PBBrandon

My first “good” baitcaster was a gen 4 Revo SX. I thought the Abus looked cool and I found a nice Veritas to pair it with. I thought that combo was the bees knees. That was until it went geary on me (probably due to my bad habit at the time of locking down the drag and pulling straight back to break free from snags) Looking back it casted well, was smooth, and probably compared well to a $100 Shimano or Daiwa. Abus aren’t bad reels, there are plenty of worse options, but most experienced anglers know that there are 3 better brands and stick with those. They are however, frequently on sale, have a few gems in their lineup, and are “eye catching” to some novice anglers like I was. Their new reels look pretty ugly to me though and I’m sure that isn’t helping their case either. I ended up trading that Revo in a couple of years later at the BPS trade in event and got a Chronarch with it

I got a 2500 Stradic FM in the mail today and it is scratchy/loud when free reeling. My other FM is the same way and I’ve had 2 Vanfords that were like that but not as bad. Both of my Tatulas and a Sustain FJ I used to own didn’t have this issue. Is this common in the Stradic/Vanford reels? How have ya’ll quieted them down? They are still smooth and I’m sure when in use it won’t really matter but still. Thanks

I typically keep it simple with jigs, black and blue or some variation of green craw/green pumpkin depending on the weather/water conditions

No excuse to act that way. Always plenty of other spots, and if it’s a spot I’m really familiar with or confident in, I love catching them left and right while they figure it out

How much are they on sale for? I hear good things about Lews rods. I’ve only ever used the $30-50 Hank Parker ones which are great for the price

I really only trust YouTuber opinions if they are not sponsored and are critical of certain things. Some YouTubers are always positive about everything that is put in front of them and while I like those from an informative standpoint, they aren’t always my favorite if I’m trying to decide what to buy. Thereeltest is definitely a Shimano fan and while I do watch his videos, I lean more Daiwa on reels so obviously he hasn’t turned me away from them. Punchfishing and TackleAdvisors make great in depth videos that do sway my decisions a lot

Just ordered a Stradic, all in all paid $130 for it Expride and PA are gonna have matching 2500s Stradics and I’ll move one of my 2500 Tatulas to the 6’6” LF Premier

Should be great for treble hooks and keeping those fish pinned. Heck of a deal

Nah he owns the house, he was nice enough to let me stay in a room though 😂

Always a great feeling seeing the tube leaned up next to the front door. Took it inside and popped it open to get to my 6’8” MXF and a 7’2” HM St. Croix Legend Tournament rods. The 6’8” MXF is weightless in hand and balances perfectly. I love how short the handle is and being 5’9” the length should be perfect. It’s gonna be my go to jerkbait rod now instead of my Tatula 7’0” MLR which will be moved to strictly small cranks and jerks. As for the 7’2” HM, I’ve expressed on this site a lot how much I dislike glass rods, and how I throw chatterbaits on mod-fast graphite rods instead of a true moderate. Well, the second I picked up the LTB composite rods in store, my opinion changed. The LTB rods are lightweight and feel great in hand. I’m gonna throw chatterbaits, spinnerbaits and buzzbaits on it. Im up to 5 LTB rods now as they have become my favorite rod line. Cant wait to get these bad boys out on the water!

I’ve bought a bunch of Alphas, Zillion and Steez SV reels off of Amazon with no issues. All brand new and in perfect working order out of the box

Amazon link for the Stradic- https://www.amazon.com/Shimano-C2500S-Stradic-Spinning-Reel/dp/B0CBJWLK42/ref=asc_df_B0CBJWLK42?mcid=e3d174897f05341d9f1cedfc4a5ea17f&hvocijid=16595494910604730486-B0CBJWLK42-&hvexpln=73&tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=692875362841&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=16595494910604730486&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9027025&hvtargid=pla-2281435178298&psc=1 Yeah the 6’10” is my dropshot/ned rod but I throw all kinds of stuff on it. I recently got the 6’8” MXF Legend Tournament casting rod for jerkbaits, but wouldn’t hesitate to throw them on the 6’10” in a pinch. I think I’m either gonna get another Stradic to put on the PA, and move the 2500 Tatula LT to the 6’6” LF or get a 2000 Ultegra for the 6’6” LF and keep a Tatula on the PA can get the Stradic for 120-130 or the Ultegra for 60 bucks with my Amazon credit

The 73mh is an excellent swim jig rod 👍

Throwing my 2500 Stradic on the PA I see it balances right on the locknut. I guess the rod was just so light it felt heavier when putting the Stradic on, but perfectly balanced. I prefer that to an unbalanced rod. I also got 30 bucks back in Amazon credit thanks to a return, so I can get another Stradic for $120. Hard to pass that up

Thats the bait monkey talking right there lol. I have also considered moving one of my 2500 Tatulas to the light rod and getting a Vanford 2500 that would make my spinning setups look like: 7’ MF Expride B/2500 Stradic FM 7’2” MLF Poison Adrena B/2500 Vanford 6’10” MLXF Legend Tournament/2500 Tatula MQ 6’6” LF Premier/2500 Tatula LT 6’ ULF Premier/1000 Nasci FB Not sure if a 2500 is too big for a Light power rod though. And the Stradic feels a bit heavy on my PA so if I were to do that I’d probably grab a Vanford

Is one reel better than the other? I’m curious because I was about to buy a Nasci for my light spinning setup. I see for 10 bucks more I could either get a Miravel or an Ultegra. Both the same price. Which is the better reel?

I don’t have that exact model but I have 3 Legend Tournament rods and 2 more on the way. They are wonderful sticks. The warranty and customer service is excellent as well. If you break a rod, you can upgrade or get a different model in the same line so there is that as well The 7’1” MF should be a good all-round rod for spinning presentations

Darn it’s showing a DSG an hour away from me has a 6’10” MH Custom Pro rod in stock for $59 bucks. Gonna need to find a reason to get the fiancée to wanna drive all the way out there with me tomorrow and get it lol

I’ll get some rod bond for it 👍 I appreciate all your help!

I personally would never spend that much on a jig. Anything over 5 bucks is too much imo. Almost all of my jigs are SK and I usually snatch them up when they are $2 a pop during Walmart’s yearly winter closeout.

Yep that’s the one. The US model is 360-370 but the Japanese model is that one you are looking at. Thanks to the exchange rate between the USD and the JPY, you can get reels from Japan for way cheaper than the US. Only difference between the 2 I believe is that the US model has brass gears and the JDM version has aluminum gears and I think that makes it a bit lighter. Other than that there should be no difference in performance

7 or 8 speed Alphas SV for the Zodias. I have one on my Tatula ML rod for throwing X80s and such and it does great. It’s an upgrade for sure over the Tatula reels. Id get a 6 speed Zillion SV for the Expride, throws cranks like a dream, and honestly I like my Zillions as much if not more than my Steez SV. The Zillion might be the best bait caster on the market and you can get them for under 200 bucks right now. with the current JDM market, the Alphas and Zillion are too good to pass up when considering reels

T-rigged senkos and jigs catch 80% of my fish. I tried more moving techniques last year and my numbers suffered greatly. The best thing to do in this situation is to keep pushing and trying to improve in those areas. That being said, I’m likely gonna be going back to the ol bread and butter this year.

They are durable and catch fish. Like others have said, throw them like a jig. I like throwing them on the shallow gravel bottom areas of Texoma. Rolling and hopping. Wouldn’t wanna pitch cover with them because of their price tag. MH rod, 17lb FC or braid to leader. as for hookup ratio, it’s not as automatic as a regular jig. I’ll side sweep or diagonally sweep a jig and still hit most of the time. The sleeper craw, a vertical hookset is important due to the hidden hook. If you set it right, it’s got a good hookup ratio.

Looks like a good chatterbait setup. I’m not one of them but some people use 8 speed reels on everything. If you don’t like it, you might be able to return it and get a slower speed reel. Id throw chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, buzz baits, and lipless cranks on something like that