MontclairDave

Bent the heck out of the handle on my Kastking Valiant Eagle Pro bfs reel, and it’s pretty bad, don’t think I can bend it back into shape without significant metal fatigue. Their website is impossible to navigate for replacement parts. Gonna call em when office open but does anyone know a good replacement option? I think it’s 8 mm but of course no specs listed on the parts list diagram. Gomexus et al seems to cater to bigger reels. Don’t wanna spend a ton of money on this: it was my first bfs reel and it’s decidedly meh compared with my Ark Gravity and Curado bfs reels. (Yeah, cheaper, but…) Thanks!

The guy who is selling it has very limited English speaking skills so not sure I’m gonna get any info out of him. But the musky rod guess sounds the likeliest explanation. And given the typical dinks I catch, it’s gonna be a hard pass for me.

Just saw an MUR 843C on sale. Weird; I am not familiar with MUR as a legit G Loomis model. MBR of course yes. And the lure weight rating is also weird: 1/2-2 ounces. That’s a much higher top end for any Medium Heavy G Loomis rod I know of. Maybe counterfeit? Or very old/discontinued? Any knowledge on this model would be appreciated!

Alberto knot. Easy to tie, goes through regular guides fine. Micro guides, no bueno. Also have T-Wing Diawas and keep the knot out of reel because of that. Braid to mono leader for topwaters and larger glide baits and wakes, fluoro leader for the rest. But gotta say, straight fluoro starting to win me over…. I keep switching back and forth. probably will continue to use both as the mood strikes me and my laziness for tying leaders kicks in.

To your valid point about keeping as flexible as possible, Plan A will be to go down to the half-ounce dark sleeper and throw it on the 783. That way I can use the 783 for other stuff noted in my post. I think 3/4 is overkil anyway—seems to be the weight people throw for really deep ledges or drop offs in river. I’m gonna be in 5-10 ft of water most of the time. So half ounce DS should be fine. Plan B: take the 844 so I can throw 4” and 5” 1-1.5-ounce glides, and hope the 844 can also handle the half-ounce DS (pretty sure it can: I throw .5 football jigs on it and it works fine). a few test days on the Delaware River should help me sort this out. Thanks guys!

Disagree. Tranx is an amazing reel for swimbaits and a host of other baits. I’ve got the 150 for smaller glides and wakes. For the OP’s rod, I’d go with a 200 or 300, depending on size of baits he’s chucking. With the straight braid he mentioned, either reel would have enuf line capacity. I’ve got both the old and the new Tat 200. Love em both. Very easy to dial in. The older one developed a squeak and feels a bit geary so I think it may be dry/needs some lube, per most DAiwa’s after a year or two of use. The new one is flawless after a year of heavy fishing.

Going on a guided trip on St. Lawrence for smallies in the late Spring. Can only bring 2 rods. One will be spinner for finesse tubes, Neds, Senkos, etc. Other will be baitcaster for Megabass Dark Sleeper and Z-Man Gobius. Have heard 3/4-ounce is best for keeping these baits in the strike zone. So, should I bring G Loomis 783 or 844? Can’t decide between the two. 783 rated up to 3/4, 844 up to 1 ounce. So seems like 844 best. But 783 I think more versatile because I can throw some lighter finesse jigs, swimbaits, paddle tails on it. If this were the Delaware River—my usual location for river smallies—I’d definitely go with the 783 and throw a lighter-weight Dark Sleeper. But the smallies up in the St. Lawrence can be real beasts…. Thoughts? Thanks!

I have a 25 year old Symmetry spinner that feels better than most of my new Shimanos from the last few years

Yes and no. It’s a duty tax yes—but a specific type of duty tax—a tariff that this admin charging against Japanese products coming into the U.S. See use of the term tarriff at end of UPS receipt.

Clip them all together and catch a shark 🤭

I’ll chime in on the tariff thing. Bough a Bugrock wake bait directly from the Maker. Get an email from UPS that they are holding my bait until I pay $30 tariff fee. That’s on top of the $25 the maker charged for delivery. So I am not surprised to hear that some folks are getting these extra charges separate from what the shipper charges at time of order. In this case the maker cut his prices by 15% to absorb some of the tarriff hit on customer so he’s a standup guy. But caveat emptor when buying JDM baits.

It was line slippage. I took off the line and respooled, with the tension knob and drag on tight and me putting more pressure on the line as I reeled onto the spool. Reel is fine. I just got a Tranx 150 for small glides and occasional use in the salt and it’s an amazing reel. I actually like it better than my Zillion. Gonna get a Tranx 200 for a new iRod Sniper Swim I just ordered for larger glides and wakes.

Have the “old” SLX MGL 70 and it casts a country mile. Amazing reel for the $

My Symetre was my fav spinner for 20+ years until it met its end at the bottom of a lake after I dumped my yak. Cried a few tears over that one. Bought a Miravel to replace it. Meh.

Tactical Bassin 210 Wake for $20 on sale (retails for $75) https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/River2Sea_Tactical_Wake_210_WakeBait/descpage-R2STW.html Also picked up a Shimano Tranx 150 for inshore fluke fishing for NC trip this week. My first baitcaster for the salt. Hope it holds up. Feels like a bit of overkill to me—but the fluke down here get to monstrous sizes and it will double as a small glide bait reel for freshwater up north. So one way or another it will get well-used.

What model?

I wanna get an Expride casting rod before the price increase hits, which I have heard is coming real soon—like, as early as next week. Thinking about the 6’10” Medium since it gets so much hype as the perfect jerkbait rod. But I don’t throw jerkbaits enough to warrant a dedicated jerkbait rod. So, what else can it handle? Too fast for whopper Plopper 90 and other smallish topwaters? Is it chiefly a treble-hook bait or can it handle single-hook small moving baits like a finesse swim jig and Minimax bladed jig? Thanks!

The SLX is a great budget swimbait rod. Gets the job done on treble baits like glides and wakes up to 3 ounces. It’s rated to 4 oz I think but I haven’t tried throwing anything that heavy on it yet. and for what’s it’s worth my Spro Chad Shad does not sink like a stone. It does have a faster sink rate than let’s say a Metro, BCG, Baitsanity Explorer Gill and Eco, which are my main glides right now. But to me that just makes the KGB better choice for fishing deeper water. Not a negative at all.

I’ve got the Head Turner. Most versatile rod I own. It’s a MH+ versus the Heavy it’s rated for. And the tip has a moderate action that is great for moving baits. But it also can handle jigs and T-rigs in a pinch, thought not my first choice for that. And it’s not a bad frod rod for light cover either.

TB gets a share of every TW bait you buy using their links. I don’t think they get $$ directly from Shimano, Matt Allen has just always been a Shimano fanboy. But he also gives Megabass rods regular shout-outs.

That guy is 100% toxic. Unfollowed him after I got the exact type of response you outlined when I made a very politely stated critique of one of his reel casting comparisons. The idea that this guy posts bible phrases on his channel is laughable. For me, Punch and TB guys are great, since they are not sponsored. (Affiliate links are fine by me.) The ones that are sponsored and hawk only their sponsor stuff, I occasionally watch for diversion but I don’t take their recommendations seriously. I also love Ben at the Hookup Tackle. I know he’s trying to sell his own stuff but he also includes lots of helpful tips on reel and rod choice. Plus I am addicted to JDM tackle. So he gets a lot of my screen time (and cash). Plus I won $100 of free baits in this recent Xmas giveaways. He must have gifted $5k of free gear over two weeks. Pretty cool in my book.

Which glass-rip rod did you get?

Just bought a G. Loomis IMX-Pro 844 as an all-around rod for 1/2 ounce+ baits. It’s relatively soft tip and unique moderate(ish) action makes me think this would be a great rod for bigger chatterbaits (plus a ton of other uses). So, do I really need another rod that is more dialed in for chatterbaits? I assume the glass/composite chatterbait crowd will say yes. But maybe the MBR action approximates that? I fish out of a yak so space for rods limited to 3-4, tops. Thanks!

$200 would indeed be a deal for a Zillion. Where are you getting it for that price? Dijitaka $233 as of today.

Anyone have this rod? Wanted a Kaden 714 but it’s not on sale anymore. This one is. One site—totally unverified—claims this below. Worth a try? LOVE my Kaden 713, looking to go up in power. From what I understand it’s a Kaden blank with upgraded components. The cork grip for example is a DX style handle. The Rod is supposed to be a super balanced stick. Kinda of a sleeper for the money.