PhishLI

If you're using heavy mono mainline take a look at the Tatula 300. It's currently my favorite 300 sized reel. A beast. Both the Tranx 300 and the Tatula 300 are a nice step up from the Lexa.

Well, for 70 clams why worry? Just fish it and find out for yourself. If you like it, or even love it, and you're filled with the urge to share your joy here, for heaven's sake dare not compare it to any of the sacred cow brands. I beg you. Your thread will get bum rushed, possibly locked, but more likely memory hole'd into the ether. Lettuce know what U think, but carefully.?

Yep. Teens and 20s here at night for the next 2 weeks, minimum. Hopefully we'll get blasted with more snow soon. Anything to refill our springs/waters back up. The drought last year blew up our tried and true patterns. Snow dances during the day, snow prayers before bed.

Check the reviews on Tackel WeareHaus. Avoid buying 1 pc rods off AMZn unless you've stockpiled Kleenex. They're a huge leap up from the Fate Black. Power runs true to ratings + a tad. If that's you're price point I doubt you'll be unhappy. You may even be thrilled. If you buy from TW, register the warranty. I have yet to need it myself.

Nope. Left hand is on the butt. Right is gripping the handle below the reel. Thumb is on the thumb bar and spool. I cast, grab the handle with my left, then climb/slide right up to palming the reel when I start to crank. I'm engaged instantly and never lose contact. Like a ninja.?

The OP quit fishing 10 years ago to take up hang gliding, and only god knows where Don went...

No problem slowing down for me, and I hate reeling like a madman with a slow reel when I want to get them in.

It's not realistic to rely solely on the lure weight ratings listed on the rod, including action. The variations are too extreme. The numbers rarely reflect what's actually going to happen with a range of baits. Only a clue. The rod will tell you once you're out chucking baits. If I'm out wading with one rod I'll typically have a pretty stiff 4+ power 7'3" MHF rated from 3/8-1oz. I can compensate for the lack of load by lighter baits with a longer lure drop from the tip before the cast. The leverage provided by the longer rod plus the added length between the rod's tip and the lure allows me to cast true 1/4 oz baits without issue. Combine that with a reel with a fairly light spool and I can throw light baits below what the rod's bottom rating suggests. This also means that I'm more versatile with a large range of baits up to the rod's reasonable upper limit. I can throw lots of presentations with this rig, and casting distance is not an issue.

Absolutely can use spinning. Describe the rod, or rods, that you own. Action, power, and line rating.

Which hand is cramping? The palming, cranking, or both?

Just to be clear, I'm not trying to argue with you as I appreciate your effort in making your point, but you've made this case several times in the past. Is this how "you're" affected in this regard? I fish with 6 other righties that use left handed bait casters, and none of them are, including myself. None are flaring out their elbow, or are doing anything particularly odd that looks like they're stuck in spinning reel mode while using a BC. I actually scooped up several righty Chronarchs for chump change from one of those guys because he felt totally uncomfortable using them even after a year of trying. On the other hand, my right handed brother, who was a gifted athlete, feels totally uncomfortable reeling lefty with either spinning reels or baitcasters. Yet if he tries one of my lefties there's no unusual posture in the equation. It simply feels wrong to him, but he's unusual in that he kicks a ball using his left leg, so I don't count him as typical.

I do lots of night wading at lakes. Walking through trails, or even from spot to spot, used to be a bit spooky because of the occasional odd sound that breaks up the silence, but I've gotten over it for the most part. One night my buddies tapped out early, but I had a good feeling so I stuck it out. I'd pushed out into water as deep as my chest waders would allow, then bombed out a cast. I was creeping back my bait very slowly, so I was barely moving for some time. Something slowly came into view a few feet to my right. At first I thought it was a floating stump because it looked like it had heavy bark, but as my eyes adjusted I could see that it wasn't. As I focused to take a better look I almost crapped myself. A nasty head with a neck as long as my forearm ejected from the shell of an impossibly humongous snapping turtle, then it looked right at me. A freakin prehistoric monster that had zero fear of humans. It had gigantic claws too. I felt completely nekkid and helpless, so I shielded my manhood and booked it back to shore fast as my feet would take me.

I'm right handed, but can wind equally well with either hand. This always felt natural to me. I chose to start with left handed bait casters because I like the feel of the rod in my power hand, and it also didn't occur to me to buy a righty reel and switch my hands. In my corner of the northeast spinning reels are the norm. I had nobody to influence my decision, and had only ever come across one person using a BC at that point. By the time I bought first BC I hadn't even looked at an online fishing forum, so I had no clue I'd committed a sacrilege! Fishing on several small jon boats and Sun Dolphins with another person drove home the need to be able to cast with my left arm. Boat direction and the angler behind of, or in front of me can really limit what I can do in cramped spaces sometimes. So I bought some right handed reels, learned to cast lefty, and now it doesn't matter which reel I use. It's cool that I can now overhead bomb cast a frog using my left arm without looking like my sister while doing it. She's never fished, so don't get all bothered. You know who you are. The real bonus to this reconditioning, beyond fishing, is that I do far more things left handed now, and quite well, including some that wouldn't have ever occurred to me in the past?

There's an outside possibility that the rotor is stuck, but that's unlikely. If it's not, your issue is that you're overloading the rod. I'm making this assumption because you've spooled the CT with 50lb braid. Your rod, while labelled a MH, is much more like a typical medium power rod, and a somewhat soft one at that. Once you've loaded it with a bait slightly past it's sweet spot you'll have a tendency to slingshot your casts. I'm not saying that you can't cast hard with that reel on that rod, but it's something you'll need to learn to feel over time. Don't get stuck on numbers on a dial either. 10 on a SV reel has little to do with 10 on a Magforce Z reel on a different rod, etc. Crank the brakes up a bit if need be, but before you try that, try this. Let the bait load the rod deeper on the back cast, then release your thumb a touch earlier than you would normally. I'm not suggesting that you gently lob the cast, but take a bit of steam off your stroke, This will send the bait in a higher trajectory. A higher arc. The bait will be pulling line out and staying ahead of the spool's rotation which will delay gravity from pulling the bait down. Somewhere during the ascent the rotor will project into the gap and apply braking just about the time gravity is taking over, and the spool won't over run the line. Once you've reduced the energy you put into the cast, and more importantly where and when you apply it, you'll begin to develop a feel for what that reel on that rod does. You'll have calibrated your stroke. Don't worry, because once you've gotten a grip on things this will become second nature. Not something you'll need to think about at all. It may take a minute. Have patience. It's worth it.

Night wading. I rarely come across a stranger doing the same. I want to fish as much as possible, so I stay local. There are plenty of lakes around here. They're all shallow and there's usually a nice walk through the woods to get into them. There's a no boat policy in nearly every spot, but there's one where they allow yaks only, and it's meh at best. I need food and I'd like my wife to stick around, so I work during the day. This leaves me with night fishing during the week, so I do night wading. I connected with several like minded dudes over the past few years at different lakes, so now we have a night wading crew. The bottom line is this: I find it totally electrifying. No other method of bass fishing comes close for me. You've got to know where you are, so we scout out every place first. It's always a bit eerie, especially during the new moon, but man oh man when a fish hits it's just way different. Being waist deep in water at night has my senses cranking every minute, especially when I'm alone. It's a rush for sure, and not many people around here do it.

There're good reasons to save up and pony up once instead of going cheap several times only to end up spending more in the end, but there are exceptions. If you want a really good frog rod that's good for so much more, take a look at the Lew's Carbon Fire 7'3" HF at DSG. It's often on sale for $59. Buy a $2 lure, do the survey online found at the bottom of your register receipt, and you'll get a coupon for $10 off a $50 purchase. Apply it and you'll get it for $49. My brother has 2, and I have 1 myself. Great hookup ratio throwing frogs. I fish choked out lakes and have pulled tons of bass through forests of Lily pads with this rod. I've exceeded it's upper lure weight rating hundreds of times throwing Shellcracker G2s and Gantarel Jr's. Got a bunch of fish throwing a Beast Coast Miyagi rigged on an Owner 6/0 Beast hook, and Magdraft Freestyles rigged on the same. I've tried to kill it but it won't die. None of that wouldn't matter if I didn't like the way that it fishes, but I do. It does it's job well, and I like the Winn grips. Anyway, with the savings you can pick up a Medium stick to cover the lower end of the spectrum and you'll be sitting pretty.

I'm with @Deephaven. I'll admit that I'm a Neanderthal who's fortunate to have a wife with taste to pick out my clothes, so I don't give a flying hockey puck about how a reel looks on a rod. That doesn't mean that a well coordinated and snappy combo escapes my attention. I get it, but I wouldn't sacrifice what I find to be an optimal match, or upgrade, because of it. What type of baits will you be throwing with this combo? Anything specific? Sensitivity isn't the end all be all with certain baits, but with others it is.

I haven't cracked open a Smoke S3 yet, but I've had the KVD Smoke S3 opened up. That reel is nearly 8 oz due to a brass drive shaft and a steel main drag washer vs aluminum for both in the Tour. They actually ported the first washer on the Tour to save weight. Just guessing, but the 1/2 oz difference between the Tour and the Smoke S3 probably comes down to the Tour's carbon handle vs aluminum for the Smoke. The Tour's hardened spool tension washers make a slight difference in feel and longer casts. Otherwise, the performance differences are marginal. My Tour has been fantastic, especially once I cleaned and lubed the spool bearings and broke-in the brakes. The main gear and pinion's grease was replaced with Shimano ACE. The reel has remained as smooth as when it was fresh. No quirks.

Did you order directly from him, or use his store on the auction site?

Ah, tell your buddy to go fly a kite, unless your "buddy" is actually your wife! In that case "Yes Dear" works well for me. Please provide a link to those handles. TTT usually has a good selection of Daiwa handles. Occasionally 100 mm Zillion options show up for a really good price. The Tat 150 100mm handle is 29$ https://tackletrap.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=898_660_654

Cars just don't crash, and reels just don't backlash. The driver does. I'm starting to get the feeling that this guy is either a 12 year old trollbot, or a thankless one way street'r. I might change my mind if he posts a pic of his Zillion and Met side by side. Oh yeah, and he also claims he owns a Steez, so throw that one in too.

It's a tiny Allen head set screw. You'll need to remove the spool shims to get to it. Make sure you use the correct size. You'll get one shot. If you choose the wrong size and make an error, you might round it out. I do not recall if it's metric or not. If you feel any slop in the fit between the hex key and the set screw do not proceed as you've chosen the wrong one.

Do you mean between the Smoke S3 and the Tour S3?

The lube issue is bizarre with D&S. Perhaps someday, someone on the inside will spill the beans as to why. My gears had a decent film of grease, but the clutch mech was dry other than the kick lever trough. Easy stuff. He broke it down in a few minutes. Nothing unusual with this reel.