SirSnookalot

I'm in total agreement with 0119. My first episode with Shimano service on my Spheros 4000 the warranty was voided due to the fact that I used an oil other than Shimanos, that's a cheap shot. Would a car manufacturer void my warranty if I got an oil change at Jiffy lube? My 2 stradic fi 4000's have been plagued with bail issues. I've ordered parts, when not received I called only to be told there was no record of the order being placed. Then I was told the parts were on backorder, I had to find them elsewhere. Both stradics have had the entire bail system replaced, one by my local guy and one by Shimano, both bails are still floppy and not solid like other reels I own. Luckily I found the error of my ways and only own a few Shimanos, if I owned more I'm sure I'd be on first name basis with them too. It isn't my concern how back logged they are with repairs, my concern is getting my reel back in service quickly. One company that I have embraced gives 24 hour warranty service on salt reels and 48 hour on fresh, and I really like the reels. To Shimano's credit some of their reels are nice performers (when they aren't broke), but perform no better than any other brand I use. In fairness my Shimano's are used in saltwater and approved for that environment, the elements do take their toll. It's hard for me to understand why my bails keep breaking when I close them by hand as I do my other reels used for the same kind of fish, those bails don't break. Unlike 0119 I may buy another Shimano but not at their current price structure, over rated and over priced for me. Again tying to be fair most Shimano's used on this site are fished in freshwater, there shouldn't be too many problems. In lieu of spending $800 on a freshwater spinner, I'd spend no more than $100. Take the remaining $700 and get some therapy.

I good fish yesterday and only 1 barely decent fish today, the bite is off. I had 2-3 real hot weeks, all things come to end or at least slow down.

I don't watch fishing tournaments, but of the bits and pieces of the few bass and walleye I've seen, not even exciting enough to be classified as boring. When I see a fish hooked then look at the sweep hand of my watch I see the fish landed in 10-15 seconds or less. Dragging a fish in at warp speed is something I certainly don't want to do, so why would I watch. I do love the outbursts of excitement with a 3# fish, understandable considering the money involved. These walleye guys make the bass guys look good.

Cost effective, absolutely not. A labor of love for sure and can always tie a few up before I head out for the day. There is something to be said about catching a fish on lure that you "assembled". Not only do I assemble jigs I make my own barracuda tubes, these are much better than what you can buy. There are about 6 of us that make our own here, we buy better components than store bought tubes. Do they catch more fish, NO, but they are more durable.

There is some truth to this in Florida, the FWC does stock bass in some of these community man made ponds. Some ponds are connected to canals and get populated with fish from swimming in. Where I fish in Florida I seldom see any one else fishing, there are tons of bass here. I don't think bed fishing is going to affect the overall fishery at all where I'm at. I don't do it myself but if one chooses to do so in these low pressure areas, I don't have a problem with it. However I do bed fish for peacocks, these are low pressure ares and the peas always come back to the bed.

For a little variation I fished a roostertail early morning as the sun was rising, caught 4 bass and my second crappie in Florida on my first 7 or 8 casts, then total shut down. Tried 2 other ponds and a canal and no more strikes, so much for my morning session. In the PM I head to Boca to hunt some peas, after stopping at no less than 6 different places I was still strikeless, not even a little bass, you don't catch anything on a roostertail you know the bite is dead. I came across 2 guys fishing live shiners in a known peacock hot spot and they were strikeless too. The day was saved as I saw some nervous water and laid my inline spinner in the thick of it, pulled out this bass. I haven't had a bass pull drag out like this did in long time, some pretty good stuff. Caught a lot of nice bass this year but that 8 or 10 pounder has come my way..................yet.

Very admirable of the telemarketer but saying your mother had just passed away is laying out a lot of bad karma. Better just to say no thank you in the first place and end the call. Most telemarketers aren't rich or they wouldn't be one, I'd feel guilty if someone spent money based on a lie.

To a great extent I think this is true. Couple of years ago 1 of my sorons had a shot bearing some where in the interior of the reel. I took the reel to my local guy, he's been repairing spinning reels over 50 years. He doesn't work on Abus much and had a little trouble, can only imagine the trouble I would have had. Living 5 minutes from Boca Bearings I take the bearing to them to match it, on their advice I buy a ceramic bearing. That may have been a mistake, smooth yes but a bit of noise from that bearing, I can live with it.

This is not 100% true. There is a difference between ordering parts and sending a reel in for repair. The repair facility will have the parts, but to order a part to fix reel yourself that part may be out of stock on back order.

I'd like to see that 50# snook, have caught some big ones but no where near 50. Any 50# fish is going to give you a tussle just based on the sheer size, don't think for a second that big a snook is anything like a jack or tarpon of the same size, great fight but just not in the same league. I suppose everyone has a different idea of what inshore fishing is and what the target fish is. My Avet mxj is nice reel but I hardly use it anymore, it's more awkward to cast than a spinner, have to feed the line on with my thumb as there is no level wind. It's a good reel for drift fishing because of the line capacity but with a max drag of 14# it won't slow down a good kingfish or wahoo, but that isn't inshore fishing anyway. In South Florida you rarely see people a using b/c for inshore fishing. Most people I run across don't even fish freshwater, b/c are foreign to them except for offshore or bait use and those are conventional reels and not L/P. I do go out with guides and may not always use my equipment, I've yet to see a guide furnish anything but spinning gear.

I use spoons like the one in OP all the time, but only for saltwater. Many lure companies make spoons just like the BPS one, they are real popular in the salt. I don't use them for bass fishing, I prefer more of a wobble motion and my speed is not fast. My most used spoon for bass fishing is a gold hammered Redfish Key spoon made by Wahoo.

As I said in another thread earlier today I keep things real simple. Generally I fish with 1 lure, have 2-3 for back up that I hardly use. Just to put a variation into my day I sometimes change my lure after each fish, using 4 or 5 different types. They all catch fish. The water I fish has everything to do with it, in Florida this time of the year it's harder to get skunked than it is to catch fish. We got plenty of bass here.

Don't fix it if it ain't broke. My freshwater spinning reels are used well over 300 times a year, the only maintenance I do is a drop of oil in the handle bearings, bail and roller bearing. My reels have been going strong for a good 6 years, did replace one due to bail problem, the innerds were just fine. Probably a good reason I stick with Pflueger for freshwater, not all brands I've used are as worry free.

That is a monster. Reading the explanation that the fish was caught in waters that required the fish to be released, putting a fish in a live well is not releasing. There are fish that can't be taken out of the water even for a photo op, not that people don't do it all the time but it's illegal.

Why I thought they be discontinued.

Some of the guys here use glue or wire ties when mounting a jerk shad or fluke on a jig head, I personally don't do it. I make my my own bucktail and maribou jigs, I tie them with sewing thread or braided line and use Hard as Nails polish, works great.

^^ # 1 ^^ I've always fished and played golf. When I moved to Florida full time I was only doing a little bit of neighborhood bass fishing, was playing golf every morning. On a whim I went out to the inlet and caught a few fish, never played golf again, that was nearly 10 years ago. Not only is fishing fun but I can go at 4 am, golf courses aren't open yet, but their ponds are, lol. This is probably the first year where I have done more bass fishing (wintertime) than saltwater, can't wait for that saltwater bite to start up again. A tarpon at dawn and having to run it down on the beach a few hundred yards is some pretty potent fishing.

First thing is you have to know your own waters and use what's going to be the most effective. Secondly at least for me it's more about having fun, I only fish a few lure types and a limited number of techniques. I fish ponds and canals here in South Florida, very little structure. In the mornings I fish a top water lure close to 100% of the time, my afternoon sessions are jerkbaits, bucktails and crappie jigs I tie myself, spoons, weedless fluke if I'm dealing with vegetation, roostertails have been hot for me this week. I fish for species other than bass too, I don't fish them much different or use different lure types for them. I keep things real nice and simple.

If it were me I'd be looking at a Supreme 30, more line capacity, lighter, more ipt, less expensive and I prefer a paddle knob.

I would agree, I have 3 supremes. I think this reel is being discontinued, hence the low prices, I'd probably buy the supreme if the deal was right. If not the president will perform just as well.

^^IMO the right advice.^^ I fish saltwater inshore nearly everyday, I would say I see over 100 spinning being used before I see one b/c. The b/c I see are conventional reels used primarily for bait fishing or used offshore. What I feel is a disadvantage to many inshore b/c is a level wind (just another part that can malfunction with a big fish on) and a short handle throw. If one is intent on using a b/c check out an Avet, they come left handed and have power handles. I know out in California they have a cult following that swear by them, they cast a ton, I have one myself. I don't know much about Yellowtail and Calico bass but I know quite a bit about Tarpon, I use a 13 oz spinning reel with close to 300 yards of line with a max drag of 30#, I know I crank it down past 15-20#, they still pull out line. I am of the opinion of using a freshwater reel in freshwater and saltwater reel in the brine.

I have an older style as well, 6'6 med 6/12. I do question it being a medium rod it fishes lighter, not a bad thing as I'm using it for bass and peacocks. I do believe this rod is an inshore rod but I wouldn't use it there, it's a nice rod for these peas. I've been thinking of replacing it with a rod having more backbone, as I say it's doing a good job for my purpose, replacing is not a top priority.

I don't know what's wrong with the reel other than it being 40 bucks. I have Shakespere agility very smooth reel but the drag stinks. The settings don't click and zeroing it in takes a little trial and error, jumping up only 20 or $30 can make a difference in drag performance. Using Pfluegers from a trion up to a supreme I have not experienced an inconsistent performing drag or any other problems.

My freshwater set ups feel reel good, light (my opinion of light) and comfortable. Don't pay too much attention to balance as I use different weight lures so the balance is never constant, although I do not overload the rods. Being a spinning user I have my hand placed in front of the reel which moves the balance point up, don't notice tip heavy being much of an issue. I have combos where the rod is consistently loaded over max, they will always feel tip heavy. In my experience these overloaded tip heavy rods cast further, not something I typically use for bass fishing.

I like catching these guys, my first fishing screen name was jigisup.