The Next KVD

I got a custom St.Croix SCV 6'10" ML/XF spinning rod paired with a Shimano Sahara 4000 spooled with 10lb Suffix 832 and 8lb P-line 100% fluoro leader that is the best I've used up to this point and doubt I can find better.

I think you will be fine with the braid and fluoro leader so long as the leader is 4-5 feet which should be more than enough line to help reduce the shock from the braid and tearing the hook out.

I'd have to say pretty much everything is you get what you pay for. This is especially true when buying fluorocarbon fishing line. I've had too many bad experiences with cheap fluoro that retail less than $20/spool.

90% of my cranking is with a WiggleWart and I throw it on a custom St. Croix SCV 7' MF rod. The rod is really light and crisp and the medium power is still light enough to keep the hooks from ripping out so long as your using fluoro or mono line.

In reality you could use XT for everything you just have to go by line diameter instead of lb test. 10lb XT (.014in) is more like 14lb XL (.014 in) because the line diameters are pretty much the same and will behave like 14lb XL. If you want 8lb test use 8lb XL or 6lb XT. Just an observation.

Pro Qualifier/Veritas combo $150. Add $10 for a spool of 14lb BPS XPS Fluorocarbon and your in business which will handle light to moderate cover while flipping yet you can still cast a football jig out a good distance. This will do a lot more than just fishing jigs.

If its a Shimano product its going to last. I would pick the I series but a lot of the G series reels are on sale for $100. Can't go wrong either way.

10-12lb Fluorocarbon of your preferred brand. I do however like 14lb mono for shallow squarebills.

I've never had any issues with my any of my Veritas that I own.

d**n, I just bought 3 of them last week for $79.99 each plus shipping. That was just not very nice to pull this BPS. An awesome reel for a great price just got better.

The SF is a 6.2:1 ratio that takes in 26 ipt of the reel handle. At the time the old green bantam curados where considered the best workhorse reel out there and they were bullet proof. Shimano products as with everything got better as technology evolved and the products they put out today are obviously more refined than those old green curados.

I'm pretty sure Rick Clunn has no need or even owns any spinning equipment. Its just his style of fishing. He does not seem to do well in tournaments that require finesse techniques such as shakeyheads or dropshots. I have seen him fish a couple different times and even on The Bass Pros you only see him fish power techniques such as cranks, spinnerbaits, topwater.ect. I'm sure he uses a jigs and plastics as well which are baits that you would throw on a 7' Heavy rod. Anyways I'm not that one dimensional and while I believe a 7'MH St.Croix Legend Elite rod would handle 50-75% of techniques; I still like using TS rods for specific purposes such as frogs, swimbaits, dropshots, ect.

CXX is probably one of the more sensitive copolys that I have used in my opinion. The line rating on it is completely off however, 20lb is more like 25lb and 15lb is more like 20lb. I flip and pitch my jigs and softplastics with this and I have yet to break 15lb line. I've had it not even break on a straight pull with my 101 MK on 100%. Does not have much stretch to it and I have no complaints about the sensitivity. However, I'm also fishing it on a St.Croix Legend Elite which helps the sensitivity department. However, I will probably be switching to fluoro once I use up the rest of my 600 yard spool.

I crank 5XD's and 6XD's all day long with a Pro Qualifier 5.2:1 which pick up 21" of per turn of the handle. The PQ's are very smooth, almost as smooth as some of my Chronarchs. For the price they can't be beat.

I owned the 7' MH at one point and personally didn't care for it. I didn't like the sensitivity of the rod but than again Skeet Reese seems to do a good job of winning with those rods. Braided fishing line will obviously solve that issue though. After a little while I just couldn't stand the yellow blank anymore and got rid of it after about a month.

Both are good. Stick with what you like the most and what fits your budget the most. I use P-Line for the value. If I'm using a Sunline product its usually 20lb Shooter for pitching and flipping.

I'll take that reel off your hands!!! That is actually my all time favorite reel. I use mine for just about everything. I really like it for techniques I'm going to be constantly turning the reel handle such as spinnerbaits, crankbaits, swimjigs, ect. Its also my opinion that the reel doesn't balance rods at all atleast not for the most part. Adding weight at the end of the rods does more to balance them out more than anything. What brand of rods are you using?

7.1:1 for bottom baits such as T-rigs, Jigs, C-rigs, Wacky Worms, flippin' and pitching, frogs, topwater, jerkbaits 6.3:1 for lipless cranks, spinnerbaits, shallow to mid depth crankbaits, A-rigs, chatterbaits 5.1:1 for deep crankbaits, swimbaits, and buzzbaits.

Tatsu is in a different league all together. Best stuff I've ever tried but too rich for my blood to use on a regular basis.

WELCOME!! I'm afraid everyone will have their personal opinions on what line they like. I would suggest getting the highest quality line you can afford. P-Line 100%, Sunline Sniper, Seaguar Tatsu, Berkley Trilene 100% are all good lines.

15lb P-Line CXX which is strong, cheap, sensitive for a copoly or 20lb Sunline Sniper if you want to go the fluorocarbon route.

Oh I didn't catch that. Didn't notice it was a lefty at the time as I was blinded and in awe of pure AWESOMENESS of the reel! Yup, I got the drive gear no problem. Just waiting on the pinion if they ever get it back in stock which at this point I don't think will ever happen. Darn, maybe I should slap some 6.5:1 gears in it and sell it or repurpose that reel.

My question is where did you get the gear-set from? I've had a pinion gear for the 7.1 gears on back order for an eternity! Or did you just go out and buy a chronarch e and swapped the gears between the two reels? Otherwise that is ONE Awesome looking reel! I don't suppose you got a chance to put it on a scale of some sort and see how much of a difference the mods made the reel weigh?

If your going to be primarily wood or man-made targets than I suggest fluorocarbon. If your primarily fishing weeds than braid. If your going to be fishing both and sometimes both the same day I would go with braid and if you really need to add a fluorocarbon leader.

The line rating to me is useless. One brands 15lb line diameter could be larger or smaller than another brands which would result in more or less line the reel can hold. Don't pay ANY ATTENTION to this rating. Spool up with 65lb braid and go to town on em'! Todays technology means the spools are made of better materials and it is literally impossible to bend the spool shaft unless do to unusual circumstances. Also I really don't pay attention to rod line ratings either. No freshwater rod that I know of has a rating of 65lb braid but everyone does it everyday. Unless I'm throwing light stuff like shakeyheads ect. this rating will help give you an idea on how light you can go and still get a decent cast out. I think your putting too much thought into this.