J Francho

LOL, a saw blade is EXACTLY what a line company wants to use as ad hype.

Burl cork, baby. Burl.

My guess is it's quite a bit smoother and quieter going through the guides.

It's gonna be priced in the Saavy range.....saying it now. Unless proceeds from the sales go to some charity, like the Heroes on the Water rods from TFO.

That's some spensive line!

The same thing happened in the 90s. That's where the split rear grip started.

If that rod is more than an Extreme, I'd be disappointed in all the "common" hardware. it has all the appointments of cheapo Powell.

Nothing marketed toward the ABA - the average weekend angler - would be set in that price point. More likely its in the value segment of their line.

This is why I ALWAYS chat up the walleye trollers at the launch. Nice job.

Very cool, Tom.

I have an open seat from November through March. You just gotta get here.

There are a lot of die hard Curado B guys that paid around $120 for one of the best reels made. Ever. I think Shimano wants that status back.

No, the Citica E is no more. The Curado G is a new reel, albeit with similar specs to the Citica E. Remember, the knock on the Curados of late has been that they are overpriced. Originally, Curado's were a lot less. The best reel in the category is still that reel, just now it's called the Chronarch. And that category is $30 more. Blame our economy.

You don't need anything special for this. Any medium/fast rod will do, as long as it's reasonably sensitive.

LOL, but it's OK for a Daiwa Sol to start out at $200, and get to $250. Zillions were $249 when they came out, now they're $289, LOL. It's a price adjustment. Take a look at the USD to Yen over the past three years. The price jump becomes clear. Call it "regression," if you want. It's the US doallr that's regressed, causing the realignment. Plain and simple, it costs Shimano USA more to bring these over here.

Here's the big 'bow I caught that morning: About 1.25" above the handle is the 21" 'hero mark" on the rod. 21" is "keeper size for rainbows here. That should tell you something about the fishery here, LOL. The net is huge. The brown I epically failed with made this fish look average.

He's asking about specific list of lakes...can't one of you guys with the newer chips just look for those lakes?

Is this the place we went? If so, that sucks. You sure the dye isn't just a bloom? High water, I look for newly submerged brush - bass usually go there, since its the best cover located at the same depth they were before the high water. If you can look at the lake in a way that puts your past catches in the new shallows, then I think you'll find them.

Most of the "big bass" that got away, were probably some other species, like northern pike, musky, even carp or drum. I have no idea, since I didn't see them. Now, a truly HUGE fish that got away was a brown trout, last fall. I had already caught a 34" by 21.25" steelhead, about 16 lbs. that day. My biggest brown trout ever is 22 lbs. After that 'bow, I hooked into a brown that dwarfed my steelhead, bigger than my PB. Might have been 25 lbs. - who knows? I choked. When I saw that it was that big fish on, rolling at the surface, my knees buckled, my hands locked onto the centrepin spool, and just like that it snapped my 8 lb. leader with a flick of it's tail.

For largemouth, I'd be looking for coves with good weed lines, with bookend points, and deep water nearby.

Big enough for a scale, not big enough to brag about.

They stay in dense, shallow weed cover, if present. Usually you can find tons in shallow backwaters of your lake. You'll find many species of babies there - it's the lake nursery.

All they did was raise prices. Daiwa has done it every year - they just didn't change the names of the reels.