Agree 100% with piscamaniac - also look at Sunline Small Game, I use the PE 0.4, PE 0.3 would also be excellent. You might struggle with an FG knot with such thin braid, an option is to use an Albright but instead of doubling the FC, you create a loop in it with a figure of 8 knot and put the braid ...

For braid, I use Varivas Super Trout Advance, for FC Sunline, Seaguar or Maxima clear FC (more easily available and very good IMO). FC fly fishing tippet is another good option - do like the French do and work on diameter rather than breaking strain. For the rod mentioned, something like .16 - .18mm...

A lot depends on what lures you will be using under what conditions. Using spoons in stillwater, FC is great but maximum 3lb on that rod. Braid can be combined with a long leader, giving the best of both worlds. One issue may be that the spool capacity is very big so you'll need to fill it with some...

WRT alternatives for Trout Magnets, look at Crazy Fish as a brand, plenty of options and widely available the EU.

The difficulty is that UL JDM trout rods are almost always shorter than 7'. If you consider Ajiing or Mebaru rods then no problem finding something suitable. If you narrow down lures & lines to be used, I'm sure you will get more useful feedback.

I used a bass style BFS rod for trout once (PG Multirole) and although it cast the JDM sinking minnows I was using just fine, I found it a little too stiff for the trout I was chasing - 14-18" on average - and the twitching retrieve needed for the minnows. For consistently bigger trout (2-4Lbs) and ...

Stroft make a wide range of lines, including (very expensive) FC and PE lines. Personally, I'd recommend Stroft ABR, still very high b/s to diameter, but with slightly more abrasion resistance which is often useful in UL. As a more general reflection, I think that the traditional UL / 4lb spinning p...

Good place to start is to be clear in your mind what lures (trout minnows, spoons etc), sizes and line you will be using - mono or braid. For example, a Vision 110 would be an Ito or overseas salmon lure from a JDM p.o.v., not suitable for any trout rod at all. If you want really high tech blanks an...

I've bought GL rods from Ebisu through Rakuten, good store. I'd order ASAP, Japanese economy starting to lockdown.

Yes, guide train on RS speeds blank up, this is according to the designer, Imae. RS better for jigs / Texas, double foot guide model better for hardbaits. Check out the development page on the Evergreen website.

Having owned and used both GL and Evergreen rods, I think the price differential reflects the difference between a great mainstream car and a tuned track car. Top end Evergreen bass rods like Inspirare are developed by pros to meet specific tournament requirements. K.Imae's Imakatsu blog details thi...

Good afternoon, Hope everyone is doing well. I've done some perusing on my own but it has been unfruitful. I'm looking for a blank that will do 0.1 grams to about 3 or 4 grams. I know there are some rods you can buy pre built with those ratings but I've yet to find any blanks to have one custom bui...

Keeping lures at depth at long range is a problem I have had to solve as well. Have a look at heavier stock spoons like Art of Fishing's Northern Bite https://fishingmania.club/en/northern-bite-68-g/art-fishing-northern-bite-68-g-24 . These are designed to stay down a bit better, basically just thic...

Awesome Rods. I can see a H model in my future. Nobody else is using some of these materials that go into these blanks yet.They look super impressive. Good luck getting a blank with T1100g and nanoplus for the price these are rolling out at anywhere else. Believe me I own almost all the brands usin...

I've owned and used a wide range of Olympic-made rods (Graphiteleader & Evergreen), without exception great rods with flawless builds. For the money, the Vigore can't be beaten.