has anyone ever had a piece of tackle that was better than you expected? Just recently won a Kunnan Fiend baitcast reel as a door prize at a tourney. thought how good can this be when they go for 20-30 bucks at local tackle shops? well I'll tell you what it has become my nephews favorite reel. casts really smooth,lightweight,easy to adjust cast control. Not a bad reel for nothing. I liked it so much I went and bought one....20 bucks at my tackle shop and keep it in my truck rigged and ready to go whenever I'm out and about. Really surprised me as to how good this little reel is.Anyone else have something similar to share?????

Academy Sports H2O crankbaits.  I bought them because they were on sale for $2.99 but found out they fish as well as baits costing way more.

Megabass Vision 110jr +1 or Evergreen SB 120

"Ehhh how good can this thing be..."

"Hello Tackle Warehouse?  Yes do you do bulk orders?"

Piscifun Phantom, discontinued now. I've caught probably one thousand bass on my first one and it still performs like almost new. Retrieves butter smooth, cast far. I ended up with five of them.  I paid forty dollars for them.

Before the tariffs and the weaker dollar came into play, 2 piece major craft days rods could be had for $120 to your door.  These rods fish like exprides and could be had for less than half the price.  Unbelievable bang for the buck.

 

Another one that blew me away was the rec from @bulldog1935; Abu Garcia Salty Stage Kurodai KR-X 7'3MLS-BF.  With the ability to throw 2g - 20g, a solid tip with sensitivity, and the backbone to handle fat, angry smallmouth I can't put it down, allowing me to continue to go spinning rod free and throw tubes, finesse jigs, free rigs, spoons, and jighead minnows.

 

scott

Both were surf reels from my bench.  

5500CT on 8' 2-hand rod.  First 2-hand cast with 1/4 oz went 75 yds into my neighbor's back acre.  Oops.  

 

2500CIT mini-surf cast 1/4 oz plug consistently to 200' crossing a tide pass in April.  

 

Probably more impressive, the 7'8" finesse rod was hooking fish at 180' on the far slope.  

Buzzbait for me - my brain says a bass shouldn’t eat one and for many years I couldn’t buy a bite on one but one day it clicked and for some reason - after that first fish got caught - I can’t seem to keep fish off of a buzzbait when I’m throwing it.  It’s become one of my all time top producers both for numbers and size.  So in a sense - it continues to surprise me every year when they keep hitting it.

I picked up a BPS Prodigy combo. The older version …. Black and white, it was clearance. I really impressed w it’s it, keep it on deck now. Will let you know on how long it last.

@Pat Brown Buzz baits are impossible to beat when schooling bass are jumping shad.  

FIL caught a striper from my boat one morning.  

I agree with @king fisher, those H20X crankbaits, the squarebills, are excellent. I've had lots of luck on them and the mini squarebills.

 

I also did well with their medium diving squarebill that had an opaque lip out of the nose. I think those have been discontinued though.

 

Ozark Trail Worm hooks. They hold up well and are strong. Almost as good as Gamakatsu hooks.

 

I've had a lot of luck on Ozark Trails 1/3oz crankbaits down at the river. I didn't expect that. Then they changed the model and I don't think the new ones do as well.

4 hours ago, softwateronly said:

Before the tariffs and the weaker dollar came into play, 2 piece major craft days rods could be had for $120 to your door.  These rods fish like exprides and could be had for less than half the price.  Unbelievable bang for the buck.

 

Another one that blew me away was the rec from @bulldog1935; Abu Garcia Salty Stage Kurodai KR-X 7'3MLS-BF.  With the ability to throw 2g - 20g, a solid tip with sensitivity, and the backbone to handle fat, angry smallmouth I can't put it down, allowing me to continue to go spinning rod free and throw tubes, finesse jigs, free rigs, spoons, and jighead minnows.

 

scott

This is great info!

Mine are Shimano Sienna spin reels. I bought two of them 8 years ago for crappie fishing. They're both still going strong. A good value for 29 bucks each.

I've got a couple. 

 

Sunline Invisible FC 5lb and 6lb. I have hawled in several 5lb+ fish and even a blue catfish that was around 8lbs and a 6lb smallmouth with this line.  I still can't believe it held up to the task. Great line.

 

Bassday Mononofu 50s.  I've caught countless fish on this small trout lure. 

 

The Abu Garcia Black Max that I found on the bottom of a lake and cleaned up.  I have shared this pic before but it works fine and casts great.

 

 

Omega jigs. I got two in one of those bass lure boxes that I got as a gift.  I thought they were weird but they are well made and bring in the fish. The hook really sticks fish well. I have bought a handful more and plan to keep them in my regular rotation of stuff.

 

6th Sense Whale and Congo Craw. I wasn't a big fan of their softplastic at first but these two baits proved me wrong.  They have worked better than similar more expensive baits. 

 

 

Rods - Kistler Helium and Kistler Z-Bone. 

 

Bait - Reaction Innovations Little Dipper - It's a paddletail with a nice side-to-side waddle that generates strikes.

Shimano STX XT casting reel.  Found one for $112 and that’s a great reel that casts really well.

 

Daiwa SV 80 for $105. This a better casting model than I expected.

 

Big Bite Baits Fighting Frog!  This creature bait is great.  The bulk bag price is darn good. Great color options too.

 

Siebert Outdoors Fogy.  Mike has put a lot of effort to make this bait special and the price is so affordable.

 

Edge Delta series rods.  If you are patient they run some aggressive pricing specials and the wait is so worth it.  
 

Bitter Baits stick worm.  I run the 5 inch with a weighted wacky hook and they work.  Awesome colors and bulk packs make them a tremendous value.

Skeet Reese 6'10" drop shot rod that was around 50$ on sale at Dicks.

I was just getting back into freshwater fishing and was reading about drop shot fishing here.

Didn't want to spend too much on a rod that I wasn't sure if I'd even like or find drop shotting effective where I fish.

It worked great, even got double duty throwing light plastics, until I broke the tip of it trying to get a 1 dollar jig out of a tree, didn't realize the braid was wrapped around the tip, pulled and wah laa; broken tip.

Cut off about 2" and put a new tip on, changed the action so now used inshore saltwater throwing jigs and gulp shad. 

20 hours ago, scaleface said:

Piscifun Phantom, discontinued now. 

I have a Piscifin Carbon X II.

 

I liked it enough that I bought another...

I gotta go with the Abu Garcia Black Max. Is it super smooth? No. It’s it a little geary? Yes. Is the drag easily adjustable? Not like a star drag that clicks. But it casts baits as far or farther than my other reels. Why I don’t know, but it is a true bomb caster. The only issue I’ve ever had with the two I own is a cracked thumb bar…and that’s all on me. For $49 and change I have zero true complaints. 
 

Do I prefer my Fuegos and Tatula? Sure. They are smoother, the drags and brakes are great and are just nice reels.  But if I had only Black Max’s to fish with, I’d be a happy angler. 

25 minutes ago, BrianMDTX said:

 

Do I prefer my Fuegos and Tatula? Sure. They are smoother, the drags and brakes are great and are just nice reels.  But if I had only Black Max’s to fish with, I’d be a happy angler. 

That's how I feel about my Piscifun Carbon X II. Extremely lightweight, excellent drag, and no issues of any kind ever.

 

My "favorite" reel is surely my Vanford but if I could only fish the Piscifun, I'd have no complaints at all.

I am a fan of the Black Max reels and rods too. I agree, they are excellent casters.

 

I was using one today on my BPS Graphite Series rod to throw a size 7 Shallow Shad Rap surprisingly far. That reel has held up to 3 years of constant use by me.

6 minutes ago, Bazoo said:

I am a fan of the Black Max reels and rods too. I agree, they are excellent casters.

 

I was using one today on my BPS Graphite Series rod to throw a size 7 Shallow Shad Rap surprisingly far. That reel has held up to 3 years of constant use by me.

They shock me with how far they cast. “Only” five bearings lol. But man, they bomb a bladed jig out there!

Yep, I can cast a Rat-L-Trap a country mile with one.

um, if you count bearings, two are required on most reels for casting.  

Difference is on slaved-spool Ambassadeur, where four more bearings can be added to level-wind to out-cast Black Max.  

  

and Isuzu, where even the level-wind pawl can get 2 more bearings.  

This Ambassadeur CS Rocket gets two more in the spur gear and a third in the brass bullet for a total of 14 bearings, and 9 are part of the cast. 

 

Also remember most reels with high bearing counts include 4 in the handle knobs, 1 to 3 in the drive, and one on the thumb clutch.  

BPS Stik-O baits and The Egg crankbait.  I first tried the Stik-O because it was in the bargain bin at BPS.  The Egg was in my late dad's tackle box so I thought I would give it a try.  

On 10/20/2025 at 6:46 PM, king fisher said:

Academy Sports H2O crankbaits.  I bought them because they were on sale for $2.99 but found out they fish as well as baits costing way more.

 

I have a handful of the squarebills but haven't thrown them yet, but they've got a lipless bait under the H2OX line that's called the 5/8 RT online I believe, but the package says Medium Profile Lipless. Side profile looks exactly like a Booyah Hard/One Knocker, but it's got this bulge in the belly rather than being a more typical "blade"/taper shape.

 

I need to throw them more, but the action/vibration almost has more of a squarebill wobble to it rather than the typical lipless vibration.

 

If this was a top down view of a lipless, most vibrate/pivot along the vertical axis, but the H2OX one seems to me to have a pronounced pivot/vibration along the horizontal axis. I may just be seeing things, however. Forgive the crude MS Paint drawing.

 

22 hours ago, BrianMDTX said:

I gotta go with the Abu Garcia Black Max. Is it super smooth? No. It’s it a little geary? Yes. Is the drag easily adjustable? Not like a star drag that clicks. But it casts baits as far or farther than my other reels. Why I don’t know, but it is a true bomb caster. The only issue I’ve ever had with the two I own is a cracked thumb bar…and that’s all on me. For $49 and change I have zero true complaints. 
 

Do I prefer my Fuegos and Tatula? Sure. They are smoother, the drags and brakes are great and are just nice reels.  But if I had only Black Max’s to fish with, I’d be a happy angler. 

 

I know you had the issue with a couple of other reels as well, but for what it's worth the chromed plastic thumb bar on my old ProMax also cracked with less than a season of normal usage. Replaced it with one from a BlackMax and then retired it. None of my other reels have any type of wear consistent with me doing anything that would've caused it, I think at its price point they just used an inferior plastic for that part.

 

21 minutes ago, Bankbeater said:

BPS Stik-O baits and The Egg crankbait.  I first tried the Stik-O because it was in the bargain bin at BPS.  The Egg was in my late dad's tackle box so I thought I would give it a try.  

 

The Stik-O is my #1 Senko-type bait, I don't throw anything else anymore. I've thrown a lot of Yamamotos and other various brands, and I don't deny the Yamamoto is "the best," but in underwater footage, the Stik-O is the only one that looks identical to the Yamamoto to my eyes in shimmy and fall rate. I also like the fatter tail end of them and the durability is fantastic.

 

As for the OP's question, it's a toss up between the H2OX Ultimate Jerk Shad in the Crackle color and the Shimano SLX MGL.

 

Bought the jerkbait based on a recommendation from @Bluebasser86 as I was just starting out learning the technique. Quickly saw some very serious success come from that bait and despite having a box full of Vision 110s now, I still do throw that Academy jerkbait a lot.

 

SLX MGL surprised me with how good it was for the price, still far and away the best of the SLX line, in my opinion. Better drag, and the MGL spool was a game changer for me coming from the SLX/XT/DC reels I had at the time.