fishnkamp

Hello and welcome to the many other fishing addicts that call this place home. Also, thank you for your service to this great country we all enjoy living in. I have to say i love the area you live in. My wife and I live near Baltimore MD, but fish all over. We have been blessed to travel around central TN a bunch. I am in love with Dale Hollow and Center Hill lakes. I have both Watts Bar and Chicamagua on my to do list, but I also intend to make it to Cherokee as well. I realize you are a bit east of them but not by all that much. What is your favorite body of water? Obviously my loves are smallies and Kentucky spots. They are just amazing fish to chase! Our intention is to start looking at land somewhere around Crossville, Cookeville, or even Pikeville or Dayton so we can retire there. I believe the hardest thing about living around there will be deciding which awesome lake to go fish in the morning!

The way I see it you have a few good options. Respool with Power Pro Spectra braid like 30 pound test. I like Suffix 832 too but Power Pro spectra cuts vegetation like a weed eater. Consider a serious weapon of a spinning rod. Look at a Dobyns Sierra SA 704 SF. That is a MH Fast spinning rod. I would use a slightly larger spinning reel like the Pflueger Supreme 35 or 40 series reel and spool it with 30 to 40 pound braid. I like to start with a half of the reel filled with Stren 12 or 14 pound test Original Clear Blue mono. If you ever feel like you want to fish a leader look at say 8 pound P Line CXX as it breaks closer to 16 or 18 pounds. I probably would just fish it straight, but you would be best off if you tossed it in clear water and observed its action using both methods I would use no more than a 5 foot leader. For comparison, my wife's frog rod is a Dobyns Sierra SA 705SF. That thing is a beast. It has a really nice tip to throw a frog and plenty of backbone to get the fish out of anything. It is considered to be a heavy fast action. Not too many spinning rods list for 3/8 to 1 1/4 ounce baits. The sensitivity is awesome so she can use it for fishing a carolina rig or a big jig too. Your last option is the mh/fast baitcaster. Dobyns rods run a little lighter than speced so I would use a 734C in either a Fury, Sierra or Champion series depending on your budget. The 734 is one of he most versatile rods in all of hi series of rods.

The leader knot passing through a T Wing is only an issue if you tie larger knots and does not come in to play unless you fish with leaders longer than your rod. The advantage to the T Wing is longer casts due to less resistance. It really shines when pitching a bait. I myself fish with braid and a leader often but I only use a 5 or 6 foot leader so it never gets near my reel. I hav0e fished some of the clearest water in places like Dale Hollow Lake and Center Hill Lake and this setup has worked well. Maybe if you fish one of those super clear California lakes you might benefit with a massively long leader but I doubt it. If that were the case I think I would go straight fluoro then.

My reel for throwing SK Popping Perch and all my frogs is a Daiwa Tatula Type R 8-1 lefty. It works great. The reel on my rod I throw weightless Stanley Ribbits ( a standard toad with just a hook) is a Tatula CT. It is a 7.3-1 lefty, it works awesome. I can skip with fairly well ( don't read anything into the reels operation, I am not the worlds best skipper LOL) I fish on the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries often and that is salt/tidal water. All of my Diawas have held up fine. I guess if you mean you are going salt water fishing for snook or something perhaps look at a Daiwa Coastal 200 reel.

Go local There are lots of independant tackle shops that can handle it for less than $10. They will take just minutes to do it. You may even have a custom rod builder local that does it. The tackle shop should know who to talk to. I would not consider shipping it off to Daiwa. That type of damage will rarely ever be considered a defect. You yourself said it happened while trying to get a lure back. The factories offer warranties against their mistakes not your mistakes.

I love fishing my Exceler also, but you have to understand where the Fuego CT and Fuego reels comes from. Daiwa had the Exceler and the high end reels before the original Tatula came out. That means they had a bunch of different bodies. Once the decision was made to bring out the CT (compact body) they standardized on the Mag Force Z brakes across a lot of lines. It made no sense to continue to build the Exceler without mag force Z brakes and a different reel body. The Fuego CT is the replacement for our Exceler. It has the same number of bearings (5 + 1 roller bearing) as the Exceler except the Exceler had 1 corrosion resistant bearing. Changing 1 bearing from cr to regular won't make much difference. However, the addition of Mag Force Z instead of Mag Force is an improvement in braking operation. All in all that makes a Fuego CT very similar to Tatula CT except it does not have the T Wing system or the extra two bearings. If I had to guess I bet it is the two bearings in the knobs that are replaced with bushings, it's just a guess. Here is the problem for me. If you look on the internet there are places to get a Fuego CT for around $90. You can get a Tatula CT from those same places for about $10 more. It boils down to getting a reel with T wing and 2 more bearings or save $10. If you do not want the T Wing system you can find the Fuego (11 bearing +1 roller bearing) reel for around $110. All of these reels will perform equally well and which one is best is a matter of opinion. I just wanted to sort of help you understand how they differ and why the Exceler was dropped. The Exceler originally sold for around $100 and went on sale for around $60 when they cleared them out. So the Fuego CT is priced about the same as the Exceler was. My Exceler casts just about as well as my Tat Type Rs and my Tat CTs do. I do prefer the Mad Force Z brakes over the Mag Force brakes. They handle changes in lure weights better without any readjustment. It is a refinement rather than a redesign. Good luck choosing but know there is no wrong choice here.

ABu Garcia Black Max combo usually. Look online and see what deals you can find.

If most of your fishing is going to be in brackish/salt I would consider a Penn Battle II from West Marine. Overall they are going to stand up better. i say this as a Chesapeake Bay angler and as user of many Pfluegers. None have been a problem and if you go with one I would go with a 6935 or even bigger. As for the rod a 6'6 to 7 foot would be my suggestion. If you look at the Penn Battle II combos I would look at a 7 foot rod with the 3000 size reel.

There goes another brand down the tubes. Get ready to see those boats cheapened up. Sooner or later there will be JM White River empire, his Nitros and only a few independant boat choices. I hope he never gets ahold of Phoenix as I hope to make a 618 my next vessel in a few years. I wonder how long Bass Cat can hold out?

HookRz does that mean you use all lefties or righties?

Yep I saw it this morning. This fills a desire Gary's dealers have had to get a lower priced rod made the Dobyns way. The Dobyns Fury rods took Gary several years to get it right as he said. That too was produced because his dealers wanted a lower cost rod from his company. Gary said hew has been working on these for a good while. These are going to compete with rods like Abu Garcia Veritas, or Powell Nusance, and others.

Exactly the way I do things. Any bait I just cast and crank back in I go with a righty. Any bait worked by the rod I go with a lefty. This includes carolina rigs, jerkbaits, jigs, paddle tail swimbaits, topwaters, frogs and even pitching and punching. This also means I can change hands which help avoid the hand cramps I can often get. I have been a mechanic for over 35 years so my hands have taken a beating. Swapping baits and reels helps.

For decades Shimano and Daiwa have consistently built some of the best quality reels that have been on the market. The fans of such reels as the Shimano Curado and Chronarch series reels are huge. The Daiwa fans love many of the sv and Steeve version reels. Now the Tatula line has been making fans quickly since much of the great technology developed in the upper end reels has been brought down to the Tatula line. If you go way back the Bantams had lots of fans back then too.

I have learned from the "reel gurus" how they often take a less expensive reel and exchange out a few bushing for good bearings and end up with a better reel than perhaps a much more expensive reel in the companies lineup and do it fore less.

I have a friend that swears by his old Zebco 808 series spincast reel for hauling in big river cats, so I will not say those reels are all toys. I have seen him battle soms BIG river cats and tiger musky. I di have a Daiwa Omega + for my wife to use for throwing jigs. It worked well. I replaced it with an Irod Genesis spinning rod and she enjoys fishing it better. So this Bullet might be a good option to skip under docks with and who know what else.

What discount? Where did you see a Champion trade in or refurb for $108. The refurbed Champion rods I see on their website are priced with shipping included as Gary has said. Most of them show they are priced around $180. I know several guys that have ordered some of those as well as the mislabeled rods. A new Champion Xp DC704C is a $250 rod. There is a "factory refurbed" Champion XP DC704C listed as "trade in with no repairs, great condition". It lists for $180. As for the Champion rods I own a Champion XP DC 705C and it is an awesome rod. I use it as a frog and flipping rod, It was worth every penny I spent on it new.

I like both of the Daiwa reels but you might want to add the new Daiwa Tatula SV TWS. Much of the engineering on the Zillion has been brought down to the new Tatula SV TWS reel. The reel is built on the smaller Tatula CT body and gets some good reviews by friends of mine that already fish them. These guys are rel fanatics and own many of the more expensive reels. They also think nothing of purchasing a high dollar reel and doing a bunch of upgrades and adding bling to them. I sorta trust their opinions. I am not suggesting it is superior to those on your list only that it might belong on your list. I have recently messed around with a friends Shimano Chronarch MGL and it was pretty nice if you are a Shimano guy.

Why don't you look at a Dobyns Fury FR 765 Flip or a Sierra SA 766 Flip. The Fury is a fast action powerful rod more like the Champions and it runs $110. The Sierra is a touch slower graphite but is still built with an all cork handle and matching components. It runs $180. Check them both out on the website. Also go to Dobyns website and click on "store" on the upper header menu. Choose "Savvy REP Samples" There is a SSM 766 Flip for $100 . They also have some factory refurbed rods that carry a full warranty. There are a few Champion Extreme DX795 Flip rods for $220 shipped. In addition there is a Champion XP 766 Flip refurbed for $180 shipped and comes with their warranty. That one had some minor repairs done. There is a Champion XP 765 Flip for $190 and it says it was a trade in with no repairs, great condition. All of these are good possibilities for sure. If I were interested in one of them I would call out to the factory and talk to Richard or Gary.

Try fishing some paddle tail swimbaits like the Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper using a belly weighted swimbait hook or a Swimbait jighead. They have great action and are rigged weedless. The depth you want to run the bait can be adjusted easily by choosing a light weight belly weighted swimbait hook or the swimbait jighead.

Funny I prefer the hook keeper there. Try this when hooking the lure. Let the lure drop down to about even with the hook keeper then hook the lure. Next turn the spool by hand to set the tension. No fuss no muss. Many of my rods are setup that way. It is done on purpose to avoid any contact with the line when casting. Or just sell it and get more Cabelas rods.

Watch the video again and you will see the guy incorrectly setup the Tatule SV. It is an easy mistake since they need to be setup very differently than other reels. The factory says to adjust the spool tension until the spool has a bit of sde play. If you do that the lure will seem to drop way too fast but that is how they are properly set. The movement of the inductor in and out of the magnetic field will compensate and avoid the backlash while allowing maximum distance.

Stan check this web page out. It is a review of that rod along with a video with its creator. https://www.flwfishing.com/tips/2015-10-06-kistler-helium-3-mad-rod-review

You are fine. I did that for a while for my wife's jig rod, til I found the perfect answer for her from Irod.

I own a Falcon Bucoo Micro 7 foot medium fast Trap Caster. Do not let the "Trap Caster" name fool you. It handles traps, cranks from squarebills, shallow divers, wakebaits, medium divers, bigger slow rolled spinnerbaits, and even some buzzbaits. I think that 7-1 reel will work very well for all of those baits. I use this rod not only for bass but it tames big stripers for me as well. The other option that may be similar ( but I have never held one) is a Jason Christie 6'8" JCC-68SB. It lists for spinnerbaits, cranks and jerkbaits. The Jason Christie rod sells for $99. The Bucoo 7 foot MH med/fast Trap Caster runs $130 both at TW. Pick your poison. I really like my Bucoo. It is a very versatile rod and of course it would fit in with the rest of your Falcon arsenal.

Here is another option. Dicks offers some options I almost forgot. Now I have to tell you a trick that will be important to you. When I decide to purchase anything over $10 from Dicks I go in and buy something cheap. Maybe line, or more often than not a pack of hooks, weights, or a Jawbone jig. Jawbone is a Dicks house brand. The jigs fish well and only cost $3.00 each. Since you are a younger angler the trick will be to have one of your parents take you there and each by something cheap. I mentioned line since you will need some. The jig works because you will probably want some to fish with later. The reason for this is you need the receipts. The cashier will tell you about the customer surveys on the back of the receipt. Go home and go online. Fill the two customer surveys out using the info from both receipts. This will allow you to print out two $10 off coupons. Return to Dicks and look at a few specific rods. I fish a 7 foot Quantum Escalade IM8 mh fast action rod. It normally sells for $100 but has been discounted to $49.99. You could look at a Berkley Lightning rod for $39.99. Take a look at a 6'6" MH/F Field and Stream Tec Specific rod, they sell for $79,99 normally, but are reduced to $49.97. Remember any of these rods will be $10.00 below their price. So lets say you pick the blue Tec Specific rod fro example. That rod would end up costing only $39.99 ( for a rod that normally sells for $80) Now for a reel. Again we have a $10 off coupon to use! You could go with an Abu Garcia Silver Max for $59.99 or in our case $49.99. That makes that combo $90. There are a few combos from Dicks to check out as well. Some are on sale or have rebates involved. Check them out. The Abu Ora SX combo looked interesting.