torm

OP if you are looking at the alphas air that I'm thinking of, just know that the max drag on that is around 8lb ish. Open water you are solid, but in heavy vegetation you are gonna definitely wear out that reel faster than normal. What type of baits and weights are you trying to throw on it, also what rod do you plan on pairing with it. What type and pound line do you plan on throwing on it too? The new tatula sv in the 80 size would work perfect for what your trying to do. If you want a bit cheaper get the salamandura which is just a red version of it which you can get roughly around 150-180. Still small enough to palm like a bfs reels too but with a beefier drag, also comes with the drag clicker. Do you have any experience with a bfs reel? It seems to me you got your mind fully set on them regardless of the problems that will come. I hope your not planning to sling 65lb braid, into a 1 1/2 oz tungsten weight, into a heavy wired hook, and onto a heavy rod on that alphas air...

Hey OP, if you are really serious about getting into this please take note of the warnings given to ya. It is totally doable to flip and pitch with bfs reels with light pound braid like 10 or even 15. I've done this myself with a calcutta bfs but you need to keep common sense in mind. The setup will work well for finesse flip and pitch, NOT HEAVY. If you pair a bfs reel with heavy rod you run the risk of snapping off on hooksets. That is actually the good part, the other is you warp your spool eventually and spools are not cheap. If you use a bfs rod then you won't have the backbone for a good hookset if you fishing in heavy cover or getting them out of them especially if there are pads. A bfs flip and pitch use would be if you're fishing in low and light coverage. Good luck trying to horse a 2lber out of a dock before it wraps ya with a light combo as I've lost plenty of baits experimenting with this. Look for traditional baitcasters with a shallow spool if you wanna do heavy cover fishing and no it isn't cheap but that is the price if you wanna do that style of fishing.

The new Scorpion Dc is very overbreaked. Great reel for flipping, pitching, skipping, and close quarters. You will not cast as smooth as the slx dc xt. The new slx dc xt is like the 2017 scorpion dc, great do everything reel with upgraded breaks. Although I do miss the auto feature as I feel that was always the best setting to be on. Definitely a curado dc killer, but the Scorpion DC is just a different reel compared to the other two.

I've seen people dropshot the gilly over beds, so its probably only good during spawning season if your bed fishing. While it looks nice I've haven't seen much success with it other than that. I too fell for the bait looks and bought a couple lol.

Braid works extremely well for many topwater applications however when it comes to treble baits its a gray area. I've had times where no issues occur and times where I do yank a hook out out of a mouth. Doesn't happen often though. As for glass rod delaying a hookset, if I'm right, if you move a bait with a glass rod or a graphite rod its gonna move the same if you get me. A glass rod is less sensitive than a graphite so when a fish bites a crankbait you don't feel it until it eats it good which is why they call that a delay. The issue is the backbone being a lot softer and a bait being topwater. Even if you wait and set hook, on either rods you get the same reaction only difference is a glass rod has less hook power. The glass does not benefit your top water bait like it does a crankbait due to the fact that you delay your bites regardless of rod. And even if you do set hook right away with either rod, it is still gonna pull your bait away roughly the same. You just gotta swing harder now with the glass. That's assuming your using a frog or single hook baits. So because of that you could be putting yourself at a disadvantage using a glass rod for topwater.

While it could be that maybe the fish just got off somehow, using the glass rod could possibly be the reason why your losing those fish. If you had him on for a couple of seconds and the hooked popped, its cuz of the moderate action not being able to drive the hook into the bass' mouth. You would really have to swing for the fences if that's the case. I had a customer a while back who told me he converted his top water rod to a glass rod because glass rods were suppose to "delay" hooksets due to him being impatient on waiting to set the hook. Saw him again after a season and he told me he lost twice as many fish on single hook or frog applications than his old combo. Based off that I would suggest not using a glass rod for topwater unless you are using it for treble baits like poppers, spooks, ploppers, and so on.

I have 2 of the eradicator realfinesse xul 69 and they are probably the best rods I've used in the ultralight setting. Very sensitive and a blast to fish with. Biggest fish I've caught with it is a 10lb american drum with 2lb polyester line. It is made in China however but to me that really doesn't matter much. Can't say much for the reel side but I was very curious in the revo aurora elite bfs a while ago which looked nice.

All bps reels from Carbonlite and up are made by Daiwa. Anything below is probably doyo. For the the spinning side just match up the price of their reel to a daiwa one and its a knock off of that. The carbonlite spinning is a exceler but with a shallower spool. Location where they are made could be china or vietnam. Not bad reels especially if you got a buddy who works for cabelas or bps who can get you them for cheap. Otherwise they are kinda competing with other brands who are known to be better.

The new one feels very much like the victories. Its a lot lighter now and looks great. Not sure the sensitivity as I have not fished one. Anyone I know and recommended it has nothing bad to say about it though. I almost wanna say its probably worth picking it up over the mojos and even the premiers until both those rods gets redone.

I mainly crank due to how impatient I am with plastics and I've been experimenting with some time now with braid to fluorocarbon, mono, straight fluoro, and straight braid. I get way more distance with braid. 30lb-40lb is the sweet spot with 30 being the lowest I would recommend anyone going unless your using a shallower spool baitcaster. Anything below that or above you will feel the distance lost. 20lb and lower you deal with line dig. Of course gear plays a huge role into this as well.

Has anyone here ever use Airrus rods specifically the stargate one? It retails at 300 dollars so its kinda getting up there with the popular known brands. Kinda itching to get a heavy action rod and I do like to branch out, but that has backfired for me at times. Any opinions are highly appreciated.

I got the 7'1 mh xf on a good deal and its a solid rod. I really like the visuals of it but it did not wow me like my other rods unfortunately. I like the ags guides but if you beat up your gear be careful. They don't bend like regular guides, instead they just snap. I was able to replace it at a cost of 15 dollars plus whatever I paid for shipping if I remembered right. I still don't think its worth its retail price though. If it was like the first gen price it would be amazing but at 660 your in the nrx price zone which has a life time warranty instead of 15 year.

Feather rod is a great rod for the price. However everyone I known with one has broke it. I have the M1 med lt and its fun ned rig rod. Feels great too although the but handle gets very slippery with wet hands. Sensitivity is so so in my opinion.

A lot of factors play into this which is why it is hard to help any type of fisheries in many states. Here are the ones off the top of my head caused by anglers: Pressure, poaching, fishing for the 1 man or party limit every trip, new boom of anglers, not knowing or keeping up with regulations, technology, and probably more. Working at a bait shop up here in WI I can gladly say majority of people here fish to eat regardless of age, although more popular in the old timers than young. Its hard to find trophy fish of any kind up here unless your out every day, so the majority of those guys that do find that trophy fish just ends of mounting it. I can safely say if a bass is 5lbs and up its getting mounted. Poaching is another big thing up here too which the DNR can't do anything about unfortunately.

Im not sure why but a lot of curado dcs feel weird out of the box. Once you break it in though it does feel better, also under load feels better too.

I might have to end up ordering that, how did you get your bearing out? I've been pushing on what I think is the bearing and its lodged in there. My vanford, I was able to open it and it popped right out after I pushed it with some force.

I put oil on it, ran it over with a cue tip, and it unfortunately sounds the same. Even took off the screws wiped everything and oiled it and its still the same so I'm assuming the bearings is bad now. Still can't get it out though so I may have to order a bearing removing tool. Tried looking up videos to see if someone tore one apart but can't seem to find any either unfortunately.

Okay! So I wasn't being picky then. I do wanna take it to a repair shop but right now majority of them is booked with orders so I do kinda want to try fixing it myself. A line bearing doesn't seem to hard to fix from what I've seen but the issue is I just can't seem to get the bearing out of the stella like my vanford. My vanford easily popped out after just applying a bit a pressure, but the stella is in there good if its a bearing in there.

Hey everyone, just picked up a stella 2018 3000 and spooled it up with 8lb fluorocarbon. Everything felt fine at first until I gave it a test cast. When reeling with tension at the end it makes a loud scratching noise instead of being quiet. My buddy thought it was the line creases that were in the fluoro but I put on braid and it still makes the same noise. I'm pretty positive its the line roller bearing because my vanford had the same issue after a couple of months of using it. I was able to fix that one because I was able to get out the bearing with a screwdriver and replaced it with a new one. Seems like a simple fix but the Stella on the other hand, I have not been able to knock off the bearing for some reasons. Am I being picky or is there something wrong with my stella? I tried to upload a file on here so others can hear it to diagnose it easier but it seems I can't.

You are one of the few then. I haven't giving it a go yet but thats like the number 1 hated color among the people I know. Normally I would think everyone telling me that is lying to me to keep it a secret lol but unfortunately I have fished with them and seen it myself. Small mouth wise it hasn't been too bad but largemouth wise, you're better off with green pumpkin.

Black and blue, Red, and blue gill have never work good for me. I'll get maybe 1 bite after that none. Another surprisingly color is june bug. That color just plain out DO NOT WORK in Wisconsin. I've heard of many anglers trying to make that color work for years but having no luck with it.

Plenty of ways actually. One way is to simply set your rod up with the reel and tie a weight. Pitch it on the floor or wherever and reel back. If you hear a scratchy noise then its bad. Another way is to take a rubber band or cue tip and simply just run it under the area to see if you hear any loud noises. You can ONLY hear it if there is tension at the end of the line as having no tension on the reel, will be silent even if you have a bad roller bearing. Looked at my vanford again and when reeling by itself it does make somewhat of a noise but it isn't enough to bother me. Played with many vanfords in stores and it seems to be normal honestly. It doesn't seem like its a completely silent reel. Unfortunately I have no idea what causes that.

I am mainly a BC fisher so the Vanford was the first spinning reel I've own so I cannot speak of other models. As far as that scruff noise mine was making it after I hit a certain point of rotation but it was more like a click noise. My issue was and just happened again, is the roller bearing going bad. First time I oiled it which got it to be quiet but recently it went bad again. This time no amount of oil is helping it so that means I gotta replace it. As far as my buddies vanfords they had initials scruffs but they said theirs went away within use and cleaning.

No it is not but it is a year warranty. Bass fishing by me is gonna end soon and I won't be doing it as much when the full salmon run is on so hopefully I can figure out why soon. Worst comes I just exchange it for another, might already do so since I'm pretty sure my audible drag isn't right.

I bought a shimano antares 2012 from them for 270. Besides a few scruffs the reel was smooth as ever. Even then those scruffs were barely noticeable. Like said before shipping is high. Definitely recommend if your looking for used gear.