casts_by_fly

I carry 5 for the most part because my kayak holds 4 laid down and 1 in my hand. I can add a sixth one if I think I need to. Which rods comes depend on the time of the year and the lake I'm on. Earlier season I don't bring my heaviest rods and my mid range rods are lake dependent. I'll bring more medium to medium heavies because I'm throwing cranks, swimbaits, lighter stuff, etc. This year I've been bringing a spinning rod most trips as one of my 5. This time of year I am bringing 2 true heavies, 2 lighter heavies, and either a spinning rod, a BFS rod, or a MH because we have a lot of weed cover, clear water, and pressured fish so I'm either going really deep into cover or really tiny.

Look no further than the jdm met ‘20. You can also get two for your budget if you can find them.

yes it’s absurd. The diameter for fluoro and mono won’t be remarkably different. 80 lb big game is .035”. Big game fluoro leader is 0.036”. i use 20 lb big game on my big bass rod. I have 25/30/50# mono downstairs for rigging saltwater leaders and rigs. Also useful for some specialist fly leader applications. The 30# and 25# are handy for abrasion leaders and on a fly rod just fine for bite leader. I’m also not so concerned if I get bit off because I’ll just tie another one when I get home. if you’re around bluefish or barracuda then they are like pike and musky and you have to have wire. tieable wire is harder to tie than 6# mono but easier then 80# mono. very nice. Cape mays days I assume? You and those round reels…

Get a longer nosed set. I use the standard length in an off brand in my kayak and can get the job done but every now and then you get a hook deep in the throat or have to come through the gills and it’s nice to have a little bit more reach. My dad carries both in his boat and I’ve had times I couldn’t get a hook with the regulars so the longs saved the day

Watch “Flip pong” on either wheeler’s or DC’s YouTube. I’m not saying it’s the best accuracy but it’s the most fun you can have while practicing…. I’m up for a game if I had three buddies who fished locally. Or one.

What AJ said. Use your regular mainline and add a 12-18” piece of tieable wire. It’s bite proof and flexible. You should see no impact on action. If you really want to make it faster and removable then tie the wire to a snap swivel on one end and a swivel on the other while you’re at home. i dont know if you’ve ever felt 80# mono but its weed wacker cord.

tieable wire. Use a loop knot at the lure end and be done with it. https://news.orvis.com/fly-fishing/master-class-monday-attach-bite-tippet-leader

a weightless 5" senko weighs almost 3/8 oz. Any self respecting MH can throw 3/8 a long way.

You will like it. You might need more than 10ah but see how it does for you on your trips.

Could you have a dud? Maybe one. Three? No way. I’d bet that the diawa braking system just doesn’t work for your casting style.

To each their own, but I'd rather skip buying a lure or three and have the better reel. The reel will last you forever. The lure might not make it back on the next cast. For one of the frog distance threads a couple weeks back I put all of my reels onto one rod and started casting a frog for distance so there was some semblence of comparison. My Zillion has 17 lb mono (and thick 17 mono at that). It was tossing a 1/2 oz frog right around 35 yards on a 7'3" rod. Yes, other reels were further (the shimanos in particular) but when comparing comparable diameter lines (50 braid vs 17 mono) there wasn't much in it. A yard or two here or there. For the premise of that thread (the OP was trying to get as much distance as humanly possible) maybe it meant something but anyone who says that a zillion won't cast more than 50' either has a broken one or doesn't know what they are doing. I'd happily buy that reel off you now for $75 (it's bropken after all, right?) and video my own casting with it.

We get so much grass here that a spinnerbait is a tough road in the summer. One exception I will do next trip is a lighter one with a big blade fished like a wakebait. I’ll still fight the grass but fishing it through the cuts should yield a couple good ones.

You said $180 but for $205 you get a jdm zillion. That’s where I’d put my money.

on top of what woody said, rod tip high will keep it higher. Bigger blades and more cupped blades grab more water and keep it up. If you want to fish one really slow, then a big Colorado blade on a 3/8 with a high rod tip will wake the surface. The same spinnerbait with a double willow and a low rod tip will fish 2’ deeper for the same speed of retrieve. My default is a 1/2 oz tandem for a good balance of thump and flash. I can fish it just under the surface or 5-7’ down easily enough. If I want to fish faster then it’s a double willow and small blades (like a megabass sv3). If I know I’m in shallow grass and want to fish it slow then a 3/8 Colorado/Indiana combo is great.

Anymore nothing. I used to fish all of the above depending on the spinnerbait and profile I thought I needed. Trailer hooks on all of them. Then I started fishing them naked and have no drop off in hookups. A lot of my spinnerbaits have trailers still attached which will range from keitechs (too fragile and expensive to bother), zakos (too heavy), SK blade minnow (adds no action, just weight), and split tails (my choice if I am adding a trailer). I’ll fish them as they are until the trailers wear off and then leave them naked.

If I’m fishing one of my longer rods (7’3” or longer) when the fish gets boatside I will let me hand creep up the rod as far as the label. High sticking is the worst thing you can do to a fishing rod besides a car door or a ceiling fan. And with a long rod I can’t get the fish close enough to the net without high sticking it. Shorter rods are no problem and I don’t creep my hand up.

The pitzen is significantly stronger and easier to tie correctly/reliably. The palomar isn't a bad choice, but the pitzen is a better one.

Just order a JDM zillion for $205. I would also however they are $250-$260 last I checked.

Sinkage wise I don’t find much difference between it and 832 which is my frog line. Both float or are neutral. 131 is a little stiffer in light diameters which I like. In 50# diameters I haven’t tried 131 but I’m not sure if I would like it.

Seconded. And saliva wet it before you start pulling.

On top of the sally, you should throw a Johnson silver spoon like catt posted. Basically weedless, lots of action and flash, big fish potential. I remember using them growing up and catching bass and pike galore in northern pa waters. heck, I should throw one here now.

I have the Bantam, Met, and Zillion, all in JDM form. All three great reels and you won't go wrong with any of them. Bantam vs Met- the bantam is a little heavier. I think it has a little higher line capacity, but that's just going off memory. Both of mine are MGL spools. Both look like they have a good few interchangable parts. Maybe the Bantam is a little more rugged? Also maybe that's my impression because I put it on my big rod while my Met is on an all around. I wouldn't ignore then Zillion either. Last I looked, the Shimanos you could get were in the $250 -$265 bracket. The JDM Zillion is $205-210. If I needed to buy a reel now I'd save the $50 and get another zillion even though I'm a shimano reel guy generally. Sometimes and it depends on the reel. That's the short answer for your questions and the only way to know is to compare specs like for like. That said, I don't mind the shorter handles on the ones I have and I'll take aluminum over brass for the weight difference.

No need to set the brakes lower than 8 on a zillion. I keep mine around a 10 with zero spool tension and just let it rip. It will cast further than you can efficiently fish. Also, you shouldn't need to touch the spool tension. I might up the tension a little for heavier things just to save my thumb a little but going from 1/4 to 3/4 I don't touch it.

This is a texas rig

If its a noco genius multi bank, you can select the type of battery by bank and charge 3 or 4 different types at a time. Cold hinders the polymer matrix I believe and that's the issue with low temp charging. Some batteries have a 'warmer' built in and will detect the charging temps. And in a different application Tesla's will warm the battery to optimal charging temps if you're navigating to a charging station in the cold. Keep in mind that 'cold' is relative. Below freezing is a bad thing for charging lifepo, but a 40-50 degree garage isn't so bad.