JN94

FG is the best and not difficult to tie once you learn how. It does require some time upfront to sit down and learn it though. But is 100% the best and all I tie now. Also not difficult to tie on the water like some say

Haha I sure don't. Figured that was the response I'd get 😂

ALF is no longer on what list? What did they do?

Agree with all the above^. Wacky rigs end up weighing a decent amount and are really overpowering for BFS in my opinion. I think BFS is best with lures up to ~7g. I would look for a rod rated 1/8-3/8 or so

Awesome, thanks for the answer!

Could you address what WRB said on page 1 about the 6061 aluminum not being the best choice for this application? I'm genuinely curious what the correct answer is to this bc I don't know anything at all about this stuff. I appreciate you commenting and clearing these things up. Very helpful Also if you know the spool weight on this reel I'd love to know!

Your drag is likely too tight. Loosen it up some and the line won't dig. You need much less drag than you think

Amazon has curado 70s for sale at 26% off. $186

I just ordered this rod last night. Can let you know once it comes in if you're still looking into it

I did not

I don't really have a specific skipping rod but have a few different ones that I like skipping with. One is a Kistler Helium 6'9" Light MH. Rated 3/16-5/8. Should work well for the lures you're talking about. Also have skipped with a 6'10" Zodias MH. Zodias might be a hair too powerful for weightless senkos but for anything that falls in its weight range it's great. Agree with the above comment that the sub 7' rods are easiest to skip.

ALF is great. No issues purchasing or selling them items. Just keep in mind they only buy items at a discount. So if you're fine with leaving a little money on the table in order to get rid of something, they are a great resource to have.

No sir. Tennessee. I'd be interested in SLX MGLs

If you've got any more shimanos laying around you don't want I'll take them off your hands!

I like a lighter reel (~6.5oz or less) for topwater to reduce fatigue when walking baits. I generally use a Curado 70 or 150 MGL

Curado 150 MGL is what you're looking for. I can't stand Daiwa's braking system personally but if you've used one and like it you may prefer the Zillion

Any of the Fins braids. I just ordered their infinity braid and have cast it around in a small pond. Haven't been able to really test it. Anyone have any experience with Fins?

I do a lot of that same kind of fishing with the same weight lures and my favorite rod for creek hopping is a Curado 6'10" ML Fast. This rod is perfect imo. It's got enough stiffness that it feels really stout and you can pull fish away from cover when needed but it will cast down to 3/16oz total weight with the proper reel and line. It's rated up to 1/2oz and I'd say that's accurate. Can't recommend it enough. I've got it paired with a Curado 70 MGL and 20lb braid

Curado 150 MGL can do everything

FG is king. Never had a failure

I throw my 6-8" paddletails on a SLX A 7'2" H. It's rated up to 1.5oz which is where most of these fall for me. It's a super light rod for a $99 heavy. They've also got a 7'5" if you want more length

Any TRD lure and a 3" paddletail. Fished slow as you can along the bottom

I didn't know you could buy secondary market spools for shimanos. So a 19 scorpion MGL spool will fit my 200k and turn it into an MGL reel? This is huge news

I hate trebles and refuse to use them on any lure, so I've put inlines on all of my hard baits. I don't feel like my hookup ratio is bad at all with them

I'm going to disagree with most on here and say the 200 handles lighter lures better than you'd expect. A few caveats to that - if you want solid distance with it you'll need to be using lighter braid (30lb max) and have it paired with an appropriate rod. I would say a rod that maxes out at 3/4oz lure weight would be the very top end for what I'd use if throwing 1/8-3/16 Texas rigs. I would go more towards something that tops out around 5/8. I've got a couple of 200s and have gone as low as 15lb braid on them and they will chuck a 3/8oz total weight lure as far as you want. All that being said, an MGL reel is much better suited for what you're wanting to do and I would go with either the curado MGL or slx MGL over the 200 every time. If you do want the 200 size line capacity and an MGL spool, you can look into the new Curado Ms that have both. You see the 200Ks on sale the most bc it's the previous generation that they are phasing out for the new Ms