bogfrog

Only if he finds you floating face down.

If its a CV-X 253 or an American (Non JDM) CV-Z version any aftermarket handle will work. I had a Pluton that was very similar to the Ryoga and standard aftermarket handles would work on it. Choose a big handle with he biggest counterweight you can find and it should work without issues. BTW....the Ryoga is a tank!

Of the guys I fish with they are evenly split between fast and mod fast for punching. On most of the factory rods Ive seen there doesnt seem to be a whole lot of difference between them unless you spend a lot of money. I build my own rods and have a 710" bushido rod I built from a heavy crankbait blank rated to 3 ounces that works great for me, loads hard and will pull stumps. I dont understand why nobody is offering a moderate or mod fast rod with a mag taper and heavy action. (too expensive?) The ones Ive seen are all way too soft. Even the heavy swimbait rods lack the reaction time to punch with. Most guys I talk to arent sure if they like the faster actions, or settle for those actions because thats what they can get. In a perfect world would you prefer a rod that would load a little deeper and generate more power? I never pass up an opportunity to pick a serious puncher's brain! Thanks!

Im jealous....you're fishing the water of the giants! I can let you in on a secret. Check out Mark Murphy in Fargo, ND, Fatboy lures. His drop belly gliders are pretty much made on an "order only" basis, so the fish dont see a lot of them, and they catch big fish. The fish in the pic, and every other fish last season over 40" except for two. His 5" drop belly gliders are phenominal, and wont break the bank. Tell him Nick sent you and he will take care of you. The lures are a sideline and many guys are turned away due to lack of time. If you want to fish the UP shoot me a line when you get in the area, I'll hook you up.

Does the Ryoga have the shaft cup incorporated into the handle like the JDM reels? If not any aftermarket Daiwa compatible balanced power handle with the counter weight should work on it. I have a dozen CV-Z and CV-X reels and all have aftermarket handles except for the JDM models.

Unless there is something he's doing to engage the clutch I would send it back to Daiwa. They arent supposed to do this....obviously. The only reel I ever had this happen on was a Rojo with a flippin switch. Im not sure i it was a faulty reel or if it was me engaging the switch on the cast. After the second time it happened I got rid of it. There are too many good reels available to waste my time on one with problems. Actually, considering the reel is currently unusable it needs to be sent in regardless.

Your 3.75:1 reel is designed for crankbaits, but may be a bit slow for lipless cranks. Generally speaking, anything in the neighborhood of 5 to 1 is classic crankbait speed. Spool diameter has a lot to do with IPT, and the ambassadeurs have larger spools than the average low profile reels so that will pick up the speed some. An 8 to 1 reel is a great addition to an existing arsenal, but if I was limited to only 3 rods I would go with something more versatile. Im not sure a 6.3 to 1 low profile reel would be much faster than your 5000, so 7 to 1 would be the way to go in my opinion.

Try spinnerbaits, and dont be afraid to go big. We get some big ones on accident every year on musky spinnerbaits with #8 and #10 Indiana blades. When targeting smallies the LuckyCraft LV-100 lipless crankbaits are deadly.

I cant begin to tell you how many times Ive seen a lake get developed with 100 cabins lining the shore and everyone taking a limit of walleye every day and suddenly the Muskys get blamed for depleting the walleye population they have co-existed with for thousands of years. It must be the sound of nail guns and air compressors that drive the muskys mad and cause them to change their forage habits and begin eating walleyes exclusively. Truth be known, walleyes eat far more muskys than muskys eat walleyes.

Just turn the spool and it will wobble if the shaft is bent....which it probably is by the sounds of it. Question: Why was the reel engaging on the cast in the first place? Did your buddy change the handle on the reel? Ive seen a lot of good reels ruined from engaging on the cast due to an unbalanced jigging handle used on a casting reel. At any rate the engagement issue needs to be dealt with. The bent shaft (or whatever it is) is a symptom of a more serious problem.

Today's rod Something the rod manufacturers have dropped the ball on is educating their customer base about the difference between graphite banks and toray (carbon fiber) blanks. These are two completely different animals. For finely refined actions and superb finesse sensitivity I give the graphite blanks the edge. When you start throwing bigger baits, fishing heavy cover, and winching in really big fish the toray rods are in a different class. Their actions tend to be slightly more moderateand they develope a lot more power tha the graphite. We are all aware that there really isnt a rating standard that all manufacturers abide by, and different brands can have huge difference between rods with the same rating. Oddly enough, most manufacturers tend to over rate their graphite rods while under rating is fairly common with the carbon rods. For the application you are referring to here a toray rod may be worth considering.

Youll be pushing both these rods to the limit. If you plan on using a rod for, lets say 2 oz, dont get a rod rated for 2 oz, youll be pushing its limits on every cast. In this case you would need a rod rated around 3 ounces. Graphite rod action does become fatigued over time, just like any other metal, and maxxing out on every cast just accelerates the process. Another comment in this thread said a 4 oz rod was perfect for the spro 50 rat. That comment is spot on. My best friend uses a 4 oz rod with the spro rat a lot (feeding it to Muskies) and its perfect. There are medium heavy power rods available in 3-4 oz lure ratings that will have all the power you need for the baits you mentioned yet a soft enough tip to cast much lighter weights if versatility is a priority.

I quit guiding when it began to feel like a job. Some of my best friends to this day were met guiding, but there were too many that I couldnt wait to see leave my boat, too.

I get a lot of them a foot from the bank in places you have to pole into and pole out of. This is the gray area between fishing being fun or being work.

I dont think a lot of these guys realize the pigs that hang out in cover so thick you cant paddle a kayak through it. My biggest bass every year come from places sunlight never reaches.

The new Mojo rods are SC-III, like the Avids, which is a big improvement. Ive built literally hundreds of rods on St.croix blanks, and in my opinion the Avid was always their best. Not the most sensitive, not the lightest, but once they left my shop I didnt see them again. With SC-IV and SC-V blanks I could expect 25-30 percent broken. Did St.Croix warranty these blanks? You bet they did! Was breakage due to a flaw in the blanks? NEVER....and St.Croix knew it. The problem is, it was costing me money to replace the hi modulus rods that guys were high sticking all too often. Croix isnt offering blanks for sale right now, but prior to that I already stopped using them simply because I couldnt afford to. With the Mojo line added to the SC-III offerings there is a lot of variety to choose from. The Avid line was pretty limited in selection. Post a review once you've had a chance to try out the new Mojo, I think a lot of guys will be interested.

A lot of times there will be a lot of decaying matter in soft mud under weed beds. A heavier weight rigged in a drop shot style presentation helps to feel the soft bottom better, and by adjusting the distance between the bait and the weight you can present the bait right in front of the fish. I dont normally use more weight than is needed, but if you re throwing into cattails, rice, or rushes with heavy weeds on the surface the minimum weight can be pretty heavy. You like the fast rod over a mod-fast for punching?

Thanks! These fish dont grow as long as Leech or GL strains, but you'll never see on with a big sloppy belly...they are all solid as a log and have bad attitudes! This fish was caught last July in the UP and barely made 50 inches, but she weighed early 35 pounds. I caught my first over 40 years ago and have been unable to find a cure!

On the T-3 variants all you have to do is push your thumb down on the front of the "bonnet" to engage the spool. If you palm your reel you never have to move your hand from the palming position. This isnt an option on reels with a flipping switch because you have to keep your hand behind the reel seat to operate the thumb bar. I never understood why these reels werent more popular in this country. The Japanese went crazy for them, and companies like Megabass and SLP made super versions of them.

If you need the lower gears the winch is the only option.

Just did a quick google search for "Curado K issues", found drag issues, broken thumb bars and levelwind issues on the first page.

The best way to tell would be to run the line off from it and tie enough weight to the end to load the rod and reel it in. You'll find out quick enough.

If it was 2 ounces lighter it would be a Zillion TW and you wouldnt get it for $150.

The pic was taken after a day of fishing. Even if it was spooled loose a hundred casts should have straightened it out. This reel should be designed to reel in loose line like when fishing jerkbaits or senkos without spooling issues. Ive seen a lot of reels do this, every one had something wrong with it. Shimano's standards have to be higher than this....dont they? Or maybe not.

Adam Trischner started the company. He may have sold out, haven talked with him for awhile. We used to ship about 1000 rods a year and he would call me with component deals every week or so. He was a big rod component dealer before he started to build his own line of rods.