Boogey Man

Done.

I've been using one since this spring. It's a fine reel. It's actually gotten smoother with use. Casting wise it'll hang with my lews tournament pro and okuma Serrano. As for the plastic drag star, I'm not sure how you'd break one anyway.

A little town about 30 miles from me called West Liberty got hit hard. It's been on The Weather Channel a lot if anyone's been watching. Now they're calling for falling temps and maybe an inch or two of snow tonight. Lots of folks having it rough right now.

my mistake then, I thought the part about only owning one reel and being an expert on it was directed towards me. Again, my mistake

Thinly veiled insults, that's pretty good.

Well, like I said, I don't have an E to compare it to. I do have a couple Citica E's and the Curado G is heads and shoulders above it in casting distance and smoothness. The Citica E has a plastic drag star and does not have the titanium line guide and I haven't noticed any adverse results. What were your personal experiences fishing the Curado G vs. the Curado E?

I bought a Curado G6 at the BPS trade in, got it for $90 with trade in, rebate and a coupon. I don't have a E but the G is a nice reel. I also found this from Bantam1 from another site: "Nobody seems to understand the yen to dollar exchange rates. 3 years ago the yen was 100+-1. Today its around 80-1. This makes a HUGE difference in pricing. For example if the new Curado G was made in Japan the MSRP would be around $250 instead of $159. I know the math doesn't seem right but it is. If you haven't noticed everything is getting more expensive. Gas, boats, vehicles, food...unemployment is hovering around 10%, fishing industry as a whole is down. Curado E was going to see a price increase. Would you have been happier to pay $199 for the Curado E? Chronarch was not moving well at $300. We could have just dropped the reel name and moved on. We knew people would get angry, but our hands were tied. Apples to oranges? I hope that after reading all of this you see a name is just a name. There is no easy solution with the current situation. New models will just come out to be more expensive than the previous model unless we move production to Malaysia. Now for all of you that think Malaysia sucks you are wrong. The factory there is actually more advanced than the one in Japan. The machines are better and capable of tighter tolerances. The engineers are all from Japan. We have QC people from Japan working at the factory now. The workers are being trained at higher levels and the standards are among the best in the country. Yes there have been some growing pains over the years but things have improved substantially."

Gotta ask, what's a "trailer queen"?

Not trying to start a debate over who's the better anglers. It's about class and how you choose to conduct yourself in life. Apparently Ranger still thinks Yelas is the classier of the two.

Wonder what the Fish and Wildlife folks would think about him throwing his rod and reel in the lake? Littering? And for those that say Ike is good for the sport, how so? Increased fishing license sales? Increased boat and tackle sales? Ike is like a child that exhibited some bad behavior and the grown ups laughed. The child now thinks it's "cute". How many times did BASS replay him kicking the American flag in the water? My opinion is they think it's "cool" to have a bad boy. I recall an article by Jay Yelas from a few years ago that pretty much sums it up. "In light of all the confusion pro anglers and fans are currently facing regarding the 2006 BASS tournament season, I'm compelled to share with them and the broader fishing industry some recent history that has led us to where we are today. The purpose of this is educational. It's purely my personal take on what is going on in our industry and is not necessarily the official opinion of the Professional Anglers Association (PAA). I began my career with BASS in 1989. Back then, and all through the 1990s, BASS was the premier bass-fishing organization in the country. In those days, BASS prided themselves on what they called "BASS class." They were a small company from Montgomery, Ala. that held traditionally conservative Southern family values. Of course, they weren't perfect. But as a whole the employees of BASS, and their leadership, had "BASS class." My childhood dream had always been to be a BASS pro, and I was proud to be a member of the Bass Anglers Sportsman's Society back then. In April 2001, ESPN bought BASS from Helen Sevier. At the time, there was a buzz among the pros about how ESPN was going to take the sport to the next level. ESPN announced big plans and made lucrative promises to the pros, and we were excited about where we thought ESPN would take us. Things at BASS didn't change much the first couple of years under ESPN's ownership. Kevin VanDam won the Classic in 2001 and I won it in 2002. I recall one of the top brass at ESPN telling me after my win that ESPN could not have picked two better champions for their first 2 years of owning BASS. I could tell he meant it, too. The culture at BASS had hardly changed those first 2 years, but unfortunately, the TV ratings were only increasing very modestly. Those ratings were not good enough, and imminent change was on the way. The year everything changed at BASS was 2003. First, in Jan. 2003, BASS announced their controversial new mandatory Busch Angler of the Year (AOY) program. For years, BASS had resisted the temptation to take the easy money from liquor companies. Beer companies had always been an easy sale, but the leaders at BASS had "BASS class" and their family-oriented values would not allow them to make those easy sales. Under ESPN's ownership, a new value system was being ushered in at BASS. For the first time in BASS's history, profits seemed to become more important to them than people. That was also the year Mike Iaconelli won the Classic. Iaconelli's dramatic last-minute win unleashed a torrent of spontaneous raw emotion like Bassmaster TV had never seen before. It was real, and it made great TV. Instantly, everything changed with Bassmaster TV. The leadership of Bassmaster TV saw this raw emotion as what they needed more of to increase their TV ratings. At the very next tournament after Iaconelli's Classic win, Jerry McKinnis stood in front of all the pros at the tournament briefing and showed us a video of Iaconelli winning the Classic. He then told us that we all needed to "be like Mike" to help increase TV ratings, setting the tone for 2004 and 2005. Over the next couple of years, ESPN seemingly culled through dozens of pros to find the best five or six who could "be like Mike." They could dance and scream and act a good role for the camera. Recently, ESPN has used these five or six as actors on their TV shows to the relative exclusion of nearly the whole rest of the field. For the first time, Bassmaster TV had become biased. Tournament performance no longer guaranteed valuable airtime for the other pros. Worse, Bassmaster TV had become biased and phony. The other anglers who were acting in Ike's likeness were no longer spontaneous and real as Ike had been in his 2003 Classic win. Their antics on camera became scripted, expected, forced and phony. All a big show for the camera, and the public knew it. Ike and his "likes" seem to have been promised by ESPN that they would become pro fishing's biggest stars if they continued their song and dance for the camera. ESPN alerted industry sponsors that Ike and his "likes" were going to be the stars and that was where they should put their endorsement dollars. A few bought in, but not many. By the 2005 Classic in Pittsburgh, BASS TV had done a total transformation. Their TV show was hardly recognizable to their old fans. While much of the Classic coverage was informative and entertaining, there were parts of the Classic coverage in which ESPN had replaced "BASS class" with something of a cross between WWF wrestling and the Jerry Springer show. After 2 years of seeing nothing but Ike and his "likes" on Bassmaster TV, the show's ratings are going nowhere. In the process of trying to draw new fans to the sport with Ike and his "likes," ESPN had alienated many fans and pros alike. I'm personally now embarrassed to tell people I'm associated with BASS. I have many friends who tell me they have to hit the "mute" button frequently while watching Ike and his "likes" when their kids are watching because of the vulgarity they use. (I blame both the pros and ESPN production for allowing this trash on their show). If there's one thing I've learned in this life, it's that common decency never goes out of style. Never. It appears ESPN believes that vulgarity drives TV ratings – more evidence of their apparent "profits over people" mindset. The vulgarity isn't working for them with Bassmaster TV, as the ratings are not what they had hoped. ESPN seemingly does not believe it can be profitable in bass fishing by simply covering our sport the way they do other professional sports – by giving unbiased media coverage to those who perform the best. Instead of just "covering the game," ESPN seems to believe they have to turn bass fishing into some type of Hollywood production. Instead of an athlete competing in a sport, I feel like ESPN wants actors to help them make a TV show. A perfect example is the comparatively small amount of TV time given to Mark Davis during the coverage of his four wins in 2004-05. I personally feel that the non-Ike-like anglers are a supporting cast that exists only to fill up space while ESPN turns Ike and his "likes" into stars. In my mind, ESPN's apparent "profits over people" mindset is what's holding BASS back. If ESPN would return Bassmaster TV to being more family-friendly, clean up the inappropriate verbage in some Bassmaster magazine editorials (circa Sept. 2005), and if they would begin to care about all their fishermen at all levels, I believe they would get their momentum back. And I want to see BASS succeed."

From Ebay: "A new, unused item with absolutely no signs of wear. The item may be missing the original packaging, or in the original packaging but not sealed. The item may be a factory second or a new, unused item with defects. See the seller's listing for full details and description of any imperfections."

Where in the original post did he say he felt or looked like a "fool"? Anyway, get your buddy who let you try his reel to give you a few pointers. Or check out YouTube and search "how to cast a baitcasting reel". It does take some patience and practice but you can do it. I

Can somebody please make a separate sub-forum just for Little Abu Johnny ?

How's the ergonomics of the reel? I've read it about like the current Quantum Pt reels without the ACS "hump". I've been eyeing them myself.

Clayton, according to your profile you're 24 yrs old with a wife and children and getting ready to leave for military service. First, thank you for your service to our country. Second, listen to your counselor and family. Get your fishing advice from a fishing forum

I guess I'm lucky. My wife doesn't hassle me about fishing. Saturday is our day to do things together, go out and eat, watch a movie or something. Sunday mornings I go fishing. She usually fixes me breakfast or packs my lunch. If she calls, I know it's and emergency. If I go during the week I usually try to plan it on an evening when she's doing something of her own. It works out good for both of us.

6'6" med/extra fast Compre spinning.

Thick, specifically Megastrike. No dipping, no spraying, no mess.

No lie, that happened to me one time. I was in the men's room at the movie theater, this voice in the stall says "how ya doing?". I didn't say anything and he repeats it. I said "I'm doing OK" and then he continues his conversation and I realize he's on his cell phone. I got out of there in a hurry.

Sign me up.

Besides the structure and cover, if it's a shallow flat I also try to look for stained water. It keeps me from spooking the fish and it sets them up better on the available cover.

I have the 7' heavy Tournament Class rod I got from Pinnacle last year when they had the drawings here on the board. It's a great rod, well built and extremely light for a 7 footer. They only drawback is I'm not a big fan of the ACS reel seat. Other than that, it's awesome. I would like to try one of their Optimus baitcasters but no one in my area sells them and I'm not big on buying a reel with seeing it first. I may bite the bullet if I can catch one at a good enough price though.

Congrats on your new combo. Nice fish!!

As far as casting distance, the Okuma Serrano is close but the TP has the edge.

I bought a Tournament Pro a few months ago. This thing is a casting freak! The first time I used it I had to be careful because I was actually overshooting my targets. I've used baits down to 3/16oz with no problems. It's profile is very small and easy to palm. The flat paddle grips and very comfortable. I've read where some people don't like the braking system because it only has 4 centrifugal brakes but it's no big deal because I only set two on anyway. I'd buy another one in a heartbeat.