understand why. Most all my damage was done with a black spinal core or red spinal core made by GilRaker outta Jax. (Worm)

10-4 on that flipping stick. I bought myself a 7.5 extra heavy/ fast GLX which I was surprised by how light of a rod it was. But it will bomb a 3/8 also, another surprise. For me its use is gonna be hydrilla. Weird thing though, many states are killing it off.. it changes the fisheries for sure. I threw a Met 100 spooled it up with 22 pound Daiwa J Flouro Samurai and that just put this rod over the top for me. Good luck with whatever rod maker you choose, there are many out there.. Here’s to good health 🥂

What color do you swear by down there?

If he only had used a Shimano DC.. 😝 I’m pretty sure I heard this commercial on my FM radio 🤣🤣🤣 Exactly right, it’s not a hill to die on that’s for sure. 🎃

It’s already been said but speed kills. If an open water scenario you’d had more action I suspect. Otherwise those days are oftentimes tough. Learn how to bake Pumpkin pie. You can eat your sorrows away. 🎃

Which particular reels are you cleaning?

Wow all the top FFS guys are gonna really love this! No entry fees now to win!! That’s about the most lopsided game in town now. 😂 Gerald swindle still gonna finish down in the standings.. it’s gonna be the same people winning..same ffs, it’s just now they don’t even have to pay to win.

Well now it’s morphed into which is smoother when at the onset of discussion it was more about gear longevity. Micro module. I look at it like this, anything new, a new technology or new engineering typically reveals weaknesses in the early days of release, this tech isn’t new now and I know Shimano well enough to know they make running changes without any fanfare. I’ve bought 6 new Shimano reels, this year, Bantams, Metanium and Vanguard’s and FM’s. So 10 new reels in total. They are all excellent reels that have 1,000’s of casts on them now, (Baitcasters) The smoothness is still there.. but if they begin to fail me tomorrow and it’s gear design.. then I wouldn’t hesitate to spring to Daiwa. I don’t own a single daiwa reel. I tried one (this spring) with the sv spool and took it back to BPS quickly. The SV spool sucked imo, the reel was noisy the gearing wasn’t bad but it ain’t Shimano smooth. Shimanos are also very quiet. Not completely silent but very close .. It's my choice, and for now, and the last 18 years it’s Shimano. I would add that the OG TDZ along with the OG Zillions are still my personal all time favorite Baitcasters… they were incredible reels.

I won a tournament on the St. John’s river in about 88 throwing the larger balsa gold foil shad rap. A rainy, windy cold miserable day with 30% of anglers not showing up. I caught back to back 5 pounders then an hour later a 2.5… I smoked that field on that bait. It was a hard bait to throw but I would use spinning gear. They are rock solid baits.

Clearly you used a jig predominately. Do you break it down into cover types? Your worm data kinda shocks me but I’m assuming the Jig is your favorite bait. #1 for me is worm #2 is Jig. Both are very capable as you know but generally jig fish seem to average bigger. I use to do this via pen and paper as it concerned Whitetails rather than fish.

No problems with my gearing on my Bantam A’ s or my Metanium 100 or my shallow spool model which runs Aluminum. But to the OP, totally agree. It’s been a loooooong time coming on a redesign. If the gearing fails prematurely, I’ll dump them and move over to the dreaded Twing 😂 likely a zillion HD. I’m not a fan of the SV myself.

No problem for me at all

I mean the tip is like the easiest first check!!

See how easy that was to find? Fuji makes the finest guides money can buy but they are not infallible..

Right. Exactly, quite frankly some things just don’t change. Picture from my latest Bassmaster magazine. Chrome w blue back rattletrap has been killing it on the St. John’s river system for decades and apparently, it still does.

I just put 22 Daiwa Samurai on a metanium to flip with. But unless you’re trying to run that CB thru very thick cover it’s probably not necessary.

Very nice to hear Farmer, very nice to hear.. Hope you do spend more time here if given the chance.

I’m assuming smallmouth. I’m not real good with this fish because we just don’t have many around me. I can say it’s very difficult to convince a bass to eat an artificial bait over live bait as you’ve explained.. Just taking a stab at this but I’d probably jig a gay blade type of bait right in or slightly below the live bait. I’d defer to A-Jay as he’s never seen a LMB but rather Smallies 🤣 ok that’s a joke but I’d bet money on advice from him on all things Smallmouth. I can catch smallmouth when they bed, but who can’t lol. They are just so aggressive at that time of the year. Another thing we use to always say is “match the hatch” Sounds like you’re using ffs? Perhaps a minnow w ball head jig. Finally, don’t get to awfully discouraged ..

Dude, it’s how they make a living plain and simple. But.. they are very good at what they do and if you’re looking for jerkbait line a crank bait line, rod or reel then I’d definitely recommend watching and learning from them. They know their passion..

I’m bumping this. I just spooled up and went to work with the 22 pound version of Samurai. I got the regular Samurai (clear) version and paid 29$ for 225 yards. Reel was a Metanium 100 JDM , deep spool, brass gear version. Mounted on a Loomis GLX 895 F&P rod. I haven’t tried a 100% FC line since the late 90’s. However I was convinced that I could extract just a bit more feel out of this big stick which is already quite good for its rated use. The line is very manageable yet hard, easy to use on the Met, feel is fantastic and exactly what I was hoping for. I drug a 3/8 jig repeatedly thru rocks/sand/pea gravel and you know it. Mud weeds grass pretty much the same. No strikes in an hour of fishing but I have no doubt about its effectiveness in that department. Same clip, sticker as OP stated. I have a Bantam A on a 844c with 12 pound YO on it and it will stay that way. Probably just easier to say everything else is rigged as I wanted except this flipping rod/reel. Now if the durability is there, I’ll be trying the fancy colored version next. It’s made me happy. 😃

Came in and spooled up on a JDM Metanium 100. 22 pound, stuff is slick, easy casting using it on my 7.5 GLX F&P rod. I can feel better with this line over Yo. Any of you guys try it? It’s been a long time since I’ve tried a 100% FC. So far, so good. Now if I can find a proper handle, this little JDM handle, well it’s just tiny lol.