PhishLI

Your original post was a sincere question...and now that I've had some fun... Thank god for my wife who's meticulously organized and has a flair for color coordination. Left to my own devices, I have the fashion sense of a 12 year old hobo lumber jack, so the idea of playing dress-up with reel parts then matching it up to a rod isn't within the realm of my imagination. Unless something's unusually loud or off-putting, I just don't care because it just doesn't register. I've browsed through the Show and Tell thread here, and have not been compelled to follow suit after seeing some very sharp looking stuff. This type of thing doesn't even make my priorities list, forget about it being at the bottom of it. Perhaps if I fished during daylight hours my inner Liberace would emerge, but I fish at night, so nobody can see my gear, even me. I make no judgment whatsoever of anyone who finds satisfaction in a bit of flair, or a lot of flair. Life is short. Enrich it any way you like.

Your situation is similar to mine here on Long Island. I can fish them from now through May 1st when the season closes for 6 weeks during the spawn, then maybe for another month afterwards. The extended warmth kept the weeds high here up to the end of December last year, so anything with trebles was pure misery to fish except for wakebaits. Even that was a chore with so many weeds being nearly up to the top of the water's surface. Thankfully the wicked cold we've had knocked the greenery down, but the lily pad buds have already started dotting the bottom like little cabbage sprouts. So, throw them while you can. It's doubtful they'll want anything moving quickly for for the next few weeks. If this year is the same as last year water temps will be stuck in the 40's until May.

For the same price you can get a new Alphas SV TW 800 and get a more robust build with more aftermarket spool options.

Honestly, that's why I didn't jump up to the OB3s. That and the hook keeper location. The The Essence is sort of built like the OB2 which I like, so I went with it. 5-6 lbers jacked through and covered in dense weeds will tell the tale. My MHF OB2s have handled that duty flawlessly for years. We'll see how this one does.

It depends. The fish will tell you. The 8" Trash Fish shown on top rigged with a 12/0 Beast is beefy, but only weighs 2.5 ounces. The 6" right below rigged on a 6/0 Beast 1/4oz, and shown below that for comparison is the a 6" Magdraft Freestyle on a 6/0 Beast 1/40z.

I added a 1/8 oz weight to the scale along with the Miyagi rigged on an Owner Beast 6/0 1/4oz. Total is a skosh over 1 oz. I don't know what the wire gauge of the Trokar 7/0 3/8oz is, but if it's the same as the Beast your rod will need some gusto to send it home, especially if the hook sets into a hard part. Sometimes the bait balls up when it's engulfed and I've socked hooksets right thru the tail on occasion. This combined with the hook size has me swinging hard with this one.

It's turning out to be, and more than I thought at first. It's breaking in and improving quickly. The Z boost is different, and dial settings combined with braking profile is definitely providing next level stuff compared to Mag Z. Also, it feels like belt drive instead of gear driven, so that's neat. Zero regrets. It's special.

836SB. It's a good one.

Will do. Flash is the reason I was pumped to find the Texas Eye jigs. I fish at night or in low light most of the time, but have had terrible luck with underspins here, but the flash provided by the stick-on eyes of all of the paddletail/boot tail swimmers I use seems to be just right. P.S. If you do a search you'll find alternative home brew concoctions for plastisol bait mending. Might be worth a shot. Super glue sucks for it. Just wrecks the bait. Mend-it or an equivalent is the only way to go. Once applied you'd never know the bait had been torn. P.S.S. I've caught these up to 30" around here, but this one at 26" was the tallest and fattest by far. It must be quite old. I could've fit my XL fist into its mouth. Their heads grow wider as they age. A bit sketchy on the release even though I held her by the tail and wagged her slowly. She went down the bank and got caught up on some submerged branches. Disoriented and head out of the water. I went back in twice to get her going. One last tail grab and wag, and a few words of encouragement and she rocketed off. My new Zillion G needed a new ride, so... My ARK Essence 7'6" MHF came in yesterday afternoon and last night it got a nice workout from this savage pickerel.

Well, UPS managed to resist mangling my rod this time, but I stand by my sniveling about TW in my original post/ thread starter. Lesson learned. It was irksome. P.S. Never said they were "all bad", so...

Crazy weather here lately. The other day we were stuck in the 20s, then yesterday we made it into the 60s. I knew rain was on the way when I left last night, but had no idea it would roar through like a hurricane. Rain or no rain I was getting out there. I had a brand new ARK rod come in yesterday and I really wanted to gets some swings on it, and a new Z-man bait I was itching to try out. 30 mph gusts made it almost too much to deal with, but I found a few willing players before I got blown out of there by sideways rain. I ski'd in one midget bass who attacked a white Shellcracker G2, then a honkin' fat and tall 26" pickerel ate the Z-man Diesel Minnow/Texas Eye rig. It hit hard and fought like crazy. The clicking drag on my new Zillion G zipped out, which intensified the thrill. My new ARK Essence survived its first real task, and the Diesel Minnow came out unscathed. Pickerel have been murdering my favorite JDM swimmers, so I'm happy I now have something that'll survive their ultra sharp teeth. The patch on my waders gave way, so my right foot was sloshing in 40 degree water, and I was soaked through with rain by the time I got back to my truck, but you couldn't slap the smile off my face. Not a big bass night, but with another cold front coming in I'll take what I can get right now.

Follow up: This never seems to happen, but I got a really good fish tonight using the new Essence. A large, fat, angry Pickerel gave it a really good test. Before the catch I was casting weights at it's limit to see if it would hold up, but the fish gave it the ultimate infant mortality test. Passed. The hood's plastic, but the locking nut is aluminum, and knurled. I palm with two fingers wrapped around the front of the reel with one resting on the nut. I'm used to foam here, but it really didn't bother me. If it does it'll get a wrap of black cloth electrical tape. The middle finger on my glove doesn't have the tip cut off, so it isn't an issue anyway.

They'll tear, but they fix up great with Mend-it. I had so much success with them right away that I went nuts buying up a supply, but I keep fixing the ones in use over and over again, so I've barely dug into the new packs. P.S. They really like at least a 1/4oz keel weighted hook to swim correctly. A 6/0 Beast weighted works great for it. It worked out great. I caught a honkin donkey pickerel on the diesel minnow/texas eye rig tonight. It grabbed the tail first and I felt the stretch, dropped it, then hit it hard when I ripped the rig fast. Not a mark on the elaztech

P.S. Weight is 5.1 ounces

It made it here in one piece! The cork is acceptable. It's getting U-40'd, so it'll be fine. There's nothing I like more than a downward facing loop hook keeper above the reel nut, so that's jazzy. The reel nut is metal. Not sure if I love that, but I dislike exposed threads and there's none of that, so whatever. The blank is straight. Guides are in line/straight, but the top four are micros. I was hoping/thought they were mediums, but I'm not really a leader type anyway. No weirdness on the wraps. So far so good.

Yeah, I don't do day-glo.

Yes I would. I like my vehicles ugly, my women ugly, my dogs even uglier, and don't give a flying hockey puck what my gear and especially what your gear looks like.

or it may have been the Grateful Dead playing in the ear buds and the funny cigarillos this works

He's doing the old rice as a desiccant trick and praying.

Welp, my buddy sussed out right off the bat that the drone operation was best handled as a two man job, but I'm watching the Classic right now and he just couldn't wait...

What a push by Connell Ehler! Wow! Squeak

Nail biter!

I clicked the Spring sale icon at TW last week and found it on sale. Bought it a half hour before the sale ended.

I tried a spool of 15 lb from local shop that was going out of business. It was fine. Even better at $4 for 200yds.

If the shipping gorillas don't use the rod tube as a play toy and the weather cooperates I should have an opinion to share by tomorrow night. Hopefully with a fish catch or two. P.S. Yes, it's a casting rod. A Zillion G will be riding it.