JediAmoeba

I love it but it isn't something that is necessary or better than a spinning rod. You can easily sink 500+ into a combo that a $100 spinning combo does just as well...

One thing I notice in rods - lower end rods talk about the xxT Toray carbon but high end rods don't. The high end ones use the right materials for the job to maximize effectiveness.

Gobies don't have swimbladders so they always relate to the bottom.

Pound for pound the strongest fighting fish are Smallies out of the Delware river.

The difference between a resin glider and a ABS plastic one is night and day. I have many of each and I usually throw the custom made ones... The price is in the handcrafted bait - the amount of time the builder put into r&d to get it like it is. The cost is worth it and warranted IMO.

Milliken just won using $300+ Hinkle glides. He is sponsored by 6th sense, who makes glides with his name on it.

It's not a collector thing for a lot of us. Custom glides fish way better than production models.

I am the ultimate heathen - I buy colors that are close and mix them all in one bag! I don't get all hung up on colors. I throw natural, white or black and combination close to those.

I love mine as well! They are super solid and it doesn't feel like a baby reel in my hands I agree which is what I was trying to say above - the side plates really seem to amplify noise

Unpressured and very weedy or tannic water - straight braid is the ticket. Just make sure your drag is set accordingly

Despite many combos the one I always reach for is my 7'9" XH Tatula swimbait rod paired with a Lexa HD 300. And on the end of the line you will usually find a BGC 7" glider...

I have 1, an 8.1.1 that is geary. But it's also one of the smoothest casting reels. The noise doesn't bother me. If you want to reduce the noise pack a little more grease in there. Being the side plate is not aluminum the sound is amplified. The reels are absolute workhorses though and I employ 6 of them in my arsenal. 2 have been going strong for 4 years now.

This is the answer - and one thing I would add is in more sparse covered water you can bend the hooks out a bit more.

Daiwa keeps this information "hidden". They don't want people to know most of the parts across all their reels are the same. Everything from their budget line up to their steez can be swapped out. What used to be a 100 sized reel is now a 150 or 200. They rebrand reels when it is just the frame from a previous or different model. Add some color accents, a different drag star and you have a new reel. If you shop for spools you quickly learn they are interchangeable in a lot of different models.

I use Gamma. Gamma is my favorite copoly and fluoro. Everyone has their preferences so try some out and find your preference

I use an Tatula 7'6" or a Tatula 8' heavy rod. Usually 50 lbs braid to a 15" fluoro leader.

I can't wait for my club to be there in August. Last time I had 20 lbs in 2 days on 6 fish. ( 3 fish limits for our club)

If you are at home tie on a good ball bearing swivel to the end, attach it to a stable object and let at least 50 yards of line out and make it extremely taut. Let the line straighten itself out and then reel it in.

I more often than not cast into the wind. Big Game is garbage and my stance on that won't change.

I have worn Maui Jim's, Costas and others but I only ever buy $10 dollar cheapies. I had a pair of Waterland that my wife got me but I lost those. I don't get it - I have never noticed a difference. The only thing I notice is that I can't see as well as I can without sunglasses on. Blue mirror, green, amber, black, grey...all the same with a different tint. I will add that I have always had better than perfect vision and rarely opt to wear sunglasses because they make my head hurt.

Interesting thing about this video to me is how he is trying to garner a distance based on handle cranks on a long cast - the line retrieval is different on a spool with less line and certainly not what the reel claims.

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRotdu9v/ Saw this and now I am curious - I usually use an EWG for my ball and chain. Amy thoughts?

We all know that mono, fluoro and copoly should be stored in cool dark places. Considering shipping, distributorship and places not rotating stock - I have little faith in the way it is kept from the time of manufacture to when it arrives at my door. The only way to check it is to try it when you get it. If it's bad, return it and buy from a different place so you get different batch numbers.

Are you talking about the riser bait? That thing was a total bust for me. Seems very situational and isn't going to attract anything but wildly active feeding bass.

I used to think that but last year changed my view...