bulldog1935

(there's a blood feud in our trout tailwater w/ stripers that wash over the spillway during floods - they'll pluck a 16" rainbow from the end of your line)

@FrnkNsteen the current price on JDM was a new year price increase for '25 - it was across the board in Japan. Last year, you could get a JDM Zillion for $200 through vendors or Amazon (w/ Prime free delivery) Inflation is very bad in Japan. JY144/ US$ is still a strong exchange rate for us. 20 years ago, we considered Japan shopping a good deal any time it was over JY100/ US$. If Zillion were not a good reel, it would be hype. This one has been in the salt since the month they were introduced, and got its first internal lube over this past winter (pristine inside). It has also never backlashed in 4+ years. @dk2429 Zillion is Daiwa 34-mm free-floating spool, which gives you a ton of spool options, and the same frame can fish 2 g to 2 oz. The fixed-inductor Roro spool on left will cast 1/16 oz to 130' (l-r, Roro-X29, Ray's Studio SV, Steez 1016 SV) SV is in the spool - it's the moving inductor spring + thin inductor. @Tennessee Boy you can fish RCS MagZ spool to improve heavy-weight distance, which is the stock spool on Zillion HD (+ brass gears).

Yes, army surplus store in Austin - located about 43rd street on the northbound IH-35 access road, in the shade of the elevated through-lanes. Even before that - before the interstate - they were a tire shop.

hmm, my last big redfish on spinning gear was 2017

When I was in college, used to visit the first Academy store, which was Army Surplus with a small pegboard of junk imported tackle. That was when Oshman's was king for actual fishing tackle. Browning-Lew's BB-1NG on Browning Hi-Power 7-1/2' inshore rod (my 1st graphite rod) - but before I bought the Lew's, had this rod matched with Millionaire 6H (from Oshman's). Also had the reel matched with Fenglas Lunkerstick 2000 for reservoir bass.

When Academy first contracted with Falcon in the 80s, the pair was unbeatable. They had a short falling out over warranty support in the '90s, when Silstar replaced the Academy inventory. More recently, with my salt bent to BFS, the most consistently useful rods I can find are JDM Pure Fishing - Abu Garcia.

I've only had one need for 13Fishing customer support, and it was superlative. A redfish followed my lure out of the water and ate at my knee, I over-reacted and high-stick-set at the same instant the redfish exploded. My rod broke 1/3 down from the tip, and I landed the fish. I called them about their discount replacement program, they told me fishing break was warranty, and sent me a new rod. When my Omen Green was closing out, I bought a back-up for half-price. I have one other 13Fishing rod, and like them all - taper, light in hand - the mid-grades I bought use Alps guides, and the cheapest rods I fish, but I don't fish them because of the price.

East coast rods and Japanese bay rods tend to be under-rated by about one power rating compared to bass rods. e.g, my Crowder ML - no, it's MM - 1/4-oz bottom-end. Gulf coast rods tend to be rated about the same power rating as bass rods, at least in part because we're fishing skinny water, and need our ML to fish 1/8 oz. Surf and offshore ML is another animal altogether, often with 2-oz top-end rating.

this explains why UV reflection, absorption/transmission is more important than our visible light color. Note that blue, purple and UV are the only light bands that make it below 7' https://www.glangler.com/blogs/articles/uv-ultraviolet-light

In heavily hit water, fish learn to associate feeding with danger, which is why they feed in time cycles. When the urge to eat overcomes the fear, one fish will eat, and they will all feed in competition, then settle back into fear cycle I'm going to state again that fish don't have the IQ to associate line with danger, and maybe my decades on the water excel above a Berkley grad student. I already know my fishing (and filet table) data on speckled trout life cycle is beyond academia and fisheries bureaucrats on the subject. 30 years ago in a conservation board meeting, I was barked down over my observations of phosphorus fall tertilizer run-off in native limestone creeks - we don't accept anecdote, only academic research - and unfortunately, my observations panned into population-growth dilema.

I'm in a very specific subset, because I fish threadline braid, all about the diameter of 4-lb mono, and add short fluoro shock leader. While my favorite braid is white Varivas Si-X (for the tough coating), I've fished spools of pentagram colors up to 3 years. Line color is not an issue. All natural waters contain plant fibers. No fish has the IQ to discern the difference. The fish I catch with the best eyesight include snook in saltwater - and just a few weeks ago, longnose gar, which have the best eyesight of any freshwater fish. Adding a note specific to hi-vis colors like fluorescent yellow and green: They're not a negative, at least in part, because you can see them, but in reflecting bright light, they're less of a shadow to a fish looking up. What makes fluorocarbon line work is not because it's completely invisible, but because it transmits 100% UV, while monofilament nylon absorbs UV, creating a UV shadow to a fish looking up. Decades of fly fishing, I much prefer bright-colored fly lines that I can see - fish don't need camoflagued line, and I don't, either. also consider that buzzbaits, safety-pin spinners, even umbrella rigs, jitterbugs and flap-feather baits catch fish - presentation and action is more important than detail, form and color.

one reason for this is almost universal switch to braid for spinning tackle. (the other reason is keeping rod weight down) Takes the stiffness of mono/fluoro to produce line slap. my kingfish rod has big guides

I've always referred to my Fisher IM6s as Magic Wands. (GT40, Sterling, Emerald, Natural) There are rods that will punch out more distance, but no other rods give a quicker, more accurate delivery. This was the 2nd cast of the morning to jumping shrimp. The first cast was a larger spec that tore the hook out on her second run.

@little giant Yeah, anyone who borrows my 30-y-o Loomis GL2 MH spinner wants to take it home.

13Fishing Omen Green ML - $130 rod I liked so much, bought a second $80 on closeout for back-up. Though I've since found Abu Prototype Kurodai Baitfinesse that covers a wider range. In M/MH jerkbaits, I can't get past my Crowder IM6. I can count the fish difference with higher-grade, lighter-in-hand Valleyhill MH

and on to 4 oz. I would consider Conquest 200 size for offshore slow-jigging. (Livre makes a trick spool-tension lever just for this - quick-adjust fall rate on your slow jig)

can't go wrong - I'm not sure why the discussion is deviating Down. Stick with the good stuff. I matched an older MagZ Daiwa with a BFS spool - it outdistances everything but has zero control or adjustment. You want control and adjustment. I've never backlashed Steez, Zillion or Silver Wolf with a range of BFS spools. Last fall, caught on Silver Wolf with Roro spool and PE#0.6. Sight-fished on INX Label Supra 65 prop-tail shrimp casting into the grass. I was right behind my buddy Josh who caught this fly rod red

hmm, made me look

actually @Eric 26, my daughter was fishing Penn 4200SS on Takamiya XUL finesse rod. When I bought two Takamiya rockfish rods and turned the Penn over to her, I randomly tried the Cetus because the price was right, and it's the only micron-frame reel made. It has caught hundreds of seatrout, including doubles with snook and redfish. I retired it when I switched to small-frame Shimano for braid. I'm a Tica true believer.

I fished through a lot of spinners since 1970 - Heddon, Mitchell, Penn. (gave away a '90s Lews that flopped in the breeze - it was a branded plastic-frame Zebco Cardinal) Clearly, durable means different things to different BR members. Throwing around on the boat was never a concern for me - I respect my tackle more than that - rather, how long does the line management last with hard fishing, which relates directly to my first post on this thread. Reels I haven't been able to fish-through in the millenium include Tica, who made your Daiwa if it has optional A/R switch. Ask @Eric 26 who now owns this little Cetus that fished 7 years in salt finesse.

I have a gang of longer finesse rods, both solid and tubular tip. Generally, solid tip are recommended for soft finesse baits, and tubular tip for finesse plugs. I fished last week with a 5-g plug on tubular tip 7'8" rod, and it was a match made in heaven, especially for the 200' shore cast I was facing. Unfortunately, a half-dozen dolphins moved in, ending the fishing, right when the tide current was picking it up. I was hooking these fish on the far channel slope - a solid-tip rod wouldn't do that. This was my first chance to really push this tackle, and it could have gotten exciting without the dolphins - keep paying my dues.

Of course all Shimano worm drive reels from Stradic-up are the previous Stella design re-made in lower-cost MOC; e.g., '20 Vanford is '18 Stella series. The only change in '22 Stella is slightly increased spool pitch, which tells me the just-previous series was over-designed and Shimano felt they could push the design a little harder.

Yes Twin Power is a beast - it's also a good finesse reel. The math here is really easy. Both Twin Power (Al) and Stella (Mg) have formed metal frames and rotors. With a few more upgrades, Twin Power shares anodized alloy gears with Stradic, while Stella has stainless gears, which should Never wear out. Comparing a Shimano worm drive made before '18 Stella shouldn't be considered, because '18 and newer uses the most engineering mechanics in the design that was never quite understood before. I'm sure Certate is a good reel. If you fish braid, Shimano worm drive should have an edge on longer-life accurate line management.

What makes an Inshore casting reel is a dual casting brake - they're assuming you're throwing big weight. That ain't always true. I recently rebuilt a Ryoga I bought used that had clearly been used for the salt - all the magseal bearings were oxidized black. It was noteworthy they all still spun well, but I replaced them all. I also upgraded the gears to hyperdrive - the old pinion shows the gear-teeth difference. it was a tough 2 days for slot redfish - pretty fish, though I got a spec bag limit

Shimano Stradic is probably the best buy, and if you want the long-term best, that would be Stella. If you want lower-price durability, it's going to be Daiwa, e.g., BG.