Marc Hufnagel

I have one of the 7'1" MF spinning and I love it other than the fact the seat threads fall right under th meaty back part of my pal when I hold it. Enough to leave imprints sometimes.

So from what I'm reading here if I want to use plastics with this reel, I definitely need to go to a 10/15/20 braid or 8/10 mono to start with? That's going to be the easiest variable to change, with the rod being a bit harder. OR I can strictly use the BC with soft plastics with my spinning setup and use this for crankbaits, frogs and spinnerbaits/chatterbaits. If I want to use the soft plastics with it after trying lighter line - I probably need a softer action rod. AM I getting closer?

The line is 12 trilene xl. I was looking into trying some braid, maybe 15-20? By M you mean a moderate-fast I think? So the lighter the lure the softer the rod action needs to be correct? I think I understand, combined with what was said above about 'loading' the road. I cannot tell you at the moment about how it was loading - I didn't even know what that term meant until this thread. I somewhat understand now and will notice when I try to use it again tomorrow.

Greetings Just by chance I came across a Shimano Curado DC 150HG for 179.99 at an Academy store. It was in the display case and asked the worker to verify the price as correct and he did. I snapped it up knowing it is a 250 dollar reel. I then grabbed a medium-heavy/fast h2o express on sale for 79.99 and went home. Spooled it up with all I had at the moment - 12lb mono. Went out last evening an put a 1/8 oz bullet weight on a rage craw w/ weedless hook. No matter what settings I use (dial on 2, 3 or 4) with the tension knob just enough to keep a birds nest away it won't cast it more than maybe 35-45 feet. Since i'm new to this type of reel; is this too light? It was all I've tried yet - if too light can this setup be thrown but with a larger weight?

RIght outside of Carbondale. Anyone up for meeting up somewhere around here? I also need some help learning how to use a baitcaster - iI have a spinning setup I can use decently. Kind of new to it after a 40 year break lol.

Thanks, I'll keep this advice and ideas in mind. I hope it doesn't happen too much. My daughter just kept watching it floating in the water a few feet out, hoping it would move. it didn't I tried to explain that it will be food for other animals so it's dying wasn't a complete loss. She vowed to never fish again after seeing it. I think she will get over it though. She loves all animals.

I have a neighbor that has a speaker on the side of his utility shed. Has it on some news/talk station all day when he is working in his yard. Worst is when it’s 10pm and still on and he forgot it.

Had my first fish basically swallow a 4/0 hook tonight. A 3.3 ounce lmb. All I could see was the upper half. Dinger pushed up to the eye. What do you do if it’s below keeper size or you catch and release only and this happens? I felt really bad my surgeon skill with a needlenose left it bleeding out. I did get the hook out.

That helps with my anxiety about the line capacity, I appreciate it. I'll drop about 100 or 125 yards on it and sleep well about it. I will check out those videos you left for me. Suggestions well taken, have a great day.

ok thanks. Lookig I see a tatula 3000 spool still calls for .25 at the listed capacity for 8#. So I see it wouldn't do me any good to get a 3000 spool even if it would fit my 2500. Wondering why these reels show a capacity with 8# and xxx yards when it lists a diameter that isn't something readily available in off the shelf stren, trilene xl and the like? They all seem to be .011/.27

Ok thank you. If I were to get a 3000 spool, would I be able to use this .011 stren and trilene xl without problem?

Spool looks much better now. So the xl 8 I have is also .011 so that size would be better suited for a 3000 if I understand correctly? I also have a roll of stren original 8 which also states .011.

It says .027mm. .010 would be .0254. The trilene big game 8 which I had handy at the time.

Couple more of my first fish on the reel. Is it normal for the tail to be red? Some pics here I don’t see that.

Thank you for the ideas. I will look around for them. Thanks for sharing the pic nice!! I plan to put some xl 8 that I got for 5 per 330yd roll today. I took off about 25 yards and it looks much better Downpour all evening which killed my plans for tonight lol. I took off 25. Looks better now. I bank fish so I may put on a top water frog. That’s good for a long distance cast. That should help for the time being. I would like to get a mini bass boat at some point. Thanks for the suggestions. First bass on the tatula lt and a carbon fire lews that I am using for the time being. I did t get to weigh it but have a scale in the way. Any ideas on size?

Hi there. It is some trilene big game 8 in green. What I had, to have the 240 I thought I needed but stopped short when I saw it filling up to what looked like too much. It’s listed as .27 and the specs are using .23. I guess that would be enough difference to cause a problem. I had no idea about that and just went by the box/spool side. About the water - I had seen several on YouTube mention doing that to help the line relearn perhaps. I did not completely submerge it so hopefully I’m ok. I'm still lost as to what good rod to use with it; I’m wanting maybe a 7’ MF for finesse, top water and some spinners. I’m using an inexpensive carbon fire speed stick by lews for the moment. I did hold it with light tension when spooling but also it seems I have overfilled it. See above message. That might be the issue here. Also the water part - I didn’t completely submerge it so I hope I’m ok ! Thanks for the reply.

So I finally got a Daiwa Tatula LT 2500D-XH! So I go to fill up the spool with some 8# mono, put about 200 yards on the stated 240 yard capacity spool. I noticed before the first cast I had a few loops of line down the spool and wrapped around. While fishing this evening I had it happen twice, just a couple of loops but in this picture it looks like at about 200 yds that spool is almost overfull now. I put it on with the line spool on the floor, coming off counter-clockwise, then took the spool off and put the line in some very warm water for about 10 minutes. The loops dropping down and with the spool looking full at 200 yards what could I have done wrong? Ideas, thoughts?

Is that the Carbon Fire speed stick or Carbon Fire? No info I can find on the rods - Dicks has some of the CFSS in stock. Wondering how they really are?

So the XF model would be a better all-around rod (vs F) if I could only have one then? Ok my birthday is coming in about 2 weeksout now and I focused a little more and my wife after seeing some of the YT videos about the two reels I finally settled on -- I have to pick one to get it ordered since they are OOS at BPS and Cabela's. Will use a st croix 6'8" M/XF mojo bass, would you rather a: Shimano Stradic CI4+ or a Daiwa Tatula LT? Mainly finesse bank fishing with senko/wacky/ some jerkbaits/topwater frog/jigworms etc.

thanks for going in a bit on this, I think I follow what you are saying here. I'll definitely try to look at other factors besides the spool size number. I have noticed the IPT can vary quite a bit and it's more than one item coming into play there. thank you! Other places in the forum I've found a lot of talk about the mojo bass rod. Being a better blank can't be bad and only can help. I see the BPS reel I mentioned is most likely just a relabeled Daiwa Regal LT. I'll lookinto that combo and see if that's a possible way for me as well. thanks for the idea.

I've now seen them on a lew's at dicks and on the BPS, they seem nice and grippy.

Thank you for your thoughts. I feel that the St Croix feels like a higher quality piece than the others (with a corresponding price). I was not aware of the size difference with the Pflueger. I just checked the line capacity on the President XT and the Supreme XT with 8# and see the president xt is 8/130 and the supreme is 8/190. Both supposedly a 3000; I was under the impression that the 3000/4000 etc was related only to the line capacity because the spool was larger. To complicate matters the BPS carbonlite 2.0 reel in 3000 shows 8/160. So that being said - what does the '3000' actually signify? This combo does look and feel the highest quality in the hand at the store. thank you. I like the color scheme here - and I understand if made by Daiwa that is a very good brand. Any idea who actually builds the rod?

Hi there Looking for advice on a new rod/reel combo since my birthday is coming up soon and happen to know I'm getting some gift cards from the in-laws to BPS/Cabela's this year. I just started fishing again after about a 40 year break and I want to get a really nice setup for bank finesse fishing and small lures for bass, some river fishing down in the southern Ozarks. What I saw when I was there was some really nice items despite the run on all things outdoors lately. Here is what I am considering: 1. BPS Johnny Morris carbonlite 2.0 7' MF with a carbonlite 2.0 3000 spinning reel, using either stren or trilene xl 8#. 2. St Croix Premier 7' MF with a Pflueger Supreme XT 3000 with the same line. 3. Either rod from above with a Abu Garcia Revo SX 3000 or Pflueger President XT with the same line. I may change out the line after I get used to the setup but feel that it would be a decent line to work with. I'd really like to stay with the reel choices above unless there is a really good reason why I should not go with them. Thoughts? Thank you.

St. Croix Premier 7' M-F with Supreme XT / Stren mono clear/blue 8# Also have Lew's Carbon Fire Speed Stick 7'2 MF with President XT Stren 8# clear/blue mono. Comments?