SirSnookalot

Star and Hurricane Redbone are the majority of my line up, both are over the counter warranty, which I have never had to use. Probably list them this way, my 2 cabos at the top of the list, then my 4 abu sorons, 5 pfluegers, 1 Daiwa tierra, 2 stradics, 2 spheros and Penn conquer bringing up the rear. None of them are bad.

Tom, with all due respect, pressing down on a fish to try and lengthen it is not the way to measure a fish, IMO that's not fudging that's cheating. Whether the fish is on a board or other flat surface, the tape is put next to the fish measuring the length to the terms of that species the mouth can be open or closed depending on what the state says. Putting the tape on top of the fish, the contour will measured and most likely add some length, again not the way to measure a fish. There is no grey area, a measurement is exactly what it is, legal or not legal. Tournament requirements probably are not pertinent to this thread, but if so would they supercede state law? A question I have no answer for not being a tournament angler, don't most tourneys go by weight?

I totally agree with Francho. I pondered this topic yesterday and thought better of posting my opinion because I could have easily violated BR forum rules. I'm going to approach this topic from a different angle. The situation stems from a social problem mainly the family structure, many of the people in question have for generations been raised to live this way. Poor family life, maybe only one parent in the household barely making enough money to even pay rent. These people not only were raised to use the system, they were raised to fail in life. The second many of them were born they had 2 strikes against them. On the other hand, I'm sure many of the posters in this thread were raised with 2 parents, lived lives where there was always food to eat, warm clothes in the winter, parents stressed education and taught wholesome values, in other words raised to succeed in life, with little or no excuse for failure. Needless to say there are exceptions on both sides of the equation. People from all demographics fall into both of these groups, it isn't isolated to just one. Most of the forums I frequent with out any doubt in my mind would favor my position. I do realize that my view this subject on this forum will yield a high degree of scrutiny and disagreement. All that being said I don't condone the bilking any system.

Don't understand a fudge factor. If a slot is say 28"-32" for an example, whether the allowable measurement is total length, pinched tail or to the fork in the tail, it's 28-32, not 27 1/2 or 27 7/8 I wonder how far one might get telling a game warden that if fish was less than the legal size, we can fudge it and make it legal. Tape measures don't lie, it is what is.

The rod has to be packed up, taken to the post office or be home for the mailman to pick it up, pay for the shipping, then wait how long before the rod shows up at your home. If I were in charge of customer service for any rod company I would make arrangements with local tackle shops to repair a guide on the spot and bill the company. Saves not only time for the consumer but the rod manufacturer is going to save both time and money in their own facility, surprises me no one seems to have this program. IMO the only good warranty is over the counter repair or replacement. Convenience never hurts any companies future sales, but inconvenience can. It's nice you received a new rod.

I have Comcast, don't know if I have WFN or not, never looked for it. There is enough fishing shows as it is for me, I don't watch them too often.

Many people say they would do the same thing over again, I would not. I went to Univ of Mich both under grad and profession school, good background but I wasn't focused at the time. Tried a few things in a totally different path and eventually that led me into the business world. A bit later in life my core values surfaced, I was too entrenched to leave what I was doing. Looking back I know exactly what I should have done, and I regret it and I probably would not have ever retired from it.

This is going to differ among the different brands, many of the thicker blanks are boat rods and designed more for drifting and trolling, but are castable. I do have inshore rods and boat rods from the same manufacturer where the blanks appear to be identical, the fore and rear grips are different. I do not notice a difference from salt and fresh regarding the seats and guides. As well intended as both freshwater and saltwater members are in their respective forums, most of us are a bit more technically inclined than many of the other anglers. The equipment used literally runs the gamut, wide variances in prices as well as brands, lengths, grips, styles, etc. Back on point, I have no experience with Falcon rods so no comment there. Growing up on Lake St Clair before becoming a saltwater fisherman, I would not want to use an 8-10' rod from a boat up there, IMO too awkward and heavy for smallmouth fishing, I wouldn't use it for the flats down here either. A 7' or 7'6 med inshore rod would work fine up there, that said there is no advantage using the salt version over the freshwater one.

gr8outdoorz, nothing beats working for the betterment of mankind...........

thank you

As far as people I REALLY know, my sister is as interesting as any I've met. Since the age of 18 she has spanned the globe numerous times, mostly back packing and camping and quite often with 3 young daughters in tow. She has spent her summer breaks from teaching special education traveling and living in South America, Thailand, Southeast Asia, Israel, Turkey and Europe. On the home front she has taken in exchange students from around the world, her 3 daughters each have studied in other countries as well. She is a master gardner (took classes), and a trained chef. She has competed in tri-athalons, and biking, now she is a kayaker and at present is on a 6 week river run someplace in Alabama with another 65 year old woman. I guess one could say she does not live a sedentary life. I have never known anyone with that kind of energy.

I don't view this as a morality decision, it's a personal choice and people may differ. My view is a legal fish becomes personal property and it's up to the owner what to do with it. If a fish is not legal I would not keep it even though I know it won't live. It isn't worth the risk of getting caught, some critter in nature will benefit. Is the extenuating circumstance being in a very remote area with little chance of being caught? If survival were the issue I certainly would eat the fish, most likely that would not be the case. In all likelyhood whatever I chose to do would remain totally silent, things have a way of jumping up and biting ya in the butt.

I don't really believe a saltwater rod will cast any further than it's freshwater counterpart with the same specs. Of my 7'-7'6 and 8' saltwater rods the difference in distance is not as significant as one may think, I mainly pick my rod length that I'm using for the day based on wind. The stronger the wind the shorter the rod I use, it's easier to handle, 7' being my shortest. No real reason to buy a saltwater rod to fish in freshwater, most of the inshore rods are pretty much what one could classify as all purpose.

Not from experience but from a little bit of internet research the strongest tested braids I discovered were Spider Wire Ultra cast, Triple Fish and Berkely Fire Line crystal. Testing aside I'm perfectly content with what I'm using now. If I met a person locking their drag down with a pliers and breaking 65# braid (which I wouldn't be using in the first place), I don't know if I'd be laughing at him or running as fast as I could away. Certainly a technique I have no interest in.

You did the right thing by trying to resolve the issue at the store, a cooperative business owner would have satisfied you on the spot, too bad it didn't work that way. The next step is Abu customer service and they are pretty darn good. It's a shame that you have to take the time and effort to pack it up and ship it. I'd be looking for a new outlet to buy my fishing gear.

This entire year just not the fall has been as bad as I can remember. What little bass fishing I'm doing now has been terrible, and the saltwater bite stinks. About every commercial or charter fisherman I know is ready to file bankruptcy, lol, not really but they are hurting. Don't cry for me I'm still catching fish, but the size and numbers are no where near what is normal.

Seeing as you have the rod already, just have to use the system to get things rectified. For me the only rod warranty worth any thing is over the counter replacement. Price isn't even an issue but convenience is. I do not want to take the time and effort to ship a rod back to the manufacturer, I don't care how cooperative they may be. Broken rod, I want to be fishing with a new one the next day, not in a week or 2 or 3.

Agree with the above. First of all I would select 15# braid over any mono, if for no other reasons line twist and coiling. It is not an issue of brand, for 60-110 many reels will fit the bill. This is an issue of spool size and IMO 12# mono or copoly is close to the upper limits for a 4000 reel. For bass and many other freshwater species a 4000 size would be the biggest I'd go, many 5000 reels are 18 oz and up. I do have a couple that are closer to 14 oz but they are out of your price range, and I don't feel they are conducive for bass fishing, nor would I want to use a mono line over 14#. Another issue is going to be trolling your mono out after each outing for best performance, if this is not possible go with braid.

I personally do not read tests and reviews on lines, knots rods and reels. Nothing replaces time on your own waters, fishing the species that you target to determine what is going to work best for you. There is just too much contradictory information out there on the world wide web. Part of being a good fisherman is learning how to make your own selections, not relying on some one else to do it for you...........I say YOU in the plural sense, not to target a specific individual.

Using those lines you shouldn't have a problem. Biggest mystery to me is why anyone would use 30# braid on a bass sized spinning gear in the first place. I use this basic formula for braid, rods rated up 12 get 10#, 8/17 get 15#, 10/20 get 20#, offshore 30 & 40 rods get 30#, I do have 1 set up on a 8' 10/20 rod with 30# braid, it's not a bass combo. Zero problems ever. If a rod gets over stressed and breaks, 99% of the time I bet it's user error.

It happened last year on the beach catching the same kind of fish using the same exact lure, that time the hook went into my calf. No tetanus then, thought better of pressing my luck. Hook really didn't hurt a bit.

Some of the butterfly jigging type rods are rated for braid and Shimano terez rods too, but these are saltwater rods.

Don't know what's going to happen next but I can hardly wait....lol. Everything starts off just fine this AM, go to the inlet and hook into a really nice fighting snook, get it netted and landed. I hand this guy my smart phone, 6 attempts later I still don't have a decent photo. Either the pic is me without the fish, the fish without me or totally blurred, how does that happen with autofocus, hehe, ok I've posted 32" snook before so not a big deal. Off to the beach, still dark out and my first cast produces a nice bluefish, second cast same result but cuts my lure off. I quickly grab the fish out of the surf and get my lure back. I put wire on, do bluefish care, I guess not as I had one just bite thru 30# surlon wire and my catch 2000 mirrorlure is gone. Tie on a flats jig and caught fish until nothing was left but the jig head, change up and put a poppa dog on. Doesn't take long to hook another, get it on the beach and it's bouncing around so much it hits my leg and embeds a #2 4x treble hook into my lower shin. Luckily there is 2 women and a man sitting on a blanket, I go up to them for some help, they only speak Russian. Manage to press the barb down just enough to yank it our backwards, whew......I'm glad. They bandage me and I head back for one more bluefish, then I thought I better hit the emergency medical for a tetanus shot, which I did. I'll be back again tomorrow morning. OOPS, I put this thread into the wrong forum, sorry.

For the most part once they strike they are gone. There have been occasions when they do immediately strike again or later in the day, but in comparison I think the percentage is low. I don't think bass get any smarter with age or size, they get big because of genetics and luck.

That thread has been done many many times. A semi experienced angler can use either b/c or spinning for just about any kind of technique or species of fish. This notion of needing a certain rod for trebles and another for other types of lures is an idea that was created in outer space. Reality is any all purpose rod can handle any kind of lure with ease, I do it every day. Do I lose fish, probably no more or less than anyone else. Will a more technique specific rod be more fun, only the user can answer that.