Micro

Freshwater Drum.

It has a pretty good reputation, even among the hoity-toity Japanese reel crowd.

Is 2 ounces a big deal on a rig like that?

I'm not even sure where the Pluton fits into bass fishing. Maybe as a swimbiat reel for the biggest bass swimbaits. Otherwifes, it's just overbuilt for bass fishing. Now, as a dedicated striped bass reel for throwing big plugs, it's just the ticket.

It's only on the piece under the drag star.

The new Fenwick HMGs, with the TAC grips, Alconite guides, and carbon veil wrap, are very promising. If they maintain the sensitivity of the current HMGs, and add all that stuff, at a price point of $99, it will be, no question, the best rod anywhere near that price range.

Good decision. It's an excellent reel. And a phenominal deal at that price.

A little bit of backplay, IMO, is a good thing. IMO, a little back play provides a little more feel and compliments a sensitive rod. My Daiwa Zillions have almost zero back play. My Revos have the tiniest bit. I swear, I can feel ticks and bumps on a rod better with a Revo than with a Zillion.

Calvin and Hobbes. My all-time favorite.

I always hated that song. "Age Of Aquarius," too.

Senkos t-rigged or wacky rigged tossed under docks.

Morris Creek does produce. I can give you a couple of tips after this weekend.

Try the mouth of the fish ladders at the dam. Billions of little baitfish move through there. Got any Silver Buddies? Jigging them near the fish ladder migh be productive.

My two biggest bass ever were both a bit under 8 lbs. The bigger one was caught on a Creme pre-rigged worm with one of those little propellers. The other was caught on a Culprit. I've caught lots of bass on Culprits. They are great, classic, baits.

What else could you do?

Haven't seen a single reference to Fenwick's new offerings debuted at ICAST. Then I found this video at TW. Some darn nice looking rods. http://www.***.com/icast09.html?ccode=FENRODS09

The 800 series is the predecessor to the new Soron STX, SX, and 700 series reels. The 800 has been discontinued in favor of the new Soron. The 800 is all metal - body, sideplate, rotor, bail arms, etc. It has HCPR bearing throughout. Different styling. The 800 is an extremely tough reel. The 600 is no slouch, either, but the 800 does step it up a bit in components.

IMO, the Revo STX is more robustly made. The drag is superior. For flipping and pitching you don't even need a brake. And it doesn't matter where the brake is set for these techniques. I leave it set for about 50 % (not that it makes a difference) and loosen the tension knob so the lure drops like a rock. The STX becomes a flipping and pitching beast. If I decide I want to do some distance casting with a Horny Toad, I just tighten the tension knob and get extremely good casting distance.

I got to use Sam's Curado E5 this weekend a bit. Not bad.

I'm just curious about Shimano's pricing. I'd never say any of the reels from the Citica on up aren't good. But it seems to me that you get far less between whatever you have and the next model up than the price difference would suggest. For instance, there is a $120 difference between the Curado and the Chronarch. Yeah, you get metal sideplates with Chronach, but not much else. If you want a lighter Chronarch, you can pay $20 more for the Core. If you want a smaller Core, you pay $20 more to get the Mg. I guess for me, the problem starts with the price difference between the Curado and the Chronarch. I don't think the $20 price increase from the Chronarch to the Core is unreasonable, or $20 more than that for the Mg. But $120 from the Curado to the Core seems out of hand. I just don't see $120 more performance. And that throws the price of the rest of the reels out of kilter.

Nice!

I use both, but I think Owners are generally superior, too.

WOW! Great post!

I use a Revo STX for pitching. I use a Revo S for flipping. But it could as easily be the other way around. It's more about the rod, anyway. You can pitch with a flipping rod, and you can flip with a pitching rod. But technicaly, they really aren't the same. A pitching rod will have more give in the tip so the rod can load some. A flipping rod is essentially crane boom that is very stiff from bottom to tip.

Sam and I hooked up at 6:00 AM on the Chickahominy River in Virginia. He was gracious and took me along on a most excellent fishing adventure. We headed across the river to a creek where Sam immediately set the bar with a small bass on a LC crankbait fished near some logs and blowdowns. Despite the fact he was using a Shimano, he did not seem handicapped . Did you know Sam sings when he has a hook up? We crossed the creek where I had a hookup with a small bass. Unfortunately, I set the hook too hard, yanked the fish out of the water and it slid across his front deck, came unhooked, and did a triple lindy off the front of his boat. It felt a lot bigger than it was. :-/ We crossed the creek again and Sam nailed a decent blue catfish on his crank bait. More singing. A few more yards up the shoreline Sam nailed this wopper white perch on a Rapala Jointed Shad Rap. No singing this time. I think it tuckered Sam out. See how big it is when he holds it way out? Not wanting to let up the pace, we motored up the creek and fished some docks. This little fellow was hiding underneath and he was all too happy to suck down my senko knock-off... Then we motored all the way up river and fished some canals and a dam. I found out Sam can converse with geese. I think he should change his name to Dr. Doolittle. We fished near a fish ladder and despite seeing several bass hitting baitfish going through the ladder, we had no luck. Neither did the several other boats that congregated near the ladder. Then we went back to the creek that we started and Sam caught another nice cat, a channel cat this time, and I boated one more small bass on a shallow Shad Rap. Despite the lack of a lot of fish, it was a great day! Sam's a great host. Sam, thanks so much for a great day on the water!!