mcnealstash

Very helpful thanks for the info. What rod do you have this mounted on right now? I have an IMX Pro 904c SWBR I have barely used and was thinking of selling it for the poison adrena- but after thinking about it more the rod I have is probably fine for the job I'm interested in it taking care of. The only beast hooked bait I'm interested in throwing is the WCZ Citizen 6 and I'm not sure it has the power to drive that 6/0 beast hook home.

Would the steez a2 be an acceptable reel for 17 lb invizx and used for small swimbaits like the 6” mag draft? I am looking to buy either a steez a2 or zillion hd and putting it on my new poison adrena b 7’4” heavy/moderate action rod. It will be for small Swimbaits like the 5” bull shad, 6” mag draft, etc.

I have the Conquest 843c and use it for all the applications you described- handles jigs/t-rigs, chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, swim jigs, and swimbaits beautifully. I would avoid going for the 842 if you already have a finesse applications rod.

Got a new small swimbaits combo- took me a while to find a rod that would primarily be used for beast hooked softbaits but also had enough parabolic bend to handle glidebaits, big cranks, and a few wakebaits every once in a while. I think I found a good solution in the mod-fast G Loomis IMX Pro 904c SWBR. Paired with a Daiwa Zillion HD 1520 HL and spooled with 17 lb. Tatsu. Really impressed by the quality of this IMX Pro given the price point.

844 will probably be a further casting rod because it's 7' vs the SD. Throw the DC reel on the 844 for that reason.

For another solid twin tail grub option try the Z-Man Goat in the 3.75" size. Excellent durability and a nice selection of colors. No trimming required to have it fit perfectly on the 3/8 oz. jackhammer.

What setup do you throw the magdraft freestyle on?

Spinning- Megabass Destroyer P5 Windbuster Casting- Loomis/Shimano Conquest 843c MBR

Where were you able to get expride Bs from?

I've not been able to find a spot online where it shows the individual names of the poison adrena rods- surprisingly it's not on any of the online shops and it's not on the poison adrena page on shimano's website... I talked to the guys at the hook up tackle and they said that this Poison Adrena may be a bit too parabolic for single hook applications. Not sure what to think now or what rod to look at.

Nice- tatsu tends to be really tough for its given test strength- so I think I will start there and see how it goes. Now I need to select a rod and reel combo that makes sense in the scenario where I do think going up to 17 lb makes more sense... Was thinking the 7'4" H/MF Poison Adrena (rated 3/8-2 oz.) paired with a 200 sized Zillion HD reel. Does that sound like it could be solid for this application?? The mod-fast rod is so I can comfortably throw some smaller glide baits and also the single hooks. Not ideal for either but passable for both.

Thanks! Do you think I could get away with straight 15 lb. tatsu? or would that be too light?

Hey- what Rod/Reel/Line do you use for the 6" magdraft freestyle?

Awesome- I'm a river smallmouth fisherman with minimal cover except in mid to late summer when the weeds get thick. In that situation I'll just throw a weedless rigged magdraft or something though. So sounds like going for the 15 lb is the play. I still have to buy a rod for these baits- I have seen a Poison Adrena that's a 7'4" heavy- rated 3/4 to 2 oz. and has a moderate fast taper. Do you think that this would be well suited to small swimbaits in general?

I've been looking to start into the small glide game as well for river smallmouth- picked up a megabass islide 135 and a vatalion- hoping to try those out this year. I've had success with the baby bull shad- sounds like I'll have to pick up a 5 inch bull shad and maybe something out of the gan craft family. What lb test do people use for these 1-2 oz glides/swimbaits? I've been debating between 15 and 17 lb tatsu but not sure which would be better suited for the job.

Thanks for sharing the pic. Handle looks decently long and definitely comfortable for that tuck under the arm style of swimbaiting. I think I may have to pick this rod up- there are really not many rods out there that are this light weight, have a sweet spot for "smaller" swimbaits like 1-1.5 oz, have up to date technology, and have that mod-fast action. I'm sold... Now the real question is what reel do I pair with it. Probably going to be running straight 17 lb. abrazx fluoro and will want a 200 sized reel. Debating between the Zillion HD or Calcutta Conquest 201 HG to match with it...

Do you have a picture of the 7'4" heavy? I can't find any pics of it on the web and not much information out there in the forums... Does it have a nice long handle that makes it comfortable for throwing those smaller swimbaits? I'm looking for a rod that is ideally suited for throwing smaller swimbaits- both weedlessly rigged 5" spark shad, 6" magdraft, and things like the ganatrel jr, islide 135, vatalion, deps 145, gan craft 178. All the baits I intend to throw are sub 2 oz. so I like the fact that this rod seems like it has a sweet spot for that range of baits.

It's comfortable for me but I could see it taking a little getting used to for others. I don't have huge hands so it potentially would not be big enough for some anglers. The way I hold the grip- where the reel's attachment point to the reel seat is in between my middle and 4th finger, works perfectly for the P5 design imo.

Started my first foray into high end gear this year with two spinning combos. I'm hooked now and will probably be adding a couple of casting combos to cover a few other applications that these rods are a bit light for. Front one is a P5 Destroyer F3.5 Windbuster with the new Shimano Exsence 3000. Spooled with 12 lb Tatsu, rigged with 3/16 oz. 3/0 flashy swimmer and 4" megabass spark shad in green pumpkin. Far one is P5 Destroyer F3 Landsat with the Shimano Vanford 2500. Spooled with 10 lb Tatsu, texas rigged with 1/8 oz tungsten bullet weight, size 2 gama EWG hook, 2.8" keitech green pumpkin/chartreuse crazy flapper. So far I like both rods a lot but I do think they excel at different uses. The windbuster is an absolute cannon and I use it for smallish moving baits- I really like it for light belly weighted paddletails 4" and under (a spark shad almost always lives on it), flashy swimmers, and 1/2 oz. and under squarebills, bladebaits, lipless cranks, and jerkbaits. You can use it for bottom contact, but in my opinion it does not excel for this as the taper is slightly more parabolic than the landsat. The landsat is definitely the better finesse bottom contact and slack line/vertical presentation rod of the two, as it gets into the backbone much quicker on the hookset than the windbuster. I prefer it for light texas rigging (1/8 and 3/16 oz. tungsten bullets), throwing soft plastics like the 3" nikko helgrammite, 3.2" nikko craw, 2.8 and 3.6" keitech crazy flapper, and 3.5" tubes. It would also be great for most other finesse-y bottom contact applications- finesse jigs, dropshot, neko, 3" swimbait, etc.

Just trying to reduce damage to the fish in the waters I fish. There's been a few times this year where I've had trebles pierce either skin or gill of fish that I didn't want that to happen to. Obviously having 3 single hooks doesn't completely solve this problem- there is still the possibility that you end up hooking the fish multiple times with multiple single hooks, but it will certainly reduce the odds of a fish hooking itself again after it starts fighting. Whenever a fish is hooked somewhere outside the mouth, there's a non-zero chance that fish winds up dead because it suffered damage- maybe you hit the gills and it bleeds out, or its skin was pierced and dies to infection, etc . It's no secret really that trebles have a tendency to cause extra damage versus single hooks. Because I fish a fairly pressured river, keeping those fish healthy is more important to me than making sure I land every single one I hook into. What I hear from the saltwater guys is that the switch to singles doesn't even affect hookup ratio, and it may even be beneficial for keeping a fish pinned by keeping all the pressure on one hook instead of distributing the pressure across a few hooks. No doubt the 110 is one of the best jerkbaits available, but I'm assuming the fish hit it because they like the lure itself, not the hooks that it's wearing. I'll probably try switching out the hooks on one lure and do a side by side performance test to see how the bait floats and whether or not it retains the same action as one with trebles. If there is a noticeable difference and the bait's performance suffers, I probably won't make the switch on all of them.

What inline singles do you use on the visions? I'm guessing you found some that don't affect the bait's ability to suspend?

I am wanting to move away from treble hooks on all of my baits... I just feel bad when I end up snagging fish in extra places and causing more damage than I otherwise would if I were using single hooks instead. The fisheries I go to are pressured and I want to do what I can to protect the fish a little better, even if my hook up ratio goes down. Are there any general sizing rules for swapping out trebles to singles? And does anyone have any single hook recommendations for the vision 110 & jr. to balance the bait or singles they recommend for hard baits in general?

Does the Super Destroyer have enough power to drive bigger weedless hooks home? For instance a 6/0 Beast Hook with a 6" magdraft freestyle? I am a river fisherman so am not really looking to use this setup for anything over 6"- fish of a caliber that would chew anything bigger are far and few between in my neck of the woods. I would not mind throwing a few baits that are in that 1.375-1.5 oz range- the gantarel jr., vatalion, and iSlide 135 are all things I'd like to toss as bluegill and baby bass imitations. I like the fact that the super destroyer is a mod fast a lot. I will probably be throwing the 5" spark shad and 6" mag draft freestyle 75% of the time, and treble hooked baits 25% of the time. The tequila baccarac looks great but the fact that it has a moderate action gives me a bit of pause and makes me think it would likely be a better rod exclusively for throwing treble hooks.

Definitely an appealing option because of how lightweight it is. I've heard nothing but good things. What size conquest do you have? I wish that they made the 200 size in like a 6 or 7 to 1 gear ratio... They only make it in a 4:1 -so about 22 inches per handle turn. That seems a bit lower than I'd want to go, but there is a 200 size conquest DC (I believe it's JDM only) that does actually come in a higher gear ratio. The only issue is finding one. I've ordered from the hook up tackle to get JDM product but that's as far as it goes. Are there any other solid websites to buy JDM tackle from in the States?

I own two of the P5 Destroyer spinning models- the wind buster and the landsat. Blown away with both rods so far and am definitely a fan of anything megabass. The tequila baccarac is on my radar- I like that it's 7' in length and lightweight- seems like that would be nice if you were throwing heavier stuff for a longtime. What lb test are you running on the metanium?