Thread: All Things Ultralight

I’m a big fan of St Croix rods. Shimano reels on all of them even my ditch pickle rods. Deer and turkeys don’t care what gun you shoot them with and fish don’t care what rods you use to catch them.

Originally Posted by Alphahawk

As has been said...discuss what you want to discuss. I don't recall anyone on here ever poo pooing someone else's gear. This is big subforum.....I recall a number of posts of folks talking about UL gear other than JDM sourced.


Regards

I am not suggesting in any way that anybody ever poo-pooed any body else's equipment. And neither is that my intention. That is what I love about crappie.com. But I have read the entire all things ultralight subforum and while there are some non JDM posts they are few and far between. I've also read a bunch of the parent forum and it is almost the same. If you are honest with yourself I expect you would agree. You have to go to the main crappie forum to get away from it. But then the focus there isn't UL and panfish.

As you said post about what I want. I will certainly do so. And I am sure I will get friendly, helpful responses. I visit a fair number of forums and this is without a doubt the nicest, friendliest bunch anywhere.

But I also completely enjoy your's and other's posts on JDM as well. Keep up all the useful information. Maybe someday I can save up the money to stick my toe in the JDM water.

I too have had my roots in domestic, sometimes downright cheap equipment. I found a 5’ Fenwick at a flea market for two dollars and didn’t have to fix anything on it. I don’t have any true JDM rods or reels yet, but like you I’m studying up on some of it and will one day take a small bite of that pie. I have to handle a rod before I buy it usually so I recently built a 5’6” Fenwick UL to what I saw as JDM style and weight. It’s sweet and was way under $100. Now if I handle someone else’s nice rod I might have to look into one of my own, but my stable is already pretty full. I will say that a more expensive reel with lots of bearings, in some cases, is a thing of wonder in your hand and I’ll have one sometime soon. I became spoiled on a Daiwa Capricorn 1500 reel that rotated itself from the weight of the handle. That was 15 years ago and it’s still smooth and casts very well. I want another like that with todays technology. So as you see I will spend some money here and there. I also will pass on a lot of things and put those extra dollars to use somewhere else. One of my first UL setups was a 5’6” browning Sliaflex rod with a Daiwa Mini Mite reel that I used until the gears were gone and would bind under the pressure of a good gill. Haven’t been the same since. If you see one of my posts of a recent trip, it usually has a pic of the rod and jig I use. Other than plastics I tie my own, a lot of the time the colors come from the plastics I use. To me, a rod over $60 takes a lot of thought and I own none of the St Croix lineup. One of theirs has my eye but runs about twice my comfort level so it’s been on the want list for almost ten years now. We all fish and think different and we all get along here and our gear is like our thoughts, all different. Bring your tales of your events, tackle and trips here, we’d all like to read about them. Hope to hear from you soon.

One big advantage the JDM spin rods have are their micro guides. These rods cast further than American made rods due to less line slap. One reason for fishing ultralight is so one can cast lighter lures and jigs, even flies. So I'm a JDM rod convert for life until the American rod makers figure that out.

As for shallow spools I can see their use for light lines for pan fish and bass. But I fish rivers for trout and sometimes I like having a deep spool for the extra line backing when drift fishing. My last purchased reel, a Shimano Vanguard 2000 I purchased in the US for the deeper spool.



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Skeetbum,

When you said "I have to handle a rod before I buy it" that is exactly how I feel. I am not buying any rod that I haven't handled and I know of nowhere around me that I can do that with a JDM rod. I kind of feel the same way about a reel. But at least with a reel it is less of a problem to return it if I don't like it.

I'll see if I ever find the means and inclination to buy JDM tackle of any kind. In the meanwhile I am slowly learning more about it. But I am satisfied and happy with what I use. My St. Croix's are 15 or more years old so they were a lot less when I bought them and my income was a lot more back then.

Happy Easter.


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