islandbass

He is definitely ready. All you need to do is: 1) Get him the scooby, spiderman, superman, sponge bob pole of his choice and a life vest that fits. 2) Give him 100% of your attention (in other words, if you can help it, don't fish yourself) You will probably be spending more time untangling knots and rebaiting if you know what I mean. But more improtantly, 100% of your attention, because it won't take even a second while you're "workin'" your bait he could fall in unnoticed. 3) Have no expectations and keep in mind that if his attention span for fishing is only 10-15 minutes, he's already doing better than many other kids. 4) Have lots of food and drinks. It helps keep the keep their attention. 5) Don't be too much of a teacher. He doesn't need to have superb casting mechanics to have a great time. They learn quickly and are quite able to learn quickly on their own. Congrats and don't forget to enjoy and cherish every minute of his experiences. It is the only experience I'd rather have (watching my kids fish or have them fish with me and outfish me) that I can enjoy if I can't fish.

Your point makes sense but there is another factor affecting sensitivity and that is the amount of material the vibration must travel through. Another question is how do you measure the amount of material the vibrations travels through and where does the vibration begin on the rod? The fish sends the vibration up the line which then touches the rod at each line guide. Is there a vibration created at each line guide? Interesting thread. I have lots of questions but no answers. I too will be following this thread to see if as a group we can come to a conclusion. You have added extra thoughts that will add more ingredients to the soup. It would be interesting to see if the choice of scrim and density of the graphite and/or the guides play a role in dampening or enhancing the vibrations coming to the angler. Awesome! 8-)

I think what you say would make sense in some cases, but I would think if there were a difference it would probably be infinitesmal. Let's say you have a 4.5' rod and a 9.5' rod. Well, the speed of sound (vibration) is considerably fast and because it's so fast, I don't think 5' is going to make a difference. Just a guess.

Congratulations and welcome to Club Shimano!

Yeah, 5 is a bit much, but 3-4 is very easy, actually. Use a soft bag/backpack vs. a traditional hard cased tackle box to carry your plano boxes, and carry a rod quiver to handle your rods. Do a quick search for rod quiver. When I take 4 rods, 3 are carried with one hand.

I was just about to start a thread on this subject and I was going to call the the Subjectivity of Sensitivity? I really think that it falls on the angler. 100% subjective. Heck, even an ugly stick is sensitive in my hands.

Dude a "weightless" 5 inch senko weights 3/8 oz with a 3/0 hook, any decent baitcaster can cast it a country mile away. x2. 5" senkos are heavy. Any casting reel worth its salt must be able to toss those puppies.

It varies, anywhere from 1-4, from the shore only. I have brands from Lamiglas to Shimano to Loomis. I guess it just depends on my mood. ;D

Awesome and good luck! Look forward to your findings. Go nail that fish. 8-)

I agree with you 100% The warranty is what would tip me toward buying one. Hope you post a report after using it for some time. 8-)

I sure hope they are available in my area. I see as Shimano's answer to the ugly stick. The V's warranty alone would make my pick it over the ugly.

I'd choose either the Curado or Fuego. My experience with my Trion BC while a good reel, it doesn't in my hands seem to fare well with lighter weights such as 3/16 oz. Hope a president would do a better job than a Trion. A curado makes short work of 3/16 oz.

All you need to do is ensure that your rod holder supports the rod throughout its length. For example, a longer rod's tip would be susceptible to gravity pulling down on it so make sure it gets supported close to the tip, somewhere in the middle and close to the butt. I just use regular hooks drilled close to my garage's ceiling. This is an old picture, as I no longer keep the reels on the rods, and there are 2 levels, each with 3 sets of hooks to support my rods. You will not mere a bend anywhere along the rod's length, which was a good conern you had. Without reels, 5-7 rods can be easily stored per level. What I like is that they are out of the way, out of sight of the Mrs., and they cannot be seen from the outside in by would be thieves.

I have used and like both. Elite if only for its ability to resist memory.

You might get another 3-5 yards. I think you are gravitating to what many of us conclude after some time. 2 on and 4 off. What an awesome setting! I use 2 myself and don't change it from there. You will still be able to cast with the thumb completely off for sure. I know because that is what I do. 2 in the wind is fine if the lure is heavy enough. Set it and forget it with 2 brakes. Even for pitching. 8-)

Drop Shotting and top water (treble hook lures) too. That whippiness that you might be concerned about is what is going to serve you well. The use of lighter wire hooks with drop shotting and other finessing techniques or treble hook lures (topwater, cranks), would mean you won't necessarily need a cross the eyes hook set. If that were the case, I'd be missing a ton of fish with my ML powered 7' drop shot rod. I think you will be pleasantly surprised. Congrats.

Don't even give it a second thought. Buy a casting reel with a handle on the SAME SIDE as your spinning reels. Fishing this way is already ingrained in you so unless you want re-program yourself to fish the "other" way, don't. Now if you want to learn to fish the other way, to augment your skills, then it would probably be better to do so after you master the basics of using a casting reel. The combination of trying to learn a casting reel and learning to work it the opposite way is not an ideal combination conducive to learning, and one that will be fraught with frustration. JMHO, but as one with the same background as you, just speaking from experience.

Take Burley's advice and be thankful you weren't trying to do that with a size 2 or 4 drop shot hook. You really would have been frustrated! ;D

That is a bunch of hooey, if you think your height dictates the length of rod you use. I'm shorter than you and use 8'6" and longer rods like a jedi knight wield a lighter saber. Bottom line comes to preference. The shorter the rod, the lighter the rod and the easier it is to fish is close and tight quarters. This is where shorter rods can shine. Trying to fish tight quarters gets increasingly inconvenient with a longer rod. Some folks like shorter rods when skipping lures under a dock. I am sure there are other scenarios shorter rods would do well in. Longer rods will generally be slightly heavier but also offer improved line control and as you already know somewhat longer casts. IMHO, the casting difference between a 6'6" and a 7' rod isn't much. It just takes more effort with a 6'6" rod and less effort with a 7' rod to attain a distance for a typical cast. Try it and you will see what I mean.

Many times when you flip, the spool is engaged. Therefore, you should not backlash. I consider any method you toss a lure out as a cast. Overhand, side arm, side arm roll cast, etc. Pitchin' and Flippin' are just two other ways to cast your lure out that are quite handy to know for relatively close quarter combat.

yes, but not with a fish for me. I quickly tied a knot with my first ever rattle trap and made my cast. I was amazed at such an excellent cast I made, admiring how far it was flying through the air and it really went. I didn't know until I turned the crank handle that it was all lure. The scraggly line at the end was a tell tale sign I tied the knot half-heartedly. >

I'd have to say BPS for me, even if the closest one to me is over 1000 miles away.

Sometimes people use taper and action interchangably. They probably meant extra fast action. This means that the rod's flex point is going to probably be in the upper 1/5 of the rod from the tip. Probably makes for great soft plastics fishing.

How's you do?

reels with mag brakes usually have a dial that adjusts the brake's setting. reels with centrifugal brake usually have a sideplate that needs to be opened to set the brakes. There are some reels that use a combination of the two to answer your question, the reason those reels don't have a magnetic brake adjustment dial is most likely because the reel in question does not use magnetic brakes. Out of curiosity, what reel are you referring to?