Conclusion

Are you talking the bg or fuego? If bg can you confirm is the 2000 actually has carbon or felt drag by chance? You make a really good point, as I remember reading you really shouldn't set your drag at more than 30% of your line #. I seriously considered the fuego lt and the exceler but the fuego I'm worried about the very well known line lay issues and the exceler is only slightly cheaper than the bg so I figure it makes more sense to just get that.

Thanks for the reply. Are you saying the bg at 2000 size likely doesn't come stock with carbon drag washers or was that the case with your fuego?

I currently have a bg 3000 size and very impressed with it so far. I'm looking for something a little smaller and lighter to pair with my 7'6" medium light for ned/wacky/shaky heads. I was originally looking at the 2000 size but the drag is such a substantial drop from the 2500 and 3000 so wondering if that will still suit or if I should go with the 2500. Any advice/recommendations?

Awesome thanks for the feedback!

I went with the 7'3" MH xt and the H is the 7'1". The lake I'm heading to has bass, pike and musky so figured the higher weight could help if a musky bites. I got one last year on 15# fluoro.

Okay perfect thank you. The F7 is 1/8 ounce so bottom of the weight rating for the rod for sure, probably be better with an ultralight. I was kind of guessing on the braid to be honest. My dad and grandfather have been trout fishing for 50 years and have always done it the same way, 10 pound mono. I wanted to get my dad to try out braid because the memory of the mono is driving him crazy. I've also been trying to get him to size down a bit so I picked something that was a similar diameter (20# PP is 6# mono according to their site) and I thought this would be a good compromise. Might actually have to go back to the mono as our leader lines were getting tangled like crazy, but that's a different issue all together!

I've purchased 2 casting setups this summer and was hoping for some advice on trying to rig them up. My plan was to use my tatula ct with my tatula xt MH with 15# big game mono and use this for topwater (plopper, buzzbait, popper etc) and weighted/non weighted texas rigs. I was planning on using my tatula 150 with the tatula bass H for a frog rod with 50# PP. Unfortunately these are my only casting setups right now. Do these setups work and I am pairing them correctly? Also considering my smaller selection what should I use for spinnerbaits? I will also have a spinning setup but was planning that for finesse. Thanks!

Sorry for the delay in getting back I ended up getting out camping. I've attached a photo of the spooled reel, is this too empty? I also swapped the reel out to my 6'6" Aird X while away and using the same lure had similar results so maybe it's a combination of not enough line or just the very light and not aerodynamic lure?

I spooled it and kept the line taught and from what I've read digging line is usually only on thicker braid, although I'm sure it's possible. I was trolling with this rod and had substantially more line out doing that then I would have through casting. Caught several rainbow on it too so it had some pull on it. I'll try taking it back out tomorrow in the park and see how far I can launch it. I figured 20lb braid would be a good start, my dad has always used 10lb mono or flouro so I went with a comparable braid. You're right probably overkill. Are you saying cast with the leader knot 3" outside the last guide or 3" off the end of the lure?

No I meant feet. I may have been short on my initial estimate above but definitely not casting any longer than 30-35. I've ordered another daiwa bg in the 2500 size. Maybe I'll try spooling this line on that reel when I get it, that should fill it up. I'll try adding more line to the 3000 but seems crazy it would have that much of an impact.

I did the q tip test before ripping the tag off the rod and no fluff left behind. I considered the knot as well when using it so tried casting with it past the last guide (leader is about 2ft) and spooled into the guides and no noticeable difference. Using the alberto knot if that has any relevance. WRB: definitely not that full. Don't have it in front of me but I've spooled a 10lb mono backer to cover the spool then wrapped the full 150yd spool of 20lb pp. Daiwa website says j braid 20lb takes 240yds and 10lb mono takes 200. Would not fully spooling make that big of a difference?

Lol I hope it's me and i can fix it! I had read reviews before on the casting distance but it was mixed so I went ahead. The rod is awesome otherwise, sensitivity is amazing. I was going to use it for ned rig and shaky head set ups as well.

I recently purchased a new rod, cabelas prodigy walleye 7'6" medium light, rated for lures 1/8 to 5/8 size and line weight of 4-10lb. Just came back from a fishing trip for rainbow trout and I was shocked at how poor the casting distance was. This is the longest rod I've purchased and I was expecting better. I've mounted a Diawa bg 3000 with 20lb pp tied to 8lb leader line and was trying to cast an original f7 rapala rated at 1/8 oz and a slightly larger rapala shad rap. Casting I was lucky to get 25ft, any suggestions on whats wrong with this rig?

Sounds like my leader is quite a bit shorter than what most of you are using, maybe I'll try extending it a bit. The extra travel and force might be needed to work through the guides as opposed to keeping it short and having it catch the final guide right off the cast. Thanks for all the replies and feedback. Anyone have experience with these knots using t-wing bc's? If so is there a casting impact?

Finally got a chance to try out my Alberto knot leader this week on a spinning set up. Used a 6'6" aird x spinning rod and the knot kept getting caught in the last guide when casting. My leader was only about 1.5ft so not overly long. I have no doubt this will be worse on my casting rods. No idea how you guys run bread to mono/flouro leaders without getting the knots caught up.

Thanks, I've actually checked their website out for a few things. I'm in Canada so unfortunately I get to pay a lot more for the same gear up here. By the time I add exchange and duties from sportsman's it works out to about what I'd pay here so I just buy here to avoid the hassle in case there are any issues.

This weekend will be my first opportunity to try it. I'm just getting in to fishing and getting my gear set up. I've used the Alberto knot to tie 20lb pp to 10lb flouro for my spinning set up. Going to be casting some rapala's for trout from my kayak so I'm really curious how the knots will impact casting. I've also read the Alberto knot can degrade as it runs through the guides after a while so I was ideally hoping to keep my leader pretty short.

From the sounds of it you guys are saying the leader knot should reel in almost until it hits the spool. Do you not find issues with casting distance with the knots rubbing through the guides?

Well, before this week Daiwa didn't even have the 711 listed on their website. I emailed their customer service last weekend asking if it was discontinued or why it was missing. Instead of replying to my email they added it on Tuesday or Wednesday but put the wrong specs lol. Thanks for all the help ammo and tizi. I've got the 7'1" on hold to pick up tomorrow. Also good to know I didn't make a mistake on the xt!

Awesome thanks, exactly what I was hoping to hear. Sucks hearing you guys praise the 6'10" so much. I originally was going to get that for my MH but when I got to the local store someone had beat me to it by a few hours. Ended up getting the tat XT 7'3" MH. Haven't had a chance to try it out yet but hopefully still decent.

Thanks! I'm leaning towards the 7'1" because it will get used in a mix of boat and fishing kayak. Trying to keep things slightly shorter for that reason. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't shooting myself in the foot long term.

Since you own both is there a big difference in the overall strength and sensitivity of the two rods? I ask because spec wise they're almost identical other than 3". Have you used the 7'1" for frogging or do you think it would work with small to medium frogs? Thanks for everyone's replies, appreciate the feedback.

Thanks for the reply. Sounds like you're saying the 711 might be the better all purpose option if it's not going to be a sole frogging rod?

Hello, Just starting to get in to fishing seriously and reading these forums has been amazing so thank you everyone. I am looking at a tatula rod to pair with a new tatula 150 reel I just bought. I've already got a medium heavy tatula xt rod that I've paired with a tatula ct so I'm ideally looking for a heavy rod to round out my gear. I'm comparing the tat711hfb and the tat741hfb. The tat741hfb is listed as a frog rod although other than the extra 3 inches there doesnt appear to be much difference in specs. The Daiwa website has wrong info on the 711hfb btw. Although I am looking at using it for frogging as well as other applications, am I missing something between the two or would both work for multiple applications including frogging? Any guidance is much appreciated!