FrnkNsteen

Agreed,,... I think if the fish are schooling and feeding on something particular, then it's important to match that hatch. If the fish are scattered, I think you need to give them something different that gets a reaction. For instance,... We were fishing down a shoreline up in Ontario for smallies and not having much luck getting a lot of bites. We came upon a series of points that opened up behind them into a grassy bay. We started to notice small fry skipping on the surface, but didn't know what they were or what might be spooking them, ... Until we saw one floating on the surface. They were 2.5 - 3" Northern Pike fry. We looked through what we had and found some 3.5" Mizmo Green Pumpkin Fizz tubes. Green pumpkin body with a smoky tail and blue & purple glitter. Starting flipping those tubes weightless around the rocks let them slowly settle down. You had to pay attention because they were just sucking them up. You would just feel a little weight on it and set the hook. The smallies went NUTs!! We were literally catching smallies on every cast. I counted 9 straight casts at one point. Seemed like the smallies were laying by the rocks ambushing the northern fry as they came out of that grassy bay. We just kept working all the rocky edges and continued to slam them for an hour or so until the bite just finally died off and quit.

I have a label printer and label the outside of all my boxes, but no way I am organized enough to keep them straight inside the box. I use a Plano Elite spinnerbait box to hold my jigs that has three rows, left is various regular jigs, middle row is swim jigs and right side is vibrating jigs.

I don't know about the BFS, but I CAN say I bought a Curado DC in the 8 speed and started kind of wishing I would have gotten a 6 spd. Brian (reel tech) at the original Tackle Trap location ordered me a main gear and pinion set for a 6spd so I could swap them out as desired. It wasn't very expensive. I think it was like $30-40. Mike at DVT could probably order them too. Now that I think about it,... Scorpion is probably JDM, but maybe a USDM model gear set would fit it.

I struggle with that too!! 😁 How do you choose with lots of helpful feedback?!?

Wow! That IS a deal on the BG! Nice! I've always noticed that about St.Croix and Loomis too! I have a few St Croix and Loomis in casting models. None in Spinning rods. Now that I think about it, I got a couple Phenix Feather in spinning on a good deal. The handle seats are so light on them they felt tip heavy. I moved a couple Stradic FLs to them to balance them out, so I guess I'm in the same boat!

I agree. I run as big of a reel as will balance the rod I am using it on. For instance, my favorite spinning rod I have right now is a 6'9" Fenwick Elite Tech Smallmouth rod that balances perfectly with a Vanford 3000. I LOVE that setup for wacky rigged 4" and 5" senkos! I have that same rod in a 6'3" that I use for tubes and the 3000 didn't sit quite as nice so I dropped down to a 2500 to balance that one. Both are perfectly balanced in my hand. In my smaller panfish rods I run lighter 2000 series reels.

Just my opinion, but if you have a 6'9" rod that needs an 8oz reel to balance it, something is wrong with that rod and I wouldn't have bought it in the first place. The 7'1" rod you mentioned is obviously better balanced if it is heavier and still balances with the lighter reel. I just choose to purchase lighter more balanced rods that work well with a lighter reel Not going to argue on some else's post. I am just of the opinion that, on a well balanced rod, smaller reels (2000 - 2500) typically balance better on a shorter rod, while my 3000's are typically on my longer rods. I like all my spinning rods to balance on my middle finger while holding them as I typically have three fingers in front of the stem.

No,... I moved the Zillion SV to a St Croix Legend Glass cranking rod I picked up. I have a bit of a problem with the Zillion brake dial where I bump it with my index finger while casting and accidently change the brake setting. For some reason the reel seat on the Legend Glass is shaped different and keeps my finger away from the brake knob. I use a lefty and It has to do with how I palm the reel while casting. My index finger wraps around the bottom of the front and bumps the brake dial. I move things around every once in a while and I think I have a nice old Daiwa TD Z 100ML throwing Whopper Plopper 90s on one of them and a old original TD Fuego with small spinnerbaits on the other one. That old silver and red Fuego looks pretty ugly on that purple Mojo, but they feel good together and it casts great!

I think the rod length does matter because of balance. Ive got 2000s, 2500s, and 3000 and I believe there are slight differences in weight and some balance better on some rods than others.

I have a friend who doesn't fish much, and when he does, it's usually with a spincast for panfish. He does occasionally use these to fish for Bass and calls them his "Super worm". He has decent luck with them occasionally. He typically just casts them out and. Slowlyvreels and twitches them back in.

Agreed,,.. I think Tackle Warehouse has them discounted for $169 right now. Just looked, and they still have them on clearance, but only have the 2000, 3000, and 4000 series left. 3000 series seems to work well with a 6'6" - 7' rod

Couple other options for you.... Since you got the Mojo for $120, ... You could take that extra $30 from your $150 rod budget and pick up one of the 3 Kistler Heliums that ALF currently has listed for $189. I think they had a "Light Medium Heavy" and a "Heavy medium heavy" listed in excellent condition Another option is ALF has a couple Ark Essence rods in their used section listed as Excellent condition, which usually means "Like new" for $144. I don't have an essence, but I do have a Tharp series Hammer that I really like. The Essence seems to be a little nicer setup with the same real seat except with cork. I have a couple of those Mojo MHMF Spinnerbait models and I agree with your choice on that for the first option of WP90, small chatterbaits and squarebills. I use mine for all those things. I even had a 50" muskie pick up the tail hook of a OG Slim on that rod. Had to take my time, but that rod and the Zillion SV I was using on it did a fine job of working it in.

I haven't dove into the rabbit hole too much yet. I did buy a Dobyns Sierra SUF740c I saw at a local shop and have a '20 Tatula SV on it with a Ray's spool I bought from someone on here and 6lb mono. Played around with it a little bit with light lures, but haven't spent much time with it.

I've got a friend who put it on his Lews rods that had the Wynn grips that had deteriated. He liked it, but I didn't care for it. I prefer cork. He prefers EVA or the stock Lews rubberized "Wynn" grips.

I have a Fury 703 and I like it. Might be a little light, but a 1/4oz bait with a plastic trailer would probably work ok. If you start jumping up to 3/8 or 1/2oz, it might get to be a little much. If I remember right, a 703c is rated 1/4 - 3/4oz, so keep total weight at 1/2oz or less and you should be ok. Just go easy on your casts and try it!

I've had it happen. We were up north fishing a Smallie lake in Ontario and the Mayflies were hatching. We started seeing the smallies jumping up out of the water after the hatching flies. I started throwing a clear Zara Puppy and they went nuts on it. I counted 3 times that a smallie clearly caught it as it was about to land and MANY times they hit it the ibstant it landed. That showed me that the fish CAN see out of the water! Wildest thing I had ever seen!! As for RH vs LH,.... I started fishing on my Dad's right hand spincast Zebco 202, through 808. When I started learning a baitcaster, they were all right handed. A number of years later, I started to see LH casting reels and I started wondering why I reel my spinning reels with my left hand and casting reels with my left. I bought a cheap Daiwa in LH years ago and didn't take long to get to like it. Most of my setups are LH reels these days, but I do have a handful of RH reels still. I can use either and cast with either hand, but prefer the lefty. It's whatever feels right to you. No wrong or right. I will say when on a trip and fishing all day every day, it IS nice to switch it up from time to time!

Not to mention if you ask a question on an old thread, then people complain that you are reviving old threads. Searches are handy to find information if just researching, but I have no problem with people starting new threads if they want. New solutions may be available now to old questions.

I believe that Scorpion MGL is on the larger Curado K frame, so you might want to check on that. Oh,... And don't disregard the SLX MGL,... Thay fish WAY above heir price. I have both the Curado MGL 71 and the SLX MGL 71 and I don't see much difference. Let me put it this way,.... I bought an SLX MGL first and liked it so much I bought a Curado MGL 71 thinking it would be better. There wasn't much difference. I now have 4 SLX MGLs and only the one Curado MGL 71.

Well,... If you are wanting to throw those little Rapala Originals in 1.5 and 2", you need a light enough rod ro load up with those weights or you will struggle to get any distance. Being able to load up a rod lets the rod help with the cast. See what those lures weigh and get a rod rated at or below that weight.

In my opinion, it is hard to beat a Daiwa Crossfire ($30) or Revros ($50) spinning reel on a Berkley Lightning Rod ($35) or Daiwa AirdX spinning rod ($50) . Not saying Daiwa is the only option, but I just happen to be impressed by the entey level Daiwa spinning reels. As for rods,... Both the Lightning rod and the AirdX are light and reasonably sensitive for their price. The only problem is you will probably want a Medium Light rod for those lures and I don't know if the Lightning Rod offers a Medium Light option.

Thanks guys. Figured with the listed weight I would fish it with jigs and worms like a MH and stay in the 3/8 - 1/2oz range with it. I have a lot of Dobyns and they call their "4" power rods a "Heavy" as well, so not a big deal. Thanks Tom... The comparison to Dobyns helped as I have multiple Dobyns 3, 4, and 5 rods.

Where? Everywhere I have looked has switched over to the fm model.

I have never really taken the plunge into Loomis rods. They always feel a little tip heavy to me in the store so I couldn't spend the money,.... other than a couple deals I got on a cheaper GL2 years ago and more recently a e6x my wife liked. I keep hearing you need to step up to the IMX Pro stage or above to appreciate them, but at $350 - $380, I have never felt like taking the chance with how they feel in the store. Well,.... I stopped by the local shop Friday and they had 30% off all in stock Loomis and had the IMX Pros initially marked at $325, which means I could take a chance on one for $227. I looked through what they had left and most were crankbait, paddletail or spinnerbait rods. I ended up choosing between a 852c and 854c JWR figuring if I want to check out their sensitivity and how they fish, I'd want a botton contact rod. My question is that with range listed on the rod of 5/16 - 3/4 I expected MH power. But when I registered it and looked at the specs on the website, it said Heavy power/Fast action. 3/4oz doesn't sound like a heavy power rod to me. How do you guys use a 854c? and what would you compare it to,.... on say a Dobyns line,... Maybe a 734c or 735c? 5/16 - 3/4oz puts me at a 3/8 jig or weight plus plastic to hit the midpoint of the range. Not what I would consider a Heavy. Curious.....

If they are bad enough that I don't want to put back with the others, I usually toss them. Or,... Throw them in a container together for others and use them when when casting around the yard for practice or checking setups.

To be clear,... I have never weighed my rigs either. Just going off online weight listings for my rods and reels.