10 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

You talking a near 30 year old 500R, or a newer Ambassaduer?

The older ones were about 25" per turn, it went up recently when Abu switched to the higher capacity spools.

1 hour ago, garroyo130 said:

You don't have any 5.5:1 fuegos? ?

Nope, my 5.1 is a Tatula 100P

8.1 Fuego purchased ... at $65 I'd say its a solid deal

They're both great reels. Id guess that an slx getting rough after a cple months was either a lemon or  abused. I've had both and the slx was a much more comfortable reel to fish with, the Fuego has a lil easier braking system and feels like a tank. Either one would serve u just fine for frogging or most anything else. 

*BUMP*

 

So now that I have the reel, what rod would you recommend on a budget? Obviously with my reel options, I'm trying to go cheap so I'd prefer cheaper alternatives to the typical Dobyns Fury recommendations. 

3 minutes ago, garroyo130 said:

*BUMP*

 

So now that I have the reel, what rod would you recommend on a budget? Obviously with my reel options, I'm trying to go cheap so I'd prefer cheaper alternatives to the typical Dobyns Fury recommendations. 

Well, down from the Fury - you can keep to Dobyns and get a Colt ($80) - A CL704C or CL734C...both are H/F rods, 7'0" and 7'3" respectively.

Or down a bit more to the rod I use for frogging - Diawa Aird-X ($55) - AIRX701HFB...H/F and 7'0"

 

I was well satisfied with my Aird-X for not only frogs, but pitch/flip and heavy jigs/T-Rigs as well.

1 minute ago, MN Fisher said:

Well, down from the Fury - you can keep to Dobyns and get a Colt ($80) - A CL704C or CL734C...both are H/F rods, 7'0" and 7'3" respectively.

Or down a bit more to the rod I use for frogging - Diawa Aird-X ($55) - AIRX701HFB...H/F and 7'0"

 

I was well satisfied with my Aird-X for not only frogs, but pitch/flip and heavy jigs/T-Rigs as well.

Might be a stupid question but I haven't used braid in a long time.

How do those guides hold up?

Is guide grooving with braid no longer a concern or does 4 vs 8 carrier make a difference? 

7 minutes ago, garroyo130 said:

Might be a stupid question but I haven't used braid in a long time.

How do those guides hold up?

Is guide grooving with braid no longer a concern or does 4 vs 8 carrier make a difference? 

Well, I used 50# Power Pro on the H/F Aird-X and 20# Power Pro on my MH/F Aird-X and I didn't find any grooving on either at my end-of-year check...so they held up well. That's all I've used, so I don't know about the difference between 4 and 8 carrier.

Lew's CF73HC. I use one. I fish heavy cover often. This stick has held up great. 50lb and 65lb J Braid since day one. Good for other baits too. $79. On  sale for $49 now.

8 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

Lew's CF73HC. I use one. I fish heavy cover often. This stick has held up great. 50lb and 65lb J Braid since day one. Good for other baits too. $79. On  sale for $49 now.

Is that a Dicks exclusive? 

yes

Have a look at the Diawa Tatula XT rods, they run $ 99.00 to 119.99 depending on which rod you buy. I have 3 of them, and am very happy with them..oh, and they are super light, and sensitive..

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/catpage-DAIWAROD.html?from=basres

On 1/27/2020 at 10:01 PM, johnD. said:

Gears got rough , the reel was not smooth after a couple of months.

Wow, rough gears after a couple of months is interesting.  Of course each reel is different, but my SLX XG with the brass micro gear did battle with the tidal Potomac gnarly grass beds all last summer and is just as smooth now as the day it came out of the box, but I did use Shimano ACE2 or Cal's drag greases on the micro gears, which Shimano recommends for a smooth operation. The VR SS high speed bearings I installed have made it an even more terrific little reel.  Still love my K's and Chronarchs for really fun fishing tools.

On 1/27/2020 at 8:56 PM, garroyo130 said:

Looking to set up a combo to throw into the thicker stuff. Which reel would be better suited for frogging/pitching/flipping?

All input appreciated. 

Curado K XG

31 minutes ago, OnthePotomac said:

my SLX XG with the brass micro gear

I thought only the SLX DC had micromodule gearing? 

I beat my Fuego CT  8 speed like a dog while frog fishing choked pads fields for 2 seasons. It's still smooth on the retrieve.

1 minute ago, PhishLI said:

I beat my Fuego CT  8 speed like a dog while frog fishing choked pads fields for 2 seasons. It's still smooth on the retrieve.

Thats what I picked up. Still waiting to get the rod for it but I'll get a chance to break the reel in this weekend. 

13 minutes ago, garroyo130 said:

I thought only the SLX DC had micromodule gearing? 

The SLX XG is 8.1:1 brass micro drive gear and pinion

On 2/6/2020 at 10:31 PM, PhishLI said:

Lew's CF73HC. I use one. I fish heavy cover often. This stick has held up great. 50lb and 65lb J Braid since day one. Good for other baits too. $79. On  sale for $49 now.

Carbon Fire is a good rod, hard not to buy one for $49. I think I got mine for either 39 or 49 last year. I have also used nothing but braid on mine.

7 hours ago, OnthePotomac said:

The SLX XG is 8.1:1 brass micro drive gear and pinion

Can't find anything that states this. Everything says only SLX DC has the micromod ... hmmm. 

Here is what I meant.  Yes, only the 200K XG (8.5:1) and the DC has what Shimano describes as having a (micro module), which only describes the number of teeth on the drive gear with matching pinion for the really high speed (8.5:1)  but what I am referring to is the XG models in the 70 XG (8.2:1), Chronarch MGL XG (8.1:1) and the SLX XG (8.2:1) also have a micro gear configuration to get the XG high speed.  They just don't qualify to be called a (Micro module) by virtue of the number of teeth (maybe a marketing ploy by Shimano) If you look at a 70XG,MGL XG and an SLX XG drive gear next to a 200K micromodule drive gear is hard to tell the difference at first glance.  Hope this helps.