Steve1357

Sufix Tritanium. Academy only I think.... 10 is great all around, 14 worming, both tough to break with your hands. Cheapest too, 11.99 for a big spool, 1000+ yards.

I've been throwing baitcasters for almost 50 years. I use 6 lb test on weightless senkos and weightless texas rigged Zoom 6" trick worms with wire hooks all the time, blindfolded standing on my head. I don't consider it power fishing....more like more efficient. You're line isn't beat and twisted all to hell, and the torque feels a lot better. And I can keep reeling all the way to the boat with the drag slipping without having to respool, constant pressure as they say.... If you like the rod in your right hand to set the hook worming, they make left handed baitcasters, I own several to mix it up during the day, carpal tunnel, arthritis, and all that when you get old.... It's all good

THE best worm hook there was and still is. They won't sit flat, they look like they're bent all to hell, that point is going to hook meat one way or the other. Walmart still stocks them here....

Get a pack of the Zoom bubble gum pink ones too. Don't know why, but they work.....

Academy seems to be the only one that has Sufix Tritanium on shelf. Only a few more bucks than BigGame and it's copolymer. 14lb almost impossible to break by hand compared to 14lb mono. Really like the 10lb for plugs, 14lb for plastics so far.

Just the way it is. I had a few old Abu 5000s with bushings on the spool, I was going to get smart and put in bearings. Put the bearings in, sucker was so hot I had to add more end cap tension. Felt horrible to crank! Ended up putting the bushings back in and using grease instead of oil to slow that sucker down. Even now I adjust my spool tension by slowly turning down the end cap while cranking until I feel the change in resistance. Being centrifugal brakes, I found it helped a lot by increasing the weight of the brakes too. Lot of things you can tweak. But as you've noticed, the casting spool tension is still there when you start cranking.......

What do you do with the last 30 feet or so of the spool? I hate to waste it, so I used to attach it to the next, fresh spool with a double uni know. I understood you to ask what to do with the last bit of line left on a spool. I sit down at home at my leisure and make up carolina rigs so I'm not wasting a lot of time building them on the water.

Pre-tie your carolina rigs and put each one in a small 2x3" bag....is what I do....

stopped in BPS today, they have their sticks for buy 2, get one free. fwiw

Ray Scott and Hank Parker.....

BPS in Little Rock is the last place I go only because they have something I can't find anywhere else. The "atmosphere" has to be funded.....like casinos. Catch their sales and always check the midway, usually something affordable you can get... Unfortunately Academy here has been eliminating things I always buy and raising prices on what they have left, trying to compete with BPS I guess..... jmho

I know I needed help when I started buying things that when I started putting them up, I discovered I already had bought a bunch of them years earlier.... I have boxes of stuff I'll never use if I was fishing every day, all day, the rest of my life...lol

Im late to the party, just bought the max at Dicks for Berkley worms. 4 for $14 with a $10 rebate. 4 rebates limit Makes them a buck a pack....

If none of it is affecting the line passing through it, I'd wait until you see line being damaged. I had a nick once in a guide in middle, started seeing angel hair shavings on spool...(monofilament) Tips are cheap, whatever you would be comfortable with.

I go ahead and smash the barb down when I'm using plastic worms. I know the bream drive you crazy with plastics and you tend to wait too long to make sure it's a bass, but go ahead and set the hook and don't wait. Swing and a miss! ain't so bad......... My 2c Edit: Don't forget to check and get the plastic out, it doesn't decompose.

We have pickerel here in the south which are pretty bad in a lake that use to be a nice place to bass fish. Aggressive and will hit about anything....fwiw

My times were different. I thought I'd hot rod an old 5000 which came with spool bushings. Put in the new bearings, sucker would cast a mile. Problem is it was too hot in the sense I had to crank down the spool cap tension so much, that much tension was bothering me on retrieve. I love these reels, you can spend a lot of time on them just like your neighbor with three cars sitting on blocks and one running in the driveway....lol

fwiw Hobby Lobby has their glass beads (all jewelry stuff) for 50% off I don't know, but guessing at the image and what I have, they look like BigBites.

One of the best all around, especially with their once of year rebates of was it six bucks when you buy two spools? Wish someone carried coastal brown without having to order it....(comes in five colors, most stores carry one or two)

Ditto here. I'm not afraid of losing a dollar spinnerbait. The black and black/yellow ones have a single large colorado blade, perfect for muddy waters here. Change skirts if you want something else....

I'm sure I'm in the minority. Just the way I've always done it. I'll just throw out some rambling being an old man... Started with the Zebcos and when they came out with the Zebco ONE (70s) I grabbed me an Eagle Claw "worm" rod (basically a pool cue) with it and was in high heaven. Got me an Abu later and was hooked. Saw Hank Parker was big on Abu round reels and pistol grip rods, figured what I was doing was alright. Back then just after Walmart came about, they would have a goldfish bowl on the counter with segmented black, purple, and red worms, was 50c a handful I think. Issue I have with the newer longer rods is that I am right handed but swing a bat or golf club left handed. Having to put two hands on the new rods to cast, to swing it left handed I'd have to put my left thumb on the spool and that ain't gonna work after 50 years of training my right thumb on Abus. In the early 80s I bought a Shimano high tech latest graphite super dooper reel for over a 100 bucks. Was nothing but a piece of junk imho and blew up on the first hook set. No, with 14lb line and eight pound bass, I'll stick with my Abu round reels. In the summer after the spawn, I do have several 4500 reels I'll spool up with 6 or 8lb but I'll still have a big rig for worming within reach. I'm a big boy with big hands, maybe that's why I like large reels and not the itty bitty high tech new ones. I do fish the river a lot, I don't need sensitivity, bream drive you nuts while you're waiting to catch a bass. Bream seem to shake it or take off real fast, bass for me seem to just sit or move off with it, you may even think you hit a snag until it moves. Don't need a longer rod for hooksets, I give the fish a count of two to turn the bait around and the line is usually tight without me taking up the slack. Odd thing for me worming last few years is trying those new "wide gap" hooks. Starting missing fish, because the point is inline with the eye and not much space inbetween? I went back my to my old offset worm hooks and rarely miss. Was it the hooks or my confidence? Who knows.... I started out worming with the old TruTurn "twist" worm hooks. I read a lot of people say they fish much better with the new wide gap hooks; tells me you just have to experiment and find what works for you. I still carry toothpicks and large straight shank hooks if I come across some larger fish... Many ways to do the same thing, I merely pointed out I stay with old school that won Hank Parker two Bassmasters. Yeah Hank uses the new reels and rods now, well, what can I say. Cheers

You'll have to elaborate for me, I've been doing it this way for 50 years. Reel holds 200+ yards, load half the reel with dacron or similar, then top it off with 80-100 yards of premium line. Saves wasting the extra 100 yards of premium line each change.

Sounds to me like the worm gear and related components. Take off the right side and remove the spool. Then take off the left side cover. The spool gear turns the idler gear when then turns the worm gear. Like said above, sound like the worm gear is dry on either end, but put a little oil on the idler gear while you're there. If the spool was rubbing the frame, it sounds different. But see if you're seeing paint rubbed off the edge of the spool while you have it apart.

I've been using 1970's Ambassadeur 5000/5500 and 14lb line for most of my life worming. Get a heavy rod, was using Ugly Sticks, but really like Academy's Roughneck series lately. If I'd buy one today, I'd grab a new 5500 C3 Abu and load 100yds backing with 100yds 10-14lb copolymer. Rod would be the Academy Roughneck 6'. I use a similar setup, 5'-6" Toughneck pistol grip and Abu round reels for spinnerbaits. I prefer the older Abus because they are 3.8/1 retrieve ratio. I use a newer 5000/5500 with 4.7/1 for spinnerbaits and plugs. Granted smallies are a little different animal. imho stay away from the cheaper Abu round reels, made in China, too much plastic.

Ribbontail worms are wasted around here, bream tear off the tails faster than you can buy them. I use the Mann's Jelly Worms 12", Baby Hueys, my largest fish this year was off the Yum 10.5" MightyWorm junebug. Mann's are the lightest, the Yum the heaviest. I don't use sinkers, usually the depth dictates which worm I'll use. Bream don't seem to bother you much when you're chunkin a snake... Ribbontail worms are fun, but after a while they really aren't fun any more, "Swing and a miss!" Muddier the water, the darker. Junebug or black, I've done well this year trying black spinnerbaits for the first time. I'll also add, get your foot off the trolling motor. If you're wondering if you're fishing the worm slow enough, you're still going too fast. Sit down and act like a snake.......