WetBlanket

Heavy baits such as the glide baits, or in heavy cover for flipping, frogging, etc.

Is this only for the US, or Canada as well? Then again, when japanese auctions exist, it's hard to care about local price😊

Tried the two Phat Lab cranks i got a few days ago. The red one with a wakebait style lip is awesome, but the pink one swims so poorly i am not sure what's going on there. At first i thought that these were supposed to swim like an S crank from MB or the scatter rap from Rapala, but nope, they just swim upwards, and it's a complete mess. Will probably have to grind the lip, and transform it into a squarebill, and hope it runs well.

I would personally grab the Tatula 80 or the 2024 Tatula 100 over any other cheap reels. Newer Tatulas feel noticeably better than something like a Curado, let alone an SLX or some crap like the CC80.

I've had this happening once with the original PP Slick8. Never found the issue, just swapped to Berkley x9, and the problem was gone.

I will never stop whining about Shimano gears. It's an unacceptable selling feature that has plagued the brand for over ten years. But that doesn't mean that i am just gonna ignore everything they release either. Why would i limit myself to just Daiwa? 24 Met DC i got during winter, casts well, and is pretty much my all time fav shimano. Not geary yet either. When it does go buzzy, everyone will know about it😎

Interesting.

Is there one in particular that is THE one to go for? The YGK Full Drag is the one i've heard the most positivity towards, but it's so d**n expensive.

Weren't they made in the US? I bought a spool of #65 from Amazon (sold and shipped by amazon), and it says Made in Taiwan on the spool. Kinda wondering if this is some knockoff or something. I never bought a 65lb line from Sufix before, but have gotten many between 8-50lb, and i never saw these little white dots on the line. Does the line look right for those using 65lb? https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00479DSN6?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

Great. Been hearing so much positive comments for so long about YGK, it's finally time to test it out.

Most high end reels that i do get, the play is not present or the absolute minimum (on baitcasters. no idea how it is on spinning reels). Daiwa used to not care, but newer releases since around 2016, i see a lot of the lateral play removed from factory.

It just feel uncomfy. I don't know the reasoning, maybe that bump section, but i can never feel like my hand is sitting well on those reel seats.

The older Tats did not have the gear sets that the newer ones do. Older ones were buzzing a decent amount, especially when the Tat line was introduced. If you look at the price a gear set is worth on something like the 2025 Tat, they're as expensive as a Zillion set, and from what i've been reading online, they're really good for swimbaiting. And as someone who has been maining the Z2020 for musky/bass/pike since 2017, these stay silent and smooth for ages UNLESS you want to pull a snag with a #65+ by locking the drag, and just pulling on the line, but then again, no gear sets will survive this. First gen Ryogas that i've used for 5 years straight were also amazing when it comes to smoothness and how siltent they stayed after heavy use with large baits and pretty locked drag. The OG zillion was known to be a great reel for frogging and fishing in the slop. Everyone had their reels locked while fishing in heavy cover, and nobody was complaining about those reels going buzzy or grindy. It all depends on the gears design, frame+handle side plate material.

They do, and too much😆Even caught two carp (and they bit, not just snagged) earlier this year on my white 110.

Got this thing. Haven't used it yet, but seems like a very smooth line.

Those are just excuses for poor design. What you're suggesting is what i have on my standard bass setups. Since i use braid to a fluoro leader, i never fully lock up my drag (there's literally no reason to ever do it outside of fishing in the slop, and i don't use any reels with micro module in heavy veggies). From simple high resistance baits like spinnerbaits, medium-deep diving cranks, etc, gears go buzzy in around a season and a half of usage. With aluminum gears, this usually happens even quicker, especially on faster ratios. But when you're chunking large baits, aiming for big fish, you need a proper hookset to get those big hooks in, and if your drag isn't set properly, you're asking for problems. I am also not fully locking it up, but it is, say, 75% locked when compared to when i am fishing for bass with standard baits. It doesn't make much sense that a cheapo Tatula 200 that isn't even specially made for big baits can deal with a locked drag, but a so called flagship reel from Shimano, a reel made for big bait and big fish, has to be babied. It's ridiculous.

I wish i could give it to you for free on all the rods i ever had this reel seat. By far, this is the reel seat i dislike the most. This reel seat killed the Major Craft Corzza for me. Amazing rod, especially for the price you could get em from Japan, but that FUJI acsm was 🤢

Post some pics. I have a hard time believing this could happen while bass fishing, let alone happening multiple times. That said, just from watching random fishing vids on youtube, i have seen a ton of people having a bunch of issues with the curado where parts are just falling off while fishing. Going from the Curado E from back in the day, to this thing, i real something.

Am i supposed to fish for musky with a semi open drag? Also, where does it say that Shimano reels, even those made for big baits, are supposed to be babied? Never saw this being mentioned by Shimano, cuz you know, if they do say it, that would be a deal breaker to many, and it's not what they want. Their micro module gears should be exclusive for their BFS reels. If Daiwa was able to create flawlessly smooth gears with massive gear teeth, there's no excuse for Shimano to have a side hustle selling gear sets because they're designed to wear out extremely quickly. No idea why one would defend this either.

Got the 23 Antares DC MD just to see how it'll compare with the Z2020 for large baits for bass, musky and pike. Lots of people praising the reel, but i haven't seen anybody do a direct comparison between these two. Both have the same size spools and made for big baits, so its time for the micro module to do what it does best - - - go buzzy🤡

Yea, the knobs lateral play is something i remove the second i buy a new reels. Those shims are like $2 for a set of 100 on Aliexpress, so there's no excuse for not removing the play. If you need a spool, i'd grab a used one on ebay or japan auction sites. No reason to buy a new one, it's way too expensive, and sales on spools is something you ain't gonna find. Yes, sticky inductors are a thing. Just this April i've had it happening on my Z2020. Dunk the spool into an ultrasonic cleaner, and everything was perfect after. No need to oil anything either, just clean it, and it should be fine.

Pull up, and never apply force, or it'll dig, and you're done.

30lb is ridiculous. I lost at least 3 vision 110's back in 2022 because i told myself 30lb fluoro leaders are enough, which couldn't be more false. Was literally getting cut off by 1.5lb pike. Right now when aiming for musky, i use nothing under 80lb fluoro leader, it's the bare minimum to be safe. But of course, if you're not aiming for actual big boy fish, and aren't throwing large lures, a vision 110 with a 80lb fluro leader will destroy it's action. Instead, i'd use something like 20-40lb titanium leader, it will give you better action on smaller, bass sized lures.

Why would you get a massive 4k spinning reel in case a big musky bites once per 3 years? If you fish for bass and need a spinning reel, get a 2500 or a 3000. If you want to go for big pike and musky, grab a baitcaster. I use a Z2020 for musky, and it has been perfect for a long time.

Got these two. First time getting anything from Phat Lab.