Blaine Donders

I’ve had that Dobyn’s, and have that Falcon in the Cara. I have used an Expert as well (used a friends). In my hands, there is no comparison with the blank sensitivity between these two, favoring the Falcon. In fact, a lot of people I know favor the Expert over the Cara, because the blank feels nearly as nice and it’s $50 cheaper.

I’ve had 2 of them. I feel Tatula SV is way better for skipping and pitching. With that said, I suck at skipping. Where I really liked these was light baits. Spooled them with 8-10# fluoro and they rocked light baits.

Sold my Vanford and my Tatulas and kept the Johnny Morris Signature reels. Everyone will have their own assessment. For the $$$$, they cannot me beat.

13 Fishing Inception beats both for smoothness. SLX for distance, Speed Spool for casting into the wind! I have put this together by using them.

I really really wanna try the Revo 5’s

My HP704C fished as a medium heavy fast.

Their plastic reels are typical for that price range. The Alloy M and the Alijos are a whole different thing, and very competitive.

Abu Veritas 6’10”ML, Kistler KLX 7’ M

I adjust them once out of the box, that’s it. 1/2 a mil side to side play, never touch again. And I have 12 of them.

Tatula SV’s, an Okuma Hakai, and a Piscifun Alloy M. The Hakai with 10# Tatsu will throw as light as I care to, as will the Alloy M with 20# braid. This is usually a 1/10oz Ned with a TRD or a 1/16oz jig with a ned size Rage Bug for a trailer. Medium Kistler KLX and a Veritas Tourney Pro ML.

The blanks are great. Build quality is good as well. It’s not finished as nice as my Kistler’s, but as nice as my Pride rods. It is as sensitive as a Pride though.

I’d say that component wise, the HP is quite a jump from the XP. The problem is that feel and sensitivity are so subjective. What I love you may feel is a club. I can’t use a Fury, sold my HP, but love my regular Sierra’s. The $200 Falcons are more sensitive to ME than the HP. I would bet a lot of guys on here would disagree, as we are all different. While I feel my Cara is more sensitive, man, does the HP look good.

I have both. The Argon is fine, but the KLX is better in nearly every way. It’s lighter, a little faster, and more sensitive, with better cork. That being said, with the current sale you can get the Argon for close to $100, and that is a downright steel. The KLX would be around $200, also a steal. Is the KLX a legit upgrade for the additional $100? To me it is, but that is a very subjective thing. If you said I was only allowed to own Argons going forward, I would get by just fine.

Don’t forget the Favorite Soleus

This is me. I don’t use spinning until under 1/10oz. I way prefer fishing a 1/10 Ned on a 6’10” ML casting rod. Only presentation I haven’t used a baitcaster for so far is drop shot. Next year, if vertical I’ll use spinning, if casting, I’ll drop shot with a 7” ML KLX.

Sent you a pm with an option.

X9 is good stuff in my experience. I have used the white and it was as good for me as 832.

I’ve used the Hammar, which has a frame very close to the Arrival in shape. What makes the Arrival different is that they are making them in Texas. The other thing that their upper end reels share is a pretty cool mag brake setup. They do cast really nice. My brother has several of their reels, including an Arrival, and he likes them. People either are totally in love with them or meh. The finish on the new reel is Ceracote. If they are doing it right, it will be way more durable than the paint being used by the big OEMs.

I have a Lowrider and I like it a lot. I’m not a big fan of Duckett rods (no reason other than personal preference), but the Micro Magic Pro is awesome in this range. It’s really, really good. Abu Veritas is also very nice.

I have a Kistler KLX and an Abu Veritas Tournament in this weight class. I find them in my hands more often than anything else lately. I really like it for tubes, light shakey heads, and 1/16oz jigs.

I have one. Never had the Curado MGL150, but have had the SLX MGL and a couple Chronarch MGLs, and a couple Curado 70’s and Scorpions. The Hakai is a different breed of cat, love it or hate it. It casts great, and the mag brakes are good. It is super light. It casts lighter baits better than the MGL’s in my opinion. The Hakai feels totally different being Mg, as opposed to aluminum. My opinion is, for $170 I like it better than the Shimano reels I have had. It’s a steal for $170.

JDM Zillion wins, unless you don’t want JDM. I unfortunately have had to use Daiwa’s warranty and service center, something that may not be available to you if you go JDM. For this reason I recommend a Tatula SV103.

The 100 is preferable to me in every way than an SLX. In fact, I have to look and make sure when I intend on having an sv in my hand. Other than the spool and braking system, they are the same. I have 12 of the and they are really good. Period. Compared to the Ct/150/200. Way better in hand. Better handles. Cast ability and usability? Same.

I have this rod. It’s awesome. I have used it for everything but really lean on it for spinnerbaits.

This isn’t BFS to me. I do this on a ML?