Which of the two above reels would work best for weightless senkos? 

I would lean towards the sv if skipping or using 14 lb flouro and slx if skipping isn't a priority and using braid.  I like how free shimano svs is with no spool tension but don't like it when trying to pass a plastic slinky trough the level wind.  I have both and my slx mgl is my long casting weightless plastics and small crank reel and my tatula sv is my close quarters weightless plastics and light jigs skipping reel. 

I’m a Shimano guy myself but either will be great for senkos. I’d say, if you like to lean on your brakes and let the reel work for you, go Daiwa…if you like a free-wheeling setup that’s more “user-controlled”, go Shimano. 

I haven’t had any of my reels give me an issue with a senko, wacky rigged or regular. It’s more a function of the rod for success there.

 

I’ve owned both. Get the brand you prefer. I prefer the Tatula, but I can give you no reason for that other than preference.

I’m newer to baitcasters and don’t have the best trained thumb, I’ll go with the tatula. Thanks for the replies!

44 minutes ago, nbudde said:

I’m newer to baitcasters and don’t have the best trained thumb, I’ll go with the tatula. Thanks for the replies!

Stay away from FC line, no advantage with lots of disadvantages. Unweighted Senko’s with a MF rod and 11 lb Armillo Nylon line works good.

Tom

Agreed Tom...liking FC less and less. OP, I have both reels and prefer the Daiwa to the Shimano for short presentations and skipping.  Not to say the Shimanos are bad, they aren't at all (my frog setup for this year is a JDM Scorpion 70 on an Expride 73XH, skips amazing and will cast a mile) but the SV is really nice up close. 

Tom - I've been using the SLX MGL on a Dobyns 683c Sierra with invisX and have a very hard time managing the backlashes. I was told the slack line sensitivity would be good.I agree with you Tom that FC isnt the line for me. I've had much better luck with Yozuri Hybrid but will be getting the Sunline Shooter Armilo to check out now.

 

Fastbee - most my stuff is up close so another great reason to go with the SV.

 

Now to decide what to use the SLX MGL for now - its the 8.1 gear

9 minutes ago, nbudde said:

Tom - I've been using the SLX MGL on a Dobyns 683c Sierra with invisX and have a very hard time managing the backlashes. I was told the slack line sensitivity would be good.I agree with you Tom that FC isnt the line for me. I've had much better luck with Yozuri Hybrid but will be getting the Sunline Shooter Armilo to check out now.

 

Fastbee - most my stuff is up close so another great reason to go with the SV.

 

Now to decide what to use the SLX MGL for now - its the 8.1 gear

This is my wacky rig rod with a Tatula SV. Works great. I don’t have any issue with FC on it, but I use 10 or 12#, so it’s really manageable. I use a lot of thumb with looser brakes. Not because I’m great, cause I sure can’t skip much, but because I have yet to find a brake system, other than at the very end of the cast, that is as reliable as my thumb. That’s just me, though.
 

The issue for a newer user would be fixing backlashes, and not kinking the line while you dig it out. Braid or mono/copoly are waaaay better for this. 
 

And you will backlash. We all do.

27 minutes ago, Blaine Donders said:

This is my wacky rig rod with a Tatula SV. Works great. I don’t have any issue with FC on it, but I use 10 or 12#, so it’s really manageable. I use a lot of thumb with looser brakes. Not because I’m great, cause I sure can’t skip much, but because I have yet to find a brake system, other than at the very end of the cast, that is as reliable as my thumb. That’s just me, though.
 

The issue for a newer user would be fixing backlashes, and not kinking the line while you dig it out. Braid or mono/copoly are waaaay better for this. 
 

And you will backlash. We all do.

I’ve definitely kinked the line digging out backlashes, invisX is too costly to use until my thumb is better trained for sure. 
 

I have a tatula ct that I can cast very easily and don’t backlash at all, I do think per your suggestion that the SV will work great for what I’m trying to do.

 

When using the slx mgl for short work I would backlash what seemed like every other cast or should I say pitch.

45 minutes ago, nbudde said:

I’ve definitely kinked the line digging out backlashes, invisX is too costly to use until my thumb is better trained for sure. 
 

I have a tatula ct that I can cast very easily and don’t backlash at all, I do think per your suggestion that the SV will work great for what I’m trying to do.

 

When using the slx mgl for short work I would backlash what seemed like every other cast or should I say pitch.

I was casting into the wind with an SV the other day with a 1/4oz jerk bait on a M rod with 50# J braid. SV spools rock. I like them better than the DC Shimanos as well.

8 hours ago, Blaine Donders said:

I was casting into the wind with an SV the other day with a 1/4oz jerk bait on a M rod with 50# J braid. SV spools rock. I like them better than the DC Shimanos as well.

Oh wow yea that’s awesome! I don’t get to spend as much time on the water with a little one at the house and another on the way so less time with backlashes is the goal!

 

Would you know if that alpha SV is worth the bump over the tatula SV? It’s only $30 more on JLS

I haven’t handled an Alphas, but everything I have heard they are worth the bump.

Was just fishing weightless wacky Worms on my tatula SV this morning. I put a Ray's Studio long cast shallow spool in it with 15# braid. Love that reel to death, I keep the sv spool for mono when  I'm trout fishing. 

57 minutes ago, A kid from Canada said:

Was just fishing weightless wacky Worms on my tatula SV this morning. I put a Ray's Studio long cast shallow spool in it with 15# braid. Love that reel to death, I keep the sv spool for mono when  I'm trout fishing. 

I like the idea of being able to swap spools depending on what im doing with the reel, where did you buy the Ray's Studio spool from? what braid do you find works best with it?

 

With the spool being so shallow - does that help from braid dig in?

 

Thanks in advance!

I tried weightless Senkos on my SLX MGLs and liked it when making long casts but not so much on the shorter casts or pitching. I found the mag brakes on the Daiwas were better for that.

 

I'm currently throwing my weightless TR Senko on an old Techna AV rod with a Alphas SV TW and I moved my SLX MGL reels over to my jerkbait and topwater popper rods and they excel there. My Tat SV's currently have my skipping jigs and a Fat Ika on them and are working really well for that

Tatula SV TW is very versatile.  It wins over most Shimanos at that given price point. 

SLX MGL is a $149.99 reel while Tatula SV is a $199.99, so I would expect it to be better overall. The real reel question is how it compares to a Curado MGL which is the same price, and yes Defier in 11lb would be great for those reels but I prefer the Defier Shooter it casts further and is smoother unless you are mainly skipping docks then Armillo would be preferred for it's abrasion resistance. 

I would never use less than 15lb fluoro when dock skipping. At least the docks and wood I fish that have metal poles and wood pilings often covered with zebra mussels. And, abrasion resistant copoly lines have as or more memory than quality FC like Tatsu. If I were you I’d mimic the pros who recently fished docks and see what they use. Example is Jason Christie during his win on Chick. It’s on YT.

47 minutes ago, blackrain said:

I would never use less than 15lb fluoro when dock skipping. At least the docks and wood I fish that have metal poles and wood pilings often covered with zebra mussels. And, abrasion resistant copoly lines have as or more memory than quality FC like Tatsu. If I were you I’d mimic the pros who recently fished docks and see what they use. Example is Jason Christie during his win on Chick. It’s on YT.

Some baits just don't skip well on 15 lbs flouro.  Throw the baits that get bit and not the ones your choice of line and rod will allow you to skip.  A light wacky head and trick worm was my go to this spring skipping docks.  I threw that on 10# flouro.

On 5/9/2022 at 9:12 PM, nbudde said:

Which of the two above reels would work best for weightless senkos? 

Both reels are a good choice. As a well known fan of the Daiwa SV reels, I am going to say the SLX MGL 70 is better for bomb casting weightless senkos though. It casts them quite well and also far and might also handle lighter line, like 10# or 12# fluoro a little better (I use 12# on a Tatula SV without issues either).

 

The SV is better for pitching and skipping. It might be better if you don't have a trained thumb as well, but the SLX MGL 70 casts pretty effortlessly as well so that's not a big deal to me.

6 hours ago, Tatulatard said:

Some baits just don't skip well on 15 lbs flouro.  Throw the baits that get bit and not the ones your choice of line and rod will allow you to skip.  A light wacky head and trick worm was my go to this spring skipping docks.  I threw that on 10# flouro.

I disagree about not being able to skip well on line heavier than 10 lb test. Especially on baitcasting gear. I agree you need to first get bit but where I skip baits, I've learned the hard way if I can't get the fish out, it's a waste. Been wrapped around every imaginable piling, pole, cable, rope, etc. Plus the bass is swimming around with a hook stuck in its mouth for who knows how long.