SirSnookalot

Being so limp, any reel 2000 and higher should be fine.

My back is healing nicely and can get out at my own pace. Some of my more delicate problems will not be treated with surgery or chemo, I'm elated and could not have asked for much more. I have decided to give up fishing all together, my target to get back out there maybe January. I do not plan much BR activity until I get back into the swing. Quite honestly I don't care about rods and reels now. I spend most of my time reading and watching current events, that's my focus for now.

Fine the way it is

Glad to hear

Very tragic. Until the culprits are caught and motive established, I'm not going to read anything other than a routine stop.

These bass companies got your ticket. They produce all kinds of stuff wanting to confuse you into buying more, that you just gotta have.

A 6' 30# ugly stick can and does cast as far as lighter set ups, I see it done daily. My best bud fishes nothing but, uglies with old Penn 704's with missing bails, 20# mono that he brought down from Long Island 20 years ago, where he was a striper fisherman, now just fishes larger barracuda. those ugliues fling out a 2 oz lure a long way. This is the guy that laughs at me when I go peacock fishing. When I was at the Colorado river in California, early July I bought a 6' pro light ugly stik mh, not the rod of my choice but all I could find. That ugly performed pretty darn well for spillway striper fishing, almost sorry I didn't take it home.

It's geopoltical. Oil poised to drop 3% today, investors taking profits from recent surge.

The intent of all fishermen is to catch fish, what else? Being a multispecis fisherman works to my advantage, I treat most of the same and know I can catch any of them, no fish is hard given the knowledge needed to find them. 1# or 100 it's the same except for time differernce in landiing. Catching a 10# bass is great mainly because it's not a common catch, but for pure fun I can think of many smaller species that are more thrilling. If one gets off on gear go 4it. I'll stick with my outdated stuff. It's all moot if you aren't findiing fish to catch.

Education first and foremost. Jumping from college into the upper tier of fishing or golf is a hope, with a slim chance. More upside potential in golf, even an assit. pro at a golf course doesn't make much but it's networking. At the latest PGA championship how many club pros made into the top 10, I don't think any.

I get reports emailed to me daily so I know what I'm missing, not happy about either. Some may be aware I have fractured spine, have done no fishing at all. The doc gave me the all clear to go at my pace, I ventured out to the ICW yesterday but thought better of re injuring myself, bonita are running and they can be monsters. My wife tells me to go to my ponds here, I said to fish 90 degree weather for 12-15" fish, no future in that other than to get out of the house. I can wait till I get stronger, even the canal bass get much bigger in a few months.

I'm an outdated fisherman myself, 1 thing that has served my 70 years well is putting my lure where I want it to go, that in itself catches lots of fish. The rod merely projects the lure, any run off he shelf run of the mill rod I have does the job with out getting overly teched out. The number of hooks on the or type of lure is a talking point, reality to an experienced fisherman doesn't mean squat. I use nothing but inshore spinning for bass, it's a lot of fun for me providing I keep my rods on the light side, mostly med/ light, I may jump up to a med depending on the water I need to pull fish thru. I love my outdated rods along with my outdated lures and techniques. All that matters is the fish on the end of the line, the magic bullet is one's own expertise not any specific rod.

One thing we have down here is lots of fish that exceed 40 or 50 inches, loaded with teeth. The key is putting your lure into the right spot for a strike, pretty easily done with any rod and and reel, nothing overly involved. The next part is landing it, which is not so easy, the further the fish is from boat or shore and the longer it takes to land increase the chance of the fish being unbuttoned. 60 seconds does not sound like a long fight, put a timer to your next big fish, 60 seconds will seam like an eternity. Then fight one for 15 minutes or more, without expertise I put the win on the fish almost every time, don't care what kind of rod and reel, line or knot

As long as the bail has clearance, being bent isn't a big issue, just bend it back. Don't even need a bail, there are bailess reels, just a matter of getting comfortable feeding the line on to the line roller with your finger. I removed the bale off my 4000 spheros, line was hanging up on the bale.

The combo is over you're fireplace? I'd still be using it. I fish for what's available to me, the bigger the better. I focus on bass from NOV-Feb. and do it economically. One of my favorite bass/peacock set ups is UL rod that cost me about 40 bucks and trion20 spinning reel that I've had about 8 years, all I use on it is a Storm chug a bug. I don't require much else, or wish to complicate my fishing.