J Francho

I own a couple copies of this rod. It's VERY touchy as to what reel you put on it. I have a Zillion on one, and it was terrible, same for a TD-A. Put a TD-X flipping reel on it, and it became a surgical fishing tool.

baluga, you should be able to load that bearing up with grease no problem. It won't affect casting distance, though it will butter up the retrieve, and protect it from salt water, and more importantly, the light freshwater rinses I hope you giving that reel.

Alright guys. Here's the thing, don't ask for advice if you already know what the answer will be, and already don't like it. On the opposite side, no sense beating a dead horse, I think he gets the picture. See ya!

Take a look at Owner Offset Down Shot hooks. 2/0 work great with skinny, 4-6" worms. They have a funny eye for drop shotting, but it doesn't interfere with bullet weights. The this wire penetrates easily with light, wrist snap set. http://www.tacklewar...page-ODSOW.html

Yep, they're both mine, though the Boston sides with my wife and older son, while the bully is daddy's girl.

X-Fast tapers can be a little misleading in feel. They certainly seem really soft at the tip, but you go from tip to through transition to backbone pretty quick, and I've found that on the surface they feel a bit stiffer, and probably are. More of the rod is backbone - makes sense. If you're breaking off on hooksets, and you're sure its not bad knots, abraded line, or whatever, then its a drag issue. Set your drag a bit lower. I know when I first started trying braid with a light fluoro leader, I was snapping the leader. I was VERY surprised to see that I have the drag set 7 lbs. when I actually measured the force. 2.5 lbs. is plenty to gently slow a running fish, and protect 6# line on both the hookset and ensuing battle.

Again, your experience is unique, as 90% of my saltwater customers use Shimano, about 40 reels ranging from Spheros on up to Trinidads. There's also a ton of inshore guys that send me Curado E's and D's and Stradic FE's, and I'm impressed with their durability in salt. Yeah, they get skunky, but no corrosion, outside the odd line roller or knob bearing. Much of my experience with Pure Fishing, outside of older Abu reels, is repair by replacement.

I thought Syro Grya was a jazz fusion group Yeah, it's filamentous green algae, nasty stuff. A drop shot rig will keep your bait out of the stuff.

Weird. It only takes a friendly phone call, and they pretty much make everything right, every time. Good luck with the Penn, I've never had any issue with Pure Fishing Inc. service either. Just call them, and they resolve the issue. Same for Daiwa. Quantum....ehhh, I get the feeling they have more than their fair share of experience. Much is automated, and that's great, but you got to wonder why they built a space shuttle for customer service.

No, I fish whenever I can get out.

Did you deal with Shimano USA in Irvine, CA, or a satellite service center?

Agafuh, English Bulldog: Edgar, Boston Terrier:

Only played with it in the store. I feel like my M and ML Avids are a bit "less substantial," but that's just an off the cuff opinion.

Snag hooks and heavy cord: http://www.basspro.c.../15825/-1267642

That never happens to me, and I'm a frequent flier, LOL. Congrats!

Not necessarily, though it does look like a p'chop job. here's a retic: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexrobinsonphotography/3522997326/ The snake above is too skinny to be an anaconda.

One reason I don't go longer for drop shot is simply that I'm primarily dropping it beside the boat, and watching it on the sonor. If I was casting it, or shore bound, I'd definitely go longer.

One word: "KAHNNNNNN!" Just kidding, Chris. I say do what makes YOU feel good. As long as it doesn't hurt anything.

My last Kistler of five finally broke this spring. I can only relay my own experience, 100% failure. Maybe not all Kistler's fault, but certainly raises an eyebrow, considering the only other rods I've broken in the past few years are an 11 year old Avid, and a 20 year old Berkley Series 1 Accu-Flex. I use two rods for finesse: Avid AVS63MLXF and AVSMXF. Both (actually all three, 2x MLXF) are set up with 2500 size CI4's and 6# Invizx. Great setups. I will say, I don't use these for tubes, but I primarily use heavy tube jigs, 1/2 oz or more, and prefer my light crankbait rod for this, an AVC70MM - yep, a casting rod.

Here's just ONE deadly "senko" trick.... So, bass are in 8-11 FOW, and readily eating senkos on the drop, but nothing else. They are biting as the bait hits that last foot of water before hitting the bottom. Want to ditch 90% of your wait time? Rig it on the same hook, but with a 14-16" drop line and drop shot weight. Let the weight expedite the bait into the strike zone, and let it fall naturally the rest of way. When you think of rigs in terms of problem solving, what to use and when to use it becomes simpler.

Not sure I'd go the cheap route, but http://www.delawarevalleytackle.com/ is a sponsor here, and has many supporters. I have met Mike in person, and would send my reels to him.

I think as humans, we do an awful lot of anthropomorphizing (assigning human traits to animal behaviors) and over think this. EVERYTHING a bass does is out of instinct, whether it's territorial, hunger, or whatever. They simply don;t have brains big enough to process all that's going on. As far as bait "looking like food," I'll stick to feeding times, not bedding bass. It isn't food that you're imitating, its the opportunity to feed that you are stimulating. A spinnerbait has just about every message that a bait fish would send out, but not all in one package. Send out enough cues, and you've triggered a feeding response.

This has to be the third post or so about his hand. Many are probably wondering why all the drama. I mean, last week his doctor wanted it in a cast and now it's nothing? C'mon man....

LMBO!!! That's great - I'm sure Kent will love this when he sees it, LOL.

Escapee!!!!! Could be a Retic as well.