mrpao

How heavy of an action is the rod going to be? My reel choice would be a baitrunner type reel. Either shimano baitrunner, daiwa emcast or penn liveliner. It will make bait fishing easier. You dont have to always pay attention when fishing and you dont have to worry about the combo getting pulled into the water. The size of the reel depends on the power of the rod.

What size bass tracker? I ask that because if its a smaller boat then the deck size would be my main issue. I know some of the older boats didn't have the biggest decks. Not sure how feasible it would be to make the deck bigger if needed.

Most of my creek fishing is now for trout but I understand where you are coming from. My creek rods are two pieces and around 6' at max. Even then, i still end up with the tips hitting branches and leaves now and then. All are ultra light rods. I have had luck with daiwa presso, spinmatic and okuma celilo. No tips broken yet. My reels have been up until recently, daiwa QG 750 series and shimano Sahara 500. Last year i tried out the piscifun carbon x 500 size. I do know the daiwa and shimano can take quite a few dunks and keep on ticking. I'll have to see how well the carbon x holds up this year.

Other than Berkley Sensation the other lines you mentioned are also on the thicker side. Thicker line and colder weather usually results in more memory.

Many slugs apparently have pretty nasty tasting mucous. That's their defense system. Most creatures wont touch them.

I really wanted to like the P5 X Bites but the trigger was the deal breaker. I couldn't grip it comfortably with the short trigger. It would dig into my finger and when i set the hook i felt like I didn't have as much control. If it had a better trigger i would have added more of the P5 series to my lineup. I do have the Landsat and Baby Plugging, which i like. The handle took a little bit of getting use too but now i like it. I hope Megabass comes out with more spinning models.

I dont care. If the fish are biting a beetle spin with a yellow mister twister grub, then thats what I'm throwing. I'll give the fish whatever they want.

Definitely looks like a Mann's stretch to me.

What part of the country and what species of bass do you mainly target?

I only have the 7' med light Zodias and it's a good rod for lighter lures. I do have the 6'10" expride med light, but not sure how it compares to the Zodias in similar length. The actions of both my rods are similar and can use the same lures. It's a matter of if you want a longer or shorter rod.

I will say, I'm not to pleased at the spinning rod handles. Shimano has gone to the forward grip design like most daiwas. I'm not a fan since I dont grip the handle with most of my fingers in front of the reel foot. I guess I'll just stick with my old models.

My biggest issue with my current bantams are the weight. Since shimano didn't pit the bantam on a diet, I really see no reason to pick up the new model. I wish it would have dropped at least an oz. Then I would be interested. I would love to see the new curado 150 mgl in a 5:1 gear ratio for crankbaits.

Looks like a white to me from the coloration. But again a white is a type of bullhead. Probably a male with a big head.

The shimano zodias would be a great match for this reel.

Thats my only complaint about the megabass casting rods. The short trigger is not comfortable to me. I dont feel like i have as much control over the rod, especially on hooksets. Therefore I no longer own any of their casting models

They are two different reels and the spools are different. The Calcutta 50 is a small work horse reel. The Conquest 50 was a refined thing of beauty. Both reels had a very poor drag system. Definitely needed carbon drag washers in both models. I still have both reels in the JDM version as well as the Calcutta TE 50 GT. It was the US version of the Conquest 50 but not as refined.

I have only owned the Nanoace in casting versions. The are very lightweight and nicely built. They do fish a little lighter than their ratings but that was fine by me. I usually use lighter gear. They are nice rods at their price point. Recently picked up a finetail stream rod to fish inline spinners. Nicely built and pretty lightweight in the hand.

One thing that's not going up is my pay. I guess I'll just have to buy less this year.

That's some old school coolness

I thought i was one of the few who does this. Been having decent luck doing this recently with the cooling water temps.

Adding another shim might flatten the line out even more. On some of my reels, I've had to add two to three shims to smooth out the line. Sometimes, certain lines have more issues than others. I've had to add and subtract shims depending on the line i put on the spool.

To me, it feels very solid. Alot like the metanium and bantam. Very smooth with very little play.

I'm probably in the minority, but I prefer lower gear ratio spinning reels. To me the lower gear ratio has less resistance and forces me in fish alittle slower. I feel that I tend to fish too fast and slowing down helps me catch more fish. If given the choice, I'll normally choose the lower gear ratio and smaller reels. A smaller spool also aids in less inches per turn.

Very impressive lineup. Probably one of the better ones posted in a while.

I have found that with just about all of my daiwa reels need a shim or two for even line lay. It's pretty much automatic now- whenever I get a new daiwa spinning reel, I go ahead and add a shim before I put any line on it. Usually when my shimano spinning reels, no shims are ever needed. Every once I awhile i will have to add a shim to a shimano, but its not common.