Big Hands

Not necessarily. It truly depends on the lures you are using, the line you're using, and how deep you need to go to get to the fish you're targeting. It's hard to find smaller profile deep diving crankbaits that will get below 20 feet, and you may have to grind HARD to get them down there. But the rewards can be great if you do. Larger profile deep divers go deep but they may not be what the fish want, and some of them have a lot of resistance which makes throwing them for a long time hard on the angler. Things get more complicated as you try to get below 15 to 17 feet. If you're not trying to get below 15 feet, then the winch would probably be good. JMHO.

Some deep cranks need a higher rate of retrieve to get down as deep as possible, others not so much. If you really want the slower retrieve speed, the ABU Garcia REVO Winch Low Profile reels are available.

California takes great offense at the thought of being 'out-stricted' by ANYONE ? I was definitely being facetious, although, if you had a bare hook in the water and happened to snag a fish inside of the mouth, it's not clear whether or not it would be a legal catch. In California, a fish hooked anywhere outside of the mouth is considered an illegal catch and by law must be returned to the water. Here is something from the CA regulations I find interesting: (3) It is unlawful to use any multiple hook or more than one single hook on non-buoyant artificial lures exceeding one ounce. I guess I would need to know how they define "non-buoyant". The dictionary definition I found is this: non-buoyant - tending to sink in a liquid or fall in air. heavy - of comparatively great physical weight or density; "a heavy load"; "lead is a heavy metal"; "heavy mahogany furniture" Would that not describe a big sinking swimbait? (4) It is unlawful to use any weight directly attached below a hook. Gets a bit murky with that too as related to the hook with the weight molded onto the hook, no? ================================= It also makes me wonder if you were out trying to snag a lost rod and happened to be approached by a warden. . . . would they buy your story about trying to snag a lost rod, and not a fish?

Nice catch! I was gonna guess somewhere between 6 lbs and 7 lbs ?

It may still be legal to snag them on the inside of the mouth ?

That looks V E R Y similar to the Mike Long Ultra-Finesse Snaggy-Head lure.

That is A W E S O M E ! ! !

One to look at would be the Daiwa Ardito Trigger rod. They are three piece (and come with a nice soft travel case), but are designed so that the rod still bends at the joints. I haven't fished one, but have held one. The action seemed to not be too affected by the joints and it seemed like it would fish well. One thing I have found is that I think you should make the effort to handle any rod you're considering buying for that amount of money if possible. There are some things that can't be known or get overlooked, and without handling them and inspecting them, you won't realize there is something that could be a deal breaker once you have the rod in your hands.

Two thumbs up on the Ballistic FW. I can imagine feeling less rotor wobble with the Zaion rotor, and I personally like lighter weight reels when I can afford them. I have invested more into setups that I use the great majority of the time, like a dropshot finesse rig. But if I were to get (for example) a rod to use for frog fishing or punching, I wouldn't invest as much in a rod/reel I would only use occasionally as I don't have a bucket of budget to work with. But, I am able to get a little picky with a combo that is going to be what I fish with most of the time. I appreciate the detailed response ?

. . . . with those specs ? Seriously nice collection of quality rods, and a cool spreadsheet, although I would need to password protect that document.

It's just interesting to me that so many rods are made for so many specialized techniques, like darter heads, tubes, dropshot, worms, jerkbaits, small swimbaits, etc. And, many anglers have rigs for many different techniques. You could have several rigs that use the same 6 or 8 lb test line, but each rod is designed for a specific technique. I see preferences expressed for rod lengths that vary by a couple of inches (I absolutely get that because sometimes a few inches in rod makes a difference). But then put three identical Stradic 2500 reels on them that have the same gear ratio and identical line capacity where 75% of the line never sees the light of day. And, if they wanted a rig for doing something where they needed something different, a completely different rig would be purchased just for that. It's not like they aren't yet made. For example, with Daiwa spinning reels in other markets, you are given the option to choose. Here, we are not given the option. I absolutely realize that there will be differing opinions, and maybe most feel as you do. That's why I asked. But, again, the question is "If you had a choice, would you choose a reel with a shallow spool?" Right now, we are not given that option here in the USA and maybe that's why it's not even questioned. It is becoming apparent that I may be in the minority of anglers that give it much thought. But as you mentioned, with line becoming so expensive (for high performance line), it may be something to consider in the future. Or, as many have stated, it isn't something to worry about, since it can be remedied by installing backing. Maybe I should be more concerned about whether or not I need a light + rod or a medium light rod. Or both. Or two medium light rods, one with a fast action, and one with an extra fast action that is two inches longer. And maybe a third that is shorter for skipping under docks. And then three of those fabulous 2500 reels with two to three football fields of line capacity. I was just curious. I think my question has been answered. Thank you for the responses. I remember those days Tom. Even though the shallow spool may have been made of plastic, LOL.

Perhaps I should restate the question: With regards to spinning reels for finesse fishing (and I assume we're talking about largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass here primarily?), if you had a choice, would you choose a reel with a shallow spool? I read about many spending $300 to $600 on very niche rigs for very specific finesse techniques, and obsess over the smallest of details, but for some reason we accept that the reels we spend a LOT of money on are going to have line added to them that will NEVER see the light of day in actual fishing conditions. Who has more than 50 yards (150 feet) of line out when finesse fishing? Just seems odd to me that for all of the nits we pick and fret about, that we don't really fuss about that.

Off-roading to a remote part of a lake to bass fish legally on an uncrowded shoreline? We'll have no such shenanigans happening around here!!! If you find such a unicorn, as much as I would like to know of such a place, I advise you to keep it to yourself. SoCal authorities like to keep all funseekers corralled into small areas to make it easier to extract license/user fees and monitor all activities to make sure that they don't have too much fun (and that said fun will only occur during daylight hours).

If you need the capacity, it's obviously a good choice. And I know everybody certainly doesn't have to do it the way I do it. I am genuinely curious though, what kind of finesse fishing you are doing that would require more than 100 yards of line? I'd say that makes it a good choice for you. Smaller reels are lighter too, which can be a preference.

But if you had the choice, would you choose shallow spools, or the deep or 'regular' spools we are currently offered?

With regards to spinning reels for finesse fishing, if you had a choice, would you choose a reel with a shallow spool? I would venture to guess that there are some spinning reel users here that might want 200 to 300 yards of line on their reel. I would also bet that the majority of 'serious bass fisherman', you know, the kind of guys that will spend more than $75 for a reel, would prefer not to double the cost of re-spooling for no apparent reason. I know that Daiwa makes shallow spool models in many of the same models we buy here with spools that have humongous line capacity. But they are not available here in the USA. It's like they are selling us toothbrushes with three inches of bristles so we'll use more toothpaste. Thoughts?

* I don't think I can EVER remember sniffing my rod(s). If you go looking for trouble, you'll eventually find it. I think I would take a handful of water and rinse the part of the rod that I had in my armpit after each fish I caught ====================================== ** That is precisely how rumors get started. Regards, Jeff

I have a friend that has retrieved four or five. Most recently he had a friend leave two (one of which was a $450 combo that he bought the day before) on the rear deck. They dropped off the back into a Lake Fork boat lane. He tried that day, and another day, and on the third time he had a kid with him, and the kid says "I think I feel something". They brought it up slowly and it was one of the rigs. Ten minutes later they got the second rig up. They used jigging spoons.

From what I gather, the Silver Max is essentially a Black Max with a "Rocket Cast" button and silver paint. ==================================== I have a Black Max and a two Pro Max baitcasters, and the difference in casting performance is noticeable for me, but so was the price tag. For a $40 +/- baitcaster, the Black Max works well (for the money). For flipping and punching using relatively heavy baits, I imagine it will work just fine.

Way to pay it forward brother!

I dug into this a little bit, and it appears that this may or may not be the design intent. Daiwa has a Glossary for their fishing reel features, and it states: ABS Spools: "ABS spools have a large arbor diameter that gets larger towards the top of the spool. This prevents any "cones" during winding of the line. This means the line is kept from unraveling in big loops and thus prevents the twisting of the line. Thanks to this system, longer smoother casts are possible." Then I see this on different forums: So, it appears to be as clear as mud. I would entertain the idea that they really do intend the line to be wound so that it mimics that taper of the spool, it's just that they haven't made it crystal clear that this is the intent of the design. I suspect that they include the extra washers for two reasons. 1) So that users can adjust their line lay to be what they intended it to be (whatever that is). 2) So that users can adjust the line lay to suit their own ideas about how it should be. Whatever the case may be regarding design intent (or marketing mumbo-jumbo), and what actually works best, they do include the washers that allow the user to make theirs suit their taste. Much like their "zero adjuster" technology on some of their baitcasters, they still allow for users to adjust it to their liking even though the intent is that it was adjusted correctly at the factory and you shouldn't have to touch it. Fancy stuff comes with fancy issues.

Most of that stuff was old 22 years ago. Cool find.

My PB bass at 12 lb, 13 oz was caught on 10 lb Ande monofilament. My first 10+ bass was caught on 6 lb Ande monofilament, and I landed a 22 lb channel cat on 8 lb Ande monofilament, both on spinning gear. I can't recall losing any big fish on 6 lb line, but have busted off a few good ones on 4 lb, so I won't go that low anymore. With that said, the places I fish close to home don't have much structure to get hung up on, and deep, open water is generally always pretty close by. That's not what I envision when I think of Florida bass fishing, which I picture as being the polar opposite of the lakes I usually fish. I did pull out an 8.5 lb bass from Lake Fork (Texas) in an area filled with timber on 8 lb mono on a spinning rig. That was just plain lucky that I didn't get wrapped up. We were jigging spoons for crappie and whatever else would bite, and if that fish would have broke me off, I would have to agree that 8 lb test in those conditions was like bringing a knife to a gunfight. If I can get a hook buried in a fish, it's not the fish's strength that worries me. But if there is lots of structure present, that is what would give me pause when considering light line.