GetFishorDieTryin

If there anything like the 2020 Mets, which I cant imagine they wont be, you're going to love it.

Dont ever overlook a spot just because its tight. There are tiny streams that are less than 15' wide that feed all the mill pods in my area. This time of year when the water is at its warmest and lowest, a good percentage of the larger fish push into these feeder creeks. There food more readily available and the oxygen levels are considerably higher. The bigger fish seem to like to hangout in deeper stretches during the day and push shallower at night. New and full moons can provide some incredible opportunities in an area that 95% of people overlook. There is good fishing to be had until the later part of September or early October when the fish seem to move towards the creek mouths.

Pitchin, flippin, jigs, T rigs, C rigs, chatterbait/spinnerbait

Fuego 2500 or 3k or Exceler-The Fuego has 2 advantages over Exceler. 1 is a bearing supported spool, which makes the drag payout slightly more consistent as it helps prevent the spool from leaning, but IMO its not a big advantage for smaller FW fish. Fuego has Magseal at the AR clutch which is nice to have. It doesn't last forever, is expensive to have replaced and doesn't keep out water and debris as well as a physical seal, if you dunk the reel Magseal isn't going to do anything. What it does do, is it prevents small amounts of water and debris from getting deeper into the reel. Think fishing in light rain, spray on the deck of the boat or rinsing the reel off after use. TW has some 13 fishing rods on clearance. Fate Black 6'10 ML 60$ Omen Black (90-110$) is considerably upgrade from the Fate. The ML will be a better choice for 1/8 DS and lighter baits and will handle JBs and small cranks to 1/2oz. The M power Omens will fish an 1/8 if you need it to, but does better with slightly heavier baits. The Ms are good senko and neko rods as well. If youre fishing deep water or use mono then the M power might be the way to go. Tatula XT 7' M F (100$)

A few years ago I got a couple PH custom cranks and really like them. I dont have any experience with Daves Customs, but PH makes so many different options, they likely have something similar.

Extra Fast actions are good for twitching, weightless plastics and bottom contact. They recover fast and transmit vibration immediately and will load with a slightly lighter bait then if the blank was a fast action. The difference can be vast when you go from a ML or M to a MH X F, as the power of the rod increases the deflection can greatly decrease. ML and M XF are fairly versatile, once you get to a MH the amount of baits the rod handles well can be limited. Some brands do X fast much better then others, one may be a well balanced sensitive blank, where another is a tip heavy pool cue.

Yep, thats them. I like every hook ive ever bought from Decoy. I like the Ryugi Duo hooks. When I fish traps in stump fields and lily roots late winter, I pull both trebles off and use 1 or 2 duo hooks depending on the cover. If I do get snagged, I can just lean on the rod and the hooks will open enough to get the lipless back, instead of running the boat into the cover and blowing out the spot.

Been using a nybrid style hook the past couple years that I really like for light tackle, made by Decoy called a Dream Hook. Its a light wire hook, thats like a needle. I like using them for free rigs on calm days when I cant get too close to the fish without spooking them. Even at distance all you need a reel set to get good penetration. Had a 3lb fish get wrapped around a lilly root a few weeks ago. Had to put a lot of pressure on it to get the fish out and I was sure the hook would straighten. It wound up bending pretty good, but even a Gami EWG would have opened a little too. If you like to throw free rigs or stick baits on spinning gear or even BFS a Dream hook is a good option IMO.

What I really like is how those 1 piece shimanos feel in hand. The Met exceeded my expectations in every aspect, but the way it feels in hand and how solid it is on a hard hookset, has really made a versatile reel IMO. Ive not had as much experience with Bantam other than holding a couple, but I can imagine as long as Bantam has enough line capacity its stout enough for just about anything.

2500 is the do it all size, and with the weight it should work fine for UL. 500 and 1000 are nice, but the line pickup and casting distance is limited with the small spool. The advantage Daiwas have over other reels is the size of their gear relative to reel size. A 2500 Daiwa LT has a gear thats just a hair smaller then most main gears in 4000 size reels the MQ frames allow for a larger gear then the LTs.

I would bet its either dry or its bearing. Do a deep clean, purge the old grease and apply new grease and oil and Ill bet that does the trick. If its still had a whirring noise then its likely a bearing.

If I could only have 1 color it would be black. Its just as or even more effective in clear water then it is dirty water, especially in the winter.

Id like to try one but Ive never been able to find one in person. I did a see a budget 13 reel the other day that fit in my hand great, but I cant remember what it was. Out of all the reels Ive handled, my favorite fit is the 20 Met. It has a little more seperation from the reel foot then some other reels, because of the frame design, but its so small and round it doesn't matter. The right reel seat will eliminate the increased standoff space.

I use a swim jig a lot like a spinner bait, im either chucking and winding it, pitching it and bouncing it off of cover and anything in between. A few years ago I ordered a couple greenfish chibi swimjigs, just because it was different from any swimjig I had thrown. I really didnt think a fine wire jig with a really light brush guard would be very useful. They work when swimbaits wont, and still get quality fish. As long as you dont bog it down its great around moderate cover, but the way fish respond to them in open water was eye opening, especially pressured fish. There's definitely something to it, in the past couple years a bunch of companies have put out compact finesse swimjigs.

Chatterbaits are one of those baits that can be difficult to get confidence in. Had a couple friends struggle initially to get confidence in them, but once the ball got rolling it only took 1 or 2 good days for both of them to invest in a bunch of them. Admittedly I was a little slow with swim jigs. I didnt think a swim jig could do anything that spinnerbait, chatterbait, swimbait, arkie head jig or t rigged worm couldn't and I was way off. A swimjig excels at probing an area that you dont want to get snagged in, I think of it like a subtle spinnerbait that excels in tough conditions and wont get bogged down by grass.

The spinnerbait and chatterbait are interchangeable IMO, as far as ideal conditions go. I want clouds, wind and or a little stain to the water to throw a chatterbait or spinnerbait. If I want to throw a chatterbait or spinnerbait on a bright/still day, I'll throw a swim jig. When I fish a jig on the bottom, most of the time Im targeting something, like a piece of cover or bottom feature. I generally favor chatterbaits over spinnerbaits, but it really depends on what im fishing. I'll cast a chatterbait into a laydown, but if I plan on fishing really tight to wood, ill lean towards a spinnerbait because chatterbaits are prone to snagging up in wood. If Im fishing grass, then its a chatterbait over spinnerbait all day.

I could have gotten the just under 100$. If it had been a 70sv I would have pulled the trigger for sure, it would make a great little flatside balsa reel.

Outstanding pics, effort is truly above and beyond expectations, TY. I would get a Zillion over the Alphas and Tatula 70/80. I only ask because I had an opportunity to get the Tatula 80 just under 100$ and it really tempted me. If I wasn't having a custom Century built I would have pulled the trigger, that 100$ is almost the difference between Titanium SICs or Torzite. The Zillion is the size of the 103SV right?

I couldn't do very much with them. I like how they come through grass, but the soft bottoms here just swallow them, or bog them down with crap. If there were more hard bottom locally, they would be much more efficient.

For anyone who has 1 or both of these reels, how do they compare to eachother and their counterpart Shimanos? How do the 70 and 80 compare to the 100 in frame size? Never owned a Tatula, but have some limited use with the 150. I found the frame to be a little awkward to hold, but liked how the reel performed. TYIA.

It will be fine. I use a 7' 3wt Cortland with a Mr Pop 3.5 I got when I was 12 and have a blast fishing little poppers, it makes a 2lb feel like an Albie lol.

Braid lasts a long time, depending on the qualities it has. Even the lighter wispy braid I like to use on my finesse FW gear lasts 2 years of heavy use. Stiffer heavy braid like 832 lasts longer. When braid starts to wear out it will start to fray and pill and look like old rope, that takes a long time of heavy use. Ive got braid on reels thats at least 15 years old, but hasnt seen a ton of use and I wouldnt hesitate to use it in a situation where Im dealing with trophy fish. As long as its not been exposed to sunlight for a long time and doesnt look like worm out dental floss then it should be fine. Once it gets really ropey, you just pull it off the spool and flip the braid around, instead of buying a new spool.

The Daiwa contender to the Miravel would be the Fuego. Never touched a Miravel, but on paper they are probably the better reel, but Im very fond of my Fuegos after beating them the way I did. When you go up to the Stradic Daiwa contender is the Procyon AL which feels great in hand, but its no Stradic. While the line managment of the Daiwas are good the Stradics line managment is just unmatched at the price point. You can get that worm gear in Spheros, but that is the heaviest 2ozs you will ever feel. I like my Spheros for my long Suzuki inshore rods and MH inshore rods. Think of the Spheros as a far more refined BG, but not quite as refined a Saltist BB. (extremely underrated reel)

Im the complete opposite. I run pretty much exclusively PE to FC on spinning gear and have been for decades. FC doesn't have the strength that mono does. You have to compare some of the cheapest mono to the best FC leader material to in order for the FC to have better abrasion resistance and even then the knot strength is more than likely less. I can get away with budget12lb mono where I have to a minimum of quality 15lb FC. Where FC makes the difference is the density, thinner dia and visibility. I use a lot of really light 1/32-1/16 jig micro jigs and jigheads on small baits. Since its thinner and doesnt want to float like mono, FC lets the bait work a little more naturally and the lower drag and lift helps keep the bait down in current. Braid wants to float so a long FC leader is a good way to offset that characteristic.

Strawberry uncrustables are great. A good cold apple is tough to beat as well, but gotta clean youre hands before you eat them.