fishballer06

You'd be surprised what Metaniums go for on flea-bay... I've bought mine for $240 and $280, brand new, on auctions.

Yes. Changing his grip could make the difference. I started with a bantam Curado whenever I was about 10. I was taught to use it by holding the cork of the rod, and putting my trigger finger above the trigger of the rod. Once I got older and my hands grew, I quickly taught myself to palm the reel.

I really like Sniper FC, and I will also run PLine fluoro too. I will also be trying out Sunline's new Assassin this year too.

I've got the 684 and it's great for smaller lures. Larger jerkbaits and top waters are too much for it. It's an excellent Squarebill rod though.

I prefer a fast action for any application that uses a single hook (I.E. Spinner/buzz/chatter bait). I have used buzz baits on my Avid H-Mod rod and it worked fine, but the fact that it was a heavy power rod probably made up for me.

Yes, the Metanium is a premium product and an amazing reel. The ci4 is also a great reel for the money, but it's not quite on par with the Metanium. If you look around online (domestically and international), you will find that you can get a Metanium for the price of a new Chronarch ci4 at retail.

I have had the best experience with the newer Zman custom and Project Z baits. The fastash clip and new blade work great. I have tried other brands that have to use the split ring to attach the blade (because of patents) and they all seem to have issues with either starting up after a cast, or rolling over mid retrieve. I don't have either of those issues with the two Zman styles that I mentioned.

Is that the green pumpkin shad color? I always kill them with that color in ponds where they feed on bluegills.

Finally tracked one of these down. The E5's are getting harder and harder to find.

I can't comment on the Irod, but I did buy the Fury 795 on Black Friday. I haven't been able to use it, but it definitely seems like a quality rod for $110 retail. Wish I could help more, but I've read that the frog bite usually isn't too good whenever there's ice on the water.

You're going to fit in just fine around here with that attitude.

I prefer 832, personally

I use my Metanium for throwing 4.8" Fat Impacts on a 1/2oz jig head and it bombs those things out there. I have never had issues with getting even close to spooled while using 14lb. Sniper. With that, if you're truly concerned, check around online and you'll find there are deep spools available for the Metanium in Japan.

The new lucky craft $7 squarebills are the best deal in your price range. Aside from those, some of my favorites are: Bagley b2 Storm Arashi Mann's 1- Strike king KVD 1.5 & 2.5 Edit - Forgot the Rapala Fats and Spro little Johns

2015 was pretty good to me. It was my first year fishing tournaments. My first outing on a boat this year I landed my personal best largemouth in the US, 5lb 1oz. Our first tournament of the year we took 4th place. We missed third by 2 oz and second by 5 oz. After that, we struggled in tournaments and only had a limited one other time. But I always did really well when fishing for fun or practice. On my Canada trip this year, I caught my personal best walleye at 28" and 6.7 pounds while working a rattle trap over some weeds. I also caught the most walleye out of everyone in our cabin. This fall the salmon run was poor, but I still got my limit. This fall I caught some really nice smallmouth in October and November. In upper 40's degree water, I caught fish in 3' of water and in 25'+ of water. Overall, the tournaments could have went better, but I had a lot of fun and I learned a lot of new bodies of water, and I worked on my techniques with a few different presentations that aren't my specialty.

Why I'm a better moving bait angler than you. I grew up fishing with my Dad and Grandfather. Both of whom are very set in their ways, and love to throw crankbaits almost exclusively. I honestly don't think I ever fished with a single hook until I was in my college years. They just simply never fished that way and so I was never taught to use plastics or jigs. In my younger years, my family had a permanent spot in a campground with a pond about 5 acres in size and it was very shallow. This entire pond didn't get much deeper than 6-8' deep, and most of it was 3' or less. Every weekend, from April through October, for probably 7-8 years, we would be at that campground. I would fish every second that I got at that pond. I learned every rock, stump, drop off, bottom change, everything.... I was obsessed with fishing and I spent all of my free time off the water reading, watching, and learning everything I could about fish, fishing, and water in general. I would take what I learned and I was able to apply it to that pond every single weekend. I quickly learned how the bass related to cover, what they liked, what they didn't like, and how I could trick them into biting. From banging squarebills off rocks, working a buzzbaits over cover, ripping a rattle trap over weeds, I was just able to master so many moving baits. And then in the evenings, my Dad would take me to one of the local lakes on our old 16' Bass Tracker. I was then able to learn how to read the fish finder and fish for deeper fish. Shad Raps, bombers, bandits, and risto Raps were my main staples of my tackle box in the lakes. We'd catch bass and walleye and it was always a blast. My grandfather lived to fish topwater, and he taught me how to walk a spook and work a popper. As a kid, seeing a fish explode on top is enough adrenaline to get you hooked on fishing for life. Fast forward a few years and I caught onto chatterbaits, swim jigs, and paddle tail swimbaits (Keitechs). The past two years I have really harnessed these lures and put my time in with them. If you asked my tournament partner what lure I catch my most fish on, he'd tell you a chatterbait. And if you asked him my second and third best, he'd tell you a buzz bait and a DT.

The other spring, I did really well on them with the one piece one's. Great lures.

Option D. Abu Garcia Ike series Otherwise go with the E6X or Dobyns savy. For the price of the E6X, I'd prefer a St. Croix Avid.

Nothing wrong with the fury. In the same price range, I'd also look at the Ike series.

I usually throw mine on an Abu Garcia Veracity 7' MH-F with a 6:1 reel like a Metanium or Chronarch ci4. In cold water I'll drop down to a 5:1. As for line, I use either 40lb 832 braid or 14lb Sniper FC, depending on the water clarity and the amount of weeds.

I loaded up on Seaguar Tatsu and some Rico's. Other than that, the rest was pretty meh to me.

Another vote for KVD L&L. Anything else is useless once you've tried it.

Look into the following: Huddleston 68 special River2Sea S-Waver 168

Pretty cool. Thanks for posting that.

MI bass already linked my review, so you know these rods get my approval.