mrpao

I believe with the stella FB you will need to find a conversion shaft to thread into the gears in order for it to work. With certain models of the earlier stellas, I believe they were designated right or left hand retrieve. It may be hard to find a conversion shaft to be able to switch handle sides.

I would say just test it out to see which you prefer. Right or left retrieve. I hold my baitcast rods with my left hand but spinning rods with my right. Also keeps my arms from getting too tired after fishing for hours, because i can switch between baitcasting and spinning combos.

Don't forget about the daiwa Revros LT. Its right at $50 retail and can be found for less online. Its a nice reel for the money.

If you are chasing flathead, then it's hard to beat a live bluegill. I've caught some nice flatheads on live and cut bluegills. My biggest flathead was 55 pounds and came on a large bluegill head fished under a float.

For channels, I usually use sonny's stink bait. Both the cheese and the blood flavor work good. It stays on the sponge or worm good and can catch a some good numbers. I've also had good luck with shrimp, crickets and berkley gulp minnows. It's just whatever they want that day.

If you want more info on daiwa reels, look up i_ fish on YouTube. Victor has done several videos comparing the different daiwa reels. I have learned some interesting stuff from him.

If you're going to mainly striper fish, I would choose the eliminator, since it has a aluminum frame. Or the BG series. Both the eliminator and BG share the same frame. I think the exceler frame might flex on you with the way stripers run. You can't go wrong with a aluminum frame.

To me it depends on the spool. The deeper the spool the more backing I use. I don't have a way to measure the amount of line used as backing. I just eyeball it.

Like mentioned above, it depends on what you plan to do with the rods and reels. This is like asking, what's the two best vehicles I should buy. It's going to be different for everyone, because everyone has different needs.

I throw the #4 and #5 on 6 lbs line on a 7' light action spinning rod. The #6 and #7, I throw on 8 lbs line on a 7'2" med light baitcast rod.

Dude, your English is fine. Probably better than most people here in the United states

I agree with the others. I would choose a two piece 6'6" med action rod. You can do most things with that rod.

I have the lews custom lite slp and think is a decent reel. I don't cast light stuff with it so I'm not sure how it would do with them. I have been using it for topwaters, mainly poppers. I think people feel its cheap because it's so lightweight. Mine weighs in right at 5.0 oz. It doesn't have that heft to it that aluminum reels have. It feels much like my shimano aldebarans on the cast and retrieve. I have had mine for a few months and have not had any issues with it. If you are looking for a light weight reel, I wouldn't hesitate at getting one. If you have a lightweight rod it would probably pair up nicely. If your rod is heavier or too long, it may end up being tip heavy.

I throw shad traps year round but more so in the colder months. I throw size 4 up to size 7 mainly. Usually if I have to go bigger, I switch to a different crankbait. I do wish rapala would come out with a rattling version of the balsa shad rap. I have the glass version too, but the action is not the same. The glass version has a more narrow wiggle than the balsa version. Similar in action and size is the berkley flicker shad. It's cheaper and it has rattles. I'll throw them side by side with the shad raps. Some days the bass prefer shad raps, some days they like the flicker shad better.

Well if there's panfish then bass will be around there to eat them. That's a good thing. I agree with the others. I usually watch my line for movement or lift up to feel for the weight. Panfish will tap at many lures out of curiosity. It's just part of the game.

Another similar lure is the rebel minnow. I believe its the F-49 size , which is 1 and a half inches long. Although not any heavier than the rapala minnow, it has a wider wiggle than the rapala. There is also a sinking version too. It's called the trac down minnow. I like the rebels better than the rapalas in these diminutive sizes. I feel like the wider wiggle gets more strikes. Trout, panfish and small bass love them. I usually throw the silver blue back or silver black back. The hooks are pretty small on these things, so I sometimes up size by one hook size. It still allows the minnow to float and gets better hookups.

Take into consideration that the maximum depth is usually a trolling depth. Honestly most of the time if it says it will run 7', it'll probably run 5'. If it says 10', it might run 8'. And so on. The advertised running depths are usually exaggerated to some degree for marketing purposes.

I use the 7' med primary as a soft stick bait rod. I have a 2500 size reel with 15 lb braid and 12 lbs fluro leader. I use the 6'10" for drop shots, shaky heads, ned rigs.

I have some of the older bantam reels on my shelf. Those were nice reels back in the days. They're still pretty to look at. It would be like driving a car from the 70's or 80's compared to today's cars. There is just so much more refinement nowadays. And way more expensive too.

Manufacturers want to make the biggest profits they can. We all like the latest and greatest. We all want the best advantage to boat the most and biggest fish. That means we are willing to pay for it. Manufacturers know that. The more we are willing to pay, the more prices will go up. If we're willing to pay the prices they ask then why wouldn't they. I work for an automotive company. Each vehicle sells for three to four times the cost to build it. Could my company charge less for their vehicles? Yes. But if they customers are willing to pay then why not charge the higher prices.

I would go with the 7' med expride. I have that rod and it fishes like a true med action rod. I have both the expride rods you mentioned and both are great. I dont have the 7'3" zodias but I'm going to assume it has a softer tip to allow for the 1/8 oz lures. As far as distance, I'm not sure how much 3" will help. Im not really a distance caster. I'm more concerned about accuracy, since i fish a lot of docks and cover. To me, a lot of times distance has to do with line type and size. Also spool size and lure type and weight. I can't cast a weightless finesse worm like i can a senko, even though i may fish them the same way.

What year is your tracker 170?

I have the 7' med expride and had a stella fj c2500hgs on it. The reel weighs around 6.3 oz. I believe the vanford 2500 weighs about the same. It balances fine with that reel weight. It didn't feel tip heavy at all. I used mine primarily for soft stick baits like senkos. Good tip action and sensitivity.

Beautiful reel. I have the regular Conquest 50 and Calcutta 50TE. Will probably keep them forever.

There is probably some internal differences too. But I'm not a exsence owner so I'm not sure what those might be. I'm sure the $500 has shared Stella technology. I believe the CI4+ version was pretty much a blacked out stradic ci4+. This new BB version looks to be based off the current Sustain body. Probably much shared with the Sustain too.