offsidewing

Sunline Sniper is a good fluoro. I like it a tad better than Seaguar InvisX. Tastu is great stuff. I save during the spring and summer and wait on the inevitable 25% sale and buy a bunch.

St Croix Avid X in a rating that suits your needs.

Met 13 is better than Met MG in my opinion. Met MGL is better than both. Owned all three.

The Curado 200 and Curado 70 have two different braking systems.

Sunline over Invisx. Tatsu uber alles.

Enjoyed my two E6X casting rods. Fished them next to an Avid X. Now I have three Avid X and no E6X rods.

#6 Yo-Zuri hybrid. Whats its secret? It has the same line diameter as most 10# lines. Its good stuff and not that finnicky. Or use #6 Seaguar Tatsu and, well, be broke and in love.

Not sure if troll... Shimano Metanium MGL gets my vote as well. Its a pleasure to fish.

This is a good set up to go with. Maybe add some ned rig stuff

The Met MGL is my favorite Met.

Barbless here. I take my Gammy and Owner hooks and mash the barb with pliers when I tie it on. zero affect on landing fish because I took the extra 30 minutes over the winter to read how to properly set hooks.

1. My paternal grandfather, I never knew him - died young before I was born. 2. St Croix LTB 68MXF when it was on sale 50% off this summer, and used Pflueger president. 3. Buy cheap, buy twice.

6lb Seagar Tatsu on my spinning gear for any finesse or sinking application.

I have the 68 MXF spinning and got the 610MLXF to go with it. I also have a casting 71MF with a Shimano Metanium MGL that is smooth as silk for plastics.

Metanium MGL is my favorite reel at the moment. Heard great things about the Steez too. I really like the versatility and smoothness of the Metanium.

The stores will carry whatever sells. I've had a cabelas and Field & Stream open right by my home. They open with high end St Croix and Loomis rods. $800 reels. Tatsu line, Mega Bass jerks baits. You name it. A year later all the high priced stuff they opened with was still on the racks/shelves. They eventually marked all that stuff 50% off and I bought a bunch of it. Now, the most expensive line either store sells is Inviz-X and they'll get a half dozen Avid X or E6X rods in the spring and thats it for the season.

From a cost per yard perspective, Tatsu is just a couple bucks more at 200 yards.

Met 13, Met DC, Aldebaran 50, Core 50, and Met MGL. The Met MGL is the smoothest and least troublesome of the reels I've fished with. I smile when I cast it.

The Metanium MGL is a dream. love it more than my Met 13. The Curado is a great reel and use one on my cranking set up. but everything on the Met MGL is effortless.

The Core 100 is essentially a 2009 Metanium. I own a 2013 Met and have zero problems with the braking system. For me, shimano reels backlash is you over fill the spool with line. Fill them just short of what looks like "full" and they hardly ever backlash. Now, the 2016 Met MGL is a heck of a reel too...

Prices aren't rising in Japan. The dollar is losing strength because it is neither being inflated or earning interest. I sold both my Met DCs for Met MGLs. No regrets, and I really liked my Met DCs.

This times eleventy billion for me. I when fishing for smallies in deep water I use as high ratio reels as possible. When they head for the surface I try to beat them to the top, tip up. I suck up as much line as possible to eliminate slack and keep reeling when they jump. This keeps tension on the line and hook. When I do go tip down, its to steer them vs prevent jumping. You can also create a whip in the line transitioning from tip down to tip up if you're timing is poor. .

Tatsu followed by Sunline FC Sniper. Tatsu usually goes on sale over the winter. Tatsu is amazing.

I've owned a couple Lews reels and just about every freshwater Shimano baitcaster that's come out in the last 2 years - save the Antares. From my experience, the Metanium MGL is one of the best casting, smoothest retreiving, consistent-iest drag reels I've tried. And yes, I like it better than the Aldebaran, 2013 Metanium and just a hair better than the mystical Core 50. I can't compare the Met MGL to the other reels you've mentioned, but the Met MGL is really a versatile baitcaster. I can put it on a 7' MF rod rated for 1/4oz to 5/8 oz and throw 1/4oz tube jigs with no issue. Then I can throw it on a beefier rod and hammer lillypads with plastic craws or pull fish out of deep water on football jigs all with smoothness and consistency. I've caught big fish on most of my reels and the Met MGL felt the best and gives me confidence. The Met MGL has a good balance of weight, retreive, and drag. All that said, if you can't find the fish and get them to bite - it doesn't matter what gear you're using. To me, the quality of the reel doesn't matter until after the fish decides to bite.

I can tell you from my experience direct sunlight tears up the Zman TRDs. I keep them in their original bag. Fishing last weekend I left two bags out in the direct sunlight and they looked microwaved. It was only about 72 degrees but the sublight zaps them. Also worth noting that the bait keeper on the Zman mushroom jigs tears up the TRDs too. They'll get twisted up internally. And good luck getting a TRD off the shroom jig without a) destroying the TRD or b ) ripping off the bait keeper soldered to the hook. And most times fighting a smallie, the free end of the TRD will hook itself on the jig. So you can eff up a Shroom jig and TRD on one fish. One good thing I noticed is they are tougher on snags. I LOVE the Zman Ned Rig set up. Love love love it. It Catches fish. But they aren't indestructible as some lead you to believe.