FrnkNsteen

I only have two round reels still in use. I picked a couple very clean Shimano Calcutta 101's a couple years ago and liked them enough in their smoothness that I put them on a pair of Dobyns 736cb glass rods throwing larger bladed jigs. I honestly haven't used them a lot because I really don't find them as comfortable as a nice low profile reel. That doesn't mean I don't appreciate them though. They are very smooth and rigid in your hands! Everything else I have is a low profile of various brands and types.

I agree on that. We bought that E6X MBR 783 at Cabela's after my wife saw it and liked it. I currently have an older Daiwa T3 1016 on it because it seems the "Max Brake" setting on the 3D braking gives her a little extra help when needed. She likes it and we currently have a small Thundercricket on it that she was throwing while fishing smallies. Wouldn't have been my choice, but she said she liked the feel. I agree that I have never grown to really like that rod and would have gotten rid of it if she didn't like it and pick it out.

Ok @Jaybert,... So here is what I am seeing .... The MBR 783c rods I have vary a bit in how fast or moderate they are. I compared my MBR rods in GL2, E6X, and GLX to each other AND to the Megabass Levante Diablo Spec R. Each had a lure attached so I compared them by holding the lure out at arms length to my side, then loaded the rods to see how they loaded and how quickly they got into the backbone. The fastest was clearly the E6X with the majority of the load occurring in the first foot or so with about 5 eyelets bending before it transitioned into the straighter backbone. Next was the Diablo Spec with a bit over a foot of bend before transitioning to the backbone. Maybe 14-16;inches and transitioned around the 6-7th guide. Next was the GLX with about a foot and a half or 7-8 guides flexing before transitioning to the back one. Slowest, most moderate was clearly the older GL2. I was surprised how moderate it was as over a third of the rod (above the handle that is) flexed before transitioning to backbone. You could argue that it was nearly half, but let's just say better than 1/3. Kind of shocked me actually!! Not very scientific, but hope it helps. Bottom line is if you are hoping the Levante is more moderate than the MBR rods,... That may not be the case but would depend on what series of MBR you have. I don't have an IMX to compare. Both my IMX are JWR rods.

I like a Medium Heavy/Moderate Fast for throwing lipless cranks. Like mentioned above, I have my lighter ones on a Fury 705cb, but have also thrown them on a Mojo 7' MH/MF "Spinnerbait" model. My heavier ones get thrown on a discontinued Doomsday Tackle 7'3" MHMF I picked up. I put a Tatula CT Type R on there in 7.3:1 ratio that works great. Nice and smooth with good line capacity. The red of the Type R looks good on the retro red & creme colored Doomsday rod too.

I have the Diablo Spec R running spinnerbaits with an old Shimano 201E7 on it. I originally put it on there because the colors of both work so well together 😊😊, but then found I REALLY like how they work together. That E7 is very smooth and feels comfortable on it. I also have a few different versions of MBR783 rods. I think I have an older GL2, an E6X, and picked up a closeout GLX a year or so ago when the new models came out. I hadn't thought about how they compare though. I really like the Diablo Spec for the spinnerbaits. It is a little slower than my typical MH Fast rods. I think it would work well for a bladed jig. If I think of it, I will try to remember to compare them when I get home tonight and let you know my thoughts.

And think of it this way! NOW you have all that new open space on the new rod rack!! 😂

Sounds like the bait monkey has gotten into your head!! 😁😁 Been there!! The old,... "I'll find some use for it someday!!" 😜

I know people have mixed opinions on them, but the first time I fished a Whopper Plopper easily fits this criteria! This was back when they were fairly new. I had heard about them but hadn't tried them so I bought a couple of the size 90's before our summer Ontario trip. The first day I started throwing them up over the rocks, the smallies started EXPLODING out of the water after them. Had a BLAST that year fishing them and to this day, I ALWAYS have one tied on and ready. They don't always want it, but if they are watching the surface, it can still lead to an awesome day!! What's more fun than a nice Small mouth crushing a top water lure??

I have always struggled fishing crankbaits from shore because they always dig in as you are trying them to reel them back in. I use them fairly often when fishing from the boat because I can set my boat position as needed to work the baits at the depth I want and keep them in the strike zone more efficiently. Doing it from shore is another story though and I struggle with that as well. I've had much better luck with jigs myself. Brian's suggestion for bladed jigs is a good one though!! Those, I HAVE had good luck fishing from shore OR the boat

^^Agreed^^ I use a VERY small amount of Cals drag grease on all my carbon drags, but as @bulldog1935 said,.... A VERY minimal amount. I put a dab on the pads of my index finger and thumb and rub them together then tamp them on the drag to apply a very small film of grease. I just believe it aids in smoother startups without lowering the drag strength significantly. I don't run my drags cranked down fully anyway.

I have two old clear polycarbonate 3600 boxes that I keep some of my common items in safely, but the rest of mine are kept in their original packages as well.

Interesting... Both of mine are the hook right where it exits the Ned body. The rest of the bend and hook point just fell off leaving just the hook shank coming out of the jig to the start of the bend. Both were Zman Ned jigs. Standard 1/10oz if I remember correctly. Makes sense, but both mine were kept clean and dry on the rod rack in my garage. Mine rotted off in the area where it exits the bait just like you mentioned. They were the standard Zman ned jigs.

When the elaztech baits first came out and we're offered by (I think) Strike King 3X and Terminator, there were special clear polycarbonate or acrylic boxes that weren't affected by the material. Don't know if they even offer that anymore. I have never tried them in Plano boxes in fear of them damaging the boxes and turning into goo. The other concern I would have with keeping pre-rigged Neds and Nikko rigs is that I would worry about it eating the hooks. I left a couple ned rigs set up on a couple rods and when I came back to them, the hook had been completely been eaten away by corrosion over the winter. Don't know if that is normal, but both setups did it. I picked them up for some reason and when I tried to hook it back in the hook keeper, the whole hook point fell off.

I DID!! 😁😁 After reading @WRB-2.0 response, I found myself thinking about my casting motion and looking to where my hand was relative to my ear! 😂 He was right! 😁

I don't do a lot of BFS, but I do have a couple setups. One is a Dobyns 740SUF with a SLX BFS reel and the other is an older 7ft Doomsday Tackle 370BCF that I picked up used because it got good reviews in a couple articles I read. It currently has a Tatula SV with a Rays BFS spool in it I bought from someone on here. I wouldn't say I change my casting motion much. The only place I have used them so far is friend's ponds. The only change I have noticed is I found myself focusing more on keeping the casts nice and smooth with no herky-jerky motions that would lead to backlashes. I was throwing baits around the 1/8oz ranges. Small cranks and 1/8oz crappy jig heads with tiny twister tail grubs or paddle tail swim baits Both worked pretty well and was a blast for catching the nice bluegills, crappie and 1-3lb bass that I caught

I haven't tried an Expired glass, but I had a couple Legend Glass. Wanted to give them a chance and try to like them, but I just couldn't. I traded one off towards something else and the other, a 6'10" Medium is sitting on the consignment rack at a local shop right now Just not a fan!

I'm confused,... Are you asking if you should save them as "Collector" items? I only ask because I am always confused when people say they are afraid to use certain lures for risk of losing them. I have to wonder what other purpose they have, and why buy them if too scared to lose them. Anything in my tackle assortment is fair game for use. I save old lures that were my Dad's or something that have sentimental value in his old tackle box. I could also understand if something had value for collecting, but if that is the case,... My gut says save a couple, but beyond that,... Fish away!!

I have to agree with @WRB-2.0 on most of what he said. When I cast, my hand rarely, if ever goes behind my head, or even past my ear as Tom said, and my thumb is usually pointing at my head. As the cast goes forward, the hand mostly stays in this position and the spool is mostly standing on end with the axle vertical ( or close to it). When I used to cast right handed reels, the handle was facing up, now with my left handed reels, it is angled downward. The only area I differ, and seem to be an oddity, is I am palming the reel the whole time, usually with three fingers in front of the trigger. If I need a little extra distance, I MAY slide back to only having two fingers in front of the trigger, but I NEVER go back far enough to have only my index finger on the trigger. Not with my left hand reels anyway. If you think this is strange, you should see me casting right hand reels. If I really needed to zing it out there, I may hold it in my right hand with just my index finger on the trigger as Tom said (and how most do)... But many times, I keep it palmed in my left hand and either cast left handed over my left shoulder, or a hybrid grip with both hands where I am am still palming it and running the button with my left hand but using the right hand to support a hard cast from over my right shoulder. I must look like a sword fighter out there. But to quote the movie Princess Bride,.... "I know something you do not.... I am not left handed!!" 😁 The moral of the story is there are good basic techniques for casting, but we all have our differences that work for us. Start with the basics and experiment to see what works for you.

I have only upgraded bearings on a couple reels. The first was a Tatula CT Type R that I slipped and fell on damaging the handle and anti-reverse sleeve. Figured while I was getting the parts to fix it, I would also pick up a set of Hedgehog bearings to see how much difference it made. The other time was on an old TDZ Reel that was a little noisy on the cast and not casting real well. Dropped a set of Hedgehog bearings in there to try it out as well. In both cases, I don't know that I could really say I saw significant increases in distance, but it did seem a little smoother, or maybe "Easier" to cast. I guess I would say it just felt like it just took less effort to cast the same distance, ... And MAYBE allowed me to be a little more accurate since I didn't seem to have to cast as hard. Either way,... In my experience,... Don't expect HUGE differences! The stock bearings in these reels are pretty good! I don't know that I would do it again, JUST for the gains. I don't know that there is enough of a difference to justify the expense unless you already had to replace a damaged bearing for other reasons. Just my thoughts....

LOL!! Very true!!

I tried them, and REALLY wanted to like them, but the dang weights kept pulling off and they fell apart. Used them quite a bit on our last Canada trip... They worked pretty great until they fell apart, and unfortunately, that didn't take very long. I'll never buy them again.

I had a friend who loved those rods back in the day. Don't know much about them, other than he would look for them at different places when we were at various tackle shops.

I have never really tried to confirm line capacities of reels. I just fill my spools to a bit below the bevel and stop there. I guess if I were to make an educated guess, I'd say I am usually somewhere around 1/8" below the rim of the spool,... Maybe a bit less. Like @Jig Man I have started buying larger spools, at least on my common lines like 10lb & 30lb braid ( usually Suffix 832) and a few different sizes of Invisix ( I think I currently have larger spools of 12, 15, and 20lb). Big Game comes on larger spools too, but I don't like all the memory it has towards the bottom of the spool, so I typically start using the bottoms of the spools for backing and start a new one for main line.

I hadn't thought about needing to determine difference between lines before, but good advice. For me, I don't have that issue because all of my mono is low vis green and all my flouro is obviously clear. I can tell what type of line is on any of my reels from 10 ft away.

The largest non-braid line I use is probably 20lb flouro. I think I have it on 2 rods at the moment. One is Seagaur Abrazix and the other is Invisix. I do have a spool of 20lb Big Game, but don't know that I've got it loaded on anything. My largest mono is typically 15lb Big Game, or some 17lb Suffix Tritanium. I've found I kind of like it for a buzzbait or running large shallow spinnerbaits.