The Maestro

I wouldn't use a medium powered rod for flipping weeds. I have a mh that I use but it was designed specifically as a flipping stick.

I liked 832 but prefer original PP. Last year I tried PP Maxquatro and prefer it to either in applications that don't call for heavier braid. The 50lb is so ridiculously thin and manageable. I picked up some 20lb for spinning this year.

If your reason to stay away from rods made in China is because you want to support American workers that's one thing. But if you don't want them because of quality concerns I'd say your doing yourself a disservice. For example the Shimano Expride line would probably fall into exactly the "bang for buck" category you're looking for.

I've been using braid exclusively for years but I was primarily targetting largemouth. This year I really got into fishing smallies and almost by fluke started catching them by the same way I fish for largies - flipping creature/craw baits and jigs - just in different areas more suitable for smallmouth. I expanded on this pattern with the only real differences being thinner braid (50lb PP MaxQuatro - stuff is ridiculously thin diameter) and lighter rods and I caught so many fish. Next year I'm probably going to go straight braid on a drop shot as well.

Your post doesn't really make sense and contradicts itself. On the one hand you say rod technology changes faster but on the other hand you say your 25 year old rods perform as good as today's rods according to the guy you sold them to. Personally I think the rod is more important but to say reel tech hasn't improved as much as rods, I don't think is accurate. There isn't an old school reel that can even come close to the current high-end reels from Shimano and Daiwa. And I'm not talking about DC or SV. I'm talking about the overall precision and refinement. As for rods I don't think there have been anywhere near as dramatic improvements over the last 10 years or so.

6'6" Heavy Shimano Beastmaster. I think it was rated fast action but it's a noodle compared to today's fast actions as well as being way under powered.

I'd bet even the pros have a collection of rods they only use for fun fishing. If I was a hardcore tournament guy I wouldn't risk my collection of no longer produced rods to that kind of abuse. Sure I could still break them fun fishing but it's less likely than with all the transporting and boat flipping fish you'd be doing in tournaments.

I have this rod and it's got a really nice action for those applications.

Line capacity isn't really a concern when you're primarily making short little pitches and roll casts. These casting techniques are also where the MGL's advantages become most apparent since you aren't using the energy of the rod to really load up and sling the bait out there.

So to make your point about how you don't need state of the art fishing gear to catch big bass you used your story about how you used state of the art fishing gear (for that time) to catch your biggest bass?

Surprised you didn't figure this out sooner tbh.

I run straight braid on everything but my drop shot setup. I use yellow and green Power Pro. Lately I haven't even bothered to color the last few feet of the yellow.

I'm already only using one type of line - braid. For everyone saying flouro. What about topwater baits?

How much does the rod's weight rating really matter if you're just opening the bail and dropping straight down or just making short little underhand pitches? I use heavier weights in current and windy situations and would like to just stick with one rod for drop shotting.

I don't think that's how it works for the majority of these guys. Pretty sure they get the boat at a reduced price but it's their responsibility to sell it at the end of the season. It's probably different for the few really big name/high profile pros.

I've seen times where they seem to be schooling up by size. It's possible that they can somehow tell they're among other fish of roughly equal size.

The best braid scissors I've owned are a pair of white a blue scissors that I got in the fishing section at Walmart for $3.

The differences between a $30 reel and a $150 will be pretty obvious once you start using them. The differences between that $150 reel and a $400-$500+ reel may not be as extreme but they're improvements in the same areas that just add up to a more high quality, refined feeling reel.

Just do it by hand. Probably won't even take 5 minutes.

Nice reel. Looks like they've taken the whole shallow spool concept to the limit.

Ok

Pretty sure the 3000 uses carbontex drag washers vs. felt for the 2500.

I doubt anyone will know the answer to your question with any degree of certainty. I stopped using line conditioner because I think it could weaken the line but again I don't have any definitive proof. I pretty much run braid exclusively so I don't change my line that often and don't really want to take any chances. I find that braid loosens up after it's been used a bit and conditioner isn't really necessary at that point anyway.

Let me know if you're in the market for a bridge. I have a few of them I'm looking to sell.

I'm aware. I have 5 Curado E's that I used to use for pitching but have since upgraded to Bantams and Metaniums for those applications so I moved my Curados to moving bait applications and I'm blown away with how good these reels perform. These are reels that took a serious beating on heavy punching rods, straight 80lb braid, drag locked right down to the max. I'd be surprised if any if the later iterations will hold up like the E's. The main thing for me about buying older reels is parts availability. There's also the possibility that some small part(s) could have been lost during maintenance of the reel. Although unlikely, there's also a chance that the original gears and/or bearings were swapped out and replaced with cheap/inferior replacements. I've actually heard they do this in China with brand new Shimano (and I'm assuming Daiwa) reels and then sell the gears and bearings as original parts. Easy way to make an extra $40-$50 (even after selling the reels at lower than average price) off every reel and you'll never know until after you've used it for a while and it starts feeling like crap.