MiceNReets

100% I’ve broken 3 St Croix rods and they were all my fault. All rods out of warranty and I let St Croix know it was my fault as well and they had a new rod in my hand within a few days hassle free and customer service was incredible. The customer service alone has my business for life.

Or just contact St Croix to get a replacement and never look at G Loomis. :)

The world didn’t blow up…. Oh! Nevermind :/

Reviews coming from tweens… lol

They aren’t as bad as you think

That’s a great point Glenn. Selling a bunch of gear locally recently and i decided to just make a flat rate price to what the cheapest reel was. First person to get the higher end stuff for super cheap gets a great deal. My cheaper reels sold and then I ended up increasing the price of the higher end reels to market value in my area, they all sold the same day. Maybe someone just perceived high end gear for a low price as being an issue? No idea.. they’re crazy though! I’ve also had situations where I put stuff out for free and it’s worth something, get no takers so when I add a price a few days later, it sells right away. Funny how that works! Myself? I’d prefer the $1.50 Latte and take a chance I have had a few Kast Kings when they first started out of curiosity and they honestly weren’t as good as the hype from all their influencers, but I am still intrigued by their newer high end gear and can’t write them off until I try them.

You have to start somewhere and if it means releasing subpar reels to build up the funds for better R&D, then so be it. Only way they’ll grow in the industry and be able to offer products for all levels of fishing. I usually only Daiwa and Shimano for the most part and I have a 2019 Shimano Antares 70 and absolutely hate this reel. It gets a lot of praise and I think it’s as good as a paperweight. I want to like it a lot because it costs a lot and it’s been a headache ever since I’ve gotten it and I can’t even sell it because of its price. I don’t want to take a loss but really it’s a paperweight. I’d probably trade it for a kastking at this point. Anyways needless to say, even shimanos flagship reels can be garbage (at least to me).

Store ended up messing up my order so ended up with the tatula elite AGS rod. Was already on clearance plus an additional 20% off and $20 shipping (instead of $40). In the end it cost $195 less than the IMX Pro. I couldn’t drive to the store and back for less than $20 gas in a Jeep wrangler lol

Sorry I meant the last version of the IMX pro.

How would the tatula elite AGS 7’5 MH fast rod compare to this IMX pro? Are they both on different levels? Aside from price tag?

Well good thing I already have a few ‘21 zillions kicking around and a lonely ‘20 metanium.

… and what would be a good reel to compliment such a versatile rod?

Never used an IMX pro or even a Loomis for that matter. What are the thoughts on the 893C JWR in the IMX pro line and what does it excel at? Asking for a friend…

Always wondered if TheReelTest actually fishes or not.

I hated my tatula 80 the first couple times I used it until I found the perfect rod for it. Then it was one of my most used combos. Just took switching a few rods to get there

No issues with the shields removed? Just have to clean more frequently? And it’s just the spool bearings you leave the shields removed?

So I decided to clean house and really try to limit the amount of gear I have. I have way more rods and reels needed for a bank fisherman most of the time and when I do get on the float tube or a friends boat I’m still limited to what gear I have anyways. These days it feels like I just enjoy collecting the finer things in life but don’t put in the use they deserve because I’m just rotating through combos every time I go out and the choices and options stress me out the last few years. 🤷🏻‍♂️ Anyways when selling gear of multiple rods in the same length/power/action or similar enough. What are your thought processes of which ones to sell? for example if you have 3-4 rods from different brands that are a 7’3MH (all around) or 6’8M (jerkbaits). Are you keeping the rod that is most high end because the quality is there? Because you know you wouldn’t buy something as high end again? Because you won’t get back what you put into it so it’s better to keep it than take a lose? do you just keep what doesn’t sell? Or do you keep what feels best to you regardless of quality and warranty? Same with reels. Would you keep what’s most high end or would you keep what feels best? Like if you have a steez and it feels great but it doesn’t get the distance you need. But your tatula 100 doesn’t feel as smooth but it gets the distance you need, Are you keeping that tatula or are you keeping the steez because once you go to the top of the line there is no looking back? Just curious on others process of elimination.

That’s what I’ve been doing for this reel. Maybe I did the same last season and forgot. But luckily it’s a set and forget brake system for this reel and no need to keep opening the side plate so I’ll just continue to do the same then. Hold it on its side so gravity brings the pins down and put the side plate back on. would changing these brake blocks change anything at this point?

I’ll have to try and give you a shout tomorrow after work. I’m thinking it’s the spool after all. I swapped spools within every reel and everything is great except with this spool and I’ve noticed that the brake blocks go right down as for all the others float and don’t flop completely down. So when flopped completely down, the side plate must be just holding them down completely with no room to move. So maybe the spool is toast now? All 4 blocks do this

Yeah. It isn’t the spool. It works in my 3 other bantams. It must be the side plate and I can’t figure out what’s causing the issue on the side plate. Also I did back the tension knob off as well. I only took the reel apart because it was acting up. Went through my gear today to figure out my roster for the year and this one wasn’t like this before. So I took it apart to make sure everything inside was fine and I’ve narrowed it down to the side plate I guess :/

It was one of the ones from Japan. It worked well last season and now it doesn’t. as an update, I tried the spool in all my other bantams and on a ‘20 Met and it was fine in all those reels. Put it back in this bantam and the issue continues. The side plates all look the same so I can’t figure out why this one somehow pins down the brake blocks (if it is) but it has to be the side plate I’m guessing at this point. And no…. That one has been solid. If it was that one then I wouldn’t be so annoyed :)

So this one bantam is giving me a headache again. So I take the side plate off and then put it back on and the spool doesn’t want to turn. Took everything apart and it’s all in correctly. I put the side plate on and nothing. Then I put all brake blocks up in the locked position and the spool turns and everything is smooth as should be. If I go back to the 2 brakes up and 2 brakes down and put the side plate on, the spool wont turn easily at all. So then if I hold the reel on its side so the brakes flip forward and put the side plate on that way, it’ll turn smoothly as it should. It seems the brake blocks are getting pressed down when the side plate is going on or it’s at least interfering with the brakes and side plate. I have 3 other ‘18 bantams and I don’t have this issue and they look identical to this bantam so I can’t for the life of me figure out what is interfering with the spool and the brake blocks when the side plate is on . Anyone ever have this issue?

I really like my St Croix victory rip n chatter 72H

Yup. Anything under $100 is very minimal if they get you. My last scorpion just cost me $9.95 from Canada post for handling fees. Didn’t get hit with any other taxes this time. However the last 2 scorpion DCs arrived together and cost me $32.98 for handling fees and taxes.