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262 Tail is easy fit if you spray some vegetable oil on it, slips right in.

Catching bass is ultra difficult in Japan, you have more anglers than US crammed into the space smaller than California.

You can also buy Ryoga Shrapnel. It doesn't have very adjustable braking system, but its perfectly fine for big baits. It is a bit less refined than the Conquest, but got much more power to it. I had the pleasure of owning both, and they are very very nice reels.

Your best bet around southern Maryland is Potomac River. There are big LMB and SMB in there but they are kinda sparse, because of the amount of Striped Bass in the water, feeding on every single bait fish.... I have never had any success in the suburbs because so many people fish the ponds, and take fish from there.... I am sure Western Maryland is really good though.

Yes I agree with you on what makes IPT. The material that main gear grabs on the pinion gear is going to be smaller with high gear ratio, giving the torque advantage to the lower gear ratios on the same exact reel. Another part that I think has to do is how fast the lure is getting pulled through the water. You should feel proportional resistance based on the speed so that factor along with the gear should contribute to the less torque. I lost two good fish on the Conquest 200 last year because it ran at me towards the bank, and I couldn't keep up :/ so I decided to upgrade the ratio to 6.2, giving me around 30 IPT. It's still extremely smooth, but not as comfortable to crank lures on, I will take the trade off of landing those fish though

I think the main reason why the older conquest feels like its more powerful is because of the IPT. I changed the gear of my 200 to HG recently and bumped it up from 24 IPT to 30.7 IPT. It still feels extremely smooth but not as powerful as lower gear ratio where I was comfortably pulling in 15 pound Bluefish. The same can be said for the new Conquest 300-400 compared to older ones, the older model only had 25 IPT where the new models are at 30.7; that increase in speed and smaller pinion gear is definitely going to make the reel a bit more uncomfortable to really crank down. I have noticed that I lose more fish with low gear ratios than high gear ratios though.

I just got my 400 this year so I can't comment on the power. I did have my 200 for the last 1.5 years, and I have hauled in anything from 1/4 pound bass to 15 pound Northern Pike and Bluefish, and I have never thought it was lacking power. The heaviest bait I have thrown was 6 oz I-Slide 262T and didn't have trouble with it at all.

Mind giving us the weight of the lure when you get it in hand? The lure looks great, exact color that consistently gets bit in my local water too.

The fluorocarbon they use (Toray Super Hard Strong) is pretty thick. The 25lb is .465 mm thick, which has breaking strength of over 30 lbs, and the 30lb is .505 mm thick, which has breaking strength of 40 lbs. I hate when they label by pounds, it's just too inconsistent.

Jackall Aska SR is my favorite.

What's a jig?

It honestly depends on what you want from a reel. Do you just want to fish those lures you described above? Then any of those mid tier options would do the job. Do you want something that "Wow"s you every single time you hold it in your hand and turn the handle? Then Conquest, and Ryoga Shrapnel is the way to go.

Thanks for doing this

Conquest isn't in the same class as the D imo.

What 14lb line are you using? Citica is a 200 sized reel, so the line probably has breaking strength of 20 lbs, which I usually throw the 6 inch punkers with. I would just bump it up to a .405 mm line for heavier model though... You should still be able to get around 90 yards or so on the spool which should be good for one time use.