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I can tell the difference. A 2 inch difference in length is a significant change in leverage, and the longer rod will have a different action to it even if they are the same action on the label, the blank has a different taper. I'm not saying that a guy can't work around it, but there sure is a difference. If you cast that 7'2" rod exactly the same as the 7' rod with the same lure and line etc. That lure will land in a different spot. It's physics, no way around it. If you can't cast that consistently it might even be worse at every bit of additional length will increase the effects of any inaccuracies and randomness that you have in your casting motion. sort of like target shooting. If you shoot 1/8" off at 10 yds. The exact same shot will 1-1/4" off at 100 yards (not including wind, ballistic co-efficient, etc)

They will deflect a different amount. That is the whole point. Look at it like this...if you put a 1lb weight on all the different rods they would all deflect a different way. an XF would have a skinny tip and the tip would deflect more than a Fast or Moderate, but it starts bending the rest of the blank a lot higher say 10-12" down and so it would all in all deflect the whole rod less. A Moderate action bends more smoothly and transitions the force down the blank more equally say 1/2 way down the rod so that the rod bends like a rainbow (parabola)

Sounds about right to me. I use a Black Label ML/R for the same thing and it seems better than a Med to me. I use P-Line Flouroclear Fluorocoated co-poly, 8lb

The only thing I've found that I like the M in at all is a TD-Z. But even then it's plenty touchy. The last thing I tried was that TD-Z on an OG Black Label 6'10" ML-R. Kind of OK, but anything lighter than 3/8 or so I can;t get any distance and if I loosen it up enough to get the distance, it is very wild (at least for my abilities). I think it will be good on a M power rod. I think if I had a chance to, I'd trade it for something else. Someone who is a better caster than I might find it more versatile. P.S...I love that Zillion SV G1 spool in the SS SV too. It will do just about anything except the really light BFS stuff and it is probably not ideal for the big baits. Otherwise it has it covered.

I guess it depends on what you are looking for. As BaitFinesse pointed out, the SV Light is a reel specially set up for bait Finesse fishing. The problem is that if you buy it and find out that it isn't working like you figured it would for what you are doing, you are stuck because there really aren't any spools to change it into something different. The Zillion SV, Steez, TD-z, SS SV, SV103/105 and maybe a few others can pretty much be turned into what ever you want it to be, from a Long casting crank bait reel for 1-2oz lures to a Finesse reel down to around 3/16 oz. The SV light is a good high quality reel, but the way I do it to stick mostly with the reels I just listed and have a stash of spools that I can swap around as my needs change.

I like mine. It is essentially a Steez with a few less bearings, but there are a couple of significant differences. Most people, including myself find the stock spool to be over braked. Not a big deal to me I replaced that with a Zillion SV TW G1 spool ($90 from The Tackle Trap)which works very well in the SS SV.. The original spool works pretty well in the OG Steez and TD-Z reels so I put it into one of those. I added the "missing" bearings and brought the count back up to 11 and upgraded the spool bearings to ceramic. The last thing is the drag. Many don't care for it, but as of yet I've had no problems with it. I'm sure that there is a way to change out the drag to the Steez stack, but haven't needed to look into it at this point. The reason it is so light isn't because it is cheap. it is because the frame is made from Titanium. That sort of hollow feeling is normal for a Ti framed reel. To me the reel as I modded it is now much like a Steez, which are listed at around $500. To some people I guess the Steez feels cheap too. I have mine on a 6'1" Megabass Speed Tip Special (XF with a solid stinger tip) and use it for small jerks, topwater baits and Ned rigs etc when fishing in and behind brush and flooded scrub.

My guess is the the poster was trying to help you. You want a spinning rod to throw 4 OZ baits? That is a pretty unusual request unless you are going surf casting......or....wait for it...river fishing for giant catfish. If you don't like the Walmart version..Bass Pro has one too.

I run 6lb line on my ML XF rods for throwing 1/8oz etc with BFS spools. I use 8LB on ML Fast for Texas rigged lizards, small NEDs etc and 10Lb for throwing 1/4-3/8 oz stuff on ML Med action off of ZPI "M" spool. All Flouro. Works pretty well for me.

Ten feet under water or so all colors tend to mute to shades. Sort of like watching old black and white movies. Red, Green, Blue are all just shades of grey. All those colors become simply patterns. However fishermen definitely see color and I suspect that it is they that have a larger preference for certain colors. As for the rest of it it's a mystery to me. I have some long rods for special purposes, but all of my regular casting and spinning rods are 5'10 to a 7'1" . Most are 6'6" and 6'8". I don't give a fiddle for anything longer no matter what the fashion is. I have somewhere around 20-25 BC reels and they are all 5.x or 6.x except for one 7.x and one 8.x. The 8.x I pretty much just use for vertical jigging in 30'+ water where hauling it up faster is a good thing. I use mostly STEEZ, TD-Z and PX68 reels and have never seen a reason to trade them in on anything faster. They are great reels and a lot faster than the 5500 ABUs that I upgraded from.

If you don't understand the objective, then I would recommend that you continuing doing things the way that do understand. The rest of us will do the same thank you.

Try some medium power rods for starters. What you have so far are all pretty stout and long rods. I would go for something like a 6'10" MF for a decent all around rod. The rods you have are all bruisers. That's okay if you are going to always use big baits and want to throw them a mile I guess. Underwhelmed by the ABU Vengeance seems like a charitable thing to say in my opinion. Terrible rods. I don't know your budget, but judging by the fact that you tried a MOJO, I would say maybe a Falcon, Diawa Tatula or ABU Villain to name a few.

I have 2 of these and I am very happy with them. 5 individual compartments back by the reels each of them nicely padded with some kind of synthetic sheep wool fur. I haven't broken a single rod since I started using these to transport my rods. Tip...If you plan on putting them into a carpeted rod locker, you need to buy some 1 1/2" velcro to cover the strip that is sewn onto the tip that allows you to adjust the length. I didn't and it took me about 45 minutes to get it back out.

10# P-Line Flouro-clear

Good call on both The Tackle Trap and Tackle Tour forum. I was going to mention Tackle Tour, but wasn't sure how that would be received on a "competing" forum. Worth mentioning too are the reviews that Tackle Tour does. Best reviews in the industry IMO even though they are pretty much limited to the stuff imported into the USA. There is still a lot of applicable info there. The tackle trap is a great shop. I've bought Megabass there as well.

I'd say a 30 would be about right. I have a Veritas 7' MLF with a President 25 on it and it is fairly well balanced holding it like I do with the reel foot between my ring finger and pinky finger. Just a tiny bit tip heavy. I also have a Veritas 7"MHF that has a President 30 on it. It is tip heavy but a 40 was way too much for that rod. It ought to have a 35 on it. That would leave the 30 for the Medium rod i guess. that will be the closest you are going to get with Pfueger Presidents I think.

I'm 63 years old and for what seems like forever, I had no choice but to fish with stuff like that...No thanks.

It kind of depends on what your priority is as to whether Amazon or E-bay are good choices. They offer you assurances that you will not get ripped off, so if you are the type of person that wants reassurance, that's a plus. There is less hassle with shipping for sure. But there is a downside. First of all you won't see half of what is available. Amazon is worse than E-bay for that. Anybody can find a brand new Daiwa Rebellion, or MajorCraft MS-X, but try to find something like a Fishman Brist 5.10 MXH or Beams Crawla 6.6L+, or maybe even a Palms Metal Witch Quest MTSC-631T "Tachi). You have a small chance of finding that stuff on E-bay but it isn't going to happen on Amazon. 7Seas Pro Shop is a huge dealer in Thailand, known and respected around the world and they have all of those I named plus 1000 more. Just to name one source. Secondly, even if you are not wanting to score a Metal Witch Quest, and you do find that more common thing that you are looking for I would expect to pay more. Assurance costs I guess. 3rd. I would rather deal with guys like The Tackle Trap, DVT or even TW than contribute 1 dime to Bezo's plan to subjugate the entire world or to Google's police state surveillance schemes. If those guys happens to be in Japan or Thailand that's OK. .

That is a good question, and unfortunately one that I don't have a very good answer for. I am in the process of sorting it out too. Forums like this one help as sometimes other people have taken the plunge on different stuff and can pass on their opinions of it. After a long while of looking at the Japanese sites and reading forums on the net you can begin to form opinions or theories. For example, I've never used a Daiko rod, but those who have been into the JDM rods for a longer time have a high opinion of certain models such as the "Burroughs". So what I am doing is finding a used Burroughs in EXC shape and take the plunge. After that I know what to expect from Daiko, and can tell something about their other rods by comparing the description of a different model with what I have. The bottom line though is that somebody has to take the plunge sight unseen and share what they find.

The reels are more the same than they used to be, but there are still a lot of reels offered around the world that are not imported here. When it comes to rods, it isn't even close there are hundreds if not thousands of rods that aren't imported here, many from companies that we ordinarily don't even hear about. I think it's because the American market has such a limited taste. And it seems to be a different taste than most other countries and it is a world apart from the Japanese market. Most Americans seem to want $100 reel that holds 150 yards of line set up for 3/8-3/4 oz baits. That's sort of a laugh-er to the Japanese where they put a premium on precision and special purpose stuff. Most Japanese reels hold about 90 yards of line. All that extra line really kills performance. Americans want their Mondo reel mounted onto 7'+ MHF and MF rods by and large, where the Japanese market offers many more sizes and styles and many 5'8" to 6'19" rods from UL to Heavy Jig Rods. I for one don't like 7' rods and prefer 6'3" TO 6'8" Rods. I can get them from Japan where that is the norm. I for one prefer the Japanese market stuff and I believe that the stuff made in Japan is a better quality than the made in Korea or China mass market stuff offered in the US. Furthermore, I want a whole cornucopia of different reels not just 20 copies of Tat USA or Lews reels. Lews makes what? 10 different bait-casters and they mostly the same size and functionally equivalent. Where's the Lews reels with 8 gm shallow spools? Or their reels for jigging? I am all for supporting the US economy, but I am also a big fan of market capitalism. Japan is our friend and they manage to have what I want to buy. If the American dealers can offer me what I want at the same price I would rather buy American. But I'm not going to buy a boatload of cookie cutter reels and rods that I could pole vault with just because an American is selling them. I do try, and have tried to avoid buying anything Chinese and am finding it impossible.

You can use gun oil, but it is a little thick for spool bearings. It's OK for anything else I think. You can also use Lithium gun grease, but I wouldn't. It will wash away with water and will probably leave a mess as it does so meanwhile leaving your reel unprotected. That said I have used it in a pinch, but I would go out of my way to avoid having to do so.

Very nice. I only have 1. I put a Zillion SV TW G1spool in it, added a couple of gold accents and have it on a MB 6'1" Speed Tip Special and use it for precision stuff.

Yeah, I know...that's how I ended up with one.

Holy Cow, I forgot about the TD-z, and I have 6 of them. 3 with ZPI Spools and 3 with SV spools. The OG Steez is a great reel and the Steez SV 103/105 spools really bring them up to date. Also I have 1 with the SS-SV 103 spool as well that I like. And now that you brought it up, the SS SV with a Zillion SV G1 spool would be a darn good choice too. I think the SS SV is an overlooked gem. It' essentially a downgraded Steez with a kind of lame spool choice. But they can be had for as little as $169 new. Add a different spool and a few handle knob bearings and you've got something. S

You could always buy a used OG Steez or Zillion and put an SV spool into it. That's why I like Daiwa.

What he said. I always get a little laugh when these questions come up, as they often do. No matter the specifics of the question, the guys jump an and give the same answer they have given the last 20 times. I have dozens of rods and I couldn't say for sure which is the best rod I own myself let alone what is the best rod made..I couldn't even say for sure of which rod I own is best for a particular technique, because the truth of it is I haven't tried the different techniques that I use on all of the rods I have, again let alone all of the rods that are made. For example. One of the rods I like like best is a Daiwa Crossfire 6'6" MH 2 piece. It sells for like $30. I know, it has everything going against it. 2 Piece, generic "graphite" construction, too few guides etc. So why then does it feel better than all of my LT St Croix rods or most of my $200-$300 Daiwa and ABU rods or MegaBass rods?...I really don't know but it does.So should I then argue that it is the best rod made? Probably not, but it would feel nice if some other people would agree that it is a great rod. I think that is what happens a lot. people throw out the names of what they have and if they have some of the most common and popular rods out there, they get a lot of positive feedback about what they decided to buy and that feels good. Sort of a mutual admiration society thing. The world is full of great fishing rods from all over and I think the odds that the usual suspects, the entry level SC, Dobyns, and etc are the best at anything is slim and the odds that they are the best at everything even slimmer. As far as answering the original question goes. I think that most of us know that there really isn't an answer for it better than the one that many others will give, which is "who can say, try some stuff out and see what you like".