Oklahoma Mike

Braid to leader - Alberto Braid to hook or smaller bait - Palomar Braid to larger bait - SDJ or Trilene FC - Trilene or Palomar depending on bait Mono - Improved clinch

Diawa DX swimbait rod Megabass Wind Buster spinning rod Megabass Tequila Baccarac bait casting rod Shimano Twin Power (for the Wind Buster) Shimano Met DC (for the Baccarac)

Grabbed a bunch of these in various sizes and colors and can’t wait to try them out on their Scrum hook.

New Diawa swimbait rod I grabbed in the TW sale. Put an ExoPT 300 reel on it with 25# Defier Armilo.

I use snaps on crankbaits because I will often change lures numerous times for size or color. I use them on some topwater baits where I don’t see the action negatively affected, like crawlers or pencil baits. That’s the extent of my use of snaps. As for swivels, only on inline spinners to prevent line twist.

Materials have gotten lighter. Bearings have improved. Spool technology has gotten better. Better drags. Huge tech advances in some cases like Shimano’s DC reels. So yes, overall I’d say there have been some pretty significant advances. How much those things matter to you all depends on you. Certainly nothing wrong with an older reel that’s doing the job you’re asking of it, and in some cases they’re cool to have just for nostalgia’s sake.

I use some very similar and they work just fine. I do prefer screw locks for a lot of soft plastics because I find that I don’t tear them up quite as fast.

I lean pretty hard toward the Metatanium DC for a lot of those applications because I feel it’s a good all around, do-most-anything reel.

I know for sure some of the JDM sites had some in stock - maybe Japan Lure Shop. I will keep my eyes open and will drop a note here if I see one.

Not sure how they’d price match since the discount isn’t advertised on Shimano. What rod are you looking for specifically? I bet I’ve visited just about every online tackle store on the planet in the last couple weeks lol.

First shipment of various tackle ordered over the last couple of weeks. Super stoked about the OSP bag. First of my rods arrived. I have a Twin Power on its way from Japan for this bad boy.

meh, I don’t fish any of their jerkbaits but I’m also a bit of a tackle snob. However I do fish plenty of their crankbaits - pretty much any of the Crush baits - and I think they have some pretty solid plastics, particularly the Flush and the ridge worm.

Yep, I went back for seconds and ended up grabbing a tequila baccarac. Pro tip for the squeamish who want to see the adjusted total before paying - just select the PayPal option at checkout and you will be able to see the correct total there. You don’t have to pay there, can still go back and do regular checkout, but it’ll give you the chance to confirm the discount.

I got two. Apparently I’ve signed up under multiple emails. For those asking… one of the items in my cart was a Diawa rod. No discount shown in the cart, but the discount was applied when they charged my card.

FC: Tatsu. For a budget line, Sniper. Coploly: Defier. Budget option, YZH.

Out of those I would definitely go with the ML rod with the 2000 size reel, but I’d get some much lighter line on that reel.

Curious, what are you throwing it on? I think the spybait is one of the most misused baits. Most people I see are either throwing it on way too heavy a line or trying to retrieve it too fast.

1-Minus as mentioned above is a great suggestion. What kind of bottom? Rocks or wood where you can run a regular square bill? Grass where you can rip a lipless? Why only hard baits? How about tossing out a weightless paddletail or a fluke?

This is what I do with every buzzbait as soon as I take it out if the package: - Slide off the rivet and blade - Use an awl to work the holes in the blade slightly larger (could use a drill if you have right size bit) - Use a file to rough up the edge of the blade that meets the rivet - Reassemble, but this time making sure the blade is forward as far as possible, then cut the wire leaving about 1/4” to bend back up (put as much space as possible between the hook and end of the arm) Sounds like a lot but only takes a few minutes each. This will result in a buzzbait that has plenty of “squeal” and also eliminates 99% of issues with short strikes. I typically start with a Cavitron, but occasionally I’ll get sucked in by something “cool” looking.

Topwater and Fall moving baits still working fine here, but for me in colder water: Jerkbaits (good quality/properly tuned ones for colder water that will stay put) Senko Dropshot Hair jigs I never stop throwing a topwater, mostly out of stubbornness, so I will have a popper or maybe even a crawler tied on as well

likewise. All the rest of the baits posted in this thread are pretty regular producers for me.

Not sure how you came to that conclusion - if all of my reels were pre-PF era then I’m not sure I’d have any complaint. They were once a very dependable reel but have since gone downhill. I think I mentioned here the other day that I recently had to rob parts off of two other reels just to keep one operational.

I own several Pflueger spinning reels and pushed them here and elsewhere for years as the best value in spinning reels on the market. But they’ve had a lot of QC issues since they got bought by pure fishing and I’ve gotten to the point that I’ve sworn off buying any more. So I’d have to say go with the Diawa.

"I work in the medical field." Nurse tech or sales? I'm sure you must realize that you linked a slide show from some random dude that is literally labeled "Theory" and called it scientific evidence. Shapes absolutely do have an impact on how light is refracted through an object, but shapes do not negate the differences between materials - light absolutely does pass through differing materials in a different manner - i.e., a cylindrical piece of flouro will land in a different spot on the refraction index than a cylindrical piece of mono. That is an absolute fact.

Examining this statement should tell you everything you need to know... we are just not going to agree on this one.