F14A-B

Thanks for the information. As far as the Whopper Plopper that’s my #1 color is the Loon, I use to crush the Largemouth in my youth at night on a black jitterbug, Gonna try this new WP soon and at night here in some of these surrounding farm ponds. There is so much water in Florida that it is practically impossible to fish it all. Having lived down there nearly a decade, the closest to the Everglades I ever got was the Big O.. alligators don’t bother me to bad, but those Pythons? No thanks lol. You mentioned chestwaders before and I use to wade fish the St. John’s river at Whitey’s fish camp and it’s amazing what you can see and catch when you are in that situation going really slow.. The lakes in Florida are vastly different now since the State sprays the lakes to kill vegetation and it’s just not the same for me anymore. I learned the art of flipping in Florida and I’ve done well with the tactic. Miss the choking hydrilla 😂another thing, the largemouth by and large do not look overly healthy anymore either.. I’ll still go and fish it, but I’ll spend more time doing the Gulf of Mexico now. Thanks again for the info. 🙂

Which size WP and what color is working for you? Seriously, I’m wishing to hire you and @A-Jay to guide me on these pristine northern waters.. I’m about played out on fishing Florida lol Of course you all would consider Pro Bono right? 🤣

One thing that Shimano has done recently, they have improved the clutch and return spring to provide longer life with the heavier weights some of us throw. Also the drags have been improved greatly. Carbon discs are now used and also aid in longer life overall.. bearings have been improved and the aftermarket makes even better and more durable bearings available. To be clear, Daiwa and DOYO, have these improvements as well..

I think the Shimano “D” series were the best casting.. I also loved Daiwa Zillion the original. Built like Tanks and great casters.. I like the 22 Bantam really well, I have a Shallow edition Metanium it’s a great lightweight caster that’s more to my liking than the BFS reel. The 23 Met is really finicky I won’t buy another one..still easily bombs 1/2 but struggled with 1/4 which is weird.

I hope you can resolve this, if you do or don’t keep us aware please..

Where's your drive way? Mine is southern Indiana.

Total beauty. This was on my bucket list.. I’m ready for round 2 tonight. You bet I am 😁

Take a fishing rod with ya lol

I heard nothing but Coyotes and a distant dog barking w the occasional owl .. still no cicada here in Indiana.

Any of you see it or photograph it?? what a stunning night. I’ve captured a couple hundred photos with my Fuji XT2, but I took a few with my IPhone also.. just a couple here..

Still nothing but your garden variety of bugs… lots of horse flys showing up. I'm on the lookout though lol

The only thing buzzing around me tonight are Tornadoes..

I should probably add, I’ve purchase a KLX rod that was incredibly well made, but was a total dud on feel, it was a heavy 6 power and I sent it back. It wasn’t built on Gary’s rod blank but rather the Chinese made blank..I do have other KLX and Helium rods made with Gary’s blanks and they are again, exceptional.

I have purchased 2 new GLX models and 1 IMX model in the last 8 weeks, all of these rods are impeccable on quality, design and feel. They are worth every penny. I also use IMX pro blue rod designed for the salt, a 3 power moderate.. it’s equally as stellar. Although expensive to get into its money well invested. I can’t say that about any other rod maker in the world, not even St. Croix..

Yep, and at least back in the 90’s many of their blanks were GLoomis..

Hmm, if you email comes back at $20 on shipping, you scored a helluva deal and it would definitely be worth the time and effort to do this, especially over a period of time. The savings over a year could be possibly 100’s of dollars.. definitely worth considering..

I went to that site just now. Very modern and easy to navigate. Seems like only plastic or hardbaits but wow.. I’m gonna bookmark that place.

Thanks. This explains a lot to me and should prove to be useful to anyone that reads this. Nice to have friends in Japan huh? I ordered a reel last night from Japan but used EBay as a go between 😂 Appreciate your information…

I ordered a reel from Asian Portal about 8 weeks ago. Initially they charged my account properly, but then they followed up that with an additional 8.95 charge a couple days later… I sent out a message on why a second charge but received nothing back. I let it slide but since they couldn’t explain to me what it was for I wouldn’t consider them further. Never had any company add a follow up charge to my bank account. Anyone had anything like that happen to them dealing with Japanese companies?

These dudes have an awesome web site.

Yes. Jun seems pretty knowledgeable thru out the years.

Hey guys what are the BEST Stores for JDM tackle? Shops other than Digitaka and Asian Portal. Any suggestions?

Honestly his health is beside the point. He made a fortune selling it to Shimano. Shimano kept him on as long as he wanted. About 10 additional years. That’s a lot of paychecks. Shimano has done well by the Loomis name. I’ve used Loomis since 96, I’ve just literally purchased 2 GLX rods and just received a new IMX crank bait rod. They are exceptional rods. All my reels except 2 are Shimano and that’s a bunch. As far as Dobyns, I don’t have an opinion as I’ve never used one, but I’ve handled them and wasn’t impressed. I did try a Powell rod once where Gary use to be and wasn’t impressed. I have a Daiwa Zillion rod and it’s awesome..

I don’t blame him one bit, Gary Loomis sold his company and worked in the front office for 10 more years. Gary Dobyns was smart to sell, big companies have big money. Plus he gets to stay & do whatever and make a nice check doing it.

I’m seeing a lot of trilene users on here, it’s a solid choice for sure I have spools and spools of it. I remember the hook I used from my post above, Tru- Turn in 4/0