Big Hands

It's still bizarre to me that Shimano would use the Castaic name for a flipping reel. Almost every other lake I have been to in my life has better flipping opportunities than Castaic.

😍 Is that a 5000D?

I have the Dobyns SUF 700c. It's very close to the Phenix Classic BFS that I also own. The Dobyns might be just a tick more "powerful", but they are very similar. They throw baits in the .20 oz to .25 oz range perfectly. 1/16th to 1/4 oz is their best range, but they can throw a little more if you want. I'm fishing from a boat, so I don't necessarily see the advantage of a super short rod. I think you have some fine rods chosen. At some point. you can either choose to order one and see how you like it. or make an effort to go somewhere and put hands on one or more. If you really don't get along with it, you can sell it for a little less (the cost of a long term rental) and move on with more experience of your own to rely on.

When someone says "large swimbaits", I envision something like a DEPS 250, a full size Huddleston, maybe a 10" Magdraft, stuff like that. Baits that weigh 2 oz to 8 oz or so. If so, I would question the choice of a Curado 150 DC because: I don't see the DC feature as being useful for throwing large swimbaits I would not choose any 150 sized reel for throwing large swimbaits. I probably would NOT go with a Shimano 200 sized reel for that either. A 300 size Shimano Tranx or a Daiwa 200 or larger would be the minimum for a "large swimbait" IMHO. A large swimbait is not a large swimbait is not a large swimbait. Before I would suggest a rod, I would ask you to specify three large swimbaits that you would be interested in throwing.

Brutal.

What do you want to do that your current gear isn't so good at?

Another that you might check out is the Rage Shad. It's meant to drag across the surface and is basically a soft plastic buzz bait that can be rigged Texas/weedless.

Is this something that one should expect on any reel supposedly designed for "BFS" use? If not, how does one know if a reel has this design incorporated into it?

I came here to recommend this one. I used to take it with me when I would rent boats and read it while on the water, LOL.

The other dealer will have also pre-paid the tariff so FedEx will have no reason to charge a processing fee. Best I can tell and if my math is mathing correctly, my "stupid tax" will amount to less than $10 compared to the other seller that eats half of the tariff since the base price of the reel was around $20 less to begin with.

It appears that my new reel is going to ship via FedEx. simple Google search returns this regarding what FedEx will be charging: "If FedEx pays the duties and taxes to customs on your behalf, you will be charged a Disbursement Fee, which is the greater of $4.50 or 2% of the duty and tax." So, I estimate it will cost me an extra $4.50 on top of the actual tariff. If that is accurate, I still consider it a relatively good deal, and I get the reel I want with the features that are important to me. I also ordered some lures that, even if I can find them domestically, would still be significantly more costly. Keeping my fingers crossed and I won't know until the transactions are complete and I have the merch in hand.

Well, I have gone from "that's a no for me Dawg" to I'm going to give it a try. I've had it (the Tatula Elite 761 Seth Feider model coupled with a JDM Daiwa Caldia LT 2500S-XH) for three months now and fish it with 10 lbs braid to 6-8 lbs fluoro leader. I have had no issues with the Alberto knot catching any of the guides, and it is currently my favorite spinning combo. I've been fishing it with weightless wacky Senkos, and mostly from 15 to 30 feet deep. Also some dropshot action and it is as good as I hoped it would be.

From what I have read, JLS uses the "PPU" model, which is where the shipper will not pay customs to release the package until the customer pays the duties, and possibly an additional fee on top of that. I think this could be viewed as a 'stupid tax' on me for not being aware that this was coming. The timing was unfortunate since had I made the purchase a couple days earlier, this would not have been the case. With that said, this was for a reel with a shallow spool, that simply isn't offered in the USDM. And it will still be less than a somewhat comparable reel if I was willing to accept a spinning reel with a deep spool (I'm not). I have since learned that if I ordered from another popular JDM seller that has offered to go halfsies on the tariff and ships for free, I would have paid a couple dollars less overall at a minimum, and if the shipper charges an extra fee on top if the tariff, it will only get more expensive for me. So as far as I'm concerned, I am still getting a little bit of a bargain. Would I take the same deal again if I were in the market for another spinning reel? Yes, but I would not be as excited about the deal.

I use a ten foot length of chain to connect the 15 lbs anchor to the rope. It's acts like a shock absorber and definitely helps a lot.

I used those exact same junction blocks under the bulkhead to wire my new Ultrex Quest. I used a hydraulic crimper to cold weld the ring terminals to the cables.

I ordered a reel from JLS on either 8/30 or 8/31. No mention on the JLS side when the purchase went through and it's being sent "registered airmail". I guess at this point, I am along for the ride. I will report back here on my experience. . . . if the thread isn't locked by then.

Part of me truly wants to say "hang in there" and "it'll get better for you if you keep after it" (though I believe that to be true), but honestly, if you're ready to give up after a few months of trying it out, bass fishing might not be for you. Even the best anglers on the planet have dry spells. There's no 'EZ Button' you can purchase at the tackle emporium. You can learn all the latest techniques and have the ginchiest gear and the latest, greatest baits in town, and you may not get so much as a nibble. This isn't like playing cornhole where you can just get really skilled and you're good to go. The bass themselves are an 'x' factor that can and will humble you on a regular basis . . . for many years, and will still humble you for as long as you pursue them, albeit less often. There are other variables you can't control like the weather, the water levels, or an algae bloom. But: If you have that thing in your soul that keeps you intrigued, keeps you hungry to go out and keep after it, even when it seems like there might not be any fish in there? If you can fish all day and not have time to take a bite out of a sandwich or even take a sip of water, and you're still trying to figure out how you can continue the chase the very next day? If you can imagine that a five pounder is lurking in every nook and cranny, at the foot of every rock and stump, or tracking your bait through open water all the way to the shoreline? If you enjoy: being observant when out in 'nature' solving a new puzzle each new day the 'tug' enough to let it carry you through the slumps until you get another one Pull up a chair, you're among friends.

I would suggest considering some form of strain relief at a butt joint, especially if the wire will be subjected to movement. Stripping the insulation from the wire to put into the butt joint reduces that since insulation provides some degree of strain relief in addition to the insulating properties. I often use two layers of shrink tube with that being one of the intended benefits. I have the second piece overlap the ends of the first layer so it's gradual.

I fished a Pro-Am at Lake Mead as an amateur. The pro I drew on the first day was fishing so fast along the bank that unless I was willing to cast up in front of him from the back seat (I wasn't) I couldn't get a bait to the bottom before the boat was too far to fish it, which is especially weird because anything I caught would have counted toward his weight. I was there to learn, and on that day the only thing I learned is that I HATE to fish that way. As I sit here typing about it, oddly enough, I find I am still angry about it. And then I laugh a little because of the absurdity of being torqued about something like that 35 years after it happened. I know, I KNOW. I mean, who wouldn't like something often called "power" fishing? Answer: Me. If that's your jam, more "power" to you ;~) ========================= When given a choice, my number one rule is to not have to adhere to any rules if I don't feel like it in the moment. Since no one is paying me to fish a certain way to possibly maximize my fish count, that frees me up to take a step backwards, sideways, or just sit in the pocket when I feel like it. ========================= TL/DR: So, should you @Swamp Girl slow down? I don't know and only you can answer that question. I will suggest that if you do slow down initially, it might allow you to glean some information that you can combine with your experience, and that could allow you to then power fish more effectively. . . . if that's the wind that fills your sails. . . . Maybe.

Trolling the launch ramp. Aaaahh, good times! I applaud the use of a corn dog, a Farmer John corn dog no less. A friend and I made a 'jointed wooden swimbait' with a rubber boot tail out of a 3-1/2" diameter fence rail that was 30" long and we tied it to one of my roller guide tuna rods and would have it sticking up out of a rod holder just to watch tongues wag at the ramp. Oddly enough, it actually swam really well, LOL.

I tried it for a while. I liked (LOVED!) the sensitivity, and I could cast it quite a distance, and maybe it's more resistant to bowing in a side wind. What ultimately drove me away was that it would break too easily on rocks and I think wood/brush too. It also takes a while to tie together a new c-rig setup. There is a lot of tungsten that found it's forever home on the lake bed, and those bigger weights can add up in cost. It definitely hurt my feelings to lose three or four 3/4 ounce tungsten weights in a day on a regular basis. Throw in some Gucci hooks and plastics, and it can get north of $40 to $50 just in terminal tackle and baits. These days it's, 15 lbs Big Game monofilament and Water Gremlin lead egg sinkers. I still use the hooks and plastics I like and some mid level fluorocarbon leader.

Someday maybe, but I wouldn't say I'm there by any stretch, hence the qualifiers "aspiring" and "mid-level"

Despite considering myself an aspiring autodidactic mid-level polymath, I don't see myself consulting AI for fishing advice on a lake I've fished for forty years.

Classic!

Even an inexpensive Booyah double willow from Walmart can be a fish catching machine. And don't be shy casting them into and around weeds and other cover. Sometimes they get hammered as soon as they hit the water. One of the first times I ventured to Lake Fork about 30 years ago, there was a restaurant called East Fork, and in a space to one side there was a guy in there that would make you a custom spinnerbait while you ate a hearty meal and listened to live music. I think his name was Lockhart IIRC. I still have a black one with black blades. Steak dinner, live country music, and custom spinnerbaits all under one roof at the same time.