Bigbox99

This is why I use it. Its easy and works. There is no jamming a loop of line through hook eye or trying to feed line through it twice. There is no passing of the bait through a loop of the line trying to avoid trebble hooks and hardware. I can tie it practically one handed while getting slammed by wakes in a kayak or in low light. It's just an easy strong knot. I retie frequently and can't remember the last time I had a breakoff fighting a fish or on a hookset. Its been 10+ years and it was before I switched to the uni. I'll go all day on mono but I cut and retie with fluoro every few fish with the uni and my breakoffs went away never to return.

Don't set the hook so hard. Just load the rod and bring the fish out of cover and to you then have the fight next to the boat. You don't need to wack em with little needle hooks and light line.

You use a twist lock hook and open up the part of the twist lock that the hook eye clips into the lock. When a fish is hooked the bait bends as it slides down the hook and this causes the twist lock to unclip from the hook eye and allows the bait to slide up the hook and line. This allows the twist lock to stay screwed in the bait instead of being ripped out of the bait when the twist lock stays clipped to the hook eye. You basically want the twist lock keeper to unclip from the hook instead of ripping out of the bait. The latter destroys the bait obviously. Look at the pic of a stock twist lock below and go look at the pic of the Gilly I posted earlier. You bend and open up the gap on the twist lock where it clips onto the hook. This makes it east for the bait to unclip from the hook. Unclipping from the hook and sliding up the line when you hook a fish allows the baits to last a long time since you never damage the nose of the bait.

Yes it helps a lot. For my weightless rigged plastics I'll also use a twist lock hook and bend open the clip portion of the lock. This will allow the hook to unclip from the lock when a fish is hooked and the bait will slide up the hook and line with the lock still in its nose. This prevents the lock from getting torn out of the nose and let's the bait slide up the line away from the fish as it thrashes. I had this happen by accident on the Gilly and Gamakatsu twist lock hook. That Gilly has caught dozens of fish and looks fuzzy like it has fur from all the bass jaw marks. I open up all my twist look hook keepers like that now and my plastics are practically immortal including very soft JDM baits. Even Senkos last until the hook bend in the body of the bait ends up being what destroys it. It looks weird but I highly recommend it for weightless plastics.

Glue the blank without the tip top guide on 1st then slide the guide on over the molten glue glob. Wipe off the excess.

Gamakatsu superline twist lock unweighted and upen up the clip on the lock as seen below so the hook can unclip from the lock and the bait can slide up the hook and onto to the line when a hooked fish is thrashing. This keeps the twist lock embedded in the bait and prevents it from getting ripped out. The bait also slides up and away from the fish on the line acting like a line through. I do this with all my soft plastics now and they last dozens of fish. I also buy twiat locks by the bag and outfit my baits with them so i can just clip on another bait when needed. The Caffine Shad is a favorite of mine with its gliding action and tail wag. I use it more like a weightless Texas rig senko alternative crossed with a soft jerkbait. It's a slower, gliding and wiggling/wagging action than the spastic fluke twitch.

Why do people treat it like the Senko? As in they only fish the Zoom brand instead of the myriad of other takes on the same bait shape? With the Senko it has a softness and fall that is unique to the bait and give it its legendary reputation. With the Trick Worm, isn't every other take on bait at least equal if not better? Zoom's plastisol isn't exactly the softest or most elastic. Every finesse worm I've had looked and moved better in the water. It it a case of if it's not broken, don't fix it? It just works so you keep using it? I'm guilty of that with a lot of my baits and will keep using the thing that works for me that I have confidence in even if an alternative is objectively better. I started out with other finesse worms so the Zoom Trick Worm hasn't stood out to me as a new to me bait. From my perspective it's really bizarre to see this Senko like cult following.

Sounds like a spool bearing issue. Add some oil or if it is just slop in the bearing then replace or ignore it if it is a non issue when using the reel.

Silver Creek, Alphas Air and Gekkabijin are all good stream UL capable reels from Daiwa. The Shimano Aldebaran BFS and Conquest BFS are also great stream reels. If you want a bass reel for lighter flouro to pair to a bass BFS rod I would get the Alphas Air, SLX BFS or the new Aldebaran DC. You casting trout magnets in streams or weightless worms for bass? That will dictate the type of rod and reel. The reels will be similar but for bass you want a bit more capacity for up to 10# fluoro and you don't need the super light weight spools like on the Aldebaran BFS.

Thanks for sharing. That aligns with what I expect from an OG Tatula. They are great casting reels with baits in that range. The Type R has a spool that is a bit lighter than a normal Tatula 150 but I am not sure if the Mangetsu gets this lighter spool. I'd assume so since it looks to be a Tatula Type R 2.0 but you'd have to weigh one to see. Either way it would only help with control with heavier baits and ease of casting bats under 1/4 oz. I actually swapped mine out for a Ray's Studio SV type spool since I mostly skip plastics with mine.

Also, to answer your question about the new Tatula 150, we don't know yet but it looks like the new one uses a narrow spool and some frame contouring to make the reel less wide and a taller spool. Tall and narrow vs the old low and wide. This is a new vs old 200 size approximation. The 150s use the same frame so this size applies to them as well. What is not shown is the height difference.

It's completely different from the new 150 and basically a limited edition old 150 Type R with hyperdrive gears for $300. Pic is my Tatula Type R from 2016. https://www.tackletour.com/reviewdaiwatattyper.html

This is what happens,when you have a drag pressure greater than your A/R. Ideally you wouldn't do this but big drag numbers sell reels.

I'm not a fan of combos. Some like the BPS house brand combos can be a decent value but most are practically a scam. They'll pair a reel at retail value with a mystery rod unique to the combo and price it the same as the reel. This implies that the mystery rod is as good of a rod as the reel is a reel but this is often far from the case. What they usually do is pair the reel to an appalling rod or to a over priced rod or both. $80 for a $40 reel on a rod that has no buisness being more than $15 or a $200 combo with a $100 reel on a rod that is equivalent to a $50 rod. I'm calling out the Lews LFS combo on TW. The LFS is a good $100 reel but that rod looks to be no better than a Lews Hank Parker. I am very familiar with the Lews 7 MH you see in many department stores under different Lews models. It's a great heavier powered stiff tipped MH that can be used as a H jig and worm rod. They all use the same mandrel and construction to get that stiff 7 MH action and power. Great cheap jig and worm rod but I'm not spending more than $50 for one unless it has upgraded guides and/or grips ect. You'd be better off buying a LFS reel and a Hank Parker rod than that combo.

The 4.8 inch Jackall Dead Fin Darter seen in the latter half of the video. I've been hording these when they started to become harder to find and are now bascially impossible to find outside of a few colors. I fish them two ways. One is a low cast to skip allowing the bait to spiral fall at a target and then work the bait back slowly with a gliding and spiraling action. The 2nd is a fast top water style retrieve over weeds with the bait jumping and walking on the surface then a pause to let it spiral into pockets. I use senkos and soft jerkbaits for this too but there is something special about these baits that will get more pressured fish that have seen senko or fluke #89626374 to bite. I've gone right behind guys sending senkos to docks and gotten bit dock after dock with the 4.8 Dead Fin Darter. It's not always a ticket and there are times a normal soft jerkbait gets bit just as much.

Dark thunder and clear silver dead fin darter meets red shad rage tail anaconda and becomes this color. The red shad anaconda really likes to share its red with other baits.

Try this Gomexus handle. I have used them before and have this exact handle on the way. I like the long TPE power knobs. https://www.amazon.com/GOMEXUS-Power-Handle/dp/B071L3QTT3/ref=mp_s_a_1_3_maf_1?crid=2R4LM6Y6Y3EDA&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.MVdNsyhORB1Toq9iYupA8WS_GRq5QfQJmVc2wH1CZjLDnuUTR11xlLFH1hPKZYZiEMm2rOnzmtlW7RVXfsTAZAO4W83Loa7unN5Ie9otzQva3tialFQzySjoMXZOOVTuzGD0n0GZkPs0s6bdzbt78_6VrzjnWV4-nkLWzKquJr2udgTDmlE7U_qGGmfNWz9UQzx7Z75DmX4N5AIFWfCE-Q.3XLQJp9GFLiWwlrOruRqtdohajcXPSfyhEZlodIw1ps&dib_tag=se&keywords=reel+handle&qid=1747795362&sprefix=reel+ha%2Caps%2C3899&sr=8-3

They're the same thing branded differently from different websites. Just get the SDS Customs branded one since it is only slightly more expensive.

You want the Ray's Studio 28mm spool with the SV brake. I've heard great things about that combo to the point that if I want a modern finesse reel I would get a gekka and that spool. The SDS customs 28mm spool is the same thing. SDS Customs just sells Ray's Studio products at markup on Ebay. Normally I'd say avoid them and get it from the source but ordering from Aliexpress is a mess right now so Ebay is handy.

The safe bet would be to just buy a complete handle assembly from Amazon or Aliexpress. The "Daiwa" handle size is pretty much the industry standard.

You might want to look into aluminum clutch thumb bars. SDS customs sells Ray's Studio ones on Ebay. Amo also maxes one for the max 3.

It has a drag. The drag is just non adjustable and either in lockdown or off. Deps relased a Zillion that had this years back but you can do it to any reel. Just remove the two curved washers and replace them with flat washers. When the drag star is tightened you have max drag at lockdown pressures and when it is backed off even slightly you have zero drag. The purpose it to have a locked down drag at all times without the curved washers to deform and lose drag pressure. Those curved washers that allow for an an adjustable drag are the cause of loss of drag pressure in a reel. When the drag isn't backed off after every trip you can start to flatten the curved washers making you have to run higher and higher drag star tightness over time until you have lost significant drag pressure. It's not the drag surfaces itself but the curved washers that cause this so the solution is to remove them like the Deps Zillion or this Kastking fishing reel shapped object.

The Lews Hank Parker M spinning rod is pretty good.

You can buy clickers for pretty much any reel you want on Aliexpress. They're cheap as long as there isn't a $57 shipping fee. If there is then you may want to wait until after the trade battle ends or see of US based sellers are selling on eBay or something.

Bantam, 20 HRF PE Special or the 25 Tatula 150. JDM Zillion HD is also good. Steez HLC and Metanium for high end options. Don't overlook the Catalina TW for a used option or last gen Tatula 150s.