Luke Barnes

Glad someone bumped this thread! I found it on Google haha. Is the advantage of flourocarbon over copoly mainly sensitivity? If copoly sinks, has good resistances and is darn near invisible underwater, it seems sensitivity is the only difference.

Why is that? I was thinking 15# anyways, whatever brand. I know some brands are weird and do like 12,14,17 so would go 14# in that situation.

So far all the experience with flourocarbon I have is 12lb Berkley Vanish for leaders, but its worked well. Is Invisx worth the upgrade from Seagur Red Label? Or Yo-Zuri Top knot?

I recently got my third baitcaster, which I will throw jigs, bigger t rigs and frogs and such. So now that i have that I no longer have to rely on my 7' MH to do everything that my 6'6 M cranking rod couldn't. So I'm thinking of switching it from 20# braid to maybe 14# fluoro. Will be mainly using lighter t rigs, chatter baits, spinner baits, and some smaller swimbaits. I know for abrasion fluoro beats braid, it sinks, and has a little stretch. I really cant see any reason not to switch. Yes I could do braid to fluoro leader, but if I can eliminate an extra knot by going 100% fluoro I would like to. On that note, how is the Yo-Zuri Topknot fluoro? I currently have a spool of 12# Vanish fluoro I use for leaders and could use that, but havent read the best reviews about it.

How long of a piece did you use? What did you use to attach the seat base to the wood?

I've been using moon juice in the rage craw and rage menace and really like it. They get but and make excellent color combos as trailers. So versatile.

What kind of screws did you use to attach the wood to the aluminum boat seat platform?

That's another thing is this is the first H rod ive ever had. A half ounce frog barely loaded it up so i felt like I really had to whip it. To me this rod is just as big of a learning curve as the reel. Roll casting was a breeze, but long overhead casts im still getting used to. Good advice on the spool tension. I will make sure to really pay attention to it.

Ive never casted a regular SLX but i would like to, to compare. My other baitcasters have mag brakes so having the dial on the outside helped me fine tune the centrifugal brakes. Does anyone else notice that it does better with the spool more tight?

I'm running 2 brakes too and will probably play with going to 1 with the spool tighter, but it cast a frog further than ive ever casted before. So far I love it!

I have 60lb Sunline braid and 2 brakes set and external on 3 with my spool just barely moving side to side and it casts a half ounce frog like crazy.

I learned a valuable lesson. It does not like a loose spool. On my Lews and Abu reels the spool is super lose, but the Shimano, even with more braking liked to lash with a loose spool so I tightened it tighter than I would feel comfortable with, and gained casting distance. It spooled out so smooth. It took me by surprise!!

Awesome glad it worked out for you!

The seats are mounted to a 12" pedestal base with a swivel between the seat and pedestal base. Was able to aquire the hardware for that at my work. But getting the pedestal base mounted to the boat platform itself is my quandary.

I have each of them in separate slots in in my boxes because of the melting. I'm hoping they dont react with silicone skirts but I never thought about the skirt bands. Getting some thin wire and wrapping them would be easy enough though.

I dont have any green pumpkin or watermelon TRD Crawz for the green jig, but I'm wondering how the orange craw would look on that jig. If the Elaztech wasnt such a pain to get to stay on alot of bait keepers I would just take off the black and blue and try it. Elaztech is a blessing and a curse haha

The SLX XT has a hagane body, so with the wording they use it makes it easy for one to assume there would be some magnesium somewhere unless they state that certain models are aluminum and certain are magnesium. The state from Shimano makes it sound like its an alloy of both metals. Either way I love my reel and its way more sturdy than the graphite frame reels i have and doesn't flex like graphite.

So basically the only way to keep it from tearing the aluminum is reinforce the crap out of it or get some kind of clamp that you bolt into the seat platform?

Im using it for frogs and big jigs with 60lb braid and a 7'2 H rod, so I dont want it to slip on the hooksets.

Haha thanks for the replies. I'm hoping to test them in the next day!

Then why would they advertise that is made of aluminum and magnesium if its just aluminum??

I recently got the idea to start throwing mini flipping jigs. Namely the SK Bitsy Flip jigs. I had some Zman TRD Crawz and thought they would be the perfect size and bulk for these little jigs and being buoyant the class would stand up and get some nice movement. So today I did some experimenting and this is what they look like!

I was gifted these for Christmas but my boat doesnt have an edge or tapering to the platforms so they didn't hold. @BrianMDTX would those higher quality rivets hold better than cheapo ones? I really dont want to cut holes in the platforms for a bolt, washer, nut setup. But i do agree that would be the best and most secure way of mounting them.

According to Shimano the SLX XT has the Hagene frame, which they said is an alloy of aluminum and magnesium...

I agree!! I got the combo for the price of the reel with discounts and gift cards!