The Next KVD

I did it kinda out of necessity. I always had issues with wire and never could get it tight enough. But yea, it'll take you FOREVER to use up a spool of old braid. I got to the point that I use it for all my skirts including those on spinnerbaits and buzzbaits. Granted it takes longer but with the lakes having 2 feet of ice on em up here I got plenty of time during winter to restock my jigs, spinnerbaits, and buzzbait boxes.

Weird, never had an issue with attracting dirt on my reels before, but I don't glob it on like you think I might be doing. I kinda "dry brush" it on to get an extremely light coating. It doesn't matter in the end because oil attracts and collects dirt just as easily as grease and the wormshaft will need a cleaning anyways.

Another option to help save even more money is to use old braided fishing line and use that to tye your jigs. I start by laying the braid down, than a piece of tabbed skirt material, than the bait I'm tying, than another tabbed skirt material. I than the first thing I do is kinda like the begining part of tying your shoelaces. I dab a small drop of superglue on it. I than take 1 end of the line and make 3 wraps in one direction. I than take the other end of the line and wrap it 3 times in the opposite of the first. I complete it by making an overhand knot and applying a superglue finish to it. I have yet to have the skirt pull down or the line to come loose and the skirt flares just as much if not more than wire. Its a bit longer process but I'm also helping the environment by making use of old braid.

Your not the only one. The 7" Finicky Trickler is going to be an important part of my arsenal this next year. The Swimait has some unreal action and I can only describe it as "sweet as honey"!

Probably should invest in those LureSaver Split Rings and than use decent hooks. The split rings will give out and open up under enough pressure, more than what a fish will produce though.

Oil is for bearings only. Grease is used for the wormshaft and gears and for that you'll have to disassemble the entire reel.

Yup it sure will. Just make sure you only use 1 drop per bearing.

I agree with that up to where the braid part. On my reels I spool half the reel with backing and than put electrical tape over it creating a shallower spool. I than spool my braid on with most reels it equates to roughly 75 yards which I use until I start seeing my electrical tape. This allows me to use less braid per reel which means I can get more than 1 or 2 reels out of a spool of braid. The longest I've had braid on is 1.5 years but this is because I put my braid through alot of abuse and when bass season opens here in MN I fish 6 days a week until ice up.

Never had an issue with a palomar knot. I use it for everything and never had an issue with any line be it mono, braid, or fluoro breaking b/c of the knot. Just got to wet it really good.

I'd say with any reel in any price range it would be less than 2% chance it would be defective out of the box. I have yet to get a reel that was defective out of the box, however, I've had reels that would encounter problems a week or two into its use but those were mainly cheaper reels under $60 and about 10 years ago. Nowadays I'd don't even think of it especially with a reel $100 and up.

Sahara would be the lowest I go and is the one I buy the most. Mainly because I like the fact it has an aluminum frame but in a spinning reel, I'm not sure that matters much. Plus I like the 4000 size reels b/c they help reduce line twist fluorocarbon and mono.

I would venture to guess 4 of those bearings are in the handle. Bearing count to me means little as most reels under $100 have horrible tolerances and most of the bearings inside don't do 20% of the job that there suppose to do. A reel with 4 or 5 bearings with better tolerances will feel smoother and last longer than a $50 reel with 10 exteremely cheap bearings. I'm not trying to knock it because I have no experience with that particular reel but it comes down to you get what you pay for kinda thing for me. The aluminum frame is a plus but hard to see anything else being of quality due to the price of raw aluminum these days.

I agree with the above statements. You can get a used Citica 200D for under $70 on ebay easily.

The graphite frame reels generally are cheaper and no where near as refine as a aluminum frame. That said, if your not out there competing and putting a serious strain on your equipment than yes a graphite frame reel would suffice. My mom has 2 Abu Black Max's and serve her purpose well. I actually used one when she forgot to take her stuff out of my boat and it handled fish up to 5lbs well and continues to be smooth with the oldest one going on its 3rd year, but I wouldn't trust it for flipping heavy matted vegetation anytime soon. I on the other hand prefer aluminum frames b/c I put alot of strain on my equipment. There are some cheap aluminum frame reels that come to mind if price is an issue: Diawa Exceler ($89.99) and the W&M Skeet Reese reel ($79.99). After that you have to go to $100 reels to get the aluminum frame.

I have a lightly used Lews Speed Spool Tournament (a $150 reel new) in the flea market for $10 more than what you pay for a Laser MG ($79.99). Major upgrade there if your looking for a Lews. I from my opinion from handling them at Cabelas all the Lews are really nice but obviously the higher end you go the better they get as the tolerances get tighter and make use of better materials. The only thing that really bugs me is the handle knobs. Don't like them at all otherwise I'd buy more and keep the one I got.

I would go and get the Crucial over the Cumara and use that $100 you saved to spend towards a cranking reel or get a $100 worth of cranks.

No not really. The only thing is if your going to do it this way is DO NOT MIX in the elastic baits such as Z-Man, Strike King 3x, Terminator Snapback, ect with regular plastic made baits. If you do they will melt both baits and create a mess. I still prefer keeping them in orginal bags and storing those bags in a clear plastic shoe box you can pick up at Walmart for $1-2.

Now thats some impressive warranty!!

Storm WiggleWarts, Strike King Series 4, 5, and 5x, and unfortunately for you nothing compares to Rapala DT6 and DT10s.

If I'm fishing grass I go with 50lb Suffix 832 or in really thick grass its 65lb PowerPro. If its wood cover its a toss up between 50b Suffix 832 and the old school line : 25lb Berkley Big Game.

Veritas, St.Croix Premiers and Mojos come to mind. If you want to save a little $ the gen2 Vendettas seem to be right there performance wise as the Veritas but with non SIC guides

1. PowerTeam Lures 4.5" Texas-Rig Jig 2. PowerTeam Lures 4.5" Conviction Craw 3. PowerTeam Lures 4.5" Food Chain Tube 4. Premium Plus Jig w/ Trailer 5. Berkley Power Hawg Those are the 5 tied on to my flippin rods at all times. The Texas-Rig Jig is really neat. Its basically a soft plastic version of a skirted leadhead jig, skirt and trailer combined. Throw it with a 3/8oz. sinker and a 5/0 hook and it flat out catches fish that others miss with their regular jigs.

Simple: Shimano Chronarch E, St.Croix Premier ( Seen some new ones at Cabelas with the split grip handle that look sweet) and a spool of 12-15lb P-Line CX Premium.

go to youtube and check out the vids made by mopjig. his hatcam vids are just plan SICK!! I'm in one of them by the way. The guy knows how to fish.

Another vote for the Chronarch. I am brand loyal but I do occasionally try something out the box and the only brand that I don't care for is the Lews. Not that its a bad reel, on the contrary its very nice, just hate those paddle handles with a passion!!! Just wish I hadn't purchased one before trying one at the local tackleshop. Now I'm having a tough time selling it.