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These cool nights have me thinking I should be hanging deer stands instead of fishing.

BankC -- The Lightning Rod was the Shock version. For $40 it was a decent enough rod. I do a fair bit of pond fishing and like having a few cheap rods I can haul around in the back of the truck. I'd rather be bumping and banging into trees with a $50 rod than a $200 one. Speaking of cheap rods, for $29 I got a Berkley Amp 7' MH that's been a great rod for lighter moving baits. Responsive tip, decent sensitivity, casts well, handles well, real seat that came unglued...for $29 you might have that. Well I like that rod enough I just epoxied the reel seat back on and called it good. If the need arises I'll check out the Kast King. It looked like a decent enough rod. I've never owned an Ugly Stick and wanted to give the Carbon a shot.

For 3/8oz bladed jigs and spinner baits I've been enjoying a Berkley Amp MH which is more like what I"d call a MH light, pretty fast in the tip it, allows you to feel every thump of the blades on lighter bladed jigs and spinner baits. Above 3/8oz it dies like a woodchuck around my garden. Never feels a thing. My Shimano Compre MH takes over at that point. My Lews rods seem a little on the heavy side in the tip. I have a Custom Black MH which I think is a re-named TP1 in MH ( bot sure though). It's stiffer n the tip than I would want for lighter spinner baits and bladed jigs but I suspect for 1/2oz and up it would suffice (never tried it).

So earlier this spring I got off work early. All my fishing stuff was at home. I wanted to do some catfishing at the local reservoir but having no equipment with me, I went by Wally World and picked up a Lews xfinity (69.00) and a Berkley Lightning rod "braid ready" ($40.00). Well last weekend the plastic nut that tightens the reel to the seat on the LR cracked in half. ? Returned it today and figured I'd check out the rod selection. Well aside from it looking like it had been looted by mostly peaceful protestors, there were two rods of interest. One was a Shakespeare Ugly Stick Carbon MH for $79 and a Lews Reactor MH for $69. The Ugly Stick Carbon had a Fuji real seat and was a slight bit slower action than the Lews. Might make a decent spinnerbait rod I thought. I was about to walk out with the Ugly Stick for no other reason curiosity then I noticed it had epoxy resin drips on several on the line guides. Then I noticed one of the guides was completely closed with epoxy. So much for that... hmmm. Oh well. We'll see how this Lews Reactor performs. At least the line guides are clear and clean. On a side note the Lews Xfinity I had picked up this spring is exceeding all expectations. It has earned it's place along side my Tournament Pro LFS's regularly bombing Spooks over schools of shad at alarmingly long distance. Impressive reel for $69.

Thanks LCG. I have a couple reels I could "fanboy" over as well. That's because they work, and work well for me. Your opinion is much appreciated. I handled the floor model Stradic FL and Tatula LT at my local F&S. Granted they're both floor models, but the Stradic is noticeably smoother. Perhaps that's due to it having a couple more miles of showroom use on it. Hard to tell. Either way it's easily noticable.

Thanks for the replies guys! I'm leaning toward the Stradic FL at the moment. I like the idea of the taller spool. This rig will be running mostly 6 & 8lb Flouro and I'm thinking the taller spool of the Stradic FL may help reduce line twist and facilitate longer casts with light baits, (not sure it makes much difference, in theory it makes sense to me). You guys that own the Tatula LT...convince me to buy one. I really want to try a Diawa spinning reel but $200 bucks is $200 bucks. No Regerts...lol Thanks again.

Agreed. You have to look closely to see that though. Unlike when a knot slips loose with mono or flouro, in which case the coiled up line is a dead give away.

I had a similar issue with a new spool of PP last year. I suspect the braid has slipped. New braid is substantially slicker than worn in braid. I've had the same problem when using a clinch knot (which is essentially 1/2 of a blood knot) with 30lb braid cat fishing. Lost several cats thanks to knot slippage I eliminated knot slippage by switching to an improved clinch or Palomar. Interestingly, when braid pulls loose it doesn't stay coiled like mono or flouro it looks like a clean brake. For tying on leaders I use an Alberto knot. No issue with slippage or weird brakes.

Hi guys. As the title says, I'm torn on a new spinning reel purchase. I'm down to the Diawa Tatula LT or Shimano Stradic FL. This reel will be solely used for light finesse presentations on a 6 Gill Lykan ML rod. Any pros and cons between the two? Thanks in advance!