CFDoc

The sweet beaver and yo mama baits in 3-4” form make great jig trailers for skipping applications. The flatness and high density are great for long skips. I’d say the tungsten arky style jig head with the beaver bait trailer is probably the best skipper out there. I can get those really long skips where it’s like the bait is walking constantly on the surface very consistently with this setup.

I use Beast Coast Tungsten and Siebert Outdoors Tungsten jigs. Both are in the $5-6. I have nothing but good things to say about both of them.

I saw you mention a crank bait and assumed it may have been a diver of the heavier type. But if you’ve got two Mets and they behave differently, then you definitely don’t need us to tell you somethings wrong. Send it to DVT or Reel-ex and get it checked out.

I have a handful of both JDM and USDM Mets. I would not consider heavy cranking a strength of this reel in any model. Having said that, tell me more details about rod, line, and bait setup and I will see if I can recreate the problem with one of my Mets.

What about the Daiwas/Shimanos made by Doyo et al.? lol

You should be careful regardless. All of the OEMs have had their duds. They’ve all also had their share of big time winners. The fact remains, $150 puts you in one of the widest groups of reel offerings where you’re getting about the same performance from everybody.

This cannot be said enough. The pretentiousness towards mid ranged Shimano/Daiwa is almost always based on false narratives that just will not die.

At the beginning of this year, I was watching some Gerald Swindle videos talking about how 20 rods/reels on a boat deck rigged to fish from 1 ft to 99 ft was not the sign of a good angler. It was a sign of confusion. So I pulled out all my gear and laid it all out. What I found was 18 rod/reel combos that I could not even begin to make sense of what they were all for or why I even had that many. I realized Swindle was right; I was a confused angler. My product brands included just about every rod/reel manufacturer found on the Tackle Warehouse Manufacturer page. It was a mess. After months and months of testing and really thinking about how to simplify my fishing and make sense of the gear I needed; I settled on 10 rod/reel setups. Rods: I settled on 5 Falcon Experts and 5 Poison Adrenas Reels: I settled on 5 Metanium (2020 models) and 5 Lews SLP variant reels (3 Hyper Mags and 2 Custom Lites) I have to say, I hated seeing a lot of my gear go to Swap & Sells, but my fishing has been so much more enjoyable and simple to figure out how to attack a given day. It's so much easier to know that if I need a long casting or finesse setup, I reach to the left side of my deck and grab a Metanium. And if I need a pitching, skipping, flipping, etc. setup, I reach to the right and grab a Lews. And now for some showing off. Here's a little pic I took today of a good many of my combos laying on deck. I hope I don't get banned but that is a Lews on an Adrena lol. It's probably my favorite setup at the moment.

For me, shortening the rod and starting with the easy skipping baits on braid helped me out. So if you have a 6'6" - 6'10" M/MH rod, you can start there. Good baits include "heavy" soft plastics like senkos, paddle tail flukes, flat-backed soft plastic swim baits of any kind really. I also found adding nail weights to these baits make things better. The physics of skipping is just like skipping rocks. So think heavier, flatter profile baits. Braid helps because it usually doesn't backlash as much as mono/flouro so you won't be spending as much time pulling backlashes out. Finally, you need to practice "roll casting". For me, it's the exact same motion as skipping a rock. Your sidearm swing with a rolling palm is very similar to skipping rocks, just think about doing that with your reel. From there; practice, practice, practice, practice. There's no shortcut for it.

More than likely, a much easier price to stomach.

I would like to know this as well.

Reels have gears, it’s just a fact of life that, if you use them, they will at some point make noise. I have a handful of 2020 Shimano Mets and the one I have been using several times per week since early this year got noisy on me the other day. A little oil and she was back to normal. It happens though even to the flagships.

Good point. p111, where did you order from if you don't mind me asking? Dan Isaac will work on JDM reels FWIW.

Sounds like any other Shimano.... I kid. I kid. That is NOT normal and there’s definitely an issue with how that reel is operating. You could try contacting Shimano USA and talk to them to see about a fix. Or you could send it to Dan Isaac at reel-ex but that would more than likely be on your dime.

IMO, the $125-$150 range reels are in that sweet spot where Pure Fishing, Shimano, and Daiwa all offer about the same performance for the price. As such, you’re going to find ergonomics and overall feel in your palm as driving factors for your decision. If you like Lews shapes reels, that means you would probably like Abu Garcia as well.

It’s been a loooong time since I’ve handled an NRX. But I’ve got 5 adrenas in my arsenal right now and I don’t miss the NRX’s a bit. Even for sensitivity applications.

The met knobs have 2 bearings, both the same size, per knob.

I got extremely lucky in finding some USDM-sized knobs on another site's swap & sell forum. However, one of my JDM met's still has the smaller knobs on it. I will probably replace them one day though. As far as spool size and running out of line, my experience has been that with 10, 12, & 15 pound diameter line this has not been a problem. Even with 1/2 oz aerodynamic baits. With 20lb line and aerodynamic baits, I can absolutely cast down to the last few loops of the spool. This would be with something like 1/2oz tungsten on a speed craw and things like that. Chatter baits I haven't had an issue with it because I find the big blade on chatter baits to flap around on most casts and cause a good bit of aerodynamic drag. I also haven't had the issue with any crank baits I've tried thus far. But I don't do much deep cranking.

Had this rod many moons ago and also found the tip a bit fast for skipping. Seemed to give an inconsistent release for me where the bait would sometimes end up a good bit to the right of where I was aiming. I will give this rod a lot of credit though for convincing me I needed shorter rods to master skipping.

I have that exact same adrena and I completely quit using it as a skipping rod myself. My go-to skipping rod for 3/8 oz chatter baits is now the 6’10”MH Falcon expert. It’s perfect for me and I rarely don’t get a perfect skip out of it. For 1/2 oz chatter baits I use the 6’10”H Falcon expert. It’s a sweet rod for that purpose but nothing tops the MH with a 3/8 oz setup. It’s magical.

I’m all tungsten now as I like the smaller profile. Especially for punching. Also, maybe it’s just me but I just don’t lose that many weights year after year. I probably have 4 or 5 bullet weights in each of the common sizes that have lasted me years and years. So I don’t see the cost as being that out of control for me. For jigs, I find the tungsten skips better for me. Also, tungsten jigs can be bought for $5-6 per jig which is pretty much the same price as premium lead jigs.

Thanks. Ordered a bunch.

So the new stealth blade jackhammer has been tearing them up for me on this fall Shad pattern. So much so that I’ve slap worn out the skirt on a green pumpkin Shad and it needs to be replaced. Anybody have experience replacing skirts on jackhammers? Any particular brand fit better or last longer than others? Thanks in advance.

Kinda what I figured. Just wasn’t sure if the new offerings from any of the premium brands would be on the lighter side. Thanks for the response though.

My current setup for punching 1-2 oz. baits is a 7’4” XH Falcon expert. Given all the new rods out there since I purchased the expert, I’m curious what other ~7.5 ft punching sticks are out there that might be lighter than my current setup. I’m talking light as in it weighs less than the expert. Anything from megabass?