Poolie727

I'm jinxing myself no doubt, but never broke one on a hook set... now the ceiling fan in my office here, that's a different story. I did have a reel seat break once on a hook set and the reel went flying out of the back of the boat.

Seems normal to me. You only need to be concerned if you feel a strong urge to text someone about what you saw... now that's dangerous ;-)

You'll love the Curado. I have both. The Citica is fine for cranks and spinnerbaits, but I prefer the smoothness of the Curado for soft plastics and jigs.

My general rule is that if you're happy with the purchase, you got a good deal. I have several LTA's (casting) and am very happy with them.

I recently got turned on to the san diego ram knot, which is more or less a reverse improved clinch knot. The key to good knots with flourocarbon is to wet the knot before clinching it. It's the heat generated by a 'dry' knot that causes most failures.

Mitch, how long have you been away from fishing? If it's been a while, I think what you will discover is that practically every rod out there today will out perform what was on the market 5 or so years ago. So your concern about making a financial mistake is not that big of a deal. I promise you, you're not going to bring home a $50 rod and think man that was a waste of money. As others have mentioned, the rod is just half of the 'sensitivity'. Braid or Flourocarbon will do wonders for a middle of the road rod.

I can't speak for the LTX specifically, but the Kistler line as a whole are very good rods. I own several Mags, Argons and LTA's and love them all.

I have settled on InvisX as my primary line and buy it in 1000 yd spools, it's slightly cheaper that way because of (1) actual cost is less than 5 200yd spools and (2) I have less waste since it's all on one spool. I can actually spool one more reel this way.

+1 .... Seaguar Red Label is almost as good. The secret to Flouro is to wet the knot before clinching it.

What is it you don't like about the backpack bag? Just curious because my eye lingers on it every time I'm flipping thought the catalog. I just looks like a cool bag.

I think you will like it. Last summer I spent the day on Guntersville with my brother's Dobyns Champion matched with a Curado e7 and I loved it. I'm a Kistler fan myself but I really liked that Dobyns.

As others have said, the PQ while an okay reel, just isn't in the same league as the Curado... or Citica for that matter. With a little patience you can get a new one on eBay for around $150. I have 4 or 5 of them (sad that I can't say for sure) and haven't paid full price yet. For me the Citica is fine for cranks and spinnerbaits, but for worm and jigs it's teh Curado hands down.

Oh yeah... I've done way more damage to myself in the woodshop than fishing. Last Spring I jammed a wood chisel into my left palm. That was a 21 stitch mistake I won't soon forget.

Only once... so far. I was about 12, early one Sunday morning on my parents 20 acre lake in a jon boat. As I was lipping a 2 or so pounder it had one last shake in it and the next thing I know one set of treble hooks was in her mouth and the other set was in my hand. One hook was buried all the way up to where the three come together so there was no way to pull the barb though. I managed to get the fish off and in the excitement tossed it in the dry well instead... oops. Anyway, I rowed back one-handed and woke my mom up and asked her to take me to the hospital. My dad woke up and said, get me a steak knife. MOM!!!! The folks at the emergency room were amused.

Last year I went through many different brands of Flouro and what works for me is Seaguar red label. It's I believe the cheapest of the Seaguar line and I have nothing bad to say about it.

It's not cheating, but it's also not for me. To me, part of the enjoyment of fishing is the challenge of getting the fish to bite an artificial lure. For those that want to use live bait I say knock yourself out and have a good time.

This one is fresh on my mind. Caught this girl yesterday on a BPS Tigerfire spinnerbait with gold blades. Was slow rolling it along and thought I nailed a stump... except the stump was moving. I don't carry a scale, but she measured a little under 25" and was a little chunky so I would say she was easily 8lbs.

I have 4 Citica's and 2 Curado's and yes the Curado is a nicer reel, but only slighter. Would I buy another Citica... absolutely. Can't go wrong with either one.

Can't go wrong with Lake Guntersville. The weather is hit or miss that time of year in N. Alabama so top water might not be your best choice. But if you simply want to save money, stay in the south east and catch a boat load of 4+ pounders then G'ville is worth looking into.

I have no experience with any of the reels mentioned, but will tell you that in general, you get what you pay for when it comes to reels. If this will be your first baitcaster save up and buy something in the $75 to $100 range and you'll have no regrets. The cheaper ones tend to be more difficult to use (not all but most) and you can easily get frustrated and give up. With something like a Shimano Citica 200E you'll be happy with it and it will be with you for years to come. Just me 2 cents.

The BPS XPS Finesse ML is actually a pretty nice rod. It's one of the few non-Kistler rods I still have.

I believe I caught my first fish on a 202. Only after I proved myself worthy of it did my dad let me use the 33 :-) I imagine a lot of us caught our first fish on something with a Zebco label on it.

I have used one of my brother's Dobyn rods one day on the lake a month or so ago and was very impressed with it. I own 2 Kistler Mags, 2 Kistler LTA'a and just two weeks ago added a Kistler Argon. All of them are worth every penny I spent on them, but the Argon is the cats meow for me. By far my favorite. A buddy of mine that is also in the tank for Kistler rods has recently picked up a couple Falcon Lowriders and says they're darn near as sensitive as the Kistler's and about half the price. I don't think you can go wrong with any of these three. They're all good quality rods.

+1 This makes the improved clinch so much easier to tie. Can almost do it in the dark.

Seaguar Red Label is a great line and is affordable. I like the Seaguar InvisX and AbrazX too, but I've never had the Red Label fail on me.