Micro

Yo-Zuri Hardcore Drum. This bait has an extremely good action at very slow speeds. It doesn't plane to one side or the other when it sinks. I flutters nicely even on a slow rise. It rests on its nose on the botton with its tail up at 45 degrees. It comes with very good hooks. The finishes are fantastic. It's a wee bit expensive at $12.99. But IMO its a premium lipless and the price doesn't seem so high when you see it in action. I tried the Spro Aruku 75 today for the first time today. I like these a lot. It has all of the attributes of Yo-Zuri listed above. But it doesn't quite have the action of the Yo-Zuri at slow speeds. Not bad, though.

No. They have quite a bit of shot in them.

If you're flippin for tuna. Seriously, it think it's WAY overkill. Stick with something intended for bass.

Great job, Muddy! Great job!

Since last time I fished with Burley, I can't find my favorite pair of fishing underwear. :-/

I'm certainly not the authority on these baits. What I see may be different that what others see. "Not much" is very subjective. I di think these baits will find a niche. I think ti will be a good bed fishing lure. It's size, subtle action, and the fact is nose stands on the bottom makes me thinks so.

I didn't say you can't fish it slow. I just said it didn't look like it had much action fished slow.

I hate when some paints a big white line down the middle of a lake.

3-5 if you ask. 27 if my wife asks.

I've tried it a couple of time, but haven't caught anything on it yet. I'm going to try it again today or tomorrow and see how it does. The lure is big. It's thick - nearly twice as a thick as a Lucky Craft LVR D-10. It will cast a long way, like most lipless. It is very nose-heavy. It sinks extremley fast, nose first. It's rattle seems a lot more subtle than, say, a Rat-L-Trap or Yo-Zuri Rattln Vide. It doesn't have a lot of action on a slow retrieve. If you want to fish a lipless slow, go with a Yo-Zuri Hardcore Drum. But speed it up and it does okay. The best part is that it will rest on the bottom on its nose with its butt end stickin up. Great hooks.

Great. Now my lures have been backordered for a third time. Now they will ship on 2/23. Crimminy, by the time I get them it will be fall.

Great googaly moogaly! Nice catches and nice pictures! Love your set-ups. The Sol is sweet looking. Love that shellcracker, too. I've never caught one on a lure. Always on live bait.

The deep spool will effect casting, especially with light baits. Line has weight and a spool heavy with line is hard to get moving. I don't like deep spools for bass fishing. I can't cast all the line off any reel I own. And the reels I've owned with deep spools (C4s and Revo Winch) never handled lighter baits to my satisfaction. I wouldn't even bother swapping spools. I'd just put the EXT Pro on the cranking rod, and the regular EXT on the striper rod. The Pro is just fine for crankbaits. The regular EXT will be a bit more powerful and suited for bigger fish like striper.

I hate traffic. I live 25 minutes from my job (with no traffic) but most days it is a 1.5 hour one-way trip. > I don't know what's going to happen. My company is saying I'm staying put where I am, but they have a track record of changing their minds in an instant.

Ok Micro, can you swap spools like you can gears? In other words can I get the ext regular and put a pro spool in? I think so. You might want to check with Abu, but I think its a simple swap. I wish I had that .PDF Stasher posted when I serviced mine. I thought it was a PITA.

That's my thought, too. The potential switch wouldn't be for more than a year. But I can strongly see being asked to go. I really don't want to move. I may start a job hunt here.

Hmmmmm. My job may be taking me to Tampa in the not too distant future. I've been to Florida several times, and been to Tampa a couple of times (been stuck in traffic on the causeway :). What's living in Tampa like? Cost of living is about the same as it is where I am. Traffic? Pros, cons? Whatever? Are there decent public fishing bass fishing lakes/rivers in or around Tampa? Not looking forward to possibly having to leave my beloved Virginia.

Great to hear, Red! You can never have too many Revos.

The bearing count is wrong on Abu's website. The 5600 EXT only has 2 fewer bearings than the EXT Pro, not 3 fewer. The bearing count on the 6500 EXT is correct. The bearing count on the 5600 EXT and the 6500 EXT is the same. The reason it's 2 fewer than the EXT Pro is because the Pro had bearings in the handles. The EXT is a more complex reel than low profiles. What you do is remove the entire crankside assembly - handle and all. Once that's off, then you take the handle off, like Wayne said keeping the washers in the correct order. Once the handle is off you take the screws out that keep the outer and inner assembly sideplates together. Be careful, things tend to fall out when these two halves are separated. You MUST do this on a flat surface, with the inner sideplate DOWN. Once the halves are apart, it's a simple task of lifting the gear and drag stack off the shaft. The pinion is loosely held in by a retainer that slides off a couple of posts. Be careful, I can't emphasize enough that little pieces tend to fall out of nowhere when you take this particular reel apart. Then you replace the parts in reverse order with the new gear and pinion. Be careful that the thumbar pin is properly aligned in the hole on the innerside of the crank assembly. If you don't, it won't work. The EXT is a good reel, but it is modelled in large part on the Morrum and it is a complex reel. I found it MUCH easier to disassemble my Revos. You must take your time with the EXT. You need to do it on a flat surface, preferably over something that can catch small parts. If you've never really pulled a reel apart down to its smallest parts, I'd recommend sending it to Abu to do. IMO, the EXT is not the reel to learn on. I checked with them more than a year ago and they could install 5.3:1 gears and 4.7:1 gears in the EXT. I would not go with the regular EXT if only for the deep spool. I like the shallow ported spool on the Pro much better.

All my orders from TW have been complete and prompt. Prices are reasonable and free shipping for orders over $50 is great. If some of your stuff is backordered, they will ship what they have right away. Then they will wait until everything else is in and ship it via 1st class mail when it arrives at no extra charge. The hard part is waiting for the backordered stuff. I've been waiting for the rest of an order I placed in late January to arrive. I ordered a bunch of Norman Suspending DD22s and Suspending Deep Little Ns. 3 of those were backordered. The delivery date has been pushed back twice now. Now they say they will ship on 2/13.

I don't think the Zillion has a larger frame at all. It has that flat part on top that may give the illusion of a larger frame, but side by side I can't see where one is bigger than the other. The Zillion is easier to palm, though. The flat part on top gives a great place to rest a thumb, and the finger is more easily wrapped aroung the front of the reel than on the Revo. One advtange of the Revo STX (and I'm sure the Premier) is that it will cast light baits better. I can fling 1/4 oz weight baits further on the Revo. Much over that and the Zillion does as well, and gets better with heavier baits.

The good part is is that soon you'll get free t-shirts, hats or sweatjackets.

The Zillion is saltwater capable, too. The only reason the Fuego isn't is because it's made of magnesium.

It's about the same size. It sits as low as the Revo on a Fuji reel seat. It may look different because the brake-side side-plates are shaped differently. But the Zillion sits as low as the Revo. The one ergonomic advantage of the Zillion is that it's easier to palm. If you wrap your index finger around the front of the reel below the line guide, your finger will hit the pawl cap on the Revo as it moves back and forth. That's because on the Revo it stick out toward the front. On the Zillion it sticks down and your finger doesn't hit that pawl cap.

I bought it outright.