Shinmothy

Forgot to mention that I also had a decent bit of giftcards from Christmas from work and in-laws which is why I’m looking at BPS. If not from Bass Pro where else would you recommend I look?

Not the redline I think, just the normal VMC stuff that I picked up on clearance at Academy. It’s like a very thin gauge metal wire for the weed guard, but yeah I think it’s definitely not my limiting factor. I’ll be a little more patient on the hookset lol. I have a bad habit of setting way too quickly because I was a little late one time jig fishing and I almost killed the poor thing trying to get it out of him.

Trying to thin out and upgrade my rod arsenal. I’m going to take the blessed ugly stick that I haven’t used in ages into Bass Pro for their spring trade in deal later today. Looking to get a better finesse fairy wand in return for drop shots, neko, ned, etc. Currently throwing all my spinning stuff on an 7 foot medium Arid X coupled with a 3000 Fuego, but it’s technically my loaner rod so hoping to get something else that I can use myself in case I need to take a buddy or my girlfriend fishing with me. I’m thinking a medium light fast or extra fast of some sort. Current front runner is the Daiwa Tatula XT, followed by maybe the St. Croix Black Bass, but a little hesitant about St. Croix given all their issues in the recent past and it’s also 50 buckaroos more. Any other suggestions from anybody? Thanks, Shinmothy

I've got it hook facing the tail end of the worm, so hook point up I believe? The only issue hook wise I might have is that I'm using these the #1 VMC wacky weedless hooks which have a pretty stiff wire weed guard, but I think that's not my biggest issue right now. As for the drop shot I am Texas rigging with a 1/0 EWG style hook. I got a pack of Crush City Janitors on clearance at Academy that I'm using for both of these techniques. I'm fishing from the bank, I'll give your method a try next time! Thanks for your help. Sounds good that's what I was thinking too, but I had a good bite and my drag seemed to be almost too tight when I went to set the hook and I just ripped it out of his mouth it seemed which was making me doubt. Thanks everyone for your help I greatly appreciate it!

Hi everyone, Recently been trying to diversify my technique arsenal from just pitching a jig/texas rig and praying. Picked up the fairy wand and have been trying out mainly drop shotting and neko rig. I've been getting a decent number of bites on the Neko rig, but have been not hooking up super well. How tight should my drag be set and what does the hookset for these techniques look like? I know I probably should not reel and send them to fish heaven like I would with my jigs, but it seems like the lightish rod raise after a slight pause to ensure they've got it I've been doing makes it slip out of their mouths. Follow up to that, what does a drop shot bite look and feel like? I swear I had a couple that may have been bites, but I did not feel anything and just saw my line moving slightly, but alas whenever I set the hook no dice.

How have yours held up? I like mine and they're awesome for wood and stuff, but it's mildly annoying how easily the heads chip.

Omnia is running their get Pro for "free" sale again albeit a little more sneakily. Use code BTLPRO or I believe SETHPRO should also work. 50 dollar giftcard when you buy pro for a year.

Hi y'all, I'm looking at getting a travel Kaden 745c, but the rod should perform very similarly to a normal 745c. I'm looking at it mostly being a pitching/flipping stick as well as pulling frog duty for me. Anyone have any experience with this rod for those uses?

So I've recently moved to the Midwest, and the highs are in the 30s, occasionally 40s, during the day now. I unfortunately only have a 7' 1" heavy fast action rod meant for bottom contact and a reel with fluro to go with it. What sorts of things would y'all recommend I throw for any kind of chance? I'm thinking a glacial pace C-rig, jig with chunk trailer, and maybe a really slow free rig.

24' Steez Thank guys I'll take a look at DVT. The website is a little bit on the older side, but I assume they are able to work on more modern reels. I have a 24' steez so that is the only thing I am concerned about.

Hi all, Recently bought a Steez from Japan, and put it to work tussling some fish out of grass. I also accidentally hit the clutch at the end of a cast while the spool was still running and it made a not great sound. Combining all of these factors its making some not normal noises while reeling and casting now, and I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for shops to take it to in Indiana (preferably the Indianapolis region)

Hi all, I just now got finished up sealing a rod with U40, but as usual, I was a bit dumband didn't think about sealing the ends of the handle off with some tape and now I have runs on the blank and reel seat. What's the best way to take it off? It probably doesn't affect function at all, it's just a bit of an eye sore of my stupidity.

I can’t remember exactly but the scuttlebutt is that Ark either paid for Haribo to do the R&D or did it themselves, and somewhere along the line Haribo was contracted to manufacture the Gravity BFS, Allegedly Haribo then “stole” the design which they sell as the Arise. They are probably allowed sell it in places that aren’t the US, and without knowing the exact terms of their contract it’s a little hard to point fingers are any party but that’s what I’ve heard at least.

Going to slightly defend JLS here. There are two things you should know before you buy from them. One, they do charge money for shipping usually 12-15ish dollars charge on top of your total depending on which kind you get. It’s always been priority shipping for me and usually arrives within 2-3 days from Tokyo. Two, they charge in Yen, the conversions they show you are just a courtesy to you for your convenience, but at the end of the day they charge in Yen and look at the price they charge you in Yen. Paypal has a different conversion rate than your bank, and they both charge an additional 1-5% fee of the amount you pay in USD, nobody does this for free lol. Regardless, they have always been super responsive when I’ve contacted them and always answered my questions politely and promptly (better than a lot of US retailers I might say) They’re super great at arranging warranty services and shipping back to Japan if you would need it as well. And the free premium lure they give on reel orders helps offset it a little bit (usually something 15-20 dollars at least)

So I recently purchased a new rod. A two piece JDM Jackall Revoltage C71H-ST. It’s a solid tip heavy rod meant to be basically an all purpose bottom contact rod. Being a two piece I mean to carry it around with me when I travel as well as just being easier to carry (I drive a dinky Civic). I was just going to steal my 24 Tatula off my expride to use, but the bait monkey has gotten to me and convinced me that I must get a new reel to go with this rod. I’m looking at either the 24 SLX 70 or the 21 Zillion SV TW, both JDM and both in a 8 speed ratio. The SLX is cheaper and I am interested in trying out a Shimano bait caster given I have none right now, and then swapping it out for the next iteration of Zillion. However, the bait monkey is swaying me to the current gen Zillion since I’m already used to Daiwa given I have a Tatula already. Also considering either 14 or 16 lbs fluro for weightless senkos, Texas rigs, jigs, and the occasional C-rig. Any input is greatly appreciated.

It probably isn’t anything revolutionary, I was mostly just curious as to what it was exactly. I’ve been using Google translate and iPhone auto translation so it could also just be a translation error. It generally involves jigs, Texas rigs, free rigs, “leaderless down shot” (jika/tokyo rigs, or something along those lines. But maybe finally I’ll uncover what those pistol grip rods are for

I’ve been reading up on some JDM tackle and techniques and one thing I’ve been coming a lot across is “shooting” of lures and “cover shooting”. What exactly is this? Is it pitching to cover? Or simply just precise casts into cover?

It’s not meant as a general purpose reel. It’s a slightly more finessey oriented reel without dropping down to the 70 size and sacrificing that line capacity. It fills the 32 mm spool gap in the steez lineup (Air; 28mm, CT; 30mm, AII/Limited; 34 mm) The Hookup Tackle has a video that does a good job of explaining its intended role in the Steez line up if you’d like to know more.

Hi all, I got a Tatula 100 a couple months ago and had some FC Sniper on it that I loved and enjoyed. It casted like a dream even if it was a handful to manage sometimes. I recently respooled with some 12 pound Daiwa J Fluro Samurai and had some loose coils no matter how I casted. When I cast it looks fine, and no noticeable backlashy symptoms. I have my brakes on 10, but even when I went up to 12/14 it would still happen. Throwing a 5" Senko along with a 1/8 oz tungsten bullet weight on it. I thought it may have been the spool tension, since I had messed with it a little when I first got the reel unknowingly, but I've since reset it back to roughly where Daiwa recommends it for the whole zero tension thingamajig and I still get some loose coils. I was wondering why this is and looking for a solution if anyone has anything to recommend, maybe I'm not thumbing the reel enough, but previously with sniper at around brake setting 6 and above, I never had this issue and would only need to thumb it at the very end to stop it. Appreciate any help y'all can give and hope y'all have a great Father's Day!

Yeah the one's I've held haven't impressed me a super lot, but I've heard a lot of good things about them. Apparently it's a slightly better blank too from what I can gather, plus cork handle and nice warranty. But the SLX just feels more refined from my playing around with it in the store. It feels like a lot more expensive of a rod.

So it's Father's Day and I've been trying to drag my old man out to spend some time with me and thought I'd get him a nicer rod than he's ever used. He's always used the 20 buck Walmart specials which have caught him his fair load of fish, but just thought he'd appreciate something nicer for once. I think I'm gonna pair it with a 3000 Fuego that I have sitting around from the BOGOs that happened a while ago. Academy has some nice deals going on right now and I'm looking at the SLX A 7' Medium Fast Spinning vs the Dobyns Fury 703SF both for about the same price of 80 bucks. Wondering if I could get some feed back on these two rods to help me decide. Appreciate any help and Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!

Just looking at YZH for more versatility really. Being able to throw top waters on this rod would be nice. Plus the cheaper price tag doesn’t hurt, but looks like I think I’ll be sticking to fluorocarbon I think.

Hi y'all, I currently have a 24 Daiwa Tatula 100 on a 7' 2" Shimano Expride MHF (sacrilege I know) that's currently serving as my do it all rod. I'm mainly throwing bottom contact stuff though like Texas rigs/Jigs. Occasionally I'll whip out the ol' rattle trap or a spinner if I feel like it, but those bottom contact baits are really where I'm confident. I'm currently running 12 lbs FC Sniper and it's done me well. It's really sensitive, and I treat it like crap but it's never broken off on me. It's about time to respool though I think, and I'm looking at some more options. Yozuri Hybrid stood out to me because of its unique properties combining the best of both worlds. Obviously, I'd be sacrificing some sensitivity, but I think it could let me also expand to some top water lures if I'm not mistaken because of its neutral buoyancy? Otherwise I think my other options are still fluro. I'm looking at Sniper again obviously, but open to trying any other suggestions y'all have. Another option that sticks out to me is Daiwa J-Fluro Samurai probably also 12lbs or so. Heard a lot of good things about it, and its around the same price as Sniper.

Would you happen to have links to these reviews? I tried to find them with no luck however.

Thanks everyone for all the input, I really appreciate it and I’ll be waiting for the next time I see them on sale to grab one. A special thanks for @FrnkNsteen for your time and effort to try out my silly little scenario on your rod. It helped a lot to have this in person insight.