J Francho

http://www.jannsnetcraft.com/Content/downloads/sizing_chart.pdf Print it for actual sizes.

Out of those, after playing with them all this past weekend, I'd only consider buying the Vendetta.

Space Monkey, rigged upside down (belly out). Burn it.

BassPro and Cabelas have a bunch of reasonably priced bags.

I have more than 3 reels, but I don't spend a fortune on gear. If I can handle the reel I'm buying, then I check it out in the store. If its mail order, I immediately inspect it out of the box. If something doesn't seem right, I return it. I have a buddy with a few Excelers, and they are smooth right out of the box. Sounds like your reel may have sat a while, and the oiling worked. Less is more here, and yes, it does take some time to fully coat the races and balls inside the bearing. The reason I said to call them is because I've seen new reels with manufacturing defects that were covered under warranty. Things like a burr on left behind from machining the gears, or a chipped tooth on a gear. Things happen, and and some can't be resolved with some oil or grease. Sounds like your reel working well now. Congrats, and catch a big one with it.

What are you fishing for, and what will you be throwing. "UL" is sort of a genre of its own. it could mean tossing 1/16 oz. roadrunners, but to someone else it might mean 1/100 jigs, and yet another it could mean slip corking small bugs.

40d, 17-55 f.2.8, 28-135, 85 f1.8, 100 macro 2.8, 70-200 f4 L, 400 f5.6L Francho, thanks for the tips. it was my first time using HDR. I only used 3 shots bracketed. didn't play around with it too much. You're shot looks great. Thanks man. Pretty good fora first timer, usually people go way overboard. Best to get it right in the camera! Despite my editing skills, I actually HATE fixing pictures in Photoshop. I wouldn't say I did any pioneering, but I was on the HDRI thing back when CS2 first had the feature, then got into Photomatix, and few others. I didn't do it for that shot, obviously, but if you can shoot tethered to a laptop, using Canon Remote Camera, you can drop like 11 or more shots, 1/3 stop apart with perfect registration. That is how I did this one: The monitor doesn't do it justice, you'd have to see it printed big on metallic fine art paper to really see the detail in the shadows. Plus, I'm a terrible "for the web" image editor, LOL. (Marty, Paul, and a few others will know this place, and would have to know I about 30 yards out on the ice ledge on the shoreline, with $1000s in camera gear, my laptop, and a buddy. We could feel the waves move the ice!)

Just read the post above, press the thumbar - this releases the spool from the pinion, which is where you're getting hung up - and insert the spool, and close the palm side plate. As far as weights go, its item eight, under service in the FAQs: http://fish.shimano.com/publish/content/global_fish/en/us/index/customer_service0/FAQ.html

Black and clear.

If you're good enough to catch enough fish to do this, why bother? Doesn't make any sense.

Nice HDRI, soccplayer07. If you want to tighten up the noise from the micro contrast, give Noise Ninja a try, in conjunction with a surface mask. For masking, I start with the TLR scripts, and go from there. Here's a moving water image, from a HDRI created and tone mapped with Photomatx from 7 or so brackets, cleaned up with the tools described:

20D, 5D, 28 f/1.8, 35 f/2.8, 50 f/1.4, 85 f/1.2L, 100 f/2.8 Macro, 17-40 f/4L, 70-200 f/2.8L IS, 70-200 f/4L, Tammy 28-300 f/3.5-5.6.

I asked my buddy, who lives in VA, what he meant by "deep" when talking fishing the other day, and he replied, "oh, 8' or so. Why, what did you mean by 'deep'?" I was thinking deep started at 20. Its all relative.

Depends on the cover and the bait. Most commonly: Owner Wide Gap Plus (3-5/0) Owner Offset Worm Hook (1-5/0) Owner SSW Bent Eye (4-6/0)

Not sure that Yo-Zuri was actually Kriet's, could have been an edit. I thought Kriet and Faircloth used Sebile. Ike used Lazer Lure. Don't know what Chapman or Lane used. Doesn't really matter, what matters is that they knew how to use what they used to catch fish.

I help kids out here and there, mostly I talk to their dads (if they're there), and give them a couple of lures, and explain how to use them, and then they can show their boys how to do it. Its better if their dads take all the credit.

Press the spool release thumb bar before trying to close everything up, makes aligning the pinion and spool much easier. Otherwise, its the spool tension issue, though I doubt you tightened that up in between opening and closing the side plate.

Jig.

Tom, just say you guzzled a Monster energy drink, LOL.

Just call Daiwa up, and explain the problem. Why are people so afraid to make a simple phone call?

I can't really name one. My Dad, and my Grandfather (his dad) for all the fishing, and my "Big Pappa" (maternal grandfather) for getting the family a cottage to spend our summers. Finally, some stranger in a bass boat that asked if he could cast in between our docks. I asked a simple question, and he showed me a Texas Rig worm, how to pitch a baitcaster, and gave me hooks, sinkers, and a bag of Culprits. He has no idea how pivotal that was in a 12 year old's life, LOL.

I never bought a reel that needed "breaking in" to get rid of a rough retrieve.

Shallow cranks 10# CXX Mid depth cranks 10# CXX Deep cranks 10# CXX Spinnerbait 12# CXX Jerkbait 8# CXX Texas Rig 12# CXX or 50# Power Pro Carolina Rig 12# CXX or 50# Power Pro Frog 65# braid Power Pro Traps 10# CXX Jig 50# Power Pro I sometimes add a FC leader or CXX leader to braid.

The first gathering,or stripping guide is usually pretty big, since we use side-spinning and Wallis casts. The REC guides make it easier to knock ice out.

If the reel is brand new, shouldn't you be dealing with Daiwa Service? It should fish fine right out of the box.