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Those seem like nice rods for sure, but are they really comparable to the NRX? I've never felt a St.Croix rod that felt anything at all like a Loomis.

everybody shouts out their favorite reels as usual. I would too if I knew what you consider a "lighter bait". Some guys think a 3/16 oz is a light bait. I've heard others that call a 3/8 a light bait. Some people cast 1/16 oz and lower weights. What exactly are you wanting to throw. About any decent modern reel should be good down to 1/4-3/8 oz. I'd be really surprised if any of the reels named so far with the exception of the Pixie and the Ray's spool reels would be able to do much below 1/4.

Anything comparable is probably going to be somewhat comparable in price as well I think.

Yes you can. There are people who say you can't or it's not the best tool and for sure they are telling the truth... for themselves. There are people who can throw flies with a BC reel (I'm not one of them). But like someone else already said, that is going to require a special reel (Wakasagi spool) and trout rod, and then as someone else said, you have to be good enough to do it. Some people don't want to deal with all that so they say that it is the wrong tool. I think it would be more accurate to say that it can be a difficult and/or inconvenient tool to master. So, given that it might not be the best tool for you, but you can do anything on a BC as you can with a spinner. That said, it's not that hard to throw 1/16-1/8 oz. stuff and it seems to work just as well as spinning gear to me. I don't know about skipping because I don't do much of that at all so maybe a spinner IS better for that?

It just occurred to me that if you are getting a nasty backlash, then clearly the reel was willing and able to deliver more distance. You know I'm thinking that maybe you are simply trying to cast it too hard? Or possibly releasing the button a little late on an overhead cast which will cause a line drive into the water. With a bait caster you should start out pretty gently. Is the lure going up into the air a bit or is it making a straight shot into the water? If you cast hard and then the bait doesn't go very far before it hits water stopping the lure dead, on a BC the spool will keep on turning and you can have the nuclear backlash result. Try setting it up like the Curado DC owners suggest and put a 1/2 oz practice plug, lead weight or nut on it and practice. Start with very gentle side casts or roll casts and to start with, make sure the lure is leaving at about a 45 degree angle upwards. Practice using your thumb to stop the spool at the same moment that the weight touches down. I don't have that reel, but one of my sons does and I've used his a few times and my experience is that that reel will cast very well and for good distance and is easy to cast with. I've watched my son who is very good at casting whip a 1/2 or 5/8 oz crank bait 50-60 yards with the same reel.

I'm sure that they are excellent quality. I am generally a big fan of the top drawer reels made back then. i never had one of those, but I know that Shimano and Daiwa were both making reels the quality of which they cannot make today at a price that anyone would buy. IMO the 1990's and early 2000's were the pinnacle of quality builds. The guys warning of dwindling parts supplies do have a point. But, then again, I have at least a dozen reels from back then that I use all the time and somehow I've always managed to find parts. Eventually maybe there will just be none at all, but right now it is just expensive or inconvenient and sometimes both.

not trying to be a wise guy, but what do YOU think of them. It really doesn't matter who is seeking them if you don't car for them.

Maybe not. When i posted that I was under the impression that you were trying to throw the little crappie jig in the pictures which would be too light for a MH. Bigger plastics with bigger weights ought to work fine with a MH. You just have to look at the lure weight that the rod is rated for, and the lure that you are trying to throw and make sure that you are within that range. Some rods might exaggerate a bit on the high or low ends of the scale but all in all if your lure weighs somewhere within the rod's rating you ought to be able to use it reasonably well.

I know what you were saying and you know that I was talking about the crappie jigs in the photos. But just accepting that I had already pointed out my mistake wouldn't be nearly so fun for you as would assuming your usual air of sarcastic superiority would it? Pretending to be dense in order to point out how dense I am...does that really work?

What is pictured is not something to throw on a MH rod..on the other hand a standard size rage craw is what..about 3/8-oz without a weight or 1/2 oz with an 1/8 oz weight? Yeah that is med or MH territory I'd say. I took it that the OP was trying to throw the crappie rig in the photo.....No, I do not re-read every thread in its entirety when I look at the updates.

I can't imagine what you would need 20lb of drag for. Most of my bait-casters have 8 or 9 lb of drag I do have a couple that go to 13 and I would never lock them down at that. If you want the Shimano the Bantam is a good choice. The Lews stuff works pretty well but IMO they really aren't in the same class as a Made in Japan Shimano.

I don't have that reel so my help is likely going to be very limited...but one thing I can say is that I would never try to throw that little bait on a MH rod...period. it just isn't going to work. That is the kind of thing I throw with a ML casting rod XF fast tip rated for 1/16-3/8 oz. Or a ML-Regular action tip rated for 1/8-1/2 oz baits. The truth is I usually throw stuff like that when I am Crappie fishing of a L or UL spinning rig. I don't know how well the Curado DC handles light baits, but I do know that the rod is just as important and the MH/F is nowhere near the rod you need...IMO. The rods that you trying to use are the rods I would choose for baits from say 1/2-1 oz. For the tiny stuff you need a free spinning spool and more of a whippy rod.

LOL...Yeah, probably. But it will be back. This is one of the most common discussions had whenever there are a few fisherman gathered anywhere. Might as well try to put a lid on Ford vs Chevy or Daiwa vs Shimano.

THIS! I keep covers on all my reels.

? better yet if you have the patience for it.

I'll 2nd the recommendation for using TS-321. it is not oil though and doesn't really work the same way. It is Tungsten Disulfide in suspension. It is a minimum of 6 times more effective at preventing rust than oil and is virtually the lowest friction material known. The similar TSI-301 is cheaper but be aware that it is a Tungsten Disulfide suspension in a solvent that could attack plastic. it can be used but it is best to leave it dry very completely before installing in the reel. The 321 can be used like oil and simply applied. It does not degrade, and as it is a dry lubricant it will not dry out or collect dirt. One use should last all year probably longer. It might make your bearings a little noisier, but it will free them up like no oil can. When shopping for it try to find an industrial supply place that will sell you a 2 or 4 oz squirt bottle of it. It can be had at those p[laces for like $89 a gallon while the fishing shops will often gouge you $7 per OZ. The last I bought was a 4 oz bottle for $7.95 and at one drop per bearing it should last for my lifetime I think.

The lip of your spool looks like a file. The bail looks a little rough as well. If it were my gear I would replace he spool and bail. if that costs too much try smoothing them with a 400 grit honing stone. That might be why you are having the feeling that your line is being shredded...it is.

Techna AV Aramid rods go for around $200-$250 right now...if you can find one. The only one on ebay right now is asking $100..... and it has a broken tip. A mint TD-Z still sells for over $200 and a TD-X nearly the same. As far as I know neither reel was ever a USDM item. The only TD-Z variant that I am aware of sold in the US was the "US Trail" which wasn't really the same reel. I do understand Tom's frustration though. The gear he is selling is some of the best gear ever made and is still better than most of the newer stuff. But trying to convince folks that don't see it is useless. Most will continue to buy the shiny aerodynamic new plastic Tats instead....That's just how it is. Daiwa depends on it, they would have to sell that Tat for $500 these days if it were made to the same standards as the old TD-Z. It reminds me of trying to get my kids (in their 30's) to watch a great old Film Noir from the 40's. Could be one of the best films ever made, but they'll never know because they won't watch it.... because it is filmed in back and white. This is after all the US where the wisdom of age is sold at a discount in favor of the new. I like the way that Oscar Wilde put it... "In America the young are always ready to give to those who are older than themselves the full benefits of their inexperience."

Probably true, but the reels Tom is talking about were still sold in the 2000's I think, at least the TD-X was. It is still a great reel. Better than most any new reel. It just looks dated.

The truth about ABEC ratings ..... for starters it is an American ratings system that requires physical testing of a large sample of actual bearings by the Annular Bearing Engineers Committee. So, when you see this rating on bearings made elsewhere don't believe the hype. German bearings would be rated by the DIN, and the Japanese by JIS, and others by the ISO. Not that it matters much for a fishing reel. The ABEC rating is a rating of average tolerances and nothing else. 3 of 10 ABEC 3 bearings will have tolerances tight enough to hit Maximum testing RPM, whereas 7 of 10 ABEC 7 bearings will. So the rating is more of a rating of the assembly line where the bearing is made than it is an individual bearing. You can get a better bearing in a batch of ABEC 3 than you might get in a batch of ABEC 7, but the odds are that you will get the more accurate bearing in the ABEC 7 batch. The rating is more one of consistency of manufacturing rather than a rating of individual bearings. An ABEC-7 rating means that the bearing that you are buying is made on a line where 7 of 10 bearings meet the ABEC-7 spec....however yours might be one of the other 3. The next thing is that a high ABEC rating is not the same thing as a higher quality bearing. The ABEC standards don't test or measure material quality, quality of the balls, polish, or any other of the many important factors in a bearing. Finally, does it even make a difference for use in a fishing reel. Not much. For example the allowable difference in the OD of the ABEC-3 and the ABEC-7 bearing is 1/10,000". There is no difference between ABEC-5 and ABEC-7. There is no way that any fishing reel is manufactured at a tighter tolerance than that, so it literally doesn't matter which bearing you use. AND...if there were, you wouldn't likely benefit from that improvement until the spool hit 20,000+ RPM anyway. If you are interested enough to want to see the actual ABEC specs...look here. https://www.engineersedge.com/bearing/ball_bearings_tolerances.htm

Especially in the south where the Florida Bass is bred.

I order online and usually get stuff in a few days. I order a lot of stuff from Japan and it often gets here quicker than that.

If you are looking for Megabass rods, The Tackle Trap in the US is an authorized dealer for their JDM line.

Megabass does things differently than the other companies. They will make that 2017 version for as long as they choose to and then it will be gone. They might come out with a new version, but they probably won't. And if they do, it will likely be a different rod with a different blank and maybe even intended for a different purpose. That's how they suck you in. Each rod is kind of a limited time offering. You'd have to buy maybe a hundred to have them all. I have no problem buying used older Megabass rods either. It's the only way to get many of the particular rods you might covet. the older rods are great rods too. Sometimes tyhe newer ones are better but mostly they are just different IMO. The Jade Python is pretty well thought of by anyone I've heard using them.Tackle Trap are great guys to do business with, and the XXX are nice rods (especially at the price). Someone said that the XxX are the JDM version of the XX, which technically is true I think, but they are completely different rods using different materials, different profiles and different actions, specialty tips and lengths that are made for the tastes and techniques favored by Japanese fishermen. I have come to have the same tastes once I started using the JDM rods myself.

If you go with Falcon, it seems like the Falcon Lowrider 7' MH/Mod-F would be perfect. https://shop.falconrods.com/collections/falcon-lowrider-2019/products/falcon-lowrider-casting-rod-70-med-hvy-mf It's a little more spendy than the HD rods, but at $129 it is worth the difference if you can swing it. For $99 There is a Bucoo SR rod "The Herm" which is also a great choice. https://shop.falconrods.com/collections/falcon-bucoo-sr-series/products/bucoo-sr-herm-brc-5-166 The HD rods are great for a $69 rod, but like I pointed out you can see definite improvement as you go up the ladder. https://shop.falconrods.com/collections/falcon-hd-series/products/hd-series-casting-7-med-heavy-hdc-7mh\ I don't know your budget, but in case you want better, there is also the Expert series at $199 that fishes as well as many $300-$400 rods IMO. https://shop.falconrods.com/collections/falcon-expert-series/products/expert-2 There is also a "Jason Christie Signature" model too and it's a good rod as well. $99. But the one I fished was set up a bit too specific for crank baits for my likeing, but you may differ. https://shop.falconrods.com/collections/jason-christie-signature-series/products/jason-christie-signature-crankbait-buzzbait-jcc-7cb