PhishLI

More than just the savings over retail I recommended the Icon PT for what you get. You get a gear train build that Shimano doesn't offer until the Curado K, or Daiwa until the Zillion. It's beefier than Lew's P2 reels because they do not include a second bearing above the ARB on the driveshaft. A plastic reel without any of those features wouldn't be my first choice. None of that would matter if the Icon has poor fitment, but it's tightly built. No gaps between it's sideplates and frame, etc. I've been dragging high resistance billed wakes and swimbaits through tough terrain with mine for months and it's still very smooth. Just like the Fuego CT, if I only had a pile of Icon PTs I'd be just fine.

6'7" or 7"1" MF Omen Black II.

Go on ebay and grab a Quantum Icon PT for $50. Best budget buy for me in a long while. For real. Solid. Great caster and smooth. No complaints.

Those are good choices in general, but it really depends on what they're keyed in on. If they're eating bait suspended just below the surface they might not hit topwater or anything close to the bottom. A shallow crank that runs 2 feet deep max, have silent and rattle types on hand, could be the charm. Slow reeling a floating jerkbait can be deadly if they're in that mood. I always throw small to medium size paddle tail swimmers rigged weedless and work them on the bottom and through weeds, sometimes fast and sometimes slowly, and have great success close to the bank. Big ribbon tail worms get smashed on the drop or when slow rolled. A black buzzbait is always in the mix. Last week I was fishing a Gantarel Jr the way I always do: Slow with twitches and pauses. Nothing. I bombed it out and burned it in, which is something I never do, and finally started getting hits like crazy. Night fishing is about sound and vibration. You just have to figure out how they want things.

I fish my chatters on 3 rods of various lengths which are all MHF, and straight braid. I had a bad habit of pointing my rod at the chatter for a long time. I'm always wading, so the rod is nearly at water level, so even worse. I missed so many hooksets due to no stretch in the line and no possibility of the rod absorbing anything. One time, in frustration, I simply pivoted which put the rod 90 degees to the line, then presto. Now the rod was able to flex with the strike and my hookups went through the roof.

That's the exact bait that got my buddy his only bite, and bass, last night. A nice 3 1/2 pounder.

Ultra high end and high end stuff is good for everyone. Standards for the lower end stuff almost always get raised in the process.

Toxic Baits Wade Frog. 10/0 Beast Hook!

In my post in this thread I mentioned "raising the stakes" by using a baitcaster. To your point, most bass fishermen choose the handicap of using artificial baits to increase the hazard of not catching fish. Some may call it sportsmanship, but in fact it's a consciously chosen handicap that increases difficulty and works against the percentages. Ultimately there's greater satisfaction in doing so. The type of fishing reel you use is not directly analogous to that example, but there's always danger present because of the nature of the beast. No one is immune from a day ending blowup. This isn't the primary driver for my preference of baitcasters, but I've come to the conclusion that it's at least an element of it. That element forces me into a more focused mindset. I like that place now. When I'm old and fishing from a chair I might go the other way completely. I'm not a complete dunce though. If I get out to a particular shallow clearwater lake today I'll have a spinning setup with a 6 pound fluoro leader in the mix. It could be the ticket. The sun is high and it's blazing hot out there.

I don't think I'll permanently give up on anything. Last year I caught exactly 2 fish on the Whopper Plopper. This year it's been stellar. Two years ago the 10" Berkley Power worm was unbelievable. This year not a whiff, and this is primetime for that bait according to history. Shallow Squarebills Like the Manns 1-Minus and the IMA Bill Lowen have been great. Last year was dismal with these baits. The Chatterbait was always hit and miss for me until last September. It's been great since right through the winter up until now. Last Saturday night my brother was blanked until I tied one on and started catching then he followed suit. He closed with some good fish. It saved my trip Wednesday night. Spinnerbaits were great a ways back, but have been a stinker for me for a long while, but that may change. I bet it will. I finally broke the Fat IKA curse last Saturday morning. My buddy kills with that bait, but not me. But just like the Plopper, the IKA floodgates might open.

Check out FishTheMoment on youtube. He's not a YT yahoo. His focus is primarily offshore fishing. Lots of data and graphing info.

This question has been asked before. A swivel does nothing to affect the action, but may pull the nose down a bit on the 90 which has a problem with that from the start. The WP doesn't cause line twist if the prop is clear. If the prop catches debris and stops spinning the entire bait will spin. I've wrecked 2 spools of braid when this has happened. I set up all my WPs with swivels now and haven't had an issue since, except for about a week and a half ago. I picked up a Loon WP 75, rushed out without attaching a swivel, then wrecked a spool of 15lb Big Game on a bomb cast. The water looked clear, but I caught some fine grass in just the right spot. 3rd time's the charm.

I've caught a ton on the 10 lb using the Improved Clinch (6 wraps). I've had just one break off that was totally my fault trying to jack a fish over a branch which was really dumb. IC vs IU challenge?

The spool is a little bit heavier and slightly different, so slightly less capable with lighter lures at this point anyway. A few less bearings, but still has them where they count. It uses a brass crankshaft and steel drag washers which raises the weight by an ounce and a half over the Tour S3. Mine's not broken in to the point of the Tour, so I haven't come to any concrete conclusions yet other than it's staying in the mix.

There's nobody in my immediate orbit that really likes to talk about fishing gear, nor has there ever been. There's certainly no stigma about preference of gear whatsoever. If anyone ever tried to make me feel bad about using spinning gear I wouldn't bother with them. I have some good spinning gear and I'll do a spinning only session once in a while just because, but I prefer to use BCs. For me it's about efficiency, feel, and control. I suppose another factor could be that it took work and thought to learn them. There's a certain satisfaction that comes with having to work for something and constantly improve. Fishing should probably be strictly about catching fish, but adding an element of challenge to the mix raises the stakes. Fishing with multiple brands of BC reels at night, which is primarily when I fish, means that I have to stay sharp, be tuned in, and stay tuned in. I don't go into autopilot like I do when I'm using spinning gear. Once a fish is on the line it doesn't matter which device is winding in line, but up to that very moment I'd rather be using a bait casting rig.

It's obvious that Daiwa isn't too concerned about the same handful of cross forum posters who are very outraged about their business decisions. These dudes seem to take it personally. They pine for the old days, the halcyon era. They form crying circles over a handle retaining nut's cosmetics and other such nonsense. I do get the nostalgia for particular qualities part though. There are non-fishing vintage things I go after with zeal for the same exact reasons, but I'm not furious about a given company's current position. I know what it's like trying to keep the lights on without a safety net.

Cognitive dissonance: It makes me feel a bit sick watching a deeply hooked fish flop and roll then bleed out. It really takes the shine off for me. It's hard not thinking about it even a few days later, but, for a thrill, I'm tricking what are in fact innocent animals minding their own business into eating barbwire sandwiches. De-barbed hooks, circle of life, blah blah blah, it's pretty diabolical stuff no matter what the rationalization. I can't wait to get back out there tonight though. New baits came today! Weeee!

I've pretty much stopped using the other sizes once I gave in and started throwing the 75. There are no issues with nosediving like the 90. It's been in the top 3 of my most productive baits since January. It still doesn't make sense to me that it was working in 37 degree water, but it was. It's still kicking you know what. Perch and Loon cover most bases.

That's a relief! I'm all in now. OK. So it might be a thing with this bait.

It's a newer bait. Nothing jumped out that indicated the split ring might be damaged. Changing them out made no sense to me either, but now it does. You should've seen that bass.

They recommend Hyperwire Split Rings often and link them.

Not that I've ever kept count, but I've lost count of how many times I've heard guys urge to upgrade split rings. I'm busy. Lot's of things to do before I can steal away to a fishing hole. I 'aint upgrading no stinking split rings! I hit a lake with my brother on Saturday for a night session. We had some wild weather earlier and it was perfect out with a light breeze and fog, but we struggled for a while to find anything but dinks. I motored us back into a long cove where we've had some luck in the past, but the bite was still tough. I saw golden shiners skittering across the surface a ways down a bit, so I chucked a few shallow running cranks, but had no takers. I remembered that I had a BBZ-1 shad then asked my brother if he had one too. I had a feeling. I chucked it out near a stand of pads and reeled it slowlyyyy back in, then BAM! You know by the feeling in your forearm when it's a good one, and it was. This fish did not want to be caught and was energized. As I brought her next to the boat my brother said "That's a big fish" and I said "Finally". The angle was odd for netting her while sitting in the Jon boat, so I decided to just grab her with my large fish grippers. I pulled the line closer then began lifting her enough to insert the gripper, but with one violent head shake she was gone. I looked at my brother and said "That counts, right?" He said "Definitely". I casted the BBZ-1 again right away, but this time I snagged some floating grass. I was picking it off carefully in order to avoid the hook when I realized that it was gone! No hook or split ring! OMG! NO WAY! But yes, it happened. I have a filthy mouth, so you can only imagine the sounds I was making and inventing on the spot. I'm glad that it wasn't one of those times where the fish's top and bottom lips were pinned shut by the trebles. I would've hated that. She'll probably be OK. Lesson learned though. I'm gonna straighten this issue out. Not going to happen again. Man oh man this still really bugs me.

The ARB won't care one way or another if the drag is tight or loose. Pressure is transmitted down through the sleeve to the stack.

It is. My '17 Tat SV is the last of that series that I'll buy. It still casts as well as it ever has, but has lost it's initial smoothness. New gears only fixed that for so long. Regardless, I truly don't care about what it is now, geary, when I'm on the hunt. It is what it is. I was hero casting an 8" Strike King Bull worm into the wind before on 15lb fluoro and nothing bad happened once. It's sins are forgivable to me. I just got off the water and was fishing with my JDM Catalina which is a Zillion HD variant. It's in a different universe as far as overall refinement goes compared to a Tat SV, so it's worth the price of admission to hit the next level. The Zillion SV isn't the HD or the Catalina. They're both another click up on the quality index, but aren't as versatile in stock form. They're bigger bait reels. You should understand up front that neither those or the Zillion SV TW will be as smooth as a brand new 6 speed Curado K. That particular reel is otherworldly smooth. Like belt driven and bathed in oil smooth. Too bad that I don't really care for it much otherwise. The Zillion SV is smooth too, but feels more connected like it actually has gears. You'll probably be happy with it. Eh, scratch everything I just said and just get a Steez. You'll be driven insane by anything less.

I do. So far, so good. Not as refined as the Tour S3, but fine otherwise. I have the 7.3. The answer to the question on the amazon link is incorrect. It's not a magnetic brake. It's centrifugal.