Stasher1

Quiet Riot "Metal Health" ;D Still have it somewhere...

I fill them completely and don't really worry about what's left over. With a fluoro leader, I can go for a few seasons on a full spool of braid, as long as I don't have a mega-backlash.

Maybe not in NJ, but you don't want to leave anything like a camera in your car around here in the summer. I had a Nissan pickup several years ago in AL that got so hot inside that all of the vents, radio trim, speedo housing, and speedo needle got soft and started drooping.

Wait until the buzz dies down over the Veritas and you'll find them all over the Flea Market for ~$50. ;D I don't know how close you are to a Bass Pro, but my local BPS has last year's Quantum Energy PT rods on clearance for ~$45. Much better rod than the Lightning Rod, with Fuji Hardloys and a lifetime warranty. Nine months ago they were $100 rods.

I don't even name the ones in the glass tank beside me. But then again, they're just food for the turtle...

The trade value of your reel has nothing to do with the actual value of the reel you're trading in. It's all relative to the cost of the new reel you're buying. An old beat up Zebco 33 has the same trade-in value as a brand new Steez.

That's what I was afraid of. :-/ There's not much difference in price between the two, but if I have to buy a drag star and nut for the 50e, the e7 definitely starts looking better and better...

Is the drag star on the 50e painted alloy or is it plastic? If it's plastic, would a 200e drag star fit?

I'd like to help you out, but I'm not clicking that arrow 577 times to get to your pic, and I'm not voting for you without seeing a pic. You could both be uglier than a cartload of crushed butt-holes, for all I know.

Nothing personal, but these things get repeated over and over on forums like this as if it's gospel. In my experience, the managers at BPS are typically no more knowledgable than the teenage girls running the registers when discussing factory warranties and the reasons why the big companies do what they do. I had one tell me that the bad cork on a Shimano rod wasn't covered under warranty...even after Shimano told me to ship it back for replacement. : If you want to know the truth, don't ask the manager @ BPS, contact Shimano.

I owned one for a while and I don't believe it's supposed to have an audible drag star. Mine didn't have one, anyway. As far as the spool goes, mine would spin for a long time. It's possible that you wound up with an older one that needs the old grease cleaned out of the spool bearings. It's a very solid reel, and comparable to all of the other ~$100 baitcasters out there. It just doesn't get the press it deserves.

I hit the Classic every year and was told a few years ago by a manager there that Shimano reels are not part of the Classic sale, and that Shimano opted out of the reel trade-in program. His exact words were "Shimano is too exclusive for our sale, and knowing that they can fetch full price for their gear, they don't participate in the reel trade-in. I guess Shimano doesn't care about helping out the less fortunate kids who can't afford to buy a reel." I was shocked to hear that statement at the time. I was there yesterday afternoon (I live in walking distance from the Gurnee store) and was told that the flyer is going out in the next couple of days. Also, to answer your question, the Abu's always seem to go on sale during the Classic. Not everything in the store is on sale, only select items and manufacturers. They will generally pimp one or two casting reels and one or two spinning reels for the entire two weeks. Also, they run daily specials that aren't part of the two week long sale. Last year, the biggie reel item was the Daiwa Megaforce with Twitchin' bar for either $49 or $59. I don't recall the exact price. I ended up trading in an old Shimano and getting a Daiwa Bradia 2500, my favorite spinning reel by far. I've never seen a rod trade-in program at BPS. Complete and utter BS. This happens every year, and the same BS is repeated over and over. Shimano has addressed this issue in the past. The reason they don't take part in the reel trade-in has nothing to do with being "too exclusive" and everything to do with the charities they already support and the BRAND NEW reels they donate every year. They don't feel that it's necessary to get involved in a program that donates used (mostly junk) reels to "less fortunate" kids. Send them an email and ask them yourself, if you really want to know the truth. And, FWIW, my Spring Classic flyer showed up this afternoon.

;D My youngest tried to pop the bubbles in the toilet with his finger...while I was still in the process of making them. ;D

Definitely spinning for me. I've actually gotten rid of all but one of my baitcasters, and that one is on a dedicated spinnerbait/lipless crank rod. I can (and do) cover all other other lures and techniques with spinning gear. To be honest, I could even get rid of my last baitcast rig as I've been doing quite well with spinnerbaits on a 6'6" MH spinning setup lately.

You can actually do it through Itunes. Go into your "Purchased" folder and right click on any song. That will give you the option to "Create MP3 version". I haven't found a decent aftermarket converter yet, so that is the method I use on my kids' mp3 players. For some reason the album art doesn't show up, but I just chalk that up to Apple/Itunes being a giant piece of crap. But hey, that's just my opinion... ;D

Cast net.

X2

If you boil those Bass Magic swimbaits for 30 seconds or so, they'll soften up a bit and have a little more action in the water. It'll also help to get rid of some the nasty chemical odor they have.

I believe that may be the Tour Edition PT Signature Series - Gary Klein models from about 2007-2008 (or maybe even a bit earlier). I have one of the 6'10" MH KVD spinnerbait models from that same series, and I'm rather fond of it. They're similar to the regular Tour PT rods, but were a bit more expensive for some reason. They retailed for about $200, IIRC.

We had about 1.5" of snow last night, but it was pretty much gone by lunch time. ;D We'll be probably be cutting the grass in a few weeks. The short "winter" is one of the few benefits of living in the south.

Nope, it's free. I've been on there for about a year, and haven't had to pay.

No problem, man. Winter makes us all a bit edgy.

That crappy white stuff from the sky has that effect on a lot of folks. ;D There are over 30K registered users on this forum. I'm sure somebody can help you with your plastics...you just have to wait for them to log in. Good luck.

Patience. You might try giving it more than an hour before you start getting all pissy. Just because people have read your post, don't assume they know anything about those particular plastics.

This ^^^ I buy what looks good to me, what I've had luck with in the past, or what I strongly believe I'll have luck with in the future. In other words, I buy a lot of soft plastics, shaky head jigs, and spinnerbaits. ;D If a pro happens to use or endorse the products I buy, that's cool too, but it makes no difference when I'm loading the cart.