SirSnookalot

Growing up on Lake St. Clair I caught some really nice fish of a variety of species, never kept track of a personal best for anything. Now that I'm in Florida, not young anymore and fish daily it's more difficult to get excited, we have some good sized fish down here. I'm more into the challenge than the size, I left a solid 20# bite many times this summer to fish for peacocks, my friends thought I was crazy, maybe so. Catching a 5# pea is a challenge in locating one then enticing a strike, the fight is no big deal at least compared to some of the other species here. A personal best means very little to me.

I keep a 25" mark on my rods, I've surpassed it a number of times, don't carry a scale.

Pretty much the way I do it. The few times I've used a mono backing, eyeballing worked well enough for me. I go straight braid, my bass reels don't hold all that much line anyway, when low on line I just add to the existing braid. Only the initial cost is a few bucks more, then it's the same. My other species reels hold more line, I'd feel a bit nervous with a larger fish on the line with mono backing.

If I spent upwards of a $1000, then caught fish that on average that don't run more than a few pounds I'd be both disappointed and depressed. It's all about the fish for me, gear is secondary.

I'm only local bass fishing, not investing any time other than an hour or 2 in the mid afternoon. I find about the latter part of November the bite does get better with bigger fish. I'm catching plenty of other species fish now.

On the bright side you don't get skunked. I don't have any fishing superstitions or clothing I need to wear for that extra confidence.

A corroded line roller bearing is something I've had first hand experience with more than once. It's happened once with my Plueger arbor and 2 times each with 2 different stradics 4000's. These reels are used in saltwater and used a lot. Hope I'm clear on this, the placement of the bearing is different on the stradic and arbor, the arbor's bearing is in the front part of the assembly right near the screw, the stradic's bearing is all the way in the rear of the assembly, only way I see it getting wet is a dunking. My theory is the salt in the air could be the culprit. This is not an unusual stradic problem, interestingly my spheros uses the exact bearing in the same placement and has never had an issue. One stradic had not only the bearing replaced but all the interior parts as well, 2 times, once by Shimano and once by my local shop. The other stradic's bearing was replaced from bearings bought at Boca, I live 5 minutes from them. My freshwater reels regardless of brand have never experienced this problem and I do not oil them like I do my saltwater reels.

I'll sell the rights to SirSnookalot inshore rods.

I wouldn't want the rod as is, however an exchange with Amazon may entail some time. I'd put a new guide on it or return and use another rod.

I've never had a return or exchange problem with BPS.

Short answer NO ! Longer answer, don't carry a scale and tape, so it can't happen anyway. If the I had an enjoyable time, mission accomplished.

Over the past week one of my ponds have schooling bass. Small bass as well as a school of about 10 or so that seem to be well over 20", actual size will be determined when I catch one. As of late they have been interested in nothing and the most spookable bass I can remember.

In Florida it's pretty hard to get skunked bass fishing but it does happen in the summer. I have other species I target that I may not get a strike for weeks, that's not abnormal. On the opposite side there are times it's fish a cast, but not all day long the bite may last 30 minutes or 10 seconds.

There are spinning muskie rods that will handle lures that heavy that are shorter than 9'.

I have hard time looking at a cane pole fisherman sitting on a bucket and think it's sportfishing. The way most fish on this site, I'd have no problem classify fishing as a sport, or hobby or past time, to me it's semantics. Down here in Florida, other coastal states as well fishing is a huge industry, so many options of where to fish and what to catch. From a spectator standpoint, fishing gets close to zero airtime, golf gets quite a bit of time, especially majors and important tournaments. My target species today,

Standard fluke with a 4/0 worm hook. Larger species a 5 1/2" DOA jerk or Zoom super on a 1/4 oz jig head.

Getting a little low, haven't bought a thing for bass fishing other than flukes and hooks in a long time. I fish light and don't use many different things, 1 rod and pack of flukes or 2-4 lures in xrap box and I'm good to go.

You could go b/c to spinning but spinning to b/c isn't a real good idea. I personally would use fresh line.

Don't fix it. Good chance Pure Fishing will replace the reel, being a discontinued reel they may fix it instead if it's not in stock, they have a habit of not charging.

When tied correctly none of my knots break, as long as my fishing is pulling out drag. When I do choose to break off usually the loopknot gets broke not the alberto.

You own a Ferrari you drive to the marina and take out your Viking fishing yacht, they start about 900k.

I thought the conversation was Quantum or Abu. Unless I'm catching 10-15# fish day in and day out, which I don't do in freshwater, any 50-$100 reel is going to suit me just fine.

I wouldn't agree or disagree without firsthand knowledge of the books. With all due respect to Clayton the numbers being thrown around and workers' performance may not be entirely accurate. I don't know how this company operates but in my former business financial records and employee wage information was not shared with workers in the shop. Being a lawyer and politician doesn't enter into the equation, pay is based on similar scale through out the industry, his personal fortune has no bearing. I agree with Mr. .Ghoti, even at 50 bucks an hour you won't be happy and still find fault with the company.

I tend to agree but an extra 6" certainly can't hurt, how much of a benefit I can't really answer. I haven't fished for smb in the last 10 years. I do have species down here that make multiple jumps, and can swim at you at pretty good rate of speed. I don't have any technical data floating in my mind when I have a fish on, I just land them best of my ability, no one lands them all. Your a good enough fisherman to land them with any reel. If 34 IPT is working better, well ya gotta use something, so why not use the Shimano if you have more confidence.

I honestly think you have good reel right now. Using a reel with a little more IPT and higher ratio cranked at the same rate may pick up a little more slack, how much I don't know. I still think the bottom line is cranking faster whatever you're using.