Fishingmickey

18# Diawa Samurai Hidden Fluorocarbon?

I'm going to be curious to see if it is the same as my other older Met's. They perform better (for me at least) with more brakes (all four) on then the proverbial 2 on 2 off. FM

I got my 24 Met 100HG in yesterday from JLS. Unboxed it and it had a Jackal TN60 as a free gift. The reel looks great, feels great and spins very smoothly. Small reel should be very easy to palm. I may change out the handle for a slightly longer one. I'll spool it up tonight and try to decide which rod to mount it on. If it's anything like it's 20 and 23 brethren I'll be very happy camper. I'm looking forward to giving it a spin this weekend. FM

I usually watch for the sales and buy bulk spools. TW, Omnia, etc etc. FM

Trokar, I believe it the "other" cutting point. I'm not a fan of the cutting hook points. I think they can make the hole bigger and still fall out as easily. I prefer the sharp point and lighter gauge coated hooks. Gamakatsu Hybrid, Mike McClennan hook and I want to try out the new Gammy Nano Alpha hooks too. I don't do a lot of flipping/punching into heavy cover with heavy braid and triple X strong hooks. That might be a instance where the cutting point would be helpful. FM

I think that point that Slowworm's comment is making is the fact that Ben Millikan is an FFS expert and he didn't do well at all and there is a lot more to it then pitching a jig head minnow on their nose. FM

Hello Big Swim, I missed the BFS in your original post. We don't have much selection for light to ultra light travel rod in the US market. There is or was the Diawa minicast. I think it came in spincast and spinning reel combo's with case. Not very high on quality or cost. I feel that your going to have to go JDM if you want good quality. I've bought a couple of travel rods from the JDM market. I hope Bulldog1935 will chime in here. He is BR's most knowledgeable JDM market guy (IMHO). He also has some of the most sexiest rod and reel fishing porn in the world. Good luck in your search, The Japanese have some very fine and reasonably priced light tackle fishing gear. FM

It would be good for jerkbaits, smaller walking baits (under a ounce), poppers. Weightless flukes & swimbaits comes to mind. I suspect it could very well be a good bottom contact "finesse type" rod too. Smaller T-rigged worms 1/8th to maybe 3/16th oz, finesse jigs too. FM

Shimano has both of these in Spinning and Casting. for $250. https://www.omniafishing.com/p/shimano-zodias-pack-travel-spinning-rod https://www.omniafishing.com/p/shimano-zodias-pack-travel-casting-rod Falcon's Low rider. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Falcon_Lowrider_Traveler_Casting_Rods/descpage-WTC.html Those are a couple for US retailers, That I consider decent. Diawa also has the Ardito in both spinning, casting and a both spin and cast model. I have a couple of the non-binary Ardito's. But there is much better out there if you're willing to go down the JDM worm hole. FM

Hi Koz, One of the things I do with my settings is changing the distance forward and depth. I do it to best match what I am throwing and the distance I want to cast. That way I get the best return to be able to see my bait. I don't do much sweeping (turning the transducer) as I do turning the kayak so I know where the beam in in relation to the bow of the kayak. Not sure if that helps or not. I can see where having the trolling motor head underneath the kayak can make it challenging. FM

Scored, FM

I got excited when I saw you had gotten the "Come see us" text. I was mentally picturing you crossing "The Stage"! I saw the photos on the BASS site last night and realized I might have it wrong. I also guessed that you were the guy in the Crocs. Way to go Blue! FM

Outstanding Bluebasser!!!! Top ten!!! Fantastic! Fishingmickey

Rooting for you to catch a couple, three kickers! Good luck, Blue! FM

Just go relax, fish to your strengths and have fun. Wish I was there fishing with you! Fishingmickey

Sounds like a bad switch (works in manual but not auto)? FM

Can you see if the spool is turning? Look at the outer edges of the spool and see if you can see or feel it moving when you turn the handle. Does your level wind go back and forth? If the spool is turning and your using braid, like the others said it is the line slipping on the spool. FM

Greentrout, I really love those spinner baits too. There is one serious drawback for me and that is the twisted line tie. If the spinner spins/helicopters in the air and that happens fairly frequently when I cast. The line becomes pinched where the twisted wires meet and damages my line. I've thought about trying them with a snap to see if it would prevent the line from catching in the twist. If anyone has found a fool proof solution for the problem, I'd love to hear about it. FM

I prefer the River2Sea bling spinner baits. I feel like they give the most feed back/thump and blades and swivels are high quality. I like the head design on them for pulling over vegetation and wood. Not horseing or boat/kayak flipping and using a net or lipping your fish really helps on reducing the bent out of shape issue. FM

I've got 3 DC reels (2 Curados and a Exsence). I like them, the noise doesn't bother me. I've found that flurorcarbon when freshly spooled on the reel can be dangerous. Fluorocarbon because it is a stiffer line and until it get used some. The "spool" memory on a freshly spooled reel birdnests much easier then monofilament. FM P.S. The heavier cheaper fluorocarbon lines are much "stiffer" (not as limp). Seaguar Tatsu and Diawa Samurai are about the limpest fluorocarbon lines on the market. Also the most expensive too. p.p.s.s. That spool is was way overfilled.

Is the dock lighted at night? Kids can have a ball catching trout under the lights at night (at least in Texas anyways). Pretty hard to go wrong with a popping cork and live shrimp. Free/Fly lining a live shrimp will seduce bigger fish but requires some talent. Fishing a jig head and swim bait type body works well here and I suspect it would there too, FM.

I'm skeptical, Berkley made Vanish also. I'll wait to hear from others. FM

I use Fluorocarbon, I like Fluorocarbon and I will continue to use Fluorocarbon on the majority of my reels. I do not tie the palomar knot with Fluorocarbon. I used the improved clinch knot. The SDJ knot would probably work fine too. I use fluorocarbon for crank baits, spinner and chatterbaits and all bottom contact baits. I don't use fluorocarbon for top water baits or frog fishing. Mono and braid get the nod for those two types. I have tried many brands and types of fluorocarbon line. I have settled on three different choices. Seaguar Invisx, SeaguarTatsu and Diawa Samurai are the ones that I prefer and have found that work best for me. Fluorocarbon line has it's pluses and minuses. I will not elaborate on them here. It would be a TLDR post for sure, FM

I watched the JonB you tube video last night. He is fishing with them, but he had lots of problems keeping the goggles connected to FFS. FM

His brother Ewing is quite the stick too. They have both done very well in the Kayak Bass tournament scene. FM