Eric 26

I for one didn’t know until I read it on here, although I’m sure someone on YouTube is sharing the same information.

So as crazy as this may sound I’ve never seen a bluegill or heck any fish bed prior to earlier today. So for context the “retention pond” that I fish is not very large and although I stopped both yesterday and Monday for whatever reason the pond is extremely clear currently. I have quite a few questions but I’ll start with do bluegill “stage” their spawning areas based on size? I ask as I’ve pulled some decent 6”-8” gills out of here but the ones I saw were spawning in no more than 10-12” of water and not one was bigger than 4” at best. Also does this affect the bass bite at all? I ask this as the bass bite has been non existent for about a week now along with the crappie bite which I just attributed to the crappie moving more to the center of the pond closer to the fountain which is where I was usually able to pick up a few of each species before the fountain got moved further away from the shore.

I’m going to add another example to the one I quoted above. I’ve been eyeballing the Cashion Z2 rods since spring when they were $130.00 and they are now $150.00. I will say though as @bulldog1935 & others have pointed out it’s still cheaper to buy JDM currently as per the above example from @MN Fisher the same reel in Japan is currently $96.00 for a Shallow spool 2000 size which I did buy from Japan well before the tariffs went into effect.

Blasphemy 🤣😆

It didn’t happen if you don’t share a photo of your purchase 😉

Although I don’t own the new B series I have 2 of the A series and really enjoy both of them with my 7’/0” medium plus being a favorite of all of my rods.

If I’m not mistaken the prices went up in the USA as well.

I also really love mine, I literally just had it out a few hours ago.

For what it’s worth I have a 7’-2”🤔 Okuma EVX-B MH Fast action rod that has suggested uses on it which are spinnerbait, chatter bait & swim jig. I’ve personally thrown all 3 suggestions on it and then some, also if I were in your situation and I feel like many will say this is exact same thing, it’s a great rod for overall lure choices that just throws so many things well.

I found a picture of @Swamp Girl

@BigAngus752 Oh my goodness your comments of “I’m not getting my lure back” & “She hit it like she hated it” just made me laugh out loud😆Congratulations on that beauty 👊🏻

My most sincere Thank You to all of you on here who have served regardless of how, where or why you chose to. I did not serve but my father and brother did and my youngest son’s best friend just recently graduated from the Great Lakes Naval Academy and is deploying to Japan this summer. He is like a 3rd son to my wife and I and we couldn’t be more proud of him for signing up without hesitation. God Bless the USA and all of our service men and women 🇺🇸

Thanks for the reminder and yes I am aware of the rules on this. In all honesty this is one the reasons I’m a bit confused as to who would have put the fish in the pond in the first place as I know for a fact almost all of the people who live with the pond view don’t fish. Also this subdivision has 2 separate ponds with the second one being a bit larger and therefore more conducive to releasing the fish in the first place. I do realize it’s not my place to judge or to alter the natural outcome of the musky and honestly I wouldn’t want to pay the penalty for trying to move it.

Welcome from Illinois.

I appreciate your understanding and to honestly answer the question I use everything from spinning setups ranging from 4.7:1 to 6.3:1 to 3 “Crank Bait” specific rods ranging from ML, MED & a MH that have 5.4:1, 6.4:1 & 7.3:1 speed reels paired to them.

I finally got on the board as if earlier this month as April led to a complete beating as far as my fishing went. Although they’re nothing to write home about they are about the average in this retention pond and a good deal of fun on a light powered outfit. I will also add I went yesterday after work and was throwing a small lipless when I thought I was hallucinating after seeing a 18-24 inch musky following my lure but not committing. I honestly thought I must be seeing things but after seeing him/her 3 times cruising the shoreline with me following along trying to get a decent photo but never did I’m realizing someone intentionally put the fish in this pond which honestly makes me a bit disappointed in them regardless of the outcome of the fish surviving and causing damage to the pond’s natural balance or the more likely outcome of a beautiful fish dying as it’s not in a very conducive environment. If I’m lucky enough to catch the fish I’ll photograph it as evidence I’m not nuts and if anyone has suggestions on how to carefully transport it from New Lenox to the closest body of water that may support the fish I’d appreciate hearing them.

I have 2, one is an Abu Garcia Revo X winch and the second is a Kast King Royal Legend 2. I don’t fish large or deep diving cranks but do enjoy throwing crank baits on the Revo, as far as the KK I tell myself I’m going to trade it in for the last 3 BPS spring sale but then I find myself keeping it anyway.

I’m not trying to be rude but it seems you already know the answer to your question 🤔

I for one will definitely take your recommendations as I feel you own quite the sample size of gear. I look forward to hearing how the reel holds up for you.

@PhishLI That Lews Carbon Fire looks like it could share some cool stories.

Ok so the will say I have both the Piscifun Carbon X 2000 and the Viper X 2000 which share the same frame and spool size/capacity and they are both a bit larger body sized than both my 2000 sized BPS Jhonny Morris signature series reel and 1500 Carbonlite 2.0 which share the same frame size along with spool size/capacity. I personally think they are more along the lines of a 2500 sized reel personally and I’ll be happy to share the line capacities if you would like. Also to me they were both super smooth right out of the box with the Carbon X 1000 1st generation being extremely smooth even after being submerged and only dried out. Feel free to reach out to me in a PM if you want any more details.

Like many have already said I don’t want to dissuade you from using any brand but having owned or still own Daiwa, Shimano, Okuma (knock off) Dream Tackle, Bps Carbonlite 2.0 (white & gold) and a couple CDM reels the only one I truly regret selling was my first gen SLX with the 6 pin SVS brakes. I still think about looking for a used one as I liked it that much. With that said I have a Curado MGL that I bought used and I’m thankful I did as I don’t know if it’s my personal reel but I’m not that impressed with it even though it doesn’t do anything wrong. I also sold my Carbonlite which I believe was based on the LFS 2nd gen as I just didn’t like the way it felt in my hand. I still have my Dream Tackle reels which are a rebranded Okuma Hakai and have nothing but praise for them. With that as I’ve said in the past and I’ll continue to say to me Daiwa has the friendliest brake system out of any manufacturer and again maybe it’s just me but they have a frame especially in the 100/150 sized spool that fits for me somewhere in the lineup, as much as I want to like and buy the new Tatula 100 based on the improvements made I just can’t help but feel it’s not as comfortable as my Tatula 100 HS which I believe is the same frame and braking system as the new Tatula X which I believe falls into your price range. Sorry for the long winded reply.