Big Hands

Looks kinda like a "road runner" to me.

Everyone has their own criteria for assigning worth/value. These are the Megabass baits I like (A LOT): X-Nanahan +2 Vision 110 Jr. +1 Vision 110 Jr. Vision 110 Karashi Karashi 80 Pop-X Pop-Max I have multiples of all of the above because they have all earned their keep IMHO. They have enticed me to try a few other Megabass hardbaits that have not been as productive. . . . for me.

I have changed. I used to fish soft plastics 90% of the time, and even had one year of fifty plus days fishing, no skunks, and caught every fish on soft plastic. Now, I am roughly 50/50 on soft plastic and hard baits. I am more likely to fish in borderline unpleasant wind and not be too bothered doing so if I think I can catch fish. I am intrigued by grass and heavier cover. I am more likely to try to pull fish out of unlikely places and in conditions that others may believe are unsuitable for bass.

What are you hoping/expecting it to excel at?

I did that at walking speed and caught white bass as a teenager (back when pteradactyls roamed the skies).

I have landed a 12-4 and a 10-10 bass while trolling BITD, and numerous others over five pounds. I still troll occasionally, but can easily confirm that trolling accounts for less than 5% of my fishing time. If I troll these days, I am usually doing a sort of heat-check to see if bass are active in certain areas or to home into what they are doing, or maybe if I have a guest that isn't into the chuck-n-wind activities.

These (Megabass Vision 110 Jr. +2) came in this morning. I am very much looking forward to seeing if they are anywhere near as loved/hated as the 110 Jr. +1. These are the colors that have been my favorites for the past couple of seasons. Over the past month, I have been throwing jerkbaits at least 80 % of the time.

I've ended up using six pound monofilament or five pound fluorocarbon on most of my BFS rods and haven't been compelled to use braid.

Even shallow spools will hold plenty of 10 lbs braid. Theoretically the slightly larger spool of a 3000 size will put less twist in the line and cast further. Shimano's USDM line capacity ratings are . . . . confusing. It says that they hold the exact same amount of 10 lbs braid, but differing amounts of larger braid sizes. The 'mono' ratings are even weirder. They claim that the 2500 holds 140 yards of 8 lbs mono, and the 3000 holds 110 yards of the same line. Digitaka doesn't list them as having shallow spools available. The spools look to be semi-shallow (not deep). The JDM spools definitely look shallower than the USDM versions in pics. And I thought Daiwa's line capacity ratings were strange. They're only 0.2 ounces different in weight and the 3000 has the compact body. If I couldn't handle them before buying, it would be a coin toss as the specs don't reveal much to me.

If I don't use a Palomar, I go with the San Diego Jam. If the bait is expensive and/or heavy, I may tie a Double San Diego Jam. Braid to mono/fluoro, I use an Alberto.

I own three DC reels: SLX DC 150 Curado DC 150 Metanium DC 70 The Metanium is a keeper. It's better than just a keeper. I consider an excellent reel and plan to use it happily for many years. I currently have 10 lbs Sunline Sniper FC on it and I am shocked at how well it does with it on my Megabass P5 Destroyer Oneten Stick. I took a chance on the newest generation of DC technology and it's a stark difference from my experience with either of my other two DC reels. The build quality of the SLX DC and Curado 150 DC is fine. I haven't had "problems" per se, but they just don't get the casting distance I want.

I bury the hook eye into the bait and then run the toothpick into the bait, through the hook eye and out the other side of the bait. Then I trim the toothpick so it doesn't protrude from the bait.

Karashi Evergreen JxJ Sammy 55 Pointer 48 SP Pointer 65 SP Rozante

I have a nice Promar that extends a little bit, but recently decided to try a KastKing Brutus Foldable Extendable with the silicone bag. I only have one trip with it, but so far we really like it. Got a crazy good deal on it, but so far I think it's a good deal even at full p[rice. I noticed it is currently sold out and I have no idea when it will be back in stock.

So far, I really like the Owner Rig-n-Hook. I think they're either size 1 or 2 for that bait, and the same size for the z-man krawz. I also like to pin the hook eye in place with a whittled down flat toothpick though YMMV on doing that particular step. Smallmouth and largemouth both seem to love both of those baits.

It starts to get overwhelmed somewhere around 3/8 oz total weight. I can throw 1/2 oz lures, but it's clearly not within it's sweet spot. I can throw a Tiny Brush Hog with a 1/8 oz tungsten worm weight a country mile and it fishes well. A 3/16 jig with a small trailer should fish really well. That same jig with a "chunky/heavy" trailer probably wouldn't be so great. The rod you get should have the power to set a hook that is not too heavy. They have a tip that is compliant, but do get stiff enough to set a hook like the Owner Rig-n-Hook. The wire size on the bladed jig you mention (I am not familiar with it) should also play into your decision of how it will fish with BFS gear.

Shimano 7'0" Zodias ZDS70MLA Shimano 7'0" Expride 270L+ These are the two models I have, probably the generation prior to what the OP is inquiring about, but possibly still relevant to the issue. Light + is an accurate descriptor for the power of my Expride 7'0" 270L+ and as for the Zodias, I'd say it's definitely a little stout for a ML, but just a little more so, and although I could find the love for it when I first owned it, I have come to appreciate it for a variety of applications. For the fishing I do, I use the Zodias more than the Expride. Both are well made and balance well.

Yes. I have the higher speed model with the gold accents.

Phenix Classic BFS 7'1" with a KastKing Kestrel BFS (NOT the Kestrel Elite BFS). As much as I hate to admit it, the KK Kestrel BFS fishes right along side of my Aldebaran BFS, although the build quality of the Aldebaran BFS should ultimately prove to be more durable. Should. The COMBO will weigh around 8 oz for both the rod and reel, and it slays with the Karashi as well as other hard baits and I also use it for soft plastics like texas rigged tiny brush hogs and 2.5" z-man krawz. The reel is sold out on the KK site, but still available on the jungle site for $107 (I have the higher speed version). The rod will be about $202. My second choice for a rod would be a Dobyns SUF700C. For a few dollars less, it fishes somewhat similar to the Phenix, but I prefer the Phenix. Whatever you choose, I think you'll appreciate the lightweight of a BFS for situations that really don't require more than BFS, and in many situations, that's all that is necessary

I've owned it almost a year, and I'm still too overly enamored with my new-fangled propellerized boat control d-vice to not let technology take proverbial wheel whilst I concentrate more on fishing and less on controlling the boat. Back before I had my fancy new d-vice, I remember that if I hadn't been fishing for a while, the boat control aspect took a bit of time to get back to where I could 'walk and chew gum at the same time' so to speak.

My introduction to perceived value: I was working at a print shop with my older brother . . . . a long time ago, and sometimes when we would put things out for the scrappers that prowled the alleys at night, they wouldn't take them for several days. He had a way to deal with that. He'd strap the item(s) to a pallet and put it back out there. Invariably it would be gone by the next morning.

I've tried a few of the KK BFS reels, starting with the Zephyr BFS. The Zephyr BFS outperformed my Curado BFS for actual BFS fishing. The build quality of the Curado BFS is definitely more robust, but build quality isn't very important if the task needed to be performed is not up to par. I did have a couple of instances in the three years I owned the Zephyr BFS where the 6 lbs monofilament got between the spool and the side plate. Still, for a reel that retails for $70, it was good enough that I took a flyer on a KK Kestrel BFS two years ago for $109. This reel has been an excellent performer. I also bought a USDM Aldebaran BFS last summer, and I can say that the performance (speaking of casting distance, ease of adjustment and drag performance) of the Kestrel BFS very close to, or dare I say equal to that of the Aldebaran BFS. Then, at the end of last summer I added a third KK BFS reel (the Kestrel Air Micro Finesse) for $120, which can cast even lighter baits than the Aldebaran BFS and Kestrel BFS are capable of handling. The ultimate durability of the KK reels is the only thing that I would question more than that of more mainstream brands, and that will have to play out some time in the future. Up to that point I had only been willing to experiment up to the $120 price point, figuring that it wouldn't kill me to have a reel that underperformed since I had previously taken flyers on the Shimano SLX DC, Curado DC, Curado BFS and a 17 Tatula SV TW, all of which were disappointing at any price, let alone how much they actually sold for. With the one slot left to fill on my newly updated roster being for a companion to my 7'3" MH/F bottom contact rod (and being fully aware that I could have a new JDM Bantam, JDM Metanium, or JDM Zillion SV TW for not that much more), I pre-ordered a KK Elite Al-Ti. It won't ship until 3/31, so it's going to be a minute until I get it and put it through it's paces. If it's a dud, it wouldn't be the first, second, third, or even the fourth baitcasting reel that was disappointing, but it would be the first disappointing baitcasting reel that I have bought from KastKing.

Small dimensions for small hands? Yes, to at least a certain extent. Overall ergonomics also play into this. Beyond this little nugget of insight, and since I have hands that require an XL or XXL glove size (prefer XXL if I can find 'em), I don't think my experience offers much in that regard. On my scale, the new Karashi 80 weighs 11g (claimed weight is 7/16 oz) on my scale. That's closer to 3/8 oz. I got to throw it a couple days ago on a Shimano SLX M/XF jerkbait rod with a Metanium 70 with 8 lbs fluoro and it easily sent it quite a ways. What line are you hoping to use for this bait? The M/XF was a little more powerful than what I think would be ideal for this bait. I do think 8 lbs line is about right for working it the way I prefer, and I don't know how the various line sizes are going to play with the imparted action of the Karashi 80 and it remains to be seen how the hooks on this bait are going to hold up. 6 lbs Ande mono on straight up BFS gear is powerful enough to bend and/or break the hooks on the standard Karashi, which has light wire #10 trebles. The biggest fish I've landed with was a six pound striper and even though I babied it for around ten minutes to land it, both trebles were slightly bent out. The limits of the Karashi 80 hooks in the wild remains to be seen by me. I suspect that the hooks on the Karashi 80 will be fine with 8 lbs, and won't be compromised much if at all with less than 10 lbs line. How the bait will work in the water with 10 lbs line also remains to be seen. If it catches anything like the original Karashi, it will make sense to have a rig that's dialed to fish it. I have a ML and L-ML rods I'll be trying with the Karashi 80 to see which of the three I prefer, but I think any of them would be serviceable.

Register to have an account and any extra cost should show as you expect them to.

Megabass definitely makes Number 6 tinsel or feathered tinsel trebles (looks to me to be a size 6 as best as I can tell). The challenge will be finding them in stock, at least for the time being. The good news is that I see the originals being more durable than the #10 tinsel trebles that come on the standard Karashi, so they hopefully won't need to be replaced as often. The #10 trebles are a bit on the fragile side and I have already replaced a number of them since I have been fishing the smaller Karashi.