JustJames

nothing wrong with well balance setup but if you got a featherweight setup that also well balance it is a win win situation. For me I find the less, I fight with tip heavy or uncomfortable weight, the more sensitive I got especially when working with lighter lure. This is my preference, I hold the rod with three fingers in front and working the lure with slight twist of wrist, the less weight make it much more comfortable. I even add a few quarters at the butt end to make it balance at 45 degree tip up on my index finger because that how I mostly use spinning setup. I find myself using spinning more once I got the right ones, weight, balance and smoothness. It is the nature of human who always find the best suit for them, so I don’t think you overthinking if you can afford more. As of now I’m happy with my setup ~3oz rod with 5.3oz reel.

I don’t use reel to balance the rod and as @WRBmentioned if your rod is well balance, any reel should be fine and I agreed lower overall weight of the combo, would definitely more pleasant to fish with. All my spinning rod are about 2.5 to 3.5oz all of my 2000 size reels pair with those rods nicely. I also using 2000 size reel and I don’t feel them inadequate at all for bass fishing.

Finally installed new gear on my beloved Curado 70, missed the pure distance, super comfortable and raw power. I guess I give Shimano one last chance.

This ^^^ is my go to, cheap and very effective, caught a bunch of “slab” with this slider pair with pain 1/16, 1/24 head. If I wanna get a little more fancy, keitech 2” easy shiner or 2.4” megabass dark sleeper.

My wife gonna be proud off me this year. Only Black Friday related to fishing, I took advantage off was free shipping from Shimano for a Curado 71 gear set. I feel richer already ???

We do have one, I have seen him swimming once and a few ppl have caught him. This is one of the pictures came up when google search and definitely from our lake.

It is really depends on the line type and size as well as spool capacity. For example your Tatula SV only have line capacity of assumeable 14lb FC line @100yds. If you use anything bigger like 15lb Copolymer, you would get maybe 80-90yds. At that point I’m not gonna bother backing, beside most of filler spool come with 200yds spool anyway. let say my zillion sv (the same spool capacity as your Tatula) I use 15lb FC line no backing. At full cast of 3/8 jig I only have about 1/4 spool of line left. My alphas SV TW while less capacity but get almost 1/4 full of backing because I use only 8-10lb FC line. backing with braid or mono? Typically mono is the way to go unless you plan to take advantage of weight saved for casting light lure >1/4oz and plan to backing half of spool. Other than that braid wouldn’t give you much benefit but you might have problem line slipping.

Never done that when cleaning reel, unless the reel need new line. If the reels gonna be stored for awhile I might use some line conditioner.

Thanks. My Ewg hook is Gamakatsu. My Neko/wacky hook is VMC. My twisted lock hook is Mustad. My dropshot hook is roboworm rebarb hook. All thing considered, size, hook up ratio, price and convenience of getting them.

Last weekend got the whole lake by ourselves. My wife and I took the boat out for a quick run and to be part in a production of Gotham Garage (by a friend requested). This is my only fishing hole and don’t plan to move or fish anywhere soon.

The coast head lamp is the best. Mine have option with red and green light with separate buttons, (easy to toggle). The bright light is focus able and super bright. It take 3 AAA battery and last pretty long time. The green is super bright, and plenty to re trying the knot/unhook the fish

Same as most everyone else. I fish a lot at night. I only use green or red light for re-tie and unhook the fish. I’m not worry about spooking the fish with light but those bugs are super annoying with bright light. Backlash can happen a lot but a little stronger brake should help. I don’t know about you but I can feel the spool spin decelerated after maximum speed that when my thumb start to lay on top of spool. My problem at night would be wind and cast too far onto the shore ???.

I’m not sure how old is your reel, but my first 6500c3 I used 30+ years ago have two pin centrifugal brake on spool.

I’m not sure if two models are slow sink but XR110 slow float? Play with two smaller rear hooks might help it become less sink.

Another model to consider is Zillion SV TW, especially if you like Tatula. Yes Alphas with regular SV spool control better than SV boost spool but with heavier lure (your case) and a little more brake, the Zillion should be able to skip quite as well. The reason I say Zillion, because coming from Tatula, zillion is closer in physical reel size and line capacity. The alphas is pretty small reel with narrow spool, you might have a hard time controlling. Zillion you can comfortable spool with 15lb FC and can bomb cast when you need distance. The price is about 60 bucks different, I think it is worth considering.

I assumed you mean 2021 Zillion SV TW 1000(100g). No it is not considerably bigger but more like fatter and taller over all. If you wear S-M gloves, the zillion will feel a little bit full but still comfortable for finesse type fishing. If you wear M-L gloves the zillion will feel just perfect. Too bad I accidentally deleted all old images. Think of alphas SV TW as Curado 70 for comparison. If you ask me, I prefer 70, bantam and Alphas over zillion but if you need line capacity, the zillion is not too shabby.

This ^^^ and just want to add. The shallow spool version is not true BFS equivalent just hold less line (both about 12.x grams spool). Regular spool might hold about 80yds of 10lb USA Copolymer and shallow version is half of that. Another different but not important is handle, shallow version come with silver/gray handle and spool instead of black. If you plan to use 6lb Copolymer or 8lb FC for finesse, the shallow version is good and might help you control light lure better from total spool weight with line.

I own only 3 spinning setups for bass but my usage is still 95 to 5%. I only use spinning for specific technique but my wrist is kind of act up so I can’t really shake the worm.

Nice, where you get yours? After seeing, that reel test guy, I checked JLS and all gone, anywhere else still on December schedule, even email Digitaka for ETA with no reply yet. I must’ve to admit after seeing the reel (from that reel test guy). This is one interesting DC reel and don’t mind owning one myself. Do I need DC reel?, nope, but just for a change and to learn different systems why not????. It is still on 200i frame but with some modification to narrow the width down to 70 size, not a bad move. The most interesting to me is 6.8oz i-DC5 equipped, unheard off and very tempting indeed. The MGLiii spool with 16 grams weight is quite nice but I don’t think gonna benefit ME much. I spooled 10lb hybrid line about 100 yds on my CQ 101DC and can cast 3-5 grams weight free rig comfortably. Being 70 size spool, might fit 75-80yds make total spool weight even less and should make casting that weight range even easier. It is very good candidate reel indeed for those that want light line, light weight DC reel for some challenge. Again this is my conclusion to a friend, with bottom line of getting one for him. For myself, I don’t know but might be a nice pair to this if I ever want “right hand” DC reel.

I might be wrong but I prefer 15lb FC when fishing from shore and shallower. The stretch help me working the jig around rock easier. I also have one rig with 30lb 832 braid. I use that mostly on kayak or boat dragging in deeper water.

Just one for dinner caught about 6 this morning.

You have a ton of options and ton of opinion base on individual experience, mostly whatever they use without comparison with others. I have tried 5-6 different spinning rod in these price range. My ideal spinning rod is light weight, well balance and exceptional sensitivity. Majorcraft Nanoace, super soft tip, super light weight, good for dropshot, Ned rig wacky rig, weightless worm and light Texas rig. Daiwa Tatula, also light weight, soft tip with lots of backbone, good for shaky head, Neko rig, Senko. Shimano Curado (new model), a little bit stiffer and heavier blank compare to first two, but balance quite well good for all around.

I would call it one of the toughest, cheapest and easiest to maintenance. I use mine for big catfish (10-15KG) and inshore. Still have two, 6500 and 5600 with thumb bar release.

If you want to be true to Daiwa, you can either get SLP power cork knob (not cheap) or just order full handle assembly for 2018 zillion HD direct from Daiwa USA (this way you get Eva knob plus 100mm handle)

Typically steez should have two bearings per knob, it’d be better to add another bearing but bushing works too but might require some shim. and yes it catches plenty of fish. Daiwa reel with Shimano knob on Shimano rod. Think out of the box.