little giant

I use 8 speed as well. 40 lb braid, flouro leader

I bought a '24 tat 100, Amazon Japan. It is made in Thailand. 7 speed, mag z brake, great reel for the $$

Yamamoto Zako, paddletail or flukestyle tail Reaction innovations sweet Beaver or kinky Beaver Z Man diesel minnow, 4 or 5 inch with z man Texas eye swinging jighead Note, I fish in Florida!

Thoughts and prayers for you. Stay strong, stay positive. Never give up!

HPR is great. Also Spool Speed is a great store as well. Find spool speed on the web. He has package deals for your reel. I put his Japanese abec 9 in my bfs spools, farther casts, smooth as silk!

Their customer service is excellent. They answer the phone and reply to emails. They spend time to answer questions. Rods are bubble wrapped and shipped in cardboard tubes. I have 15 Falcons. Older USA and newer China made models. Casting and spinners, freshwater and salt. Recommend you to look at their Lowrider series. Good Rods at a good price. Their power and actions are pretty accurate.

South Florida here. I don't keep a fishing log. If the big bass cut off is 5 lbs, my percentage would be small. I fish often and catch many, majority under 5. Guessing around 15 over 5 in 2024. So here's an example: Last March, me and my bud went out in his boat, Everglades rim canal. Fished about 4 miles, 7am to 2pm. I caught 22, he caught 24. A great day, but the biggest bass was 4 lbs. The biggest fish: Bowfin! 7- 8 lbs! Great fight! Years ago, the bass were bigger..... I caught my PB in 2016, 12.3 lbs, nothing Over 10 since, close maybe. I watch Roland consistently catch 7+ lb bass at Headwaters or Lake O. Not here anymore.

If you want it to be removable, use a micro amount of clear silicone caulk. After it cures, you can pry or cut through it with single edge razor blade. Its totally waterproof.

And a 15- 20 mph north wind! Roland says Florida bass don't bite if water temps below 65°. I believe him, been skunked last 3 times. They're sittin deep in the weeds beside the fireplace!

I mostly bank fish. Lots of ponds, lakes and canals near by. Good shoreline, easy access. Have a kayak if I feel like it. Too much wind lately.

I've bought 2 rods, no issues. Reels as well, some jdm, shipped free from Japan and pretty quick too. Lures, plastics, and terminal tackle. There are some really good sellers with good prices on name brand stuff. I mainly use Kastking hammer braid, great line!

Chatterbaits. I've never caught a fish using it. Tried different weights, colors, with and without trailers. Thinkin I might have put more time into them. I catch bass aplenty on swim jigs, go figure!

Well, I'm not in the averages so that makes me abnormal!! South Florida is a year round escapade of fish, so depending on the time of year or where I'm at makes the determining factor. I easily use 2 dozen different baits for LMB, add in a half a dozen for peacocks. What fun!!

I grew up in Pennsylvania so smallmouth, walleye, and trout. River smallmouth were the most fun! Moved to south Florida in '87 and of course largemouth are king! That said, Peacocks are great to catch as well, their fighting ability reminds me of smallmouths. If I could ever afford it, a trip to Costa Rica for Marlin would be the fish of a lifetime!

I got into bfs by getting a gomexus shallow spool for a Daiwa TW 80, 8 speed which I already had. Paired it with a 7' Magic L ML rod. This is my optional 4th set up. I live in south Florida, so its largemouth, peacocks, and crappie. ML is the lightest I'll go. The other set ups are: 7' Kistler KLX ML, Curado BFS, dedicated ned rigs. 6'7" Falcon salt inshore ML, Dream Tackle BFS, finesse worms or 3" paddletails 7' Lew's Carbon Fire M, SLX BFS, small cranks and jerk baits. All are 8 speeds, 10 lb kastking hammerbraid (micro filament weave), 6' Seaguar 8 lb Abrazx flouro leader. I upgraded all spool bearings to Japanese abec 9 ceramics for effortless casting. Biggest fish: 8.2 lb largie on the Falcon, 3" Kietech easy shiner. I love the challenge!!

I have 3 bfs set ups on ML rods. 10 lb braid on all of them. No worries on having enough line as long as the baits aren't more than .25 oz. Thumb education comes into play...... The alpha and zillion are awesome reels! I have both and love em! Welcome to the forum!!!

Welcome to the Forum! I can't help you with anything specific however you could browse the Falcon Rods website and see what the might have. You can call them if you have questions, they've always answered mine.

Congrats on getting a Cara!! I'm sure you'll love it!! I have 14 Falcon rods, 2 of them Cara's. Older but work great! Also have 1 Helium and 1 KLX. Excellent as well!

^^^ this. I like speed as well. For more torque (power) I install a longer handle, usually 120 mm. Doesn't chang the speed...

South Florida here. Reaction innovations Beavers!!!! Or 4-5 inch paddltails. I've only caught 1 or 2 in the last 5 years on a craw trailer. 4" pit boss, I think. I don't use any craws anymore. Gave them to my son, he catches mangrove snappers in the gulf. Go figure!

South Florida here. One of the small lakes I go to has a lot of eelgrass and some big bass live there.Its 10' or less, eelgrass not on the surface now. I use a gambler fat ace, xmas color, weightless, 4/0 circle hook, cast it and leave it alone for at least a full minute, sometimes longer, they find it or I reel and twitch very slowly. OR, same bait T rigged 5/0 Tru-turn hook, (remember those?) , 1/8 pegged weight. OR 1/2 oz dirty jig swim jig, bluegill w/ z man 4" diesel minnow white ish. OR T rigged weightless reaction innovations beaver, green pumpkin. Slow is the key to all these setups. 7+ lb bass is the norm, but just 1 or 2 in 3- 4 hrs

WhenI first got into bfs, I got the Gomexus spool for my tat 80 (already had the reel) Filled it with 10 lb braid, medium light rod, 1/8 Oz rattletrap. First cast took all the line, all of it!! Lol!!

Unfortunately, it's too late in south Florida. Clown knifefish, snakeheads, Chinese snails, tegu lizards, pythons in the Everglades. People dump their aquariums into the canals or lakes, release their pet snakes and reptiles.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!! Have a cool yule and the happiest of holidays!!🎄🇺🇸

^^^^^ this. What PhishLI wrote. Make sure the pinion shaft is greased where it rotates on the plastic carrier.