21farms

nope, i just checked...here's the cabela's description: i remember seeing a diagram too showing that the stem is a separate piece from the body.

if you're fishing closer in and especially if you're pitchin', get the XF. an XF will give you better pitchin' accuracy. if you're overhead casting, a fast action rod will load more and give you more distance and is easier to cast consistently too. fast is slightly more versatile than XF (meaning you can fish a wider variety of lures on it) and plays fish better (harder for them to throw the hook).

IIRC, the president XT has a three-piece body, featuring an aluminum stem, an aluminum sideplate and a composite body. i, for one, want the stem and body to be one-piece aluminum for the most rigidity and dependability. plus, even with this weight-saving measure, it still weighs over a full ounce more than the symetre (comparing the 6735 to the 2500-size reels). another thing to consider is the difference in line recovery...the XT's 27" versus the symetre's 35" per turn of the handle is a HUGE difference. slower is better for some techniques but faster is better for others; choose the one that will work best for you.

this is the real stuff: http://www.menditglue.com/

good luck on your order. wanna hear something really strange about my BPS orders? mine always arrive on a tuesday. no matter what day of the week i place my order, it will arrive on a tuesday. the last 7-8 times in a row convinced me that it cannot be a mere coincidence. i wonder if i has something to do with their use of "smartpost". if anyone else is in northern california, i'd like to hear if that is also the case for you too.

actually, i think you can just use the prepaid return shipping label on the packing slip included with your shipment. cabelas is GREAT about their customer service...just give 'em a call.

i'm in california and cabela's doesn't charge me tax. plus, they get my orders to me usually within 3-5 days. TW is 2 days at the most. BPS is usually 10-17 days and sometimes even longer (not backordered).

hey, same here! the order summary shows the $20 coupon being taken off but when my credit card bill arrives, it is for the full amount. worse, the order summary they email you shows NO PRICES or your order total. you better print the order summary before closing your browser or you're screwed. i feel sorry for those who don't notice the extra $20 or $30 per order on their credit card bills. i complained twice when this happened and they gave me some line about how i must be mistaken until i email them my printed order summary showing the discrepancy between what i should have been charged and what they actually charged me. i can't help but feel this is shady business practices...why else do they never let you see your order total ever again? they shipping is awful too...they use "smartpost" which is starts with UPS but then they pass it onto the USPS for final delivery...it is anything but smart and takes twice to three times as long as it should. TW gets ALL my business now.

if you're using a spinning reel, i'd highly recommend following your reel manufacturer's instructions. i've owned three different brands of spinning reels and each one was slightly different in how they wanted the line coming off of the filler spool (top of the spool, bottom of the spool, spool on its side).

my guess is that the drag isn't set as loose as you think. when you grab line right at the reel, it's a direct pull. when a fish pulls on your line, there's the length of the rod, the rod's limberness, and the stretch of the line to overcome before your drag is called upon. i'll further guess that your rod has a moderate action (bends parabolically instead of just at the tip).

Or its simply a more realistic estimate of what drag you can expect throughout the life of a reel. I've seen Revos that have fell FAR short of 24 lb. max drag after just one season. The carbon fiber washers are not nearly as robust as the aftermarket ones. hmmm....very interesting. sounds kinda like summer tires for high performance sports cars...great when new but they wear out very quickly and are terrible in the wet.

incheon, i applaud you for searching the archives before posting. HOWEVER, this thread is about the old prodigy reel made by pinnacle that was rather "forgettable". the current prodigies sold by cabelas are made by daiwa and are basically a modified daiwa tierra. they're good reels!

this is an interesting discussion, particularly the part about how too tight a drag can wear out the gears. is this possibly the reason why no one else has followed ABU garcia into the 24 lb. drag arena? i mean, it doesn't seem that hard to do but shimano and daiwa are happily standing pat at no more than 11 lbs.

i think you got it right with the first guess. i had a boron rod that i bought back around 1984 or so. it was cutting edge at the time but it was heavy and not sensitive and i guess that is why it never caught on. graphite was still lighter and more sensitive. IIRC, the fenwick and phenix graphite rods ruled the world back then.

i felt the same way as you when the E-series came out. i bought a citica (6:1) and two curados (5:1 and 7:1) and quickly discovered that i never used the citica. i suppose if you only had one rod/reel that you wanted to use for everything, a 6:1 makes sense but i have found that for techniques that call for a slower retrieve are much easier with a 5:1 and everything else is easier with a 7:1. i recently found out that the E-series citica and curado gear sets are interchangeable and so i picked up a set of 7:1 gears and installed them in my citica. it was easy and it works great. another thing to keep in mind is that gear ratios don't necessarily translate to equivalent line recovery. for example, the new core 50 is a 7:1 reel but it "only" picks up 28 inches of line per turn of the handle. this is only 1 inch more than the 6:1 citica (whereas the curado E7 picks up 30 inches per crank.

wrong stuff. there's only one mend-it: http://www.menditglue.com/

steezy, i'm interested in your impressions of smoothness and palmability between the two. thanks.

believe it or not, the prolite finesse is actually a great reel. it will not outcast light lures as well as a shimano chronarch 50MG but comes pretty close. as for replacing a spinning reel, the answer is no for anything 3/16th ounces (total lure weight) and under. spinning gear also works better when you need a fast, unimpeded freefall (e.g., dropshotting).

you may want to consider simply swapping out the gear set from one of your 7:1 curados for a 6:1 gear set from a citica E. the gears between the two are interchangeable and it is super easy to do. the part numbers are BTN3951 and BTN3953 and will run you $25 to $35, depending on where you buy them at. now, between the curado 100d and the citica E, i'd vote for the citica E. the 100-size was my favorite in the D-series but the citica E sits much lower in the reel seat and is much for comfortable on my hands. another plus for the citica E is that you can swap gear sets between the two and end up with a 6:1 curado and a 7:1 citica.

mend-it is a plastic solvent. it fuses plastic together and does not harden like super glue or other glues. mended lures are as soft as they were originally. mend-it works great. now, instead of throwing my torn-up senkos, basstrix, sweet beavers, and ikas away after a few fish, i save them all up and fix 'em when i get home and use them all over again...it's great.

i have both the 6'6" and 7'0" dropshot casting crucials. the tips are 'extra fast' compared to the regular crucials which are closer to 'fast'. this makes the dropshot models not only good for dropshotting but it also excels at shakeyhead and pitchin' light baits.

*** has them stock and they're sellin'. just watch the real-time inventory: http://www.***.com/descpage.html?PCODE=SC50MG# price or no price, shimano will sell these in decent numbers. i'm even thinking about one...

dan, i feel for ya. i had two SXs and hated the mag brakes on them. i dug around in the archives and on other forums try to find out more info about the STX. about half of the people that have used both the SX and the STX say that they're completely different and that the STX is far superior to the SX...yet, the other half says they're almost identical in temperament. i like variety so i keep dabbling with other models and have reels from every brand but i hafta admit the curado Es are my fav. i'd say, at that price, get the STX and see for yourself whether it works for you. if not, you'd have no problem turning around and selling it here without loss.

kistler is a pretty cool company. we can thank them for popularizing the removal of foregrips. they were also the first major manufacturer to think outside the box with regard to hook keeper design.

the core is the "halo" product in shimano's lineup of low-profile baitcasters that the everyman can aspire to and is priced accordingly. halo products are not volume sellers but they do cast a positive glow over all their other lower products. besides, some/many people will still buy it at full MSRP.