mrpao

I agree. My creek and river combos are older shimano spinning combo all around 6'6" with 1000 size reels. They usually get beat up pretty good due to all the rocks and sand. They also get dunked when wading in the water. They have held up pretty decent over the years though. I usually carry three combos with me if I'm bass fishing. Small worm or plastics. Small spinnerbait and a small jerkbait. That usually fills whatever I come across.

Everyone likes something different. I prefer at least 7:1 or faster just because if I miss a blowup I can quickly reel it back in and cast it back out.

I believe the LT series are the new versions put out by Daiwa. They are definitely lighter in weight. But I'm not sure about tougher. The frames are lighter and seem to flex more, especially on the larger sizes. I dont have any of the Zion based reels. I hear they are still pretty rigid.

Awesome looking area.

I tried frozen mullet before with little luck. But it could just be the lakes I fish. Each water system is different. I'm sure catfish closer to coastal waters would probably not turn down mullet.

Spooling the line on with uneven pressure can cause it to do that. Try dragging the line out in your yard or behind the boat and reeling it in with a steady retrieve and pressure. Extra washer or less washers usually only work if the line is bunching up towards the front or the rear of the spool.

They are screw in and can be changed out with other shimano knobs. You can also replace the bushings with bearings if you desire. I swapped out the small knobs on two of my Sedona 2500 to the T knobs. I did have to add an extra shim to make the knobs have less side to side play.

I use my expride 7'2" med hvy for several different techniques. Jigs, Texas rigs, Carolina rigs, chatterbaits, buzzbaits, and several others. To me, it's a good all purpose rod. Its not too stiff but not too soft.

The $530 reel I believe is magnesium while the $270 is CI4+. The magnesium body one is suppose to be a much better reel. More solid and smooth from what I here. The CI4+ version is basically a blacked out Stradic CI4+ with a different composite spool.

Sometimes the new reels are under greased. I've had a few lately that I had to add more oil to get them to smooth out.

Do you use a leader? The catfish teeth maybe fraying the braid and making weak while you are fighting it. I usually use a thick mono or fluro leader. Even then I have to check the leader often for cuts and scrapes.

I had both rods in the 7'2" med hvy. The curado is slightly more sensitive and seems a hair lighter. I didnt like the reel seat on the curado rod. It felt a little wide to me. For spinnerbaits and chatterbaits, the exage works well. In fact that's my chatterbait and one of my spinnerbait rods. I have both of my 7'2" paired up with shimano calcutta 100d's. I also have the 6'10" med exage paired up with a conquest 50 for small spinnerbaits. These rods are hard to beat for moving baits.

Not sure if replacing the main shalf bushing with a bearing would be an upgrade or not. You'll never notice the difference. I think a 90mm carbon fiber handle would be my first upgrade. It would lighten up the reel slightly and look cooler

SLX would be a good choice. The colors would match.

I use braid on spinning all the time with no wind knot issues. I usually use #15 power pro on a 1000 size shimano reel. Do you close the bail by hand or use the reel's trip machinism? With braid I usually do it by hand to pull the line tight before I start the retrieve.

Looks like some good eating there. I use to throw a white floating worm for them along the shore of ponds. They are fun to catch.

Thats a female bullfrog in your picture. On the males, the ear drums are larger than the eyes. Also males have a yellow throat. Males usually dont have the spotted patterns either. They normally have a green head with a brown/greenish back.

The reel line capacity is pretty low, especially if you put #20 mono on there. I would go with a bigger reel or maybe spool that 13 fishing with braid to get more capacity.

Sometimes the seller measures the entire length of the handle from end to end. The correct measurement should be from center post to center post. I have asked them before how they measure the handle if I'm not certain. The handles from Rays studios are usually really good. They measure theirs the correct way. The Kawa handles are pretty decent too. And they take daiwa knobs.

Most of the Lews with 5.XX gears have the deeper spool with no holes. For some reason Lews thinks that if you have the low gear ratio, you are going to be bombing lures out there. I have swapped them out with the shallower spools before.

I had the same reel bunch up with certain lines and spool up fine with others. Try taking it off and respooling it again.

I would say quality is close to the calcutta B series. I had the 100 size Luna at one time. It was a decent reel. No complaints.

What color filler did you use? Looks original.

Being an older reel I bet that part is no longer available from shimano. Some of the other online parts suppliers may have it. Check I see if some of the 1000 size share similar parts. The 750 and 1000 size are pretty close and may share the same parts. Look for a similar frame style. I had a 1500 size jdm shimano reel and my friction ring went bad. I was able to replace it with a 1000 size ring. Worked like new again.

Enjoyed the video. I have some of the same rods from shimano and megabass. Most of my reels are shimanos though. I only have three Lews reels- Pro TI, Hypermag and older Speed spool TSHS. Like you, I enjoy trying new tackle out to see if they fit my needs. If not, then they get sold or traded.