hookem12_0

Pointer 100 in shell

The 7:1:1 is an awesome gear speed. I use them for jigs, plastics, jerkbaits, buzzbaits, rippin shallow cranks and spinnerbaits. If you are going to get one stay away from the Quantum. It is cheaply made and working at a Sportsmans Warehouse I have seen many problems with it. Go with the Shimano Curado or the Pflueger Summit.

The Cardiff is one tough S.O.B. I think you would be happier with that rather than an Ambassaduer 5500 or so-forth.

If it is the rod or the reel seat that is giving you blisters, try putting a rod wrap on it. Rod Wrap is available through Bass Pro.

you could always buy some reel grips.

I am a Falcon man myself. But if you want the best rod for around 60 or under look at a Shimano Convergence. They are decent and they come with a lifetime over the counter warranty. If you ever break one you dont have to have your reciept and you can swap it out at any dealer that carries Shimano rods.

Go with a Falcon Lowrider Eakins Jig Special. It is 6' 10" med'hvy. I own one and it is awesome. It retails for 100 bucks. They also make it in their Cara series. The Cara is a little higher grade graphite and comes with a lifetime warranty. Either way you wont be dissapointed.

Good choice on a drop shot rod. I would definately go with the medium. You can handle big fish on a medium, you might just have to play them a little more. Drop shotting with a med/hvy I have pulled hooks out of fishes mouth. I havent really had that problem with a medium or medium light.

If you are not wanting to spend over 100 bucks the only reel you should look at would be the Pflueger Trion. It is a very smooth reel and is pretty tough. There are not many baitcast reels under 100. I work at Sportsmans Warehouse and I can personally tell you that this would be the way to go. Stay away from the Daiwa Procaster, Pflueger Purist and Echelon, and the Shimano Corvalus. Those are all cheaply made reels.

Falcon Graphite Rods. They have great customer service, a great selection, are very affordable, and they will stack up against a Loomis any day.

Falcon X-Pert 7' Med'hvy with a Shimano Chronarch 50mg spooled with P-Line 30lb Spectrex braid. As for a lure it would have to be a zoom watermelon candy baby brush hog.

Get yourself a Falcon Cara. They make a couple of 7' and 7'6" Heavys. They also make a couple of 7' and 7'6" xtra heavys that could pull around a buick. Plus they come with a lifetime warranty.

Stay away from fused lines. They will go flat which will decrease your casting distance. Braided lines are good. I prefer Sufix or P-Line Spectrex braid. The advantages to braid are the fact that you can up your lb. test and keep a low diameter. 30lb braid has a diameter of 8lb mono. Braid is also ultra abrasion resistant. If you are going to be fishing really heavy cover, lily pads(the braid will strait up slice the stalks in half, thick grass, or a lake with a bad zebra mussel problem, braid would be a good choice. The down side to braid is that it has no stretch and is not the most invisible line on the market. I have still fished some very clear water and had success with braid though. As far as the no stretch goes, I have only broken one rod setting the hook on a fish while using braid. I like it. Copolymer lines are good to. The advantage to a copolymer is the fact that instead of just being made up of one thing it is actually 2 or more components fused together. The best copolymer currently on the market is P-Line's evolution. It has the best abrasion resistance of any of the copolymers. It also has a very low memory which is good if you dont like to change your line every couple of weeks during the summer. As far as flourocarbon goes, Im not 100% sure how it is manufactured. What I can tell you is that of all the lines on the market, flourocarbons have the lowest visibility under the water. P-Line just released a new flourocarbon called Halo. Until Halo, I wasnt 100% sold on flourocarbons. They had always seemed to not be very abrasion resistant. Halo on the other hand has held up for me, even against zebra mussels. It also has a very low memory and great castability. Last but not least are just your plain monofilaments. If you are looking for the best mono on the market it would have to be Sufix. I prefer the Elite. It is some tough stuff. I hope I helped out some. Good Luck and Good Fishing.

Go Sufix or Go Home!!! My favorite is the Elite. Lowest memory of any line Ive ever fished.

I have fished Falcon Rods exclusivly for the last 9 years. I now have 23 of them. I will never own another brand. You have made and excellent choice. In the future you may want to think about going to Cara's. This will offer you a lighter rod that will also carry a lifetime warranty. You might be able to get a slightly better rod with a Loomis IMX or GLX but then you better be ready to shell out some major dough. If you have any other Falcon questions just let me know.

Dont buy the Citica you will be much happier with a Curado.

Between the two Shimano all the way. You cant beat a lifetime over the counter warranty.

Nice Combos first off. If it was me I would spool the mg up with P-Line Spectrex 30lb braid. It has an 8lb mono diameter and flips and casts awesome. I use it on my mgs and it works great. Not to mention it is tough as nails. It is the best braid I have ever used.

You will not find a better reel than a 50mg. I have several chronarchs and a couple of mg's. They are great.

The Daiwa Procaster is a good one to start with at 60 bucks. If you can stretch that money up closer to 100 I would get a Pflueger Trion. It would be a smoother reel than the procaster.

I would either go with a Falcon Lowrider Eakins Jig Special or just a Falcon Cara 7ft med/hvy. You cant beat the quality for the price.

Sufix is the best mono I have ever used. I have used stren, trilene, pline, yozuri, etc, etc. Now if you need a good flourocarbon the best out there is P Line Halo. But for regular mono you cant beat Sufix.

Shimano Stradic bar none.

Go Halo or Go Home.

P Line Evolution and P Line Halo are BadASS! These are some of the best mono's I have ever used.