NOC 1

Maybe you are casting too hard? Diawa reels don't usually take well to the big full throttle whip casts that some guys do. Try to cast with a smooth controlled motion. Start gently aiming for maybe 20 yards and once you get the motion down, work up from there. My son has a big power cast and he can bomb lures 70 yards all day long with a Lews or Shimano. Give him a Daiwa though and that same cast birds nests withing a few casts. I won't say that you never have to use your thumb on the Tat SV TW, but once you get the motion down and get to where you can hit the desired distance with it, you won't need it much. The only time I need my thumb with mine is when I throw a little too hard for how far I am aiming.

Interesting. I buy quite a bit of stuff from Hedgehog. If you wouldn't mind, it would be good to hear how much it helps...if it does. I know I could change out the gears and all, but I bought a 5:1 SS SV and would prefer to keep it that way. All of the ways of swapping out the drag seem to include higher speed gear sets...I don't mind doing work on my reels, but I'm not sure of my skill enough to try to figure this one out myself.

Not if you are looking for an ordinary Low Profile casting reel.

Yes, pretty happy. It is much better than the original spool by miles. it isn't a ZPI-PG, but then I don't really want every reel to have the PG either as good of a spool as it is. I personally have found that the PG (and the M) don't reallt work that well for light baits, but they are as smooth as silk up past 3/8 or so. I'd say that the Zillion G1 make the reel feel pretty much like any other $300 Daiwa and that is I think a good thing. If only fixing the drag on the SS SV were as simple. Yes, that is the same spool as TTT has for sale. In fact I bought mine from them.

I've got that same rod and feel the same way about it. I bought a Tatula SV TW specifically to try to balance the rod. It didn't. I feel bad dogging on the SC, but I bought 2 of the LTB series and they are both a big disappointment. I've had $100 Falcon rods that were much better performing rods. I will say they are nicely built, but a nicely built broomstick is still a broomstick.

I'm pretty happy with a Zillion SV G1 spool in my SS SV 103. The Steez SV spool works well too.

As if catching more fish is the end all and be all to justify buying pricey gear. This is assuming that the price vs performance formula is what everyone uses to decide whether gear is worth it or not. Not everyone buys that way. Clearly, many people use that model. I for one do not, but I totally understand why so many do and accept it as a legit way to make tackle choices.. What I don't understand is why so many of those people (I don't know that you are one of them) seem to not be able to wrap their heads around the idea that their way of looking at it isn't the only legitimate way to see it. It's almost as if they take it as a personal insult that other people might actually buy pricey gear and don't really care if it catches more fish and don't feel that they must be master class fishermen to buy top drawer stuff. I rarely (if ever) see my fellow enthusiast tackle fans calling out anyone else for using the cheaper gear they choose. Why does it seem OK to insult we enthusiasts? Can't all you budgety and practical types just accept the fact that we others can do as we please just the same as you can? I don't need a practical reason to justify my choice of gear, nor do I need to make apologies or need an excuse to explain buying it. I buy it because I like it better and I can.

It's a creature from Louis Carrol's "Through the Looking Glass" along with the "Jabberwocky" I think. It is a great name.

I'm considering buying a JDM destroyer 16 Bandersnatch F5-6'8" MF. Anyone have one or had one? What do you think? Thinking about using it for Texas rigs, shakeyheads etc.

Nope...calling BS here. How insulting for you to say that because I like higher end gear, I am an aspiring amateur who, you imply, wants to be a pro and is so stupid that I think that the difference between the pro's and myself is the cost of the gear like I was a 10 year old kid or something. I aspire to nothing of the sort. I wouldn't be a tour pro if you offered it to me on a platter. I have no interest in fishing tournaments even locally. Just not interested in working that hard at fishing and I never was. I could care less what the pro's are using as far as rods and reels go, though I do sometimes take an interest in what baits they use and how. Seems to me that it is the budget gear guys who seem fixated on what gear the pros use because every time the subject comes up, you guys go straight to what the pros use. For the pros it IS a business, for me it's not. How about you? is it a business for you? You do understand that the pros' sponsors want them to push the affordable gear to the people who think that using what the pros use matters right? As for me, I buy the gear that makes me happy. Sometimes I don't even end up using it much. I don't need to justify buying higher end gear by counting the fish I catch vs some guy using cheaper gear, or even in comparison to myself using cheaper gear. If you can't justify top drawer gear for yourself I certainly have no problem with that. Why do you care what I use? You use what you care to buy. But don't try to make me out as a fool because I choose something different.

I don't know if it would make any difference to you, but Falcon still builds their rods in the US I believe. At least they still operate a factory building something. As far as I know they just stopped using blanks made in the USA because their supplier went out of business. There are still American jobs there.

Personally I prefer a ML with an XF tip. Much more accurate for me and I've never noticed losing any fish on it. The XF is rated down to 1/16 oz. and seems perfect for #1 Vibrax which is right about 1/8 oz.

What was I thinking...Of course you are right.

LOL....I'd rather somebody tied all my knots, and while we're at it re-spooled my reels and threaded my guides too. But alas, I haven't found anyone who will do it.. I have, I think, about 30 combos right now and I bring different stuff depending on where I'm going, what I am fishing for, and how I am planning to do it. I bring a different set of combos if I'm trolling 60 ft. water for Striper than I would bring if I were throwing 1/8 oz. Vibrax spinners to the shore going after late season Hybrids. That's just an extreme example but it is much the same no matter what. Sure you can manage to do a lot with a MH and a M caster and a ML spinner let's say, but you will be no where near to using the best set-up for each of them. On any given day I'll bring 4 or 5 rods.

Nothing wrong with the SS SV spool itself...It just isn't a good match with the SS SV reel that it was designed for.

The oldest thing that I still have would be a Johnson Century spin-cast reel I got in the 60's. The oldest that I ever use, but very rarely is an old Abu 5500 reel from maybe the 70's. The stuff I use all the time I am told is too old and that would be my pack of Daiwa TD-Z reels from the 1990's and early 2000's.....When they make a better reel I'll look into it...

I'll take this back. I didn't quite get that you were only talking spinning gear. I was referring to ML casting rods which are going to be a bit heavier in power and action than are ML spinning rods..

Ml is what I ordinarily use for 1/4 oz baits. All of my ML are rated either 1/16-3/8 or 1/8-1/2. that puts 1/4 oz right in the sweet spot in my opinion.

Given this, I would think that you would be at least to 1/4 oz and probably a bit more. Just about any decent reel should be able to do that reasonably well I'd think. For that range of baits you'd have a hard time besting the Daiwa Tatula SV TW series. The others named might do it too, I don't know. I do know the SV TW will.

ZPI no longer sells them I think. but there are some still out there. Try The Tackle Trap, or E-Bay. Hedgehog Studio (HH) bearings as are the ZPI are from Japan and can be had either from their website or again, try the Tackle Trap in the US.

actually, the Legend Elite is a rod I have been thinking about trying for a while now..I just haven't yet found the proper excuse. Most of my rod buying has been Megabass or Daiwa for the last few years.. As for the E6X...They miss the mark completely in my opinion. They don't feel like a Loomis to me. It wouldn't be too bad of a rod at $100 but even then I'd rather have a Falcon, Major Craft or many others. I'm not too keen on the IMX series either. For the price I can get better much cheaper. The real Loomis rods start at the GLX series I think.

I don't think that less IPT on the cast matters much if any at all and I know that IPT is something that I don't really assign much importance to in most cases and especially when I'm casting an 1/8 oz bait maybe 20 yards.. Most of my reels are 6:1 reels anyway. If it matters for you, then I guess you'd have to stick with the shallow lightweight spools that are a little heavier but they do hold a larger diameter with less line.

You are right about that ROI. But for some of us it matters less than it does for others I think. I have never fished either rod. And though you can't always tell about a rod in the shop, I have handled both series of rods and didn't equate the two at all. I have some SC LTB rods that I am OK with so it's not like I'm knocking the St. Croix rods. IME they make quality well built rods. It just seems to me that that both Loomis and SC have a unique style and feel to them and I have never handled any SC that felt like a Loomis...in any series. That said, they guy who fished both might have a better idea...or we might be judging on different attributes I guess. Not that the SC is inferior to the Loomis, just a different take on rod building.

I second the ZPI and HH recommendation. I have not had anyone explain how Boca can sell ABEC rated bearings that they source from China, Germany, and Japan. bearings from those counties would be rated under JIS, DIN, ISO or other standards not the American Bearing Committee. It's a trust thing. And pretty meaningless too. I doubt that anyone could tell much difference between a ABEC-3 and an ABEC-7 rated bearing in a fishing reel. In the wallet yes. I could send you a pair of $3 Chinese orange seal bearings and you might never know it. I don't know what the ZPI or HH are rated, but they are always very good bearings. any of the Hybrid bearings using steel races and ceramic balls, or full ceramic bearings are going to have less rolling resistance, but they will not be as quiet.

It's all about the weight of the spool as it is when you cast. The spools made for casting very light weights weigh maybe 7-9 grams and hold only 40-50 yards of 6-8lb line. If you have a spool loaded up with 100 yards of line that spool isn't so light anymore. Look for a light spool and then consider only filling it half full for best results. If you are throwing something more than 40 yards I would say that it isn't that light of of a bait to begin with.