fishwizzard

Thanks for the info, I will look into those blanks. Part of me wants to grab the E6X version if I can find it on sale this coming Black Friday. I love love love the reel seats and handles of both the casting and spinning E6X rods and really wish the IMX and GLX rods were closer to them, the spinning rods especially.

I have a drysuit but it fits poory and I really never use it. I have never found a way to keep my hands warm so for the most part I don’t bother with cold water yaking anymore. If I could solve the hand issue and figure out a way to stay safe and have a convenient way to relieve myself I would go out more often, but cold hands and having to skimp on coffee makes it not worth it for me.

It’s not exact, but taking the listed weight for a jig and doubling it will usualy account for the hook, skirt, trailer, and weed-guard.

I have no problem burning through plastics to catch fish, but I do become a little annoyed when one is destroyed (looking at you Keitech FI) just from casting it ton when the skunk is on. I do however, find that I don’t go through plastics nearly as fast as I thought I would, I have finally broken myself of the habit of buying in bulk. With the exception of drop shot plastics, I can generally get a decent number of fish out of most of the brands that I use.

I would insist on red or purple flake, but I agree.

A M/XF isnt going to load super well with light stuff and in general will not cast anything as well as a slower rod will. If you could find someone local to you who had a XF rod to let you make a few casts that would be best. I am finding that for me, the lighter the rod the faster I want it and the more powerful the slower I want it. "Medium" is sort of where the line blurs for me but I would never pick a M/XF for much other then lighter bottom contact or for jerkbaits/poppers-walkers.

I have a pair of Loomis IMX MagLight/XF spinning rods and I would love to find a blank that is as close to them as possible. The power and taper of them are perfect for a lot of the fishing I love to do, but I can't stand the reel seat/grip of any of their current spinning rod lines. Both of my rods are short, a SJR6400 and a SJR720, so 5'4" and 6'. I would love a longer rod but the only current Loomis that might be OK ergonomically is the E6X line, but I don't want to go backwards in blank quality from my current IMXs. I also think a blank like that would make a very nice BFS rod. Do any of you guys know of a blank that is anywhere close in power and taper?

my bro is late so I did a little prefish. Got two on the baby jig so far. I was fishing it on a L/XF casting rod and both hooksets were solid. Second one picked it up and ran with, got like 10-12 feet before I stuck him.

He is a huge talent for sure, but I have never seen an public figure who more seems like they just hate every second of being on camera.

1) It really is a great spool, I have stuck it in four different reels and it's great in all of them. I ordered the PG so I can stick the RCS in something else. 2) Yea, I keep going back and forth, I think I might just let the order stand and try the PG first. 3) Huh, I was under the impression that carbontex wanted a little grease for max smoothness? I have a few sets of Daiwa #1 washers around, I will give dry a shot. I have been fishing the reel a lot with the drag backed off and have been using my thumb on the spool to let line out. It's pretty interesting when anything the rod can't immediately overpower gets on the line. In other news, I accidently bought a MC Benkei BIC-672L/BF the other week. Threw in a lowball ebay bid and forgot about it until I won. It's a pretty average L/F BFS rod. It seems pretty true to it's 1/16-1/4 rating, but seems like it would be good a but higher. The action was faster then I thought it would be, but it's still a little on the mod side of things. I have only had it out once and haven't caught anything of size on it. I have an embarrassment of BFS rods and I am going 100% this time I mean it, sell a few of them off any week now.

Speaking of Hedgehog.... I bought a beater TD-Z to see how I liked the platform. I am digging it like crazy and as it came with a badly stripped frame screw, I though I should do the sensible thing and tart it up a little. Right now it's got a RCS 1012 sv spool in it and it'a maybe the best casting reel I have ever used, both in distance and control. I have an ZPI PG spool in blue on backorder but I might cancel it and try a ZPI M instead as I am running 12lb floro on it. The reel needs a new drag in the worst way but I cannot find the d**n jar of drag grease I bought and refuse to buy another one. Im thinking of posting a "WTB: A Smear of drag grease in a ziplock" thread, but that jar must be here somewhere! This reel is the fourth reel I have tied on my mbr783 and I think at long last I have found The One for this rod.

Weight with a Baby Rage Craw trailer, right at .43oz. I think I am going to trim the skirt about 1/4" past the hook bend, thin the weedguard by 1/3 and these babies will be ready to rock. I am going to my Top Secret pond this weekend and see how they do.

Man, my two are IMXs and at times I want to sell them both and step up to a GLX model. The weight ratings on both of mine are way off, especially the SJR6400. It’s top end is listed at 1/8oz but imho that is where the rod just starts loading. The SJR720 is listed at 1/4oz at the top end, but it casts and fishes a 3/16 ds weight plus a 6” robo like a dream. Whats keeping me from splurging on the GLX is the reel seat. I am an “entire hand infront of the stem” guy and the Loomis sests are not great for that.

I like the old Costa Hi-def yellow lenses for most all my fishing. I have not tried out their new version yet however. I also have a pair of Smith Chromapop+ in their pinkish-rose color. I find them too dark for most fishing but love them as driving glasses.

Comfortable, no. Do I do it all the time, yes.

I have two of the Loomis MagLight/XF spinning rods and imho they are about the prefect power and action for the Ned or really any “small plastics on a jighead” fishing.

I have an old Recon 2 baitfinesse rod and I really like the way it fishes, but the reel seat is a little too minimalist for me. The rod is on the “mod” side of “fast”, but that might just be for the Light power ones.

My last order was placed on 9/16 and the package arrived on the east coast on 9/21. It seemed faster then ususal though.

I have never gotten the FG to work, but that sounds far better then what I was doing, I am going to give it a try!

I recently bought a spool of the 15lb Tatsu to try out, replacing the 15lb Invizx I have been using. It is softer and more manageable then the Invizx despite being the same thickness. However, it seems to break with far less force and seems to abrade more than the 15lb Invizx as well. I had a pretty unlucky day last weekend and had to break-off four lures and every time I was shocked at how little force it took to pop the knot. 12lb Invizx is my most used line and the 15lb Tatsu seemed no stronger then it.

1) I can't make a topater bit happen on demand just because I left everything else at home. Even if it's just two extra lures, always have something on hand for the entire water column. 2) That little patch of skin above my shoes but below the bottom hem of my tights really really sucks to get sunburned.

Well........? Lipless are really the only cranks I use. I was 100% RES in Clearwater Minnow and Chrome Sexy Shad, but I am cranky with them after buying what I think was like a half dozen bad ones during last BF. I have branched out to Hard-Knockers and the original Rattletraps. I think I like the Hard-Knockers the best of the three, they seem to run well at the widest range of speeds.

All I really want from Daiwa is a better naming system for their reels. Reels that don't share the same frame have similar names, other are just a string of alphanumeric gibberish that is still super similar to other reels in their lineup. I wish they would just start using proper names, maybe name them after famous sumo wrestlers or something, anything other then the current system.

I like these guys for 3-4" paddle tails; http://moanerhooks.com/product/116oz-weighted-stroker/ The 1/16oz ones should be good for shallow. I use the 1/8oz ones as that was the lightest they offered when I last stocked up. They do a flat $4 shipping fee, wich isn't too bad.

Well, they would call it "market differentiation" rather then "sales gimmick". I own/have owned maybe a half-dozen different models of Daiwa reels, two of which had a T-wing. The closest two were a Steez TW SV and a Steez LDT sv105xh and with literally the same spool and line they preformed about the same. I don't like the t-wing because I feel that it forces reels to be wider in the front then they would otherwise have to be and as a guy who wears a size Medium glove, I don't like anything that makes reels bigger in size.