slapshot

Thanks. Any idea if the 2500 at 9.9 oz. is too heavy for the 6'6" Premier, or would the 2000 be a better fit ?

Thanks. Any idea if the 6730 is big enough for the 6'6" Premier - or would the 35 be a better fit/balance?

I assume the spool on the 35 is a bit larger? If so, any concerns over the size or spacing of the guide closest to the reel?

Just bought a St. Croix Premier 6'6" Medium Fast spinning rod. Put my 3-yr old Quantum Kinetic PTi30 on it, but it just feels a bit too big and heavy for the rod. Any advice for a good spinning reel for under $80 that would be a good fit?

Thanks... hoping some weekday tournament fishing is in my future 8-)

I don't own a boat, but have a friend that does. I just learned about a weekly tournament on a local lake. Is it poor form to ask my friend if he'd like to participate, and obviously use his boat since I don't have one? If that's poor form, is it better if I offer (which I would anyway) to pay the one-time registration fee and tournament fee each time we fish - as well as splitting boat costs (gas, food, etc.) ? Thanks, Walter

OHIO - It's Campbell Lakes Preserve. Sam - not sure if they are going deep then running to the grass. When the grass was there, I'm pretty sure they were on the shallow side of it as they would hit the shad just after I pulled it through the weeds. I don't know if they can see me or not, but I've seen some 6-12" fish along the bank, maybe 2 feet from shore and have pulled senkos, jigs and shad right through them and they just ignore the lure and keep swimming. I can see 6 - 10' out pretty well and down the bottom at least 4-6' out from shore. Looks like the grass/weeds have died - at least the stuff that we could see near shore - perhaps from dropping temperatures?

My son and I have been fishing 4 small lakes in SouthWest Ohio for the past couple months. A couple of them appear to be old gravel pits, but the other 2 seem a bit irregular for that - but what I've found on-line they all seem to be old gravel pits. They get deep pretty quick (up to 50') and have plenty of bank access. It looks like a sandy bottom (at least where I can see from the bank), not much structure or vegetation and usually the water is pretty clear. The few times we caught some bass, it was pulling a Red Eye Shad through some vegetation near the shore (10-15' away). I caught 1 on our first trip, then we caught 7 a couple trips later and 1 more just recently. We've tried topwater (pop-r's, hula popper, buzzbaits, torpedo), plastics (fluke, senko, beavers, swim-shads), spinnerbaits, rooster-tail, chatterbait, kastmaster, jig w/trailer and a few crankbaits. We've been skunked far more than we've been successful and we've fished it every available time except late afternoon/evening. I wish I had maps with some detail but all they have on-line is the 4 lakes basic shape. Looking for some ideas to try, as we really enjoy going but would like to net a little more to show for it Thanks for any advice.

Strike King Red Eye Shad 1/2 oz in the Green Gizzard Shad pattern. Am really happy about 55 fish this summer - with 33 of them in just 2 nights - but it looks like I have a long way to go to get to 700

Took the cast control cap off. Shims (if that's what I was looking at) were inside the cap and didn't look like they would come out unless I used a small, sharp implement. The spring seemed somehow attached to the bearing or the side cover as it wouldn't just fall out and with a little pulling pressure it didn't budge so I didn't want to force anything. Put the cap back on and it seems to be working better now. Should the shims have come out (aka - fallen out) and should the spring feel like it's attached to the bearing or the case? Lastly - what ultimately does the cast control adjustment put pressure on that (I assume) puts pressure on the spool to slow it down? Thanks, Walter

I'll check - thanks.

I have something similar going on, but mine went from a very smooth cast control adjustment to an almost on / off adjustment. I've only used the reel 8 - 10 outings and on the last few it seems like the cast control knob either lets the lure drop and run line off the spool, or not let the lure drop at all. It used to vary the drop to the point where I could definitely "fine tune" the spool for the lure weight. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks, Walter

I don't have a ton of experience with the various lipless cranks out there... but have definitely caught more with the Red Eye Shad than the Cordell or the Rat-L-Trap. On my best outings of late, I caught 28 bass in 2 nights at a local park on the RedEye Shad, 1 on the Cordell and 1 on the Rat-L-Trap... and threw all 3 about the same amount of time and at the same places. I'm also impressed at the seemingly small size for the weight. The 1/2 oz. RedEye seems more compact than the 1/2 oz. Cordell.

Hi all, Moved from CA to OH a few years ago... and started fishing again after quite a bit of a break (15+ years). Really enjoying all the great info on the forums and taking my boys out to enjoy fishing with me. Walter

I just recently bought both of these reels... and although I'm somewhat new to baitcasters, I can definitely tell a difference between the two. For me, the Curado casts with much less effort, especially with lighter baits and is noticeably smoother during retrieve.

Thanks for the advice & suggestions.

I've spent the last umpteen years throwing every lure I have with a 6'6" M or 5' L spinning rig. I finally took the baitcasting plunge this summer and added the following to the mix: 6'6" Medium fast action & 7' MH moderate action rods (St. Croix Mojo) and Shimano Citica E (6.3:1) and Curado E (7.0:1) reels. I mainly use the following lures: lipless cranks (1/4 - 1/2 oz), shallow to medium crankbaits (1/4 - 1/2 oz), buzz & spinner baits (3/8 - 1/2 oz), rooster tails (1/8 - 1/4 oz), topwater (poppers, tiny torpedo and similar: 1/4 - 1/2 oz) and soft plastics (trick worms, rage tail toads, SPRO frogs, senkos, beavers). What would be the best pairing of the Mojo rods and Shimano reels (example - citica w/6'6" M) and which setup should primarily throw which lures (example - 6'6" for topwater & plastics, 7' for the rest - or strictly by weight)? Also, are there some lures that I should not attempt with the baitcasters, but rather leave in the hands of the spinning rigs? Thanks in advance for the help.

Thanks folks. Looks like the 5:1 is out as it only comes in a right-hand retrieve, and I'm much more comfortable with a left-hand retrieve and I'm not sure I can get used to the left hand managing the pole. That leaves me with the 7:1 Curado vs. the 6.3:1 Citica. I suppose I could put the Citica on the 7' MH Crankbait rod and get the Curado for the 6'6" M Topwater rod - which I use for buzzbaits, frogs, pop-Rs, torpedos, etc. Not sure I'd be throwing much lighter than 1/4 with the topwater rig, as I would likely fall back to my spinning rig for soft plastics and lighter lures. I've been throwing lipless cranks lately, mainly because they've been working. Most of my crankbaits run in the 4-14 ft range, definitely not deep runners, but not always running at the surface either. Sounds like the demo option from Tackle warehouse may be the ticket - and at least gives me more reasons to hit the local park -Walter

Great - thanks.

The review and the other focused on the Curado seem to focus on the slower 5.x:1 ratio and talk alot about using that for crankbaits. Is the 5:1 better than the 7:1 for crankbaits - or is it easy enough to slow down the retrieve with the faster reel? I was going to mainly throw crankbaits and lipless cranks with this rig - just curious if the slower setup is really the better choice. Thanks, Walter

Thanks very much !

My first baitcasting reel was a Diawa ProCaster 6+1, coupled with a BassPro 6' ML crankin' stick. I finally treated myself to a 6'6" M Mojo Bass rod with a Citica reel and am so glad I did - Wow, what a difference!!! I actually spend more time using my baitcaster than my spinning rigs. I just picked up the 7' MH Mojo Bass rod and put the ProCaster on it. I can definitely tell the weight difference with the ProCaster so I'd like to put a Shimano on the new rod (and "hand down" the original setup to my son). Should I spend the extra coin for a Curado - or stick with another Citica ? Thanks, Walter