So i headed to Gander and picked up a Flueger President combo. never owned a flueger before. seems like a nice outfit for my shallow river smallmouth adventures. the rod is a 6.5' graphite and seems very responsive. its one piece though which i don't like but the whole shebang was 42 bucks so i doubt i'll go wrong.

i want to put some 6lb on it. other than the usual stren, anybody have a suggestion on a good line for one of these little reels? mostly smallies, cats and an occasional carp is what i usually get.

I’ve converted nearly completely to Suffix 832. Just don’t overfill the spool.

I've used Trilene XL 6 pound for over 20 years catching smallmouth in the rivers of WV & consider it the best line by far. I've take them to just over 5 pounds. Once at Smith Mountain I landed a 15 pound striped bass on the same line & a Penn 420.

Braid is great because of the increased sensitivity over mono because it doesn’t stretch and the increased strength to diameter. I really can’t understand how anyone would use mono at this point.

Same here.
Braid is better, and 832 is a better braid.

good to know. i'll hunt some up this weekend.

I bought a President combo at the original Cabelas store on my way to Alaska when I moved up. 4500 size spinning reel on an 8’ medium heavy rod. Used it for years and caught all 5 species of pacific salmon on it, though none of the Kings were much over 35lb. Rod was a 1pc and I didn’t have room for it when we moved so I gave it to a buddy and kept the reel. Blew it up sandbass or walleye fishing last year but it was about 12 years old so I guess it gave pretty good service.

I’ll differ from the popular opinion here as far as line goes. I like the hassle free aspect of mono, easier to tie, pick backlashes and loops out of, easier to cut when changing lures, doesn’t fray on fish teeth, and plus it is easier on line guides and reel internals.
I have my catfish rods spooled with 80lb braid because they hook themselves easier with circles with the stretch free braid. The catfish rigs all get a 3’ 30-50lb mono leader so the sandpaper teeth on a big blue doesn’t fray the braid. I also keep one dedicated crappie rod spooled with small diameter braid for the sole purpose of jigging brush and rock piles, I can just straighten the hook and free my jig when I’m constantly getting snagged fishing tight structure. Other than these situations I don’t care for braid. YMMV