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!

Perfect! I am thinking 100 but just didn’t want it to feel ridiculously small on there. But should be good. My older 200 is big and weighs almost 10 oz, beautiful reel but a beefy baby by today’s standard

Thanks ! I was afraid of that, the JDM bait monkey is very powerful Thanks ! You clearly share my like for the classic round reel. Yes I was debating 200 vs 100 a bit too. I know my old 200 for sure feels a bit large on my 3 power Loomis. Is that a Imx pro the 100 is on and if it is what model? That is what I would be putting in on an MBR783 so curious how it compares to your Imx there

Thinking of buying one as a multipurpose reel for my Loomis MBR 3 power rod, 3/8 to half ounce stuff primarily. Rod gets used for everything from light jigs and t rigs to bladed jigs, spinnerbait whopper plopper etc. I know there are plenty of awesome low profile reels out there, but I like round reels Calcutta in particular. Have an older 200gtb Calcutta that has done it all on my heavier stuff for years and I’m still using. So another smaller Calcutta seems like it could be a good choice? I’m more of a have a small number of really good reels and rods and keep them forever kinda guy. My older 200 works on my 3 power rod but is too big really for it. So I am thinking 100 size on this one. Curious who has used one for general use bass fishing and how do you like it?

Agreed it’s very much a personal feel thing. I had a ci4 Stradic, sold it and just replaced it with a Stradic FM. Also I have a Stradic FL. I like that bit more weight and solid feel of the Stradics. I’m used to my old white stradics I grew up fishing and they always had a bit of solid heft to them. So Stradic FM & FL just feel natural to me. Ci4 was predecessor to vanford and was an awesome reel. I just couldn’t ever love that feeling of nothing in your hand. I can see why lots do love the vanford / ci4 though. stradic FL is not heavy by historical standards either. I find it’s just enough weight to balance with my tip up slightly which I prefer for finesse and bottom contact. id try having your Stradic serviced, both my FM & FL are butter.

Thanks ! I agree on the handle length, I sit down in the Ultimate 12. Short handle on my Loomis CR722 works great. Longer handles can be awkward for sure. Made a seat riser, helped a bit. The cr722 feels oddly short in my boat, but perfect in my kayak

I’m looking at a 7’4” rod. All of my rods are 6’ 6’6” or 7’… I have weird hang up about a 7’4” being too long to use in my native ultimate 12 kayak. Sit in style yak and I don’t stand much in it. Anyone use 7’4” or longer in a yak ?

Ok so old thread but I’ve been researching the Fenwick 7’1” MHMF rod in particular and came across this. Looking for a moderate action multipurpose rod for bladed jigs, spinnerbaits, swim jigs primarily 3/8 plus trailer sometimes 1/2 oz. Also smaller swim baits, whopper plopper etc. after some more use do you still feel this model is a good fit for this kind of stuff? My Loomis casting rods I find a touch fast for some of these applications and I’d like to find a reasonable priced fairly moderate rod for these moving bait jobs. grew up fishing Fenwick but got away from them for a long time now. Interested to maybe give one a try again. Any preference in the eagle or world class ? I’m looking at eagle or maybe jump to elite or WC perhaps

Wow! That is more info than I could expect thanks so much. My MBR783 is an IMX pro. Not super fast probably similar to your GLX or so. Great rod for lots of things live the rod but find I like it for 3/8 jigs, fat ika and such. It works but find it a touch fast for moving baits at times especially with braid. My MBR782 is a GCX and feels pretty moderate, good for lighter stuff. Sold an E6X MBR783 a while back, just couldn’t ever love that rod for anything I did. Interesting on the Diablo. Will likely have to try one and see maybe is only way to know for sure. Stuck between that and going with a GCX MBR843 as a dedicated spinnerbait bladed jig and overall heavier moving bait rod, perhaps with mono or fluoro to get some stretch in there. thanks again!

That is great info thanks ! I am hoping the Diablo would be a touch slower than MBR. I have 3 MBR rods and they are great multi purpose rods. but I’ve always wanted for try a Megabass so might be the time to have a serious look at one.

Does anyone have a comparison of the taper of a Levante spec R vs and MBR843 or 783? I have MBR Loomis rods but zero hands on time with a Megabass. considering adding a Levante Diablo to the fleet or another MBR843 and curious how they compare. Geographically I’m likely ordering a Megabass without handling it so curious for real world experience. Diablo is touted as spinnerbait bladed jig spinner bait topwater versatile and those are intended uses of this one for me. MBRs do these things reasonably well too but I do at times find them a bit fast for bladed jigs with braid so wondering to switch it up a bit with a Diablo if it’s any more moderate or better suited for these baits.