Micro

I haven't fished there this year, but the fishing is good, if you look for it. The best area is the section of lake on the other side of the Jefferson Avenue/I-64 bridge. The lake is pretty good. Not my favorite, but it will produce decent fish.

There are more palms in the yard of the house next door. They look much closer together and may be the ones in the picture. Of course, its just a guess. But they definately look like the same kinds of palms, only with much more mature.

Reliable, smooth, easy casting, best drag in the business.

Here's the current US Post Office in Helena, GA. Palms very similar to the ones in the photo do, indeed, exist very close to it.

You were there and weighed it? You must be looking at a different picture than me. Because the kid in the picture I posted is most definitalte standing very close to and beside that bass. Matt, stop getting so worked up. You're going to give yourself an aneurysm :-[. Perry's family has stated that's Perry's fishing partner that day. They've also verified that the photo was taken in front of the GA post office where it was weighed. Just like the known photo of Perry. It's a 20+lb fish, even by your standards (and 30+ inches by mine). So it's almost certainly Perry's fish. Unless it's some other 20+lb GA fish no one knows about (and do we really want to go there?). What is not in dispuite is that it's a fish caught in its native range that wasn't stocked and virtually hand fed high fat, high protein non-natural meals to make it big. That alone makes it a more impressive fish than any fish I've seen from other states.

The Zone, Randall already spoke to that issue. Today ain't the 1930s.

My last time out on my boat... Friday, April 10 Chickahominy Reservoir, southeast Virginia. Started out at about 8:30AM, finished to about 5:30PM. Water temp about 59 in the morning, warming up to about 64 by mid afternoon. Water is stained. I fished crwdad and chart colored Bomber Fat As, brown craw colored T/N70 lipless, and X-Raps, without result (these had been productive earlier in the week). Around 11:30 AM I started fishing edges of weeds that the wind was blowing into. I was using a a 7' mh/f rod with 12# Yo-Zuri Hybrid, green. I was using a Rage Tail Space Monkey in green pumpkin/black flakes on an Owner Twist Lock weighter 4/0 hook. Hooked up in most coves and pockets in the weed line. Caught a great many buck bass, but caught several bigger bas in the 2-3 lb range, with the biggest of the day a little over 5 lbs. This was my best day for shear numbers ever, in my life. By 5:30 PM we had over 20 bass. Biggest of the day...

http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/fishing/shadcam/ Fish have been swarming through it for the last hour or so. They are coming in wave, mostly quillbacks and fallfish. I caught these pics in just a few minutes....

Let's apply some forensics. The best reference for the length of that fish is the kid standing obliquely next to it. According to the Center for Disease Control - Anthropometric Reference Data For Children and Adults, the average height of a 5 year old is 44.5 inches. I printed out the image and measured the height of the boy and the length of the fish. The fish is 71% of the height of the child. Assuming the child is of average height - 44.5 inches, the bass in the photo is about 31 inches long. Hannon said in his diatribe that the first, nearly 21 lb bass, was 26 inches long. I suggest to you this bass is longer, and have no reason to disbelieve that it weight the claimed 22+ lbs. I say this is Perry's bass, that Perry accurately stated the weight, and overstated the length. Got a better method? Post it. All you guys that catch big fish and hold them way out in front of you to make them look bigger have have done nothing but muck things up. ;D

Earned his "Full Member" status in this thread.

I would go with one of the TD-A variants. For another $19 you could get the Team Daiwa Advantage HSTA. By all accounts, an excellent reel. People seem to hold it high regard for its ability to cast light baits. http://www.***.com/descpageRLCDAIWA-TDACA.html REVIEW Another choice (and you'll save $50) is the Daiwa Black Widow II. It's a rather limited edition reel that not only looks cool, but apparently performs very well. http://www.***.com/descpageRLCDAIWA-DBWCR.html REVIEW Edit: I agree with Skunked_Again

I bought some a while back. Once I got past the chemical stench, I found they didn't have a lot of action unless you cranked them fast. Ended up giving them away.

The Space Monkey is my current favorite soft plastic bait. So far this year, it has produced more fish for me than any other bait, soft or hard.

That's neat, and a very worthy project!

Differing colors will cause the part numbers to be different. As far as "bigger" goes, they have exactly the same line cpacity. Frankly, except for color, they look exactly alike to me.

Cae to elaborate? Minor, and cosmetic, differences not withstanding, what'd the difference?

:-? :-/ Aren't the spools the same? I thought that was the big diffference between the 200E and the 200D, the E has a smaller frame (while retaining the same spool)? If that's wrong, let me know.

Who was the girl with the heavy accent that worked the concession stand?

Order the gear set here... Abu Garcia 1900 18th Street Spirit Lake, IA, 51360; 1.800.228.4272

I did it, too.

In my experience, the Revo S casts everything as well as the STX. The STX may be a wee bit better, but in practical use they are pretty much identical in performance. The only problem is, it doesn't come in the ratio you want. But for the price, you can order a gear set (I think it's around $30) and turn your 6.4:1 Revo S into a 5.4:1 reel - and still come out cheaper than an STX. Swapping out the gears is a matter of remove-and-replace. The E5 will handle light baits well, but its going to feel quite a bit different than the Revo. I used to own a Curado 200DPV 5.0:1 reel. It had the same spool as the E5. It cast light baits very well. In fact, Curado 200DPVs can still be had out there, and they are usually cheaper than the new E5s. The Curado 200DPV is an excellent reel. Again, though, it will feel different than the Revo since its a bit bigger. But there's no reason you can't have and use two different types. I just remembered that Tackle Warehouse got some more Shimano Chronarchs in. This may be the best way to go... http://www.***.com/descpageRLCSHIMANO-SHCHBPV.html

I have to agree with Francho. I love my Revos. They are among the best reels I've ever used. But replacing a reel for the simplest of problems seems odd. While the Revo is a match in terms of quality and performance to any reel close to its price, simply replacing a reel for any problem gives the impression that they aren't worth fixing. And that's not the case.

If you think you will be mainly casting light cranks, the Daiwa Sol is another good choice. It's a little smaller, but not so much that it feels odd. It has a 5.8:1 speed (22 inches per turn) and cast light bait very, very well. It's wee bit more expensive than the Winch. But for light baits, it has few equals.

See my post above. I was editing while you were posting.

From experience, the Winch does not cast light crankbaits that well. Having used both the Winch, STX and every other Revo, the STX 6.4:1 is the better reel for casting crankbaits below 1/2 oz. If you want to stay with Revos, you either go with the Winch, which may be disappointing to you for casting light baits, or go with a different, but slightly faster, Revo. You also have the option of ordering a 5.4:1 gear set (main gear and pinion) from Abu Garcia and installing it in the Revo of your choice. The problem (and it's a characteristic, really, not a problem) is that the Winch has a deep spool that holds a lot of line. When that spool is full of line, it weighs a lot. It takes quite a bit to get that spool going. A heavy bait is better at that than a light bait. It will also spin longer and may overrun on a light bait that slows down quckly. In my experience, the Winch is an excellent reel for casting swimbaits and 1/2 oz+ baits a long way. For light baits, there are better choices. If you care to move away from the Revo line, there are other good choices. The Daiwa Zillion High Power is a very good choice. If you are used to the feel of Revos, this reel will feel good to you. It palms better than the Revo because the pawl cap is covered by part of the frame so it doesn't hit your finger when palming the reel. It's got a 4.9:1 speed. In my experience, it handles light baits better than the Winch, and heavier baits just as well. It's more expensive, though.