Banned User

How much force are you using and is pressure applied straight down? The only ones that sink in when I simply try to slide a hook gently across my nail are cutting point. They can't slide across my nail without pulling themselves in What is this? I've been putting them on moving baits, great for long cast hook sets and less concern about rolling them on rocks Which?

What is this? Which is what precisely in this specific instance?

@bulldog1935 du(a)ly noted haha, guess I have a little more work to do. As part of the drag stack, why lubricate other components but not that one? @redmeansdistortion appreciate you sharing your thoughts bro, all that makes sense. Maybe I'll research the millionaire, I'm definitely a fan of Daiwa. I'd look into getting an older Shimano curdado, but wouldn't know what I'm lookin at to know between two what condition they're in, or how to repair one. Plus, I don't think I get along well with centrifugal brakes

So much anxiety looking at those pics bro @bulldog1935 my suspicion was correct, it is part of the drag system, but I did slap a little lube on it not knowing any better. Should I clean it all up again? Any thoughts on aftermarket drag clickers? Nice to overhear this reel maintenance chatter, wish I had a grandpa to hand me down an old reel. What modern reel do you think is worth getting and maintaining to pass on to my kids? lockquote widgetlockquote widget

Opened up my Tat CT FROM 2020 It's never been maintainced before, still runs great Here's how the guts looked What's that red part? Was under brass gear and on top of the saw lookin thing

Grabbed some Mustard Infiltrator hooks and a pack of their trailer hooks. Total let down, these hook points are ugly close up. I do like the design of the hook, I needed something to accommodate a chunky soft plastic swimbait. Two different Infiltrator hooks right there, lumpy lousy hook points Honestly I've been way more impressed by Aliexpress hooks over the past year or so. These Spinpolar Raptor hooks are super sharp, deep gap, and solid. I shoulda just got more of these

I liked your post, not because I black and white looks good on you, but I appreciate the write up. Here's lookin at September

Unfortunately, I cannot, no tools or space to put the tools if I could get the tools. But this crazy idea just hit me, maybe I could shape my own offset grip with some JB Weld? Around an arbor? How much do those cost?

Wouldn't this need a grip that is also off set? I've never seen one for sale

Could you send me one too please? I've thought about this before, just never thought there was a way to do it

So you only sharpen the top and bottom of a hook?

If my walmart ever carries these I'll give them a try @ALL, OR AT LEAST ANYBODY WHO'S A HOOK SNOB OR HAS PUT MUCH THOUGHT INTO HOOK DESIGN AND APPLICATION What Are Your Thoughts On Hooks With The "VLOCK/Pro V" design? The math looks right to me, but curious your experience. Maybe this should be a separate thread, I'm see if people catch it and respond.

What's your strategy? Which do you use and how do you use yours? Never thought it could make that much of a difference, I'll pay more attention and see what happens

So which ones do this, like I said, all the premium brands have been about equal enough in their unimpressive sharpness. Anything specific?

Have you posted your deep dive? I'd love to read what you have to say about the finer details Copped a pack of these on sale for 7 bucks, one of the sharpest out of the pack hooks I've ever touched. No idea who's the OEM, but these are on point What's your optimization strategy?

For a long time I've been using the Walmart Eagle Claw EWG and offset hooks. No complaints really. But I started to really think about sharpness and how much ofban impact it really has. So I wanted to do a fair comparison. I ordered a handful of different brands/types of hooks. And honestly, I wish I had just saved my most. Very few pass the fingernail test. VMC, Gamakatsu, Victory, Mustad, Trokar... Treble, straight, EWG... It blew my mind how few can scratch my fingernail out of the box. Not gonna lie, I have stayed away from Gamakatsu hooks because of the price, and I'm utterly unimpressed. By far the sharpest out of the box was thr Trokar, couldn't even drag it across my nail because it would literally just cut into it. Another test for myself has been to let the hook point rest on the edge of my hand and roll it off. If the hook stays, I call it sharp, if it slips off without every trying to hang on at all - not so sharp. Again, relatively speaking these are all so similar in sharpness I will never pay these prices again. Except for maybe trokar going forward Well with 125 dullish hooks - Is one filer/sharpener truly better than another? How So? So far sharpening to create a cutting point like Trokar with a cheap Amazon grooved hook sharpener has made hooks sharper, but people say that rips holes in bass mouths and loses fish. Any hooks you've been disappointed by? Any hooks you've found to be noticeably sharper than others? what do you consider sharp? Tips on sharpening?

Do i need a code or something?

30% off hundred pack 7in berkley powerbait https://a.co/d/7PfDYTC

Meaning one big curl (curly tail) vs multiple curls (ribbon tail)? I caught a fish that might still be my PB, I can't remember now if it was 7#6 or 6#7, old phone had it, on a ribbon tail (according to bassmaster description of the juice worm, which contradicts my assumption of that sets them apart). Havoc Juice worm in something like a more ing dawn just at dusk, last cast and I'm paddling back in the dark with no light - didnt expect to be out that late. Really screwed myself on my last cast by yanking my hook into a log... and then the log started moving. Had a small heart attack that night, never felt so alive before that. I kept the 2 remaining juice worms the past 5 years (hook rash and all) with plans to try to make a mold for myself and pour some... idk if I'll ever have a set up to melt plastics and do that, but I'm hopeful. So whats really the difference between curly and ribbon? So far the votes seem to be 3/o for 7in and 4/o or 5/o for 10 in... more votes?

Clearly a slip of the tongue, I've watched Matt and Tim and Iaconelli and KVD and so many other dudes who literally feed their families by bass fishing say things that you could scoff at by taking it at face value instead of understanding that when they said "cast this frog into the pads" while they're holding a swim jig that they actually mean the jig and not a frog. He mentions that the only reason he picked up the max is because people in the comments asked him to, and he could compare it to reels "he's used to in the $300 range" Maybe we are referring to 2 separate casts, but from that angle looked fine enough to me. Regardless, that video is 5 years old, he's now at almost 180,000 subscribers and in his most recent video still using the Black Max. At this point, he's had ample opportunity to try other reels and certainly catches plenty of fish on the max as you can see in his videos. I'm just saying, this is absolutely a testament to the value of a Black Max

Not for nothing, but this dude's most recent video and he's still using the black max

The point of this conversation is trying to weed out the ones that are in the other end of that spectrum, the $8 reel that totally surprises you with how great it performs. If there are noname brands making quality products, we should all share that. Sure there's junk out there, but the "reel" issue is there are also very solid quality products at an affordable price, just hidden in the weeds of all the offname brands. Doviello/Acura/Darkwolf HICC50 etc... whatever it is this little bfs reel is UNBELIEVABLE AT THIS PRICE! Please mention all of them here by name

Where?

Isn't the whole point of this forum information sharing and building each other up? Helping each other and giving advice? If you don't want to learn and share why are you here? Yes, this is true, and so is the flip side of mega investment companies with 15x markups selling the same thing they took from some other company. Free market can be a dirty game, in the end its us that really takes the L. Ah okay, I've liked some piscifun stuff. I can see reels on that level being about the same

@Glenn this is true, not 100% of one product is 100% the same as 100% of another product. But some are so dang close that the extra $100 is not justified one bit. And this being the case look at what the industry does internally, all cannibals. Look at Sycamore Partners, just one example is the Nessie. Total knock off, but I appreciate the affordable version of a $100 bait. They probably could've afforded to partner with Grow Design, but this is a perfect example of what we're talking about here. $100 bait can be made and put on sale for 8 bucks... BONKERS I thought this was interesting, I had no idea that's what ZEBCO stood for. https://www.orcaonline.org/index-of-reel-makers-m-z/ Some of the gear heads might appreciate the history snippets there @Jar11591 I agree, it should be what other way around, but sadly in many instances businesses/companies are technically a "who" https://www.npr.org/2014/07/28/335288388/when-did-companies-become-people-excavating-the-legal-evolution 💯 @Bigbox99 id love to hear what you've discovered as affordable quality alternatives to over priced mega profit investment company owned products. Or if you wanna PM me I'd appreciate it.