Micro

Yes. As time goes by, projected paths always seem to move west. A little more west and we have a path right over the Outer Banks, NC and Hampton Roads, Va. It's supposed to be a Cat 4 storm by Thursday. If it hits, it will make a Hurricane Isabel look like a walk in the park. Time to get more gas for the generator. My neighborhood was without power for nearly 2 weeks when Isabel hit.

I just got back from Little Creek Reservoir in James City Co., Virginia. Bank fished from 6-7 pm. This is a decent size reservoir with extremely clear water. The lake is about 7 feet low (too low to put a boat out) and there is a lot of grass right now. A lot is matted on the surface, but most is a few feet under the surface. Tonight I fished the sub-surface Koppers Live Target Crawfish Crank in orange/brown. This bait caught 2. I also fished the Norman Thin N in a sexy shad type color. This bait caught 1 (and 1 big-*** bull frog). I fished the Yo-Zuri 3D crank in ayu color. Nothing on this bait. The Koppers is a surface/sub-surface bait that wakes if you crank is slow, and just under the surface on a little faster retrieve. It has an extremely wide wobble. The Thin N has a wide wobble and dives to about 2 or 3 feet. The Yo Zuri has a slightly tighter wobble and likewise dives to about 2 or 3 feet.

I guess I don't understand your question. Why the difference? The answer is obvious - because they are different reels. Are you using different line oth both reels? I can tighten the drag on my spinning reel tight enough to snap 8lb test. But I can't tighten the drag enough on my baitcasters tight enough to snap 17 lb test (I can but I don't want to crank if down that hard.) Just tighten your drags enough so the line comes off with a little force - a couple of pounds. You don't need max drag pressure to bass fish. I really think you are overthinking this drag issue. There is nothing wrong with your reels.

Cranking the drag downs tightens the drag. Plus, you are probably using lighter line on the spinning reel? Loosen the drag on the spinning reel and the "problem" will go away.

Lemme know what you think after you watch it. And I agree about Waltz. He's an astonishingly good actor - and that's the only movie I know him from.

What about when the German General was negotiating with the Russians in Russian. Then there were German subtitles, too. Must have made for a cluttered screen for you.

I actually like Bowfin. Thet are friggin' pit bulls with scales. My biggest is about 7.5 lbs, caught on a Dave's 3/4 oz football head jig and Paca Craw. I saw one once attacking a school of minnows in a pocket between the roots of a cypress tree. The minnows were so frenzied they were jumping up the side of the tree to escape. And I once lost three senkos in a row to a bowfin. The strikes were so fast and hard that it tore my senko completely in half. Three in a row on three casts. At that point, I got tired of feeding it senkos and moved on. I can't imagine Snakeheads have anything on Bowfin.

I watched it some time ago and just watched it again last night and again this morning on YouTube. Friggin' amazing movie. It's about the final days of Hitler and the Nazis. It's a German movie with English subtitles. The acting is superb and the filmography is as good as the best that has ever come out of Hollywood. It's a 1hr 55min movie. On YoiTube its divided up into 17 parts. But watching it is easy since as soon as one segment ends the next pops up. If you are a WWII history buff, or just like war movies, this is one of the best ever made. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBhNFGLqdls

How about some lures...

You plannng on doing the bag and scale thing each time you go fishing? Just wing it. Loosen your drags when your rods are sitting around unused. Tighten them a bit so the line pulls out with a little force then fish. The fish you catch will tell you how much drag you need. I only get my drags adjusted where I want them while I am actually fishing.

There's a knurled screw-head on the top of the crank-side sideplate. Turn it counter-clockwise until it's loose. It won't come all the way out, but pull it out until it stops. (Just a fraction of an inch.) When it's loose, turn the opposite sideplate clockwise about 1/8 turn. It may be a bit tight. Once it turns, lift it straight off. You will see the brake on the end of the spool underneath. To adjust the brakes, hold the reel firmly in both hands, and used BOTH of your thumbnails to push (pop) the little brake shoes UP to the turn on a brake, or DOWN to turn it off. Using both thumbnails give you better control. The brake shoes (6 of them) are on little posts. There is a itty-bitty tab on the post. Pop the shoe down towards the axle until it pops past that tab to turn it off. Pop it up past that tab (so its loose on the pst) to turn it on. I have found the reel works well with 2 brakes ON and 4 OFF. The two that are on should be precisely opposite of each other. Here is a series of photos for a rebuild of a Revo Inshore, which is very much like the Revo S. http://www.bloodydecks.com/forums/fishing-reels/91795-ambassaduer-revo-inshore-rebuild.html

Nice review! $35 and Korean made? Korea turns out some good products. For a no-frills reel for someone on a tight budget, sounds like its worth a look.

I lay my left thumb on top of the reel. My index finger wraps around the front of the reel. And mt 3rd, 4th and 5th fingers are under the reel seat. On some reels, the pawl cap is very exposed and rubs back and forth across my index finger when cranking. This doens't happen on any Daiwa reel I have. I can wrap my finger around the front of them and never touch the pawl cap. On the Curado I can feel it a bit. But on the Revo, I can really feel the pawl cap moving. That's a very irritating to me.

Yes, those were mine and I sold all 4 of them, as well as a 502. I've currently replaced all my spinning reels with Shimanos. I've only ever owned one Shimano spinning reel before now, a 4000 Spirex, which was heavy as a cinder block. I got rid of that. Now I own a couple of Stradics, a couple of Symetres and a current model Spirex 2500. One thing I've noticed regardles of the price of the reels, is that Shimanos are smooth. Even my cheap Spirex is smooth. Also, the rotors are exceptionally well balanced. If you turn the anti-reverse swith off on the Stradics and Symetres, the rotor is so well balanced that the reel handle swings to the down position as soon as you let go of it. And they get that balance without using screw-in counter weights in the rotor. I'm not used to that. The Stradic is a bit more refined than the Symetres, but practically, they have nothing performance-wise on the Symetre. The Symetre is an exceptionally smooth and well balanced. It's a great reel for the price. If you can, I highly recommend saving a bit more for one. It will be money well spent.

After my last discussion on braid, I've decided to give it more time. I've got three rigs spooled with it now. I have 50lb Sufix on one rig, and 50lb Stren Sonic Braid on two others. I have two 6'8" MH/F rods with Daiwa Zillions spooled with braid. I use these for Rage Tail Space Monkeys and light frogs. And I have one 7' H/XF rod with a Daiwa Zillion that is my dedicated heavy frog rod. I chose 50lb braid because is the smallest diameter braid that I've tried where I get consistently good performance, minimal backlashes and dig-ins. 30lb worked well, but 50lb works better and just as good as 65lb. Therefore, I see no need for 65lb braid at all. All my rigs are backed with about 25 yards of 10lb Trilene XL. It's easy to use an albright knot to connect 50lb braid and 10lb mono. (My theory is that if you get down to the backing, you are sorta screwed anyway.) I use a palomar knot to tie on lures that retrieve in a straight line. For frogs, or baits witha side to side action, I use a rapala knot. For me, the strength of braid is the low stretch. I can get solid hooksets from long distances. The weakness is that braid doesn't have very good abrasion resistance. And in vegetation that is above the water surface, braid settles into it more than mono or co-poly. It will cut into soft vegetation where mono and co-poly won't - at least not as much. It also tends to settle into nook and crannies that mono tends to ride over.

Mine...

Now that you mention it, I've noticed that when I am throwing a split shot rig, I get bluegill hits on my silver split shot. The one's I've painted dull green don't seem to get hit.

For shallow cranks, I used a Fenwick HMG 6'6" M/MF (model GT66M). http://www.tackletour.com/reviewfenwickhmg.html

I'm confident the 200GTB will be sufficient. It holds 110 yards (330 feet) of 14 lb line. I'll have around 300 feet using 17lb Yo-Zuri Hybrid. If it isn't, I'll buy a new spool.

I just bought a Shimano Calcutta 200GTB for this very purpose. I will be using it for baits up to the size of a Mattlures Hard Gill. Haven't picked the rod yet. I'm confident that this reel will have all the capacity and durability I need for these baits, and heavier if I choose to go a bit heavier.

Like Russ said, the Sol is well built. It has a bronze drive gear and bronze worn gear. It's got a good drag. My issue is that is has a very light free floating spool and the intent of the reel isn't heavy cranking. It's a finesse reel and a reel for light baits. Will the Daiwa Sol do deep cranking duties? Yes. Will a Honda Sol pull your bass boat? Yes. But that's not its intent.

I don't think it would be an ideal deep cranking reel. IMO, the Sol doesn't have the spool capacity, or the power to be a really good deep cranking reel. I've used them and caught bass in heavy weeds and retrieving them on a Sol can be pretty laborious. Cranking deep, heavy cranks is going to get tiring after awhile. The Sol excels at casting light baits - shaky heads, small cranks and topwaters. It is out of its element casting DD22s.

The Okumas seem to be well regarded by everyone that has tried them. The price is very attractive, too. I'm concerned about how fast it is. Is it meant to be used with top-hook soft bodied swimbaits? Or is it slow enough to use with trebles? I think I want what is tantamount to the really big cranking rod.

I need a rod that will handle up to 3 oz baits. All the baits I want to cast that are around that weight have trebles. So I've been looking for a heavy, medium-fast rod. Seems all I can find are muskie rods. That option seems reasonable to me. Anyone use a muskie rod for throwing big bass baits?

I'm developing a nice collection of hard swimbaits. Not huge baits. I have a a bunch of Sebile Magic Swimmers in various sizes, Jackall Girons, Jackall Mikeys and Mikey Jrs, Jackall Dagoreds, some Spro BBZ-1 Shads, some Spro BBZ-1 6" trouts, some MattLures hard bluegills. Are there any nice alternatives to Plano boxes that will accomodate these?