Jaybert

Sneaky underspin with a drop minnow has been good for me. Really good Snack craw is a great Ned bait for me and also finesse jig trailer. I still want to try the Ned bug, looks awesome as a Ned bait. I Bought the finesse jigs for this year have not tried yet but quality is there and they look very fishy. I can’t imagine they won’t be awesome as well. Seems to make great products overall, and I like that the baits are versatile for drop shot, Ned, jig, swimming etc. All great stuff in my experience so far, I target smallies with GLF but have picked up accidental largies on the underspin, see no reason the other baits wouldn’t work for green bass either

Thanks ! Rigged version does look good too. Great info there, Magdraft just looks like a fun bait to fish. We don’t have a pre spawn bass season in my area of Ontario but I can see it as a fall bait for sure

Have not seen those but I’ll check them out thanks! Have had good luck with other R2S hard baits but need to try the soft ones maybe

Great info thanks! Swimbaits have been more of a finesse approach for me historically, so I am learning about the larger ones and going to give them a try. Hopefully make a good crossover pike and trophy walleye bait too

Xzone swammers 4” and under have been my go-to swimbait. They work, are affordable and durable. Usually on a screw lock underspin. I’d like to get some larger ones in the 5” plus range, and then I see the 5” & 6” Magdraft freestyles and man do they look cool and of course the monkey tells me they are in fact what I need, not the boring old swammer. so I’m just about to plunk down over twice the cost of a pack of mega swammers for half as many Magdrafts and I think stop, wait can these really be that much better? Sure the drafts look much more like a real prey fish, but can that really make a big difference underwater on a underspin? Just curious on others experience here am I being sucked in thinking I need the JDM fancy version vs my old reliable ? It’s late winter here and the analysis paralysis is taking over on the tackle purchases. That said if the Magdraft me are awesome I’ll spend the money and try em but I wonder if I’m being caught by them vs the fish

Picked up the new IMX Pro today. I have a few of the prior gen and personally like the older school look of them with the green thread etc. I placed the order for this MBR844 before new IMX Pro was even released a couple weeks back. My order got adjusted to the new series in the meantime. Looking at the new one online I wasn’t sure I loved the black plain look of it as much as my prior gen models. I was worried id be disappointed. I can tell you the pictures don’t do it justice. In person they are really, really nice rods. New reel seat is nice. Blank feels crisp. I like the old school understated rod look with a full handle and these absolutely have that vibe while feeling modern. Other customers at the local tackle shop were considering ordering once seeing it. I’m already plotting my next one to be the BFS model. Very impressed and like I say in person they are more impressive than they look online.

Thanks ! I have MBR 782 & MBR 783 now so this completes my set of nice multi-purpose rods. Good to hear it was a good rod for you, lots of positive reports out there on the 844 of various series so I am looking forward to it as an all around rod for the heavier stuff !

My new IMX pro arrived at my dealer today. Have just seen the pictures so far and it looks pretty sweet. Hoping to pick it up tomorrow!

Consider the JDM Stradic. Miravel and the others mentioned here are good. I have a Nasci 1000 that I like. But value wise I recently bought a Stradic 2500 from JLS for the same price as miravel here in Canada. Cant really go wrong with any of them but Stradic is a step up for the same $ out of your pocket

That old stickie helped me follow the same process recently. I was too lost in having too much specific stuff for techniques I rarely use. Too much good gear sitting around. Sold some stuff off and optimized into 5 quality setups I use all the time for my favourite techniques. Has been a pleasure and I focus more on fishing now vs gear. Looks like the op is in the right track for sure. I see you have some Loomis stuff in my case I have SJR 721 & 782 spinning and MBR 782, 783, 844 casting. These 5 cover everything for me from light to heavy in my waters. Your plan seems solid, finesse covered, JWR will be versatile, add something for moving baits maybe and drive on

My Conquest 100hg arrived today from JLS. Wow, what a reel. Its everything I love about my trusty old Calcutta 200gtb plus more. I can’t believe how awesome it is. And it has a drag clicker which was a cool surprise. It does appear small, I was worried it was too small when I first opened the box. But now that I see it on my IMX pro rod it is similar in size to my Metanium and is the perfect size for general use. Zero surprises or extra charges ordering and shipping to Canada from JLS. I’ve ordered smaller items from them before and they are great to deal with. Interesting this reel from Japan was only about $100 more than buying a Curado here in Canada. It was cheaper by a fair margin than a Metanium or bantam purchased in Canada. So while it’s a splurge it was a heck of a deal too for a lifetime reel. Plus they threw in a nice vision 110 as a free gift. thanks for all the help here in choosing, it’s a winner for sure and I’m eying a shallow edition next

Well it is somewhere between here and Japan so no turnin back now!

Ok, I’m in Canada so I think I’m in the clear for Tariffs but will see. Sometimes I get hit with a bit of duty and sometimes not seems to be luck of the draw

Not too sure for every country how it works. I’m in Canada and had a Shimano Stradic shipped from JLS last month and saw no extra tariff charges. It’s always a bit of a dice roll ordering from Japan but for me the difference in price I’ve still been way ahead on reels I’ve ordered. I’d never even think of buying a conquest here at the retail price

Placed the order for a conquest 100 hg from JLS can’t wait to see it. Thanks for the input everyone!