BrettRay81

Coosa is my home river. Amazing place to fish, especially if you’re a moving water type guy although there is good fishing in the lakes like Weiss, Neely Henry, Martin, Jordan, etc. I love to float the upper headwater areas . It’s a different type of fishing and if someone has fished lakes their whole life they won’t catch a thing. Largemouth are nearly nonexistent in those areas except the oddball you can find in the slackwater feeder creeks where they meet the main river. Anyone ever tells you that spot fishing is for light line and small jigs has never fished the Coosa or Lewis Smith. Those guys will snap your 10lb bullshi* line just to be a d***.

Love seeing your posts. I’m a skinny water fisherman at heart and it’s my favorite thing to do. I’m usually chasing Alabama spots in clear creeks but occasionally go an hour or less north and fish for smallies in some feeder creeks going into guntersvillle lake. Fun times especially when you get the surprise catch of the 15-25lb stripers that swim up creeks in the summertime for that cool oxygenated water.

Own one silver 1016H, 1 SLP Ryoga 1016H, 1 2018 1016CC, and 1 2018 1016H. All were bought used except the SLP. By far the smoothest reels I’ve ever felt. You can feel absolutely zero tooth meshing and far and away smoother than the new Zillion HD I just bought. I don’t see how a reel could get any better than the 2018 Ryoga except I hope they come out with a 300 and 400 size updated Ryoga and keep the micro mesh gears instead of the digigear.

Only by 10m I believe but yea I use 100 size reals exclusively with all 18 Ryoga 1016’s but I’m never throwing over 2.5oz and 99% of my fishing is in kayak chasing Alabama spots in current with multiple 7’ max swimbait rods so not looking to bomb a bait but make effortless accurate casts. I did just order the new Zillion HD from Plat that should be here tomorrow to go on a new rod I’m testing out. It’s the Daiwa Black Label SG 632HFB and so far it’s awesome af for skipping 5-6” soft swim baits under trees and docks. For anything under 4oz the only con to using 100 size reel is the spool capacity but with way more pro’s that goes along with less weight and mass. If anyone tells you that they aren’t capable, I’d question their experience with mechanical knowledge.

Run Sufix 131 30lb to 15lb CXX on a couple setups and I don’t think I could find much better way of inventing the wheel than that but I’m running them on 1016 Ryogas with 3oz as my top end weight.

I asked the same thing a couple months ago and nothing but crickets. If it ain’t a hype bait, you won’t hardly get a reply. I get the assumption that if it ain’t made of resin or wood there’s a lot of people here that will turn their nose up at. The videos I’ve seen it looks good

Get a Silver Daiwa Ryoga 2020 or Luna 256. I can assure those reels won’t flex any and they aren’t huge and awkward to hold like I think the 300 size low profiles are. Those reels will hold plenty of mono and are machined aluminum frames. It doesn’t get any tougher than those two.

Well said. I agree completely. Terrible look for someone trying to sell you something.

Ryugi Piece double hooks. Tacklewarehouse has them in all different sizes. Pretty much does away with a big portion of hook rash and they are every bit as good if not better with keeping fish pinned.

Buy yourself a Ryoga 1016 for anything under 3-4oz and a 1520 for anything over, use Sufix 131 30lb braid and a mono leader of something like P-Line 15lb CXX. You don’t need 300-400 size reels to fish swimbaits. You just don’t. Cal from TT has been doing this same thing forever. 100 or 150 sized real, braid, leader if wanted or needed for abrasion resistance around rocks, done. People have slowly realized this compared to when Swimbait fishing was in its beginnings. Back then you saw everyone with 300 Daiwa Luna’s and Conquest 300/400’s and huge broomstick musky rods. My setups are light as a feather. Don’t have any SB rod that weights over 150g/5.25oz and don’t want one but I don’t throw much of anything over 3.5 ounces and mostly in 2.5 range. You case will be different because your using heavier stuff but I would just go out and try everything you can get your hands on of friends or fellow fisherman in the area because there is a very very good possibility that despite all the amazing fisherman on this forum that recommends something, it’s more than likely you will be different and gravitate towards something totally different. Another option would be a Daiwa Millionaire/Luna 200 series reel. Have one on deep crank rod and there’s no way I’d put anything else on there. Not big, palms good, and bronze pinion gear and a main gear with big ol teeth will last forever.

Definitely another reel. In a perfect word you’d have at least 3 setups. A sensitive rod for softbaits like Hudds, a fast action soft tip rod for wakes and crankdowns like 7’11 Daiwa Rebellion or Daiwa Black Label LG 6’11 and a stiff tipped (like a JDM regular taper, not a U.S. mod-fast, mod, or regular) rod like Evergreen Giant Dire Wolf or Daiwa Black Label SG 7’ for glides made for creating rod action to bait.

The 7’11 Rebellion is one of the best rods made for crankdowns and top water wakebaits. That soft tip really lets the bait vibrate without tip “fighting” the bait to stay straight. That’s literally what the rod was designed for according to Daiwa Japan. Been thinking of trying it with softbaits like Bucca Burritos and think it would be great in cold weather to allow you to visualize the bite from seeing the tip move. The weight of the bait would bend the Rebellions tip a lot when bottom bouncing so any soft wintertime bite would be obvious visually by watching tip but yet the rod has serious backbone that gets there quick. Still testing this hypothesis but looks promising

Great catch lol

If it’s throwing topwaters swim baits with a lip then you’ll want a fast taper rod with a soft tip. The Daiwa Rebellion 7’11 and 6’9 are both fast taper rods with tip sections designed to fish big baits with lips along with Daiwa Black Label LG 6’11 Swimbait rod rated to 5oz. The Rebellions are rated to 4 but can throw more. All rods have super fast tapers with soft flexible tips to not impede bait action with lipped baits. You don’t want a rod with a stiff tip fighting the natural vibration of lipped swim baits.

I guess these would be considered “other species” since most everyone is targeting largemouth on here, and the biggest one in the lake also but I fish a clear mountain small river near my home that I use BFS gear on to catch Alabama spotted bass and Coosa redeye bass. I honestly would rather do that than fish the big rivers and lakes in my area like Coosa river and Guntersville lake. Something about gin clear water and hiking in the mountains fishing areas where the fish have never seen a fishing lure is captivating. Nothing gets my blood pumping more than seeing a big redeye in the clear running water and trying to pull off the perfect cast to catch them. It really tests your skills and dedication cause that clear of water makes it really hard to fool them. That’s why you gotta make them react with faster moving bait like 63mm Duo jerkbaits, Jackall Baby Giron Swimbait, Gancraft jointed claw 70, small cranks, and small plastic swim baits like Megabass Dark Sleeper. There is no prettier bass than a redeye. Looks like a mix of smallmouth, Alabama spotted bass, and a small amount of largemouth genes that evolved in clear rocky creeks with current in isolation for a long time. One of the only species of bass that isn’t outcompeted into extinction when in the same area as Alabama spots. They both share a lot of same areas and evolved alongside each other except redeyes are almost never found in main river, only feeder creeks and smaller clear rivers. I couldn’t think of a place I’d rather live than central to north Alabama. We have nearly all 13 or so bass species in this state with exception to the Guadeloupe bass which is in Texas.

If you were looking for a smaller rated Daiwa you could go with the Rebellion series 7’11 or 6’9. Both rated to 4 oz with a fast, soft tip that was designed to be a magnum crankbait or crank down Swimbait rod according to Daiwa. Flimsy tips aren’t designed that way to “keep fished hooked” with trebles like so many claim in U.S. but are that way so that lipped baits action isn’t impeded by a stiff tip that won’t allow as much vibration. Plus a stiff tip with a lipped bait with much resistance will wear you out and jar a filling from your head. Lol. The Daiwa Black Label LG 6’11 is another rod designed for lipped big baits and Daiwa Black Label SG 7’ is designed for glidebaits and made for using rod work to work the bait with jerks and twitches. Own all 3 of these rods and they are all specialized rods. The SG 7’ is rated a slow taper and looks like a pool cue with zero tip movement and a deep parabolic bend deep into the rod. Not like a crankbait rod from the U.S. with a whippy tip but a big stiff tip and thin blank all the way back to handle but that thing has some awesome power. It’s more like a dual taper rod. Fast action at tip, slow action into the blank. The LG and Rebellion are polar opposite to SG.

Love the Ryugi’s. Put them on all my swim baits in my starting rotation. Still not decided on front hooks turned back where it tucks into bait or the other way. I’m using them where they tuck into the bait on crankdowns like Deps Bulldoze Jr and lipless like Vitalion so I can crash them into cover without getting caught all the time. Just started this and have yet to get on the water much at all with work being so hectic but I’ll definitely put it through the proving grounds soon.