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eatmorelionfish

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  1. My advice would be to see if any of the Kuying 3 or 4 piece travel rods on Aliexpress fit what you need. I have the Kuying freestyle walker spinning version (~$95 shipped and delivered within 2 weeks to the USA) and that is one of the most sensitive and lightweight travel rods I've seen in the sub $250 price range. My Kuying Freestyle Walker rod is easily better quality than the following travel rods that I've owned over the years: Okuma Nomad, Daiwa Ardito, St. Croix Tidemaster, and St Croix Triumph. My only gripes about the freestyle walker line are color scheme of the rod & case and the lack of a hook keeper or warranty. St. Croix Tidemaster and Triumph travel rods, frankly, are terrible, outdated rods for their price and notoriously fragile. Okuma Nomad is not bad but not the same class as a Kuying. I enjoyed the Daiwa Arditos but the Kuying is more sensitive, has a much thinner/lighter blank (nice Toray carbon), and similar high quality Fuji guides. Other travel rods that I highly recommend include the Daiwa Saltiga Airportable line if you need something more beefy.
  2. 6000 will cast slightly further if using the same line because of the bigger spool. It's larger than the 5000 which i think shares the same body as the 4000 size reel. My advice would be to choose the reel that fits the line class you plan to use. The 5000 imo is designed for braid up to 20lbs and the 6000 is best for 20-30lb class, but 40lbs is doable.
  3. Why is the FG knot strength of YoZuri braids <70% across the board for even the lighter lines? Is that user error or characteristic of the braid? Also, does anyone have experience on how the performance of Maxcuatro, Berkley Pro, Yozuri, Tasline compare after worn in?
  4. The round Al knob functions well, if that’s what you prefer. An EVA is comfy but gets dirty too easily for my liking. I’ve tried them all and honestly preferred the egg knob at the end. Just some extra commentary: IMO the best upgrade you can do to a gosa handle would be to shim the handle/bearings or bushings (if you use them) to get rid of the tiny slop in them.
  5. Trying to choose between Daiwa Ballistic 6000, Daiwa Theory 4000H and Penn Slammer 4500 for school tuna/inshore and occasional kayak fishing. Other suggestions for similar sized and priced reels capable of 300yds of 30lb braid are welcome too! Trying to balance durability with refinement. I’m fairly confident the Slammer iii will do just fine but I do like the refinement and smoothness of the ballistic. However, I also prefer the high speed retrieval of the slammer much more. Which lead me to find out about the JDM Daiwa Theory 4000 H. It’s drag seems much weaker than the 6k Ballistic and doesn’t compare to the slammer with top and bottom drag stacks. Is that a concern for school tuna <25lbs / tropical reef species? I don’t plan on using 15+lbs of drag (using 30lb braid lol). Does anyone have any experiences with the Theory and it’s drag/durability? Is the 4000H Theory equivalent in size to the Ballistic 6000 and Slammer 4500? Any insights will will be appreciated!
  6. I have the MH casting travel version of the St. Croix tidemaster since 2012. I've caught hundreds of fish spanning from stripers in the NE to snook in Costa rica to GTs in Indonesia. Nice rod but very fragile. I've broken the tip on a hook set once and had the middle third of the rod explode on ~12lbs of drag. Now, I always carry a spare tip section when I travel--it's was only $30 a few years ago when I bought it. Having a spare tip is cheap insurance for this fragile rod. Otherwise the rod is comfortable when I pair it with a shimano tranx and has very nice action. I probably would opt for the H version if I were to choose again, because of the type of fish I encounter in tropical inshore waters which often require heavier drags to fight. Keep in mind that the MH will not handle middle-sized SP minnow or other lures of the same weight class or heavier comfortably. One of my favorite lures to throw in tropical flats are 1/2oz to 3/4 oz sized spoons/jigs, which the MH will handle nicely. With that said, I would probably not buy it again considering the price of its competitors. For example, I've used Cabela's inshore salt striker H travel rods and will say it's not much inferior considering that they could have been bought for $50 on sale (fall-winter 2017). The weight, balance, and sensitivity of the the salt striker is in a similar class to the tidemaster travel rod despite the price differences. The tidemaster has a nicer handle, finish, and travel case, but I would rather get some nice lures or other gear for the price difference.
  7. Used overnight delivery and received my second Tranx 400AHG today from Tackle Warehouse (who clearly sent an open box...with the box opening sticker peeling off and the drag cranked all the way down). Again, there is significant amount of back play in the handle...Could there a design defect in this reel or is Shimano's design tolerances just way too loose on their latest batch of Tranx? Both reels are identical in the amount of back play. I can hear an unsatisfactory click every revolution of the handle because drive shafts is bouncing around something. I can pull the star drag in and out on its axis of revolution. I might just have to tear these reels apart. Seems like the amount of play is correlated to the amount of drag as well.
  8. The SP minnow is easily one of my favorite saltwater lures. The larger SP does have a different action to it at slower speeds and has quickly become my favorite plug for stripers on the Cape. The green mackerel variation seems to perform anywhere in the world, for stripers in the Canal to snook in Costa rica and beyond. I easily got twice as many hook ups with on GT's and various other tropical reef fish in Indonesia/New Guinea than any of my strategic anglers, maria loaded, nomads, OTL or FCL floating stickbaits in my past couple trips. Even on the mid-sized SPs swapped with two single shout kudako hooks ziptied and canal rigged on the belly, or one treble and one single inline hook on the tail, most of my SPs were capable of landing GTs under 30lbs fished on tight drag (although hook hangers would be done). In fact, every single lost fish on my last trip was due to line breakoffs on the reef (80lb leaders) instead of a SP minnow failure. However, when fishing with true GT-class tackle (PE8 line), I still opted for my larger stickbaits. Mid-size SP minnows connected with a lot more GTs and bluefin trevallies than the larger variation. I highly recommend it for when smaller GTs are keyed in on smaller fish. Small silver tins like a 3/4 oz Kastmaster were the only lure that caught more variety of fish in shallow tropical reefs than the mid-sized SP. Let's hope they work out in Hawaii next week..
  9. Yep, it's the whole thing. I took out the spool and saw that the pinion gear would turn backwards. Tightening the drag would reduce the travel distance a bit, but this is still unacceptable. I'm 0/2 on getting a defect-free reel this year. $145 new Abu Garcia Revo3 Premiere had a issue where something in the star drag would rub against something every turn of the handle. While this is faintly noticeable at higher drags, the noise became apparent with a loose drag. On another note, does anyone know where I can get a spare spool, either aftermarket or stock, for the tranx 400?
  10. Does anyone else experience a noticeable amount of back play in their Shimano Tranx? I was really excited to receive my new Tranx 400HG today (after 3 week delay from Cabelas...) and immediately noticed that the anti-reverse clutch doesn't stop the handle from turning backwards for about a couple degrees. The knob can move about an 1/8" backwards before the anti-reverse engages. This is quite disappointing from a $300 Shimano.
  11. Check the Chinese wholesale websites like Aliexpress or alibaba. That's where I'm guessing the ebay sellers get theirs from.
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