bgaviator

I thought you didn’t really thumb until the end? My Zillion is supposed to have tech I thought that helped prevent backlashes. But it doesn’t really seem to be the case.

So I got my first baitcaster a few months ago…a Daiwa Zillion from Japan. It’s nice and all. I love how far it can cast and I love how quickly I can reel back in. I get frustrated with the backlashes though that seemingly come out of nowhere. I can toss the lure the same way 10 times and for whatever reason one just backlashes. I’m getting pretty good at picking them out quickly though. I can’t seem to be able to set the brakes lower than about an 8 setting out of 20 though or else I’m almost guaranteed to get a bad backlash. I must say, I just recently got my first spinning reel too for an ultralight setup. It’s a Daiwa Revros LT 1000. This thing casts far! Pretty much as far as the baitcast. I’m really enjoying the spinning reel and not having to worry about a backlash. May have to pick up some bigger size spinning reels and put them on a medium or MH rod.

After being frustrated for too long being confined to the shore, I finally just got an Aquaglide Navarro 145 inflatable kayak. I know it’s probably not the most ideal model for fishing, but at a closeout $186 price, I couldn’t pass it up. If I enjoy it, maybe I can upgrade to a fishing specific model someday like the new Wilderness Iatak 110. But until I see how often I’ll actually use it and if I enjoy using a kayak, I wanted to save the money for now and use that savings towards the other gear I’d need.

Oh I’d love to use frogs and poppers. I have some in my bag but I can’t find any ponds or lakes around here with vegetation where those techniques seem to come in play

Oh I’ve just been throwing those on my baitcaster on the medium AirdX rod I have. What’s wrong with throwing those on a baitcast?

I feel like I’m getting addicted to wanting to buy fishing gear…even though I don’t fish a ton. I’m trying to determine if there’s anything I need in my lineup or if I’m just wasting money acquiring anything else at this point. Currently I have: Daiwa AIRDX medium rod 7’ (my favorite rod btw) paired with a Daiwa Zillion baitcaster Dobyn’s Fury 7’ Medium Heavy that has a Zebco Bullet on it (considering getting a baitcaster to put in it…but it’s nice having a push button for ease of use if the kid comes out with me or a friend goes out with me that’s not used to a baitcast) Okuma Celilo 6’6” ultralight with Daiwa Revros LT 1000 Part of me is really itching to buy a Tatula XT rod because they look nice and I’ve heard a lot of great things about them. But I’m not sure what I’d really do with it or if I have the need for it. I wouldn’t mind having a second spinning reel…maybe in a light powered rod. But I’m not sure if that’s necessary either. Like I said, I feel like I’m getting an addiction to acquiring new gear even though I’m not sure I really have a use case for it. Is there anything in my lineup you think I should definitely tweak or upgrade? Thanks.

Just took the reel out again. Had a good morning. No fish, but I was mostly just practicing casting. I kept my brakes between 14-16 and had no major blowups. Probably did about 100 casts total. I do like how precise and how far I can cast, even on a higher brake setting. The rod is so much less fatiguing to hold too than with the heavy Zebco Bullet. I attempted to lower the brakes to 10 and that’s when I got my first big blowup but I was able to pick it out. I did get a few casts on a 10 setting though. With brakes at 12 or higher I don’t even have to do any thumbing. Maybe some, but there were times I didn’t thumb and it was still fine with no backlash. But definitely once you do brakes 10 or less that’s when thumb control comes into play.

Been using between 10-14

I’ve seen videos and read things to where it shouldn’t even make a clicking sound with the side-to-side movement and others that say it should make just a slight clicking sound. I’m coming from a Zebco Bullet actually. I’m used to having to really wing it to get my lure to go far. My backlashes seems to be happening more at the beginning or middle of the lure launch. Most of my backlashes have happened just as the lure is crossing over the water.

Well I took it out to our local pond. Didn’t go so well. Numerous backlashes. A couple I had to completely cut out. The most casts I was able to do was 15 in a row. Seems like my tension knob was TOO tight at first. Once I loosened it a bit I was able to cast more without a birds nest. I learned if my thumb even nicked the spool as it was casting out I’d get a birds nest. Seems like when I’d try to wing the rod too hard I’d be more likely to get a birds nest as well. At one point I was able to take the brakes down to a 8 and I was able to get a cast almost to the other side of the pond. But then I got too cocky on my next cast and winged it really hard and it blew up. Seems like all my blowups were as the lure was still casting out. If it blew up it happened when the lure was about 25-50% over the water. Pretty disappointing day.

Ok so I bought my first baitcaster, a Daiwa Zillion, directly from Japan. Of course the instructions are all in Japanese. I just got it spooled up. I put on a squarebill lure. In my garage I released the button and my lure dropped quickly and I got an immediate birds nest. I thought maybe I needed to change the brake settings but after a few birds nests I tightened the spool tension. This caused the lure to fall at a slower steady rate and the spool did not birds nest. I guess what I’m confused about is Daiwas term of zero adjuster knob. I thought it was supposed to be set from the factory? Am I still going to have to adjust the spool tension every time I change lures if they are different weights? I am new to baitcasters so this is confusing to me. Also, any good starter brake setting for me to use for my first time taking it out? Thanks.

I fish at Sardis Lake in Mississippi below the spillway. A little muddy. Lots of rip rap below the spillway but I think more smooth pebble bottom at the beach I often like to fish at past the spillway rip rap. No weeds. I don’t target anything specific. Just whatever bites.

Why not braid? Isn’t braid better for not having memory issues thus less backlash potential? I actually like my medium Daiwa AirdX Rod over the more expensive Dobyn’s Medium Heavy.

Just ordered my first baitcaster from Digitaka. The Zillion SV TW 7.1 at the recommendation of some of you on here. Now what line am I spooling it with and best/easiest way to spool it? I mostly like to fish crankbaits/squarebills, Texas rig worms, and swim baits. Occasional lighter stuff under a bobber. I don’t target any particular species. Just whatever I can catch. I’m not sure what rod I’m going to put it on. Either my Dobyn’s Fury Medium Heavy or my Daiwa AirdX medium. My lake has white bass, largemouth bass, crappie, catfish, and drums and sunfish. Thanks.

I currently have a Dobyn’s Fury medium heavy and a Daiwa AirdX medium. I like my Daiwa more even though it’s cheaper. I like how light it is. But the Dobyn’s allows me to feel the bottom of the lake more. I’ve thought about getting a Daiwa Tatula or Tatula XT rod. I’ve heard good things about them. I don’t think I need anything more than medium for what we have around here.

They have 1 of the 6.3 gear ratio ones. I’m not really sure what gear I need. It seems like a lot of people like the 7.1 ratio ones

Does anyone know why if you look at the Zillion SV TW on Daiwa’s web site, it shows gold accents…but if you look at it from any sites that sell it, it appears all gray?

Just did. They don’t have any 7.1 gear ratio ones in stock. Oh well, I’m in no rush.

They look like fantastic reels. People seem to really love them. I went to this Digitaka website and they have them for $230 usd which is a lot cheaper than what Tackle Warehouse sells them for, but alas, Digitaka is out of stock for the gear ratio I’d want. Can this Zillion throw lighter weight stuff like I tend to throw lots of times?

Can’t decide on my first baitcaster. I only fish from the banks (as of now). I don’t target anything specific. Bass, crappie, catfish, drum, bluegill. Whatever bites. My favorite things to throw are squarebills, and Texas rig worms and curly tail grubs. Sometimes swim baits (though I’ve yet to catch a thing with them). Sometimes I’ll do live minnows or night crawlers under a bobber. I’m willing to spend up to $200. Some of the ones I’ve considered are the Shimano SLX DC, the Daiwa Tatula SV, or the Daiwa Tatula 100. I’m worried about backlashes, so I wasn’t sure if that’s where having the Shimano DC system would be good to have. Is the Daiwa SV system similar? I really don’t understand all the different reel systems and the advantages of each one.

Haven’t tried my jigs or a chatter yet, but the fluke I’ve tried many times. Maybe I’m just not using it in the right applications. It’s possible I don’t have the correct technique down either. I usually fish at a spillway that has moving current so I’m not sure if that’s a good application for a fluke or not. I imagine it’s better with more still water? I’ve tried flukes in still water too with no luck. I try the twitch twitch pause technique. And I try popping it up and letting it fall. Nothing bites it. I usually have it on a offset hook weightless. I don’t know if adding some kind of belly weight would make the action more enticing to fish or not.

I have one of those too. Never have taken it out of the package yet though.

I have rarely tried my frogs or Rebel PopR. I don’t have any heavy rods but I have played with them occasionally and never got a bite on them. i am surprised I have never gotten a hit on a Zoom Fluke. The action on them looks awesome when twitching and popping, but I’ve just never gotten a hit. I’m also really surprised the Creme and Zoom rubber swim baits don’t get me hits considering how real they look.

Let’s have a fun thread. “I have never caught a bass using…” (fill in the blank) just curious what the answer will be because when I first got into fishing a few years ago I bought just about every kind of fake bait under the sun…most of which have never caught me a fish. Just curious what have been duds for you…as well as constant performers. For me…I have never caught a bass using: Zoom Fluke, Storm or Creme swim baits, Storm 360 GT Searchbait. what consistently works in my arsenal; Yum Dinger worms fished weightless Texas Rigged…KVD sexy Shad colored Squarebills, and marabou hair jigs. now, I only fish from the shore…and I fish a lot in a spillway with moving current. So I’m not sure if that affects the performance of some of the baits I just never have luck with or what. I do have some swim jigs in my arsenal too which I have yet to try so I can’t comment on how well those will work for me.

I didn’t really get into fishing until this past spring. I was catching fish left and right in the spring, purely on fake lures. So much so I kept telling my friend who is mostly into live bait that I was confident fake stuff caught just as much, If not more than live bait. Seems like since summer has hit, the fishing has dropped off tremendously. I have worse and worse luck every time I go out now it seems. I thought now that it has started cooling off the fishing might get better but today (Sardis Lake, MS) I didn’t even get a bite. I threw everything in my arsenal, including live nightcrawlers. An older guy started fishing next to me at the spillway at the next set of steps and caught two decent bass fairly quickly. I asked him what he was using and he said a spinner bait, no trailer. So I tied on a spinner bait myself….nothing. Granted his was pure white and all i had on hand was a chartreuse one, but still.. Getting very discouraging.