J Francho

Just get a cheap spool of 14# Big Game and spool up. Run off 50 or 60 feet of line and wrap the spool with tape. Start practicing. Your birds nests wont be terminal, since they'll end at the tape. Once you are confident, take the training wheels off. Once you are finished with the Big Game, use what you prefer.

You are mixing flipping and pitching together. When flipping, you pull just enough line off to make the flip. It is a close quarters casting technique. Once you have made on flip, you don't need to touch the reel as you work the same depth. Pitching is a pendulum cast, where you hold the rod in one hand, and the bait in the other. Drop the rod tip, and let go of the bait. As it falls, raise the tip, adn release the spool. Feather with your thumb as the bait swings away, and you'll get a nearly splash free entry. If you go up to the Articles section of this site, there are a few that go into more detail about this.

Clunn has used different equipment in special situations. At the urging of other pros, he used a medium/moderate rods and fluorocarbon fishing cranks for smallmouth on Erie. His starting point, and philosophy though is built on identical rods, with identical reels, and identical mono. The theory is once he's accustomed to a bait, then that consistency of his rig can be relied on while fishing. I personally think 90% of my fishing can be done with a 7' MH/F rod, though I couldn't stick to one line material, and defintily wouldn't be without my two spinning rigs, my heavy cover rig, and my cranking rids. i could probably delete my TW/shlashbait rig, but its just to sweet not to use.

I run all the Carbontex with a very light film of grease. I lose about 1/2 pound of drag on top end by running them wet but the break away drag is so much smoother. You don't get that stutter on the initial run of the fish as you would running them dry. I used Cal's Drag Grease from SmoothDrag last year, this year I am using Shimano Drag Grease from Reel Mech's shop. They're both nearly identical except for color, I just wanted to try something new this year. That's the beauty of servicing your own reels, if you don't like it, you can always change it. That's funny, I just went the opposite, LOL. The only dry system I use is on my heavy cover reels. The wet system is such a huge upgrade over stock.

Don't bother tearing down your reels, unless you have the right stuff. Most tackle stores have Abu oil and grease. You could also simply order some better grease and oil from someone like Reel Mech. It'll be there in about four days.

Smart man with the Carbontex. Just curious, are they all dry, or did you do a few with a wet setup, and if so, what grease, and for what application. Very nice collection. Most of mine share some of the guts, but not the pretty handles and sexy bodies ;D

I crushed them on 10mm beads and "meatball" sized spawn sacs this weekend. Met up with a bunch of guys from PA, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and beyond and had a blast. Found a nice trench, but had to wade chest deep carrying my gear over my head to get there, but an awesome and secluded place to be fishing. Today, I smacked two in my local ditch with pink worms under a progressive shot line and float. I love the pink worm. As a side note, I don't fish for stockies. I'd rather they go out to the lake, get pelagic, and come back to be caught when they are 10#+. Anyway, there's three baits that worked for me right now.

Stocking foot + gravel or sand = not good. Felt bottom + snow = you getting taller Get studded felt or the hybrid rubber/felt with studs before felt is banned. I own both neoprene and breathable, both stocking foot. I prefer the breathable for overall comfort and range of movement. In the coldest weather, I use my neoprene.

Shimano has started to incorporate the old dog 'n bone as a redundancy to the one way roller bearing system. That is BRILLIANT! While certainly old school, caveman tech, it really worked, and was all we had back in the day - and I'm not even that old, being in the under 40 crowd Oh yeah, and at 5:1 ratio, these were super high speed reels. Most were less than 4:1, LOL.

Proof of concept there, I can't even get that one right. ;D************* I just rebuilt an SX. I must have SX on the brain.

I thought the SX had a magnetic brake :-? Yes it does. It was the S model I casted. TMTLM syndrome. (Too Many Three Letter Acronyms).

I'm a line biter, LOL. I have a chipped front tooth that sharper than any clippers out there. It doesn't touch braids, though. I have a gripe. Mystery knots that randomly show up in your line. This happens more to me when trout fishing though. Long rigs sometimes knot up on the cast. Another would be the first cast/lost lure, or first cast/hung up syndrome. I hear its contagious, LOL.

And oh BTW, I have an original Black Widow (BW2) and the slightly "upmodel" EL2L and after nearly 16 years, they still operate better than new. The EL2L has one ball bearing, the BW2 has exactly none. It relies on brass and plastic bushings instead. Smooth as any modern reel, though lack infinite anti reverse. How's that for durability? The BW2 after recent maintenance:

No problem Frank. Daiwa is also the ONLY brand I know of that you can engage the spool after the cast by pushing up on the thumbar as well. That's a nifty trick I use a lot.

Whatever one that is throwing the bait that's getting bit.

I use them quite a bit, rigging them up similar to RW. They usually do select for larger fish, but here's an exception, by my buddy. Incidentally, it was his 1st ever open water Great Lakes smallie. He started puking shortly after, so we weren't able to upgrade his catch ;D

I think most of that comes down to training your thumb, though I've casted an SX and an STX many times to see what they were like. Had no issues with the SX centrifugal braking system. I had to crank the STX brakes all the way up to prevent backlashes. Never had any issue with Daiwa's Mag-Z or Mag-V brakes.

several things to think about here: the asaro is a more modern design so it'll be slightly lighter, slightly more compact, and more ergonomic. the asaro has centrifrugal brakes while the black widow II has magnetic brakes. which do you prefer? given the choice, i'd easily opt for centrifrugal brakes...i think they're much easier to get consistent results with (although, to be fair, daiwa makes the best mag brakes around). the asaro definitely has a solid, one-piece aluminum frame...the black widow, we don't know. but, given that this is usually a big selling point but daiwa and the tackltour review is mum on it, my guess is that the black widow frame is either composite and/or not one piece. the black widow has some killer style both daiwa and pflueger make quality products. Perhaps I can help with some of the facts in this list: Its actually a dated design. Flooger's newest design is incorporated into the President and the Supreme. The internals are basically unchanged over the past ten years, with the exception of replacing the spool engagement clutch with plastic instead of metal a few years ago. The TD-A lopro design is the benchmark that all others have followed. AFAIK, it was the first mainstream priced reel to incorporate lowering the main gear housing below the reel foot, making it super lopro. Actually, the Daiwa Mag-Z braking system is unique. Instead of a series of magnets that are "adjusted" by moving them closer or farther from the spool, which is very crude, it employs two cylindrical, and concentric magnets. On the spool is a metal cylinder. This metal cylinder while at rest, remains in the spool cavity. When casting, and peak centrifugal force is applied (at startup), the metal cylinder is forced in between the the two magnets. Adjustments via the knob on the side cover twist the two magnets in and out of phase, thereby increasing or decreasing there influence on the spool. Unique, simple and yet elegant. All TD-A based reels have a solid aluminum frame. Unlike many other brands, the aluminum frame integrates the pawl and line cowl. The Asaro has three pieces of plastic protecting it. Big difference in durability when bouncing around in the rod locker. I actually think the Asaro is a prettier reel, but the little spiders on the BW are cool as hell. BTW, as far as durability goes, I've had quite a few Floogers on my bench with scored roller bearing sleeves, and carbon deposits. Perhaps the latest models address this durability issue, but I've even seen on the last gen Supremes. Take it for what its worth. They'll both catch fish, but the OP asked which was better.

Multi day tournaments add many elements to the typical formula. prefishing is how you know what was there. Hopefully those hadn't moved that far come time for the TX.

I have a couple of Black Widow IIs. I've serviced a pile of Supremes, which are similar to the Asaro. I'd buy Daiwa without flinching. Also look at the new Citica. All reels "feel nice" in the store. They are overloaded with grease which masks any design flaws, if there are any.

I don't think it would be that difficult to throw most of my finesse baits with a baitcaster. I just find it a lot easier to find a spinning rod in my price range that suits it. Many of the optimal casting rods for this stuff are really pricey, as are the reels capable of tossing light offerings. Not that the two Kistlers I have for finesse were necessarily cheap, but they were accessible. I also find that the drag on a mid range spinning gear seems to protect light line better than mid range casting gear. As far as what I mean about accessible, most of my rigs are in the $200 to $400 range.

Terminator T-1 and Secret Weapon Lures. There are some spots that like to eat spinnerbaits like candy (even more so jigs), but slow rolling in spring is so freaking deadly. For that, the $6 Strike King premiums from Dicks work well.

Whew! nice fish - great markings as well.

Boca Bearings, Smooth Drags, or VBX has them. Prices range from $15 to $80 depending on the style and ABEC rating. You want ABEC 5 or better. Should be less than $20.