F14A-B

Yes, I know, I understood your op..I get typically a 9-10 dollar charge from several Japanese vendors. I asked @bulldog1935 about it. (He has dealt with Japan for a couple decades and has helped me with some of the finer details) and it’s a charge to convert.. so you were right on with your assessment. 

10-4 on feeling drag pay thru rod. I like the drag click but I won’t limit myself on that extra feature. 
 
On the Coastal 200 I’ll be using it w live or cut bait.. it’s not as loud as the HD1000’s 
 
Go figure.  I really like what you’ve done to Ryoga. It’s a beast..
BTW, I love those handles. The one on my Bantam XG is awesome, they’re so deceiving, they look huge on the reel just looking at them, then you get it in the ready position and it’s just perfect.
 
They're impossible to get in the states also, which sucks. eBay is stupid high. 
 
Still, I’m in the market for two more. At least..

Back in about 87 or so, Ryobi had a nice, lightweight reel that several of my Navy buddies were buying, like $30 or so. I’d spent $80 on my Shimano baitcaster and I was already catching 5 to 8 pounders in the Osceola forest meanwhile these trick little Ryobi reels were breaking right and left. Now they were about a 50 size reel made out of graphite rather than aluminum. You could buy them on base, NAS Cecil Field. Some of these guys would break them and go buy another one and break it. I asked what was going on but nobody knew 😂so at work we took one apart and it was all plastic on the inside, plastic main gear , I think the pinion was plastic also.. I never seen such garbage in my life. I watched a guy destroy a zebco 33 in that forest. About 2-5 pound fish and they were toast. The amount of 5-10 pound fish in those little strip ponds was incredible and virtually no fishing pressure either. But if you were fishing a Ryobi or Zebco you were good for a couple big fish and that’s it. 
 
My Shimano lived for 15 years and I gave it to a teenager in the family who promptly pawned it.. 

That’s beautiful water for sure, love to wade fish, I use to wade fish the St. John’s river @ Dr’s Inlet.. amazing what you will see & more importantly, learn. Around here, I’ve got to wait about another month to wade fish, in fact we are suppose to receive 6-11” of rain over the next few days. When I had my big Skeeter I’d put in on rising lake water as often as I could.. fishing gets crazy on a rising lake. My son sold his Ranger last week. So I’m thinking I won’t make Kentucky lake or Cumberland lake for stripers this year. He’s about to buy a place so I understand it but man, that was my ride 😂🤣😂 I think I need a kayak now. 😆

If that is what you’re going to throw I’d just go with the 100 met. I have that one also. The ideal behind the custom shallow spool along with the tuned braking was specifically for lighter line and lighter baits. However with 1/2 to 5/8 baits the Metanium 100 with its stock spool will throw that weight a country mile. The 24 Shimano Metanium 100 also has brass gearing along with the MGL3 spool. They are sweet as well. Mine is 7.0:1 . Buy it from Japan, save money. 

Bill Lewis Rattletrap is all I throw as far as rattle baits, they outperform everything I’ve tried. They still work even when moderately fouled with vegetation. I remember when they were just a couple bucks, now they are 8 to 11 dollars depending..🤣I’m gonna try the cotton Cordell again, put good hooks on them and give em another go.. even at BPS they are under $5. 

Looked, can't find them fast.. I believe they were call a "sled head" I think... I've got some, somewhere.

I prefer spinning for sure, but I just don't throw 3/8 very often on tube rigs... So, if I'm throwing a T-rig tube, 3/8 or 1/2 then yea, I'm using a BC set-up..
There's no reason you can't throw these on spinning, I just like lighter jig rigs myself.

Yes, Largemouth Bass

That's kinda normal, also holding you're rod at various angles aids in uneven line distribution, some reels are worse at it than others. I just cast away and reel back and go back to flippin