Ballpark Frank

A few days ago I had posted one of my Revo SX's up for trade, and worked out a deal with Alpster. This reel had never been mounted on a rod, nor seen line. When I bought it at _ _ , I thought I checked it out pretty good, but apparently not. The reel had sat on my tackle rack for a few weeks, when I decided I wanted something else, and thought a trade on BR would be best. Well, we work out the deal and I get the reel out to look it over before I ship it. I loosened everything(not too much) and released the spool and spun it. The spool mad a weird noise, not too loud, and kinda like grinding. I tightened things up a bit, a did it again, this time worse. I contacted Alpster and canceled the trade. Sorry on both sides I am pretty sure. I suspected that the reel did not come from the factory that way, but it was only intuition. I went to _ _ yesterday with my receipt to return the reel. Guess what, the reel was a previous return that was restocked. I am wondering if someone returned the reel for the same reason, or if someone damaged it then returned it. Anyway I am upset with _ _ because of this, the first time it was returned, they should have checked it out and returned it to the manufacturer or something. Now I have a $150 store credit to use at a store I am angry with. This is another reason I rarely shop at chain stores, I would not have there, but it was a gift card I recieved for Christmas.

same as Catt, 1/2 oz. only My daughter does use the 1/8 oz.(I think thats right) Pond Magic spinners.

Spinnerbait(1/2oz. Terminator T-1 chartreuse and white with 1 large gold willow blade and 1 small colorado nickel blade).

Welcome to tht best place on the net for Bass Anglers, the advice and information abounds.

KYbass, the trophy collection is a series of reels that are dedicated to certain gamefishes. Abu Garcia has never said that these were "9-11 World Trade Center commemoratives", they are just a collectible AG reel that happened to use the 911 for the numbers released. To my understanding this number is not to reflect Sept. 11, but #911 for emergency, fire, and police. My immediate family contains 10 police officers and 4 fire fighters, I do not need to be reminded of their and others sacrifice and duty.

Zoom U-tail in pumpkinseed, watermelon/red flake, junebug, and redbug

Great Yak-bass PDB. I ope to do a little travelling with the yak this summer, and fish some of the coastal areas. Thanks for the invite Vols, but Friday will be my only day to get out. I'll be at that "little" nuclear plant on wheeler the rest of the weekend.

As an Abu collector, I say yes. Just look at some of the prices for the Trophy collections, special edition paint(orange, camo, cigar box), and overseas versions. The value does not go up the way some want, but it will go up a little. Then someone like myself will buy them.

I have always used mono, but this new Trilene Flouro is trying it's best to convert me. I have it on my worm/jig rod and love it. The price is about the only con I have, but it seems to be worth it compared to the $10 for Vanish. Try it, you'll like it.

I actually had some luck with them this past fall, but the majority where dinks. I upgraded to the Booyah version in 1/2oz and started catching a larger but fewer. I fish them just like a spinnerbait; ripping on top, stop and go, slow rolling, etc. Heck for $4, I would buy several and give as gifts throughout the year. 1 regular chatterbait costs around $6.

Moving back to the topic. I only recently(last year) started fishing plastics and alot of my reasoning was money. I got tired of the cost of unretrievable lost lures, primarily cranks and swimbaits. Now I find that I should spend $4-$6 on 4 weights to use my $3 bag of lizards, to throw in cover with a greater chance of snags and breaks. No way, I will continue to use lead and occasionally brass.

The weather is supposed to be a little warmer this weekend, I am going out on Wheeler Lake this Friday around 9am. If any paddlers would like to join, let me know.

I also say Rapala DT and flat DT.

I have an RCN50 and 60. I love these reels, but they rarely get fished. They are both on inshore/saltwater rods, therefore they only get used about 3 times a year. They are in MY OPINION, the pinnacle of AG's current round reel lineup. I personally dislike the new wave of EXTs, they try to be Morrums but never will be! The guys at tackle tour did a review of the Record, check it out.

My BCR803 has taken over almost all of my plastics work except light plastics (less than 3/16) which my BCR852 handles. I rarely throw anything greater than 3/4.

Green tubes, brown tubes,white tubes, black tubes, small tubes, big tubes, t-rig tubes, rattle tubes, alka seltzer tubes, backward tubes, etc. I guess what I am saying is TUBES.

This is an example of why I do most of my shopping at a local shop. The owner and staff are knowledgeable(they fish the same waters as I) and don't try to sell you stuff you don't need. I can go in, have a cup of coffee and browse their stock without anyone bothering me. Oh yeah, if they have a sale, you actually save money.

US Reels products are not American Made.

Although I am starting to use Trilene 100% Flouro, most of my outfits(7 out of 10) have Big Game 15# green. No it is not as supple as XL, fish see it better than flouro, not as thin or strong as braid, but it does virtually everything I need it to do.

There have been several posts about these reels, mostly with good reviews. Just do a simple search and you should be able to get all the information you are asking for.

I rarely purchase anything online, the shipping usually cancels out the great deal you are getting. I have ordered from Cabela's a couple of times when the savings justified the shipping cost. I prefer to shop at my local tackle store, West End Outdoors(www.bassbuckandduck.com). They carry all of my favorites(Abu, G Loomis, Zoom, Reaction Innovations, etc.) and usually knock some off, if you shop there often.

I say use it. I have only recently started using LP, but I have a love for the rounds. On my regular set of rods, 3 have LPs and 4 have rounds. My favorite(current, it changes weekly) out of the whole bunch is a 4600C4 Mag that I have on a St.Croix 2-piece Premier that lives in my car as the travel rod. Something about the narrow spool enables me to cast farther and control better, I use almost no cast control knob and no mags. It could also be a comfort zone.

I don't know if things have changed but all of the Max reels I have looked at had "polymetric/graphite" frames.

I believe "high sticking" refers to taking the rod past the 45-60 degree angle while fighting a fish(or pulling on a snag,oops). This takes the rod past it's design "bend". I broke a 10 weight fly rod by trying to pull line off parallel with the rod with the reel's drag set at around 25%.

Funny thing, I asked for opinions on the Exceler a week or so ago. Everyone said to wait until it proved itself, being that it is a new model and all. I checked it out on my BCR803 and really liked it. It is smooth and as noted above, it has a aluminum frame. I think you will be happy with the Exceler, mddj.