At this price, they are not much cheaper than the lower end JDM travel rod options. Not even alconite K guides? No thanks A far cry from Abu's own Hornet Stinger Plus.

Finally, a mass produced rod that has adjustable butt cap weights! It's such a simple thing, but the improvement to balance blows people away when they try the rods I built. Glad to see this becoming more popular. Rod balance > rod weight.

This is one of my favorites for inshore grouper fishing in shallower waters. Rig it with single hooks, let the lure sink to the bottom, jerk it up, and repeat. It always gets grabbed on the fall.

I live in HK now, so I order in person at local shops or get Japanese friends to ship JDM stuff over.

I use a Conquest 101HG spooled with PE 2.5 for all kinds of heavier duty applications - throwing buzzbaits for snakeheads, jika rigs for groupers, 2oz swimbaits... The list goes on. It's such a tough reel with a great sense of refinement. Personally, ergonomics is the only downside. I know the form ...

Namazon is listed as a catfish rod, but I'm not even sure what that means! It has a lot of power in the lower half and the tip section is pretty soft. Good for non-excessive hooksets while still providing plenty of backbone to drive fish out of structures. No experience with Fullrange CC though. I'v...

Being without a car and a frequent international traveler, I don't own any 1 piece rods and half of them can be broken down to under 60cm to fit in a suitcase. Looking at the >2 piece options, your choices are quite limited and it would be hard to find rods that are noticeably "above average". But s...

FYI the colored J-braids will fade rapidly. The moss green colored one stained the silver frame of my FX68 reel green and I've not been able to wear it off after 3+ years. I also use the metered version and it lost half its color after a day of fishing. It's a decent line if you can live with that. ...

Perhaps I'm a bit biased at this point after a streak of disappointments with Daiwa spinning reels. This reel will make you stand out from the crowd, which could be worth more than the Megabass premium to you. Personally, I'd take a 2019 Vanquish 2500S HG. It is a whopping 3 ounces lighter and comes...

Personally, I'd advise against Megabass spinning reels if you're looking for a more functional piece. You're paying a premium for the name and pimped up looks of a moderately upgraded Daiwa. For that price, I would prefer a Shimano Vanquish or Stella. Both excellent performers in every department an...

Ima Flit

I've never used anything heavier than PE 1.5 on my reels. That's about 15-20lb depending on the brand. Currently my finesse set up is on PE 0.8 and my jerkbait / multipurpose set ups are on PE 1.2. There's no problem with line digging if you use smooth X8 PE lines and wind them on with a good amount...

I didn't try mine with stock bearings. I sent the reel to Nitroman77 for a tune up the week I got it and it now has 11/1 BB I find that the sweet spot for mine is 10-12g. I guess ABEC7 bearings do make a difference!

The lowest ABEC rating of 1 is good for up to 38,000 rpm with oil. A higher ABEC rating is simply not needed in fishing reels since the spool just doesn't spin fast enough. Although spools can't spin fast enough for even the stock bearings, they don't need to. They are already spinning too fast, an...

Not much has been mentioned about this lineup and I'm struggling to find info on Japanese sites. But with the launch date coming up pretty soon, does anyone have any updates? Specs, photos, etc.?