D-shot advice from a novice, for what it's worth: I would strongly recommend the spinning reel for purely dropshotting, especially if you are going to put a significant amount of time into it. For the first time in 8 years I "caved" and bought a spinning reel because of all the strong recommendation...

When you say you were using a goby, do you mean an actual live goby? Or soft plastic that resemble a goby? I'm not familiar with that specific area - I fish the PA side of Erie, but that sounds pretty unusual to lose 5 rigs on the drop shot in Erie with no bites. Are you just losing the weight, or t...

Disappointed. All this makes me want to do is go find some more Chronarch Ds for sale.

You can at least get a glimpse of some new rod offerings from Daiwa, Shimano, Quantum right here: http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/catpage-ICASTPRES.html Ballistic has been up for a few days. It looks like an entire revamp of the lower end Shimano lineup. Not sure if it's an upgrade all around to each...

Thanks for all the tips and suggestions. I'm looking into three of the suggested models now. Might try two actually. civicrr - That is some great info, I appreciate it. Actually the Netbait is my main finesse worm right now. I may try the braid with leader on one setup. Tokugawa - Don't think it was...

Varm - thank you for the info and suggestion. I'm a bit apprehensive on the rod, appears to be lighter than what I've already tried. I have tried one of those gammie weedless hooks. One problem with those, they actually pick up more moss than a regular gammakatsu that's fish tex-posed or tex-rigged....

Been struggling to find a rod that works for my needs for d-shot. Hoping to get some opinions/suggestions. Here's what hasn't been working: Lamiglas Excel Spin 7' Med (XL703S) and Shimano Crucial Spin 7'2" Med Xfast. I'll be staying with a new reel, which I'm really digging, a Shimano Symetre 3000FJ...

Got that same hoodie and t-shirt on Thursday! Unfortunately the shipment didn't come with those sweet reels.

That's quite a feat then, glass-like action with custom weight in a $150 stick. I might try one of Z-man's :) Soon enough! I gotta try one of these sticks, there's no way around it. Hopefully there will be a few left by the time I can purchase. (All funds are currently being wasted on useless thing...

I have one. I like it, and for the price it seems great to me. It's definitely not like the higher end JDM rods I see in all those pretty pictures you guys post, but it fishes great, so there's nothing crappy about it to me. I will say, both the butt end cap and the reel seat emblems came off, they ...

I've ordered from them twice, both times I had an excellent experience. Got my Conquest 51 and MG7L from them, and a bunch of FLT swimbaits. They've also sent free stuff each time - 2 spools of line, 2 lures including a Lucky Craft lipless crank, and plenty of boat stickers and patches. Their shippi...

Great fish and story R.O.G. Sounds like a blast!

I also found them for $150. That was a nice surprise, I'll probably try one soon.

You may have enough feedback on this model but... Just got the Cumara 6'8" MH X-F. Had it out today for the first time, paired w/ a Metanium MG7 (L). What a combo! Those two go together very well. Extremely light compared to what I'm used to, but they balanced well together and I had excellent power...

I have 6 FLT Lures - which I thought were going to be my first real crack at swimbait fishing. I think the review says it all for the Zillva, these are more like jerk baits. The rate of fall seemed to be a bit too slow for me, and I couldn't get them to stay down. Probably shouldn't have started wit...