When TW carried Black Widows, i ordered two during the sale once. When they arrived i noticed they were IM blanks, not HM. I emailed NFC and after some bafk and forth with Collin, I sent them back to TW for refunds. He pretty much said IM is jis as good as HM and Gary Loomis builds however he wants each day. I was like yea not paying $500 per rod for this BS lol

On 10/19/2025 at 6:00 PM, 4g63power said:

When TW carried Black Widows, i ordered two during the sale once. When they arrived i noticed they were IM blanks, not HM. I emailed NFC and after some bafk and forth with Collin, I sent them back to TW for refunds. He pretty much said IM is jis as good as HM and Gary Loomis builds however he wants each day. I was like yea not paying $500 per rod for this BS lol

There was a review on TW that stated they received a Black Widow with an IM blank and IIRC they got in touch with NFC and were taken care of.  Then there was a review right under that one where a guy chimed in and said he also had a BW w/ IM blank, but argued saying that was how they came and he didn't think they made a HM blank (lol).

43 minutes ago, KP Duty said:

There was a review on TW that stated they received a Black Widow with an IM blank and IIRC they got in touch with NFC and were taken care of.  Then there was a review right under that one where a guy chimed in and said he also had a BW w/ IM blank, but argued saying that was how they came and he didn't think they made a HM blank (lol).

HM blanks are supposed to be more sensitive but more brittle than LM blanks. That’s what I heard about the reason Gary Loomis uses LM blanks for MH+ power rods, because he wants his rods never break during powerful hooksets. I have a M power BW rod, which is still HM blank. I understand this is a controversial decision, which is probably why he just removed the HMX or LMX marking for the later batch of BW rods.

This was around the time black widow production rods just came out and they were heavily marketing HM as the next greatest blank ever. You go to their website and read HM or X-ray description and see "by the way our IM is just as good and cost about the half". It was a classic bait and switch tactic.

1 hour ago, KP Duty said:

There was a review on TW that stated they received a Black Widow with an IM blank and IIRC they got in touch with NFC and were taken care of.  Then there was a review right under that one where a guy chimed in and said he also had a BW w/ IM blank, but argued saying that was how they came and he didn't think they made a HM blank (lol).

It was probably me lol man it was ridiculous after spending like $1000...i ordered two Gucci bags and got Coach bags instead and they had the nerve to tell me they sent me Coach because they think it's just as good as Gucci. Does that make sense? Lol

my babies lol

slx xt A arrived yesterday, can't wait to use it and see how it is 😎

14 hours ago, BassSteve said:

slx xt A arrived yesterday, can't wait to use it and see how it is 😎

Looking forward to reading your thoughts on it and hopefully seeing some bass Pics as well.

48 minutes ago, Eric 26 said:

Looking forward to reading your thoughts on it and hopefully seeing some bass Pics as well.

yes i caught a few this morning on it to test it out! it's definitely a solid enough reel, I ordered the carbon drag washers for it, it has that felt washer soaked in oil or grease so I will swap that out later 👍

4 minutes ago, BassSteve said:

yes i caught a few this morning on it to test it out! it's definitely a solid enough reel, I ordered the carbon drag washers for it, it has that felt washer soaked in oil or grease so I will swap that out later 👍

I’ve said it before the only reel I’ve sold or traded in that I regret is the original SLX 151 XGA. I currently have a SLX MGL HGA but I still regret selling my SLX, it was for me at least a set it and forget it reel that fit my hand perfectly. 

10 minutes ago, Eric 26 said:

I’ve said it before the only reel I’ve sold or traded in that I regret is the original SLX 151 XGA. I currently have a SLX MGL HGA but I still regret selling my SLX, it was for me at least a set it and forget it reel that fit my hand 

well maybe one day you will get it again. but the felt type washer compared to the carbon type, I know the carbon is superior but by how much? would you say it's very little difference or significant difference?

@BassSteve I’m not going to lie I’m the guy that doesn’t get into the small details like that, no offense to anyone who does but I didn’t notice any difference which could be to the fact I’m not catching  or even targeting very large fish in the waters I currently fish.

On 11/15/2025 at 12:45 PM, BassSteve said:

well maybe one day you will get it again. but the felt type washer compared to the carbon type, I know the carbon is superior but by how much? would you say it's very little difference or significant difference?

Felt really isn't bad at all and can be preferable in lighter spinning tackle.  Carbon has more bite and it takes more initial pull to start the spool turning, in extreme cases double what the drag is set for.  Felt starts up with much less initial pull and when running light line, it's a very important attribute to have.  Many 3000 and under size spinning reels still come with felt for this very reason, while their larger counterparts come with carbon.  Felt will have a lower maximum drag pressure and will compress over time which makes it a consumable.  Greased carbon will last much longer and is immune from compression.  With carbon, finer weaves start up easier, but not as easy as felt.  For a bass reel, especially something for fishing slop, I'd run a dry coarse weave.  If it was for a salmon, I'd go with a greased fine weave.  Just some examples of how a drag can be tailored to the fish being targeted.

6 hours ago, redmeansdistortion said:

For a bass reel, especially something for fishing slop, I'd run a dry coarse weave. 

So are you saying not to even add a thin amount of grease to the carbon washers? Leave them dry?

10 minutes ago, BassSteve said:

So are you saying not to even add a thin amount of grease to the carbon washers? Leave them dry?

That's your call, but carbon will wear if run dry.  Over time they will wear to an opaque shine and lose their grippy texture.  I personally grease my own, but I'm not a slop fisherman anyway since I'm in creeks and rivers most of the time.

22 minutes ago, redmeansdistortion said:

That's your call, but carbon will wear if run dry.  Over time they will wear to an opaque shine and lose their grippy texture.  I personally grease my own, but I'm not a slop fisherman anyway since I'm in creeks and rivers most of the time.

Yeah lol im not leaving my carbon washers completely dry it doesnt sound like a good idea 

I got this tiny chinease Ambassadeur 1500c copy and 5' UL glass rod.  It's pretty cheaply made but they have a following and are obviously cheap.  The rod and reel was around $100 shipped with fees. I has a centrifugal brake but I have a mag kit for it ordered.  I'm going use it as a fun dink bass and crappie rod using that shooting style cast the stream trout guys use 

 

 

8 minutes ago, Bigbox99 said:

I got this tiny chinease Ambassadeur 1500c copy and 5' UL glass rod.  It's pretty cheaply made but they have a following and are obviously cheap.  The rod and reel was around $100 shipped with fees. I has a centrifugal brake but I have a mag kit for it ordered.  I'm going use it as a fun dink bass and crappie rod using that shooting style cast the stream trout guys use 

 

 

One thing you will want to do with that is check the frame alignment.  I evaluated three of them for a local rod builder who wanted to offer a finesse reel to go along with his rod offerings.  The very first one has a loose top crossbar, the second one had a misaligned frame, and the third was ok.  I did some polishing, shimming, experimented with bearings, and still couldn't get it anywhere close to my small Ambassadeurs.  I heard on another site that somebody in Japan was making bar stock frames for these that made them much better, but haven't seen one yet.

On 11/22/2025 at 9:42 AM, redmeansdistortion said:

One thing you will want to do with that is check the frame alignment.  I evaluated three of them for a local rod builder who wanted to offer a finesse reel to go along with his rod offerings.  The very first one has a loose top crossbar, the second one had a misaligned frame, and the third was ok.  I did some polishing, shimming, experimented with bearings, and still couldn't get it anywhere close to my small Ambassadeurs.  I heard on another site that somebody in Japan was making bar stock frames for these that made them much better, but haven't seen one yet.

Yeah, it's definitely a tin can of a reel but for the UL action it will be seeing I think it will be fine.

my Imx Pro SJR 901S and Stradic 1000 rigged up with 6 pound Sufix Siege and a 1/4 oz little cleo for trout!

This year's Black Friday sales got me my first DC reel:

 

 

And because I'm a sucker it already had this waiting for it at home:

 

 

 

Can't wait to try this combo out on Saturday.

Just came back from spending some time with the Okuma X-series 73H i picked up from the sale. I probably wouldn't pay retail for one but for how much i got it for, I'm satisfied. 

 

1 hour ago, 4g63power said:

 

ISLA AGS rods are on blowout for $150.  I got the 7 M regular taper.  Cool rods but they have a super short handle and are more tip heavy than I would expect from an AGS rod.  

7 hours ago, Bigbox99 said:

ISLA AGS rods are on blowout for $150.  I got the 7 M regular taper.  Cool rods but they have a super short handle and are more tip heavy than I would expect from an AGS rod.  

 

I got the M at first as well, but it turned out to be much softer than I thought. Exchanged it for a MH, it's stiffer, but the action is still more like moderate instead of moderate fast. The tip heavy issue exists for the MH as well, but IMO tolerable.

On 1/4/2026 at 10:43 PM, newapti5 said:

 

I got the M at first as well, but it turned out to be much softer than I thought. Exchanged it for a MH, it's stiffer, but the action is still more like moderate instead of moderate fast. The tip heavy issue exists for the MH as well, but IMO tolerable.

I picked up the ml and h. The ml is 4.09oz and the heavy is 4.45. These rods have veryshort rear grips, so they aren't intended for tip-up baits. I don't think the heavy can handle 2.5oz baits, but I like them regardless.