The Maestro

The Bantam is still a VERY good casting reel. The little bit of extra distance you might get with another reel isn't worth the trade off in refinement and quality you'd get with the Bantam in my opinion. I've never heard of anyone being disappointed with their decision to buy one.

Well Shimano's using the Bantam platform for the new Metanium so that should tell you something. I used my Bantam last year for senkos so long casts weren't really a huge priority but I can see why it's important if your fishing from the bank. Maybe you could hold out and fork over a little more dough for the new Met? Best qualities of the Bantam with what should be improved casting distance.

Any of you guys own or use both of these rods? How do they compare? Which would you consider to be the better utility rod? Talking about the straight graphite Expride here not the glass version.

Yeah I'm a big fan of Shimano gear but I'm also very particular about the action of rods for specific applications. It's a bit less of a gamble with reels but rods can vary a lot and I prefer a faster action with a hard hitting backbone for pitching in the weeds, which is what I'm doing most of the time if I'm fishing for largemouth.

I have this rod and it's very nice for jerkbaits and topwaters. It was designed with a shorter butt section.

Thanks. That's what I've heard too. I've also heard the Adrena's are a bit softer and more parabolic than some people were used to. I guess when you're trying to make a super light blank you have to compromise a bit on the stoutness or the type of action that really hits hard when you set.

Have you used the 7'3" MH? Curious as to what their "regular fast" action fishes like.

Edit - already answered

That little back up anti-reverse piece can get loose to where it doesn't grip the gear-like piece that it slides onto. It can be fixed by pinching the 2 triangle "ears" together so it has some grip and doesn't just hit the frame to make that clicking noise.

It basically just looks like a magnesium Bantam. Not that that's a bad thing. I absolutely love my Bantams and would love one of these for my Expride. I just wonder how much more they're going to charge for probably ~1oz less weight than the Bantam.

Looks like about the same size as the Bantam with the line guide a bit further away. Curious to know what other differences there are.

Are there any engineers or fabrication experts here? I did a bit of CNC many moons ago and was trying to figure out how they made the one piece frame. Is it machined from a solid block or do they use a mold?

It was just a guess. Calm down.

They probably did the core solid body in magnesium to keep the weight down and kept the bigger frame and spool capacity to differentiate it from the Bantam. Maybe added a couple of bearings more than the Bantam also.

I'm always surprised in these threads that more people don't recommend Shimano rods.

I'd like to get better at horizontal presentations/moving baits/covering water. I rely too much on fishing vertical and this messes me up when the wind picks up and boat control and accuracy becomes difficult.

The nature of your questions/probing leads me to think that you were either tasked with trying to get this information from your employer or you're trying to build your own rod/blank business.

I use my Bantam XG for senkos and it handles them with zero issues. As far as I can tell the only real advantage to the Met is lighter weight but that would mostly be negated by swapping the gears.

Shimano Cumara (1st gen) 6'8" MH Fast Bantam MGL XG 30lb yellow Power Pro Can't imagine ever finding a better (baitcasting) combo for senkos in the places that I fish them. The rod action is perfect for short range pitches as well as longer casts. The power is more than adequate for setting hook and fighting big (5lb+) fish.

I tried snelling for a couple of seasons and went back to using a palomar. Really don't think the snell knot improves your hookup ratio. I really feel better about trying directly to the eye.

I don't think a complete tear down is really necessary. Some guys probably do it because they just enjoy taking stuff apart but I've always maintained my reels by just opening them up and cleaning the gears with methanol and a tooth brush. Cleaning any excess grease from the inside and applying a small amount of fresh grease to the main gear and a tiny drop of oil in a few spots. I learned from the Shimano video a few posts up.

I remember having this conversation with an employee at Bass Pro a few years ago. Eventually they would reach a limit on how light they could go. Then they would switch from talking about how light their reels are to talking about *insert latest industry trend here*. In all fairness though. The Bantam is to me at least the nicest reel I've ever handled. I wonder if they'll be coming out with an updated version soon. If they do I just hope they don't make any stupid changes just for the sake of change. I especially hope they don't make it lighter.

Where did you get this information that Shimano designed these reels to be used with all 4 brakes on? The reels are made to be adjustable according to the situation. I used my Bantam all summer with either 1 or 2 internal brakes and the dial set at 2 and could count on one hand the number of times I had issues.

It's your lucky day. Just need to convince the seller to ship to you. He's been trying to sell this rod for quite some time so it might be worth a shot. https://www.kijiji.ca/v-fishing-camping-outdoor/hamilton/shimano-baitcaster-dropshot-rod/1468760401