Beetlebz

On my crank rod I use 10# yozuri and on my "other" rig which I use for finesse jigs, big shakey heads, small T rigs, topwater, spinners and chatterbaits I put on 15# big game because it floats for topwater and doesn't stretch much for it's break strength. Some days I consider going down to 12# but the bottom line (no pun intended) is that it hasn't failed me yet. KVD L&L makes it perfectly managable. The high maintenance of FC lines along with the management issues turn me off, imho. I can't speak to the stretch of tatsu to compare it to big game.

I use yozuri hybrid for cranking and squarebills usually in 10lb... 8lb with small cranks. For magnum cranks, cranks in grass and lipless cranks I use 15lb big game because it stretches alot less than 10lb yozuri hybrid... makes short work of ripping em out of the grass.

I've spent the last few days fishing the knobs off my tatula SV which is new to me. The other reel I've had in my lap the whole time has SVS brakes. It's a pretty stark contrast, the difference between the SVS brakes and the magforce brakes. It still kinda surprised me that it feels so mushy yet still bombs lures just as far. The one thing I have to say is the convenience factor is big, bigger than I thought it would be. I change lures, measure it in my mind and decide that I need to go up, let's say two clicks. I turn the brakes up two clicks... if I'm wrong and it needed 3, I might have a couple loose wraps on the spool. With the SVS brakes you gotta be Johnny on the spot with your thumb if you're wrong. It's quite a bit less forgiving. With that being said, I don't have any major issues with either one, just that one is quicker and easier to adjust and more forgiving.

I just picked up a tatula SV. So far it's been absolutely bombing lures and it's accurate as a sniper rifle. I'm told the regular tatula casts heavy lures better, I can't imagine how good it slings cranks. Happy so far

If I'm getting hit on the swimbait really well I go to a swim jig to try to upsize. If I'm throwing an underspin I upsize with a spinner bait. With that said, sometimes they will hit a swim jig and not a swimbait. *shrug* fish are weird. If I'm getting hit on a swim jig really good sometimes it helps to go to a big yamamoto heart tail on a 6/0 to upsize. I remember last summer at one pond where the bite is notoriously tough I couldn't get bit on anything except a huge yamamoto heart tail, but they were trashing the heart tail every cast. I went through a whole pack in 3 hours. It was nuts.

Shopping around on eBay in the deal section A couple weeks ago I picked up a Shimano Sahara 2500 for 66 bucks. At the time eBay had a coupon code and I walked away for 55 bucks. I didn't even need it but I couldn't say no for that price. Unless he plans on dipping into salt now and again I'm not sure I see a point on spending nasci money for a bass reel nowadays... but if he wants to step up a little the fuego lt is a gorgeous feeling reel, though I haven't fished one. The nasci isn't a bad choice either, as you know. My point is there are a few really nice reels that will last and save him a few bucks.

On my heavy flipping rod I leave a bobber stop on the line all the time. I leave it up against the knot if I have a swimbait or jig on. I slide it up if I'm Texas rigging unpegged, which isn't often. You're right, 12 inches or so is all you really need.

I depart from a few of the folks here in a couple different places. I don't fish senkos as much as I used to now that everyone is doing it. Once upon a time (3 years ago) I could land 5 bass in 5 casts, but now they see senkos all day every day. That doesn't mean they won't bite, though. For senkos the only way I throw them is weightless, texposed, with a 3/0 ewg. The shorter hook allows for a ton of tail wiggle with just a slightly nose down fall. If I'm fishing on the bottom or it's too windy, I throw other things. That's just what has been working the best for me. If I'm in a low pressure spot with a tough bite I'll wacky rig them but that's pretty rare. Aside from a slow fall I will also switch them like a jerkbait in shallow or shallow moving water, killer for smallies. Grubs I just throw on regular old tungsten jig heads sometimes I'll use them as a more subtle trailer for spinnerbaits or chatterbaits. Rarely I will Carolina rig tubes, but more commonly on 3/16 or 1/8 Zonas rattling or silent tube jigs. Truth be told the tubes very rarely come out of the bag. I Texas Rig with a flipping weight for more vertical presentations and a jig and craw if I'm trying to upsize or for more horizontal presentations. My most common presentations when the soft Plastics come out usually involves either a Carolina rigged Berkley Power Worm or a power worm on a 4/0 lightweight belly weighted screw lock. Within a few more weeks year there will be enough grass on the bottom of every waterway in driving distance that a Shaky Head is usually a waste of time.

I believe the difference between the 100H and 100HL is the HL is lefty if I'm not mistaken... both are 6.3:1 retrieve. Sadly I haven't actually had my hands on a fuego, but i might need to make that happen for the sake of comparisons. I do have the Tatula SV, its a nice reel. I'm still getting used to the magforce Z brakes but it casts almost thumb free. I don't know if I'm in a place yet where I can say I prefer daiwa over shimano, though. There's a ton of options in your price range. If you stick to a big name in baitcasters, say dawia and shimano, its pretty hard to go wrong in the price bracket. In shimano you have the casitas and the citica. In daiwa you have the fuego, tatula and tatula SV. Any of them will serve you well. I lean towards the tatula SV only because it casts light lures better and the brakes are simpler for your multi use purposes. I'd recommend all of them, the fuego only by reputation. If I were picking one for me, personally, it would be the casitas or citica. I do love me some svs brakes even if they're not as fast to dial in.

150 bucks opens you up to alot of options. For 150 you can get into dobyns rods, fenwick rods, favorite rods... I've been a fan of the favorites but for that money you can get into dobyns fury or if you shop around, Sierra rods. A buddy had a dobyns sierra 7' MH/F that I loved. For reels the shimano citica, tatula ct.. my newest tatula SV was 160.

My current all around rod, and the one I demand the most flexibility out of, is my 7'5" lunkers edition defender from favorite. I know alot of people are turned off by their marketing but I've been a fan and now own a bunch of them. The regular defender comes in at 7'2" and is 100 bucks on the nose... just gotta wait for a free shipping promo is all (but they did about halve their shipping prices). Just my $0.02, they haven't let me down yet.

Oil fixed it. I put a drop of Penn bearing oil under the spool tension cap and then I added one more drop on the side plate bearing and spun it in good with a Q-tip so there wouldn't be any excess to get into the brakes. I just got back from the reservoir and it's quiet as a church mouse!

Shimano called me today, twice. They tried and tried and can't get the latch to fail. I guess it was just me after all. It got a new spool and should be on it's way back today. Well, nuts. I might as well hang on to it in case my new tatula needs to go back.

I second most of what's above. I jig, flip and pitch on a favorite defender 7'6 heavy. That's mostly to level some massive torque if i get bit in the thick stuff. I use a 7'5 MH fast defender with 15lb big game for applications where I want less stretch, chatterbaits, t-rigs, c-rigs, topwater and I pitch that more than I pitch or flip my flipping rig. If I'm not pitching into a big knot of a wood pile the MH does just fine. I throw T rigs with it all summer! I can have a 4th rod on my yak, that's the only reason I have a Heavy.

The reel was brand new... it did this out of the box. I lightly oiled both bearings with Penn bearing oil but I can't get out until tomorrow to see if it worked. I'll keep y'all posted

I have googled the heck out of this, I can only find posts regarding a loud grinding noise, my noise is a sloppy low pitched squeal. Got my new Tatula SV in the mail yesterday, took it out for a cruise today (in the rain, of course). On the cast it makes a noise like the spool is sloppy and makes a bit of a squeal. The interesting thing is it absolutely bombs lures smooth as silk so I don't think the spool is hitting the frame or anything. The brakes work like a dream too. On setting 7 with a big squarebill I could handily outcast my casitas by a foot or two (though with dramatically lighter line). I didn't get a chance to throw anything light weight today because of the wind but yeah, except for that noise the reel is a champ. I'm hoping the rain washed some junk into the sideplate is all. I'm about to take it partially down and clean / oil it well. Thoughts?

Because if his budget was say, 100 bucks you can do better on ebay than either the caenan or fuego at retail. That was my whole point. For your $60 budget i would go fuego for sure. In fact I've been looking at them myself.

I have mine all stuffed in a single 5000 sized flambeau box, but i limit what i carry so i can be high speed/low drag on the yak The best thing I've done yet, hook bonnets for multiple cranks in one slot and I sharpie the diving depth on the bill when I take them out of the package. Beyond that I don't bother sorting or organizing.

At that price it'll be pretty hard to beat. I've had the spinning rods, they weren't bad. At the regular price you're competing with the fuego rods (never tried but good reputation) and the berkely lighting which are awesome. At the sale price you can't go wrong unless the green trim turns you off. I gotta add, and it's off topic, but i have the 30 sized spinning reel to match. It's got more miles on it than my wrangler and Just. Won't. Die. I kinda wanna grab another one.

What's your budget? I ask because if you hunt for the eBay deals you can get a casitas way below what you can get a caenan or fuego for at retail. My last casitas I grabbed for around 85 bucks. It's currently my favorite beater/workhorse reel. For what it's worth you can get the fuego and caenan cheaper too, but my point being you can get more reel for the money. Between the caenan and fuego specifically I'd have to go fuego. It's feature limited compared to the tatula but those magforce Z brakes are hard to beat.

A good place to start is with the internal and external brakes up all the way and spool tension set just tight enough so the spool doesn't shift side to side. You won't cast very far but you shouldn't backlash as long as you stop the spool when the lure touches down. Dial back the external brakes little by little, once you're comfortable you can set external brakes back to max and then the internal brakes down 1. Repeat. Eventually you'll find a happy medium where your skill with a baitcaster and the lure or plug you're using is casting at its max without the spool becoming unruly. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast. Once you get comfortable with the brake system figuring out what settings for what lures and conditions comes pretty quick.

Just for kicks every now and again I don't treat my mono rod with L&L, 15lb big game is like 12 gauge copper house wire. Reminds me to make sure I use it every time Honestly, I don't know if I'm strategic or just super lazy (definitely lazy) but I don't spray my reel down until I get to the lake and start rigging up now. I used to spray it the night before. The truth? I don't even notice a difference.

Yeah, I could definitely downsize. A little L&L does big things though.

Good thing I mentioned it then, thanks! Honestly if I go to 40lb braid instead of 65 I doubt I could spool myself throwing a 2oz swimbait on a regular tatula... but I digress I'm getting off topic. I figure if I wait the tacklebug out this time it won't be long before I get a chronarch anyway ... but I think I'm going to stay away from the curado k and citica I frame. Even if it was a bad latch and not me doing it, I'll always wonder. At least this way I cant spontaneously disassemble the reel and detonate the spool mid-cast with an audience lol

I suppose, I do run just enough tension to remove side play in the spool. I'm excited to try the daiwa though. I'm ordering another casitas or if the SV works out, a daiwa tatula 150 for my flipping/pitching/swimbait rig so it'll be a non-issue either way lol To be honest I'll probably unload the citica when it comes back, I'd rather get value out of it rather than trying to modify it or worse, destroy it again trying to make it work. A buddy of mine talked me out of it this morning. There's a ton of fish in the sea, so to speak. I'm not sure I see a point in being brand loyal anymore.