SWMIBASSER

My first combo purchase this year was the Ugly Stick with a Shakespeare 6:3.1 b/c. I've used that combo all summer, and have caught numerous fish on it. I'm just now getting into spending any kind of money on combos, but nothing like what others are doing on here Look to the flea market area. I picked up an excellent condition Loomis Mossyback 7'1 MH, XF, for $90 cheaper than new, and that included shipping. Good rods will help you catch more fish. Good reels are for showing off, and/or keeping yourself happy. If they don't backlash and don't break, and the right speed, they (cheap reels) will catch just as much fish as the $500+ reels like some pictured in here.

Well I got the rod today. I'm excited to use it. To bad I need to wait all winter. It feels a little heavy, and a little tip heavy but some of my other rods, do too. I think my hands and arms are tired from all the sanding I've been doing on a project I'm working on.

Know who makes the RX8 blanks for Batson Ent.?? Primus, Thanks for the kind words on the reel service, when you send the others we will be ready... Been doing a lot of upgrades lately.... Tight Lines!!! Tell me who you think makes the blanks for them. Agreed. A custom rod is far to expensive to select a blank based on hear say, or suspicions. I'm more inclined to have a rod built on a Loomis, St Croix, Rogue, or Lamiglass blank because I have heard of them and fished with them. Rainshadow/batson......NO I haven't. I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks this. On the contrary to what some may believe, Batson Enterprises is one of the largest OEM blank suppliers know to date, the blanks they build are often used in the rods you buy, and it wont display the Batson name. That's fine.....But it is an easier sell if we knew WHO they built for.

Know who makes the RX8 blanks for Batson Ent.?? Primus, Thanks for the kind words on the reel service, when you send the others we will be ready... Been doing a lot of upgrades lately.... Tight Lines!!! Tell me who you think makes the blanks for them. Agreed. A custom rod is far to expensive to select a blank based on hear say, or suspicions. I'm more inclined to have a rod built on a Loomis, St Croix, Rogue, or Lamiglass blank because I have heard of them and fished with them. Rainshadow/batson......NO I haven't. I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks this.

I got some promising feedback about the 7'4 bronzeback rod awhile back. It sounded like exactly what you are looking for. However if you need more weight maybe the longer rod is the way to go. I'm going to try and find the 7'4 rod used. See signature.

If flipping in the traditional sense then the extra length can extend your range. If pitching and flipping the extra length can be cumbersome IMO.

I 'need' two of these.

You could always offer to take a fellow MI fisherman out on st Clair also...... Not that was shameless. ;D

Yea I have built on and used Batson Ent. blanks (still have about 6 of the rods) long time ago.. They are a good blank (depends on the series) but there are tons of good blanks out their. Mostly build on St.Croix, and Gary Loomis's new NFC (North Fork Composites) blanks now... Who is the builder? Tight Lines!! I'm looking at Patriot Custom rods out of Portage , MI. He's invited me to his shop to look at the different blanks & components that are available, I'm thinking of a 6'9" spinning rod that would be used for suspended jerkbaits & small cranks. I'm pretty sure he will build you ANY rod you want. VanDam's shop carries them, so you could check a few out. They have Rainshadow, American Rodsmith, and maybe a couple other blanks they have used.

Ask your self how much will you actually be flipping. I don't EVER. So I find a softer tipped rod, that is lighter overall easier to use when pitching. Water around here isn't dirty enough, and cover thick enough to flip in the classic sense.

I'll be happy enough when I get one of the new Pflueger Patriarch XT's. Then even happier when I figure out which reel has 7.1 gears that will swap into the XT. I'm all about value. Some of you guys are out of your mind. So far a 6'6 Falcon Lowrider. MH W/BPS Pro Light Finesse.=Jerkbaits-wacky worms. 7' Pflueger Tim Horton Crankbait rod W/BPS David Fritts crankin' reel 6'10 Loomis SHR 821S w/Pflueger Supreme 6'6 Rogue MH spin/jig rod with older Abu 802 spinning reel 7'6 BPS Johnny Morris Elite, with BPS Extreme. The Loomis Mossyback BCR853 should be here tomorrow according to UPS. The Elite is a KILLER rod, but I'm thinking about selling it to get a BCR 855 Mossyback. I want to put the new Partriarch XT's on the 853 and 855 if I get it. One of my favorite reels are the Diawa TDS. But they are discontinued and I don't have ANY so I never bothered to pick any up. This reel, though is KILLER. Note that isn't my reel, but still my favorite.

Because people will talk about how strong their line is if they underrate it on the box. P-Line CXX comes to mind. In the case of Y/Z if you compare the diameter of it to other lines with the same rating Y/Z is many times smaller in diameter. Yet still has a higher break strength. Small diameter and high break strength=WIN.

If I were building a custom rod it would be on a Rogue as my first choice, and Lamiglass as 2nd choice. Rogue builds excellent rods, and the blanks are light, sensitive and fast, and the Lamiglass blanks are a great value.

If you are using it for contact baits you could always balance it with the BPS balancing weight. It looks hideous but to me, I prefer the balanced feel when fishing jigs more than I care about how it looks.

The float vs sink Flouro vs mono discussion.... IMO the real advantage is when using spinning gear. The more direct contact with Flouro helps to eliminate the bow that can happen using spinning gear with light weight lures. Especially with high winds. In my observation the Y/Z provides a much more direct contact with your lure. Much closer to 100% Flourocarbon than traditional mono. Whether due to the flouro content or the smaller diameter than other lines I don't know. But it is something I noticed immediately. I originally tried this line before hearing of it here because a local Wal Mart sold it for $8 for a 1/4 spool. The no longer sell it though so my last spool came from tackle307 and they were GREAT.

Another thing.....Notice how this is changing as winter goes along. ;D Like others I want to use my sonar to locate spot on spot areas. And practice boat control. Both were something I felt I was pretty good at, but I've been without a boat for a couple years now. You can't practice either one in the back of someone elses boat. I'll be in my own this year. Also want to increase the average size of my catch. All of the above, including the spot on spot locations boat control and average size ties into my original post of refining my jig techniques.

How in the world can a grown man have never fished? Hell even my city girl wife has fished before.

I have a Pro Light Finesse, an Extreme, and a Fritts Crankin reel. The Pro Light doesn't pick up a ton of line. I don't like how slow it is. But otherwise this is a great reel, and will cast really light lures with ease. The Extreme is OK. Gets the job done fine. Nothing special. Funny thing is I got it for $40 and put it on a $200 rod. ;D The crankin reels are a little larger diameter than some would like but it's because of the design-in fitting the spool. This is a great reel, and much smoother than the bearing count would lead you to believe. I'd like to, and plan to upgrade to something nicer than the extreme. The other two are good reels. The Extreme is fine, just a cheap reel on a good rod. I wish I had the $$ to upgrade all my good rods to the new Pflueger Patriarch XT But that probably isn't going to happen.

I'm surprised there aren't more here using this rod. Anyone with impression on the BCR855? I'm thinking about getting this rod also.

I'm going to change up my jig fishing equipment too. I want to get a little shorter jig rod, the Mossyback BCR855, and hopefully put the new Pflueger XT on it.

Most of my best days ever were years ago when my dad brother and I went fishing together all the time. Best times since then was on the lake I am on now, I followed one breakline, and pulled in about 20 fish in about 30-40 minutes. All on a deep diving crankbait. Another time on a small local lake, was the same kind of thing. A little less action but hauled in a 5lber. This from a lake with a 10" limit because it's perceived to have to many small fish (I've got plenty of other quality fish out of this lake) Another good day, I was fishign with my brother. I have been quite a bit the last couple years. And he was getting the best of my most times. Partly because I was always in the back and partly because I would avoid tactics I knew would work to try and learn new techniques. One day I decided to just take the front deck with him, pitched jigs and hard jerkbaits and made him look bad..... ;D

15 oz ? Wow I bet that's heavy to hold all day. The round reels are heavy, but a heavy reel just makes a rod less tip heavy...IMO. My jig rod is VERY light, but by the time I add a balancing weight to the handle it's about the same weight as a rod from someone else. But balances perfectly. Feels lighter with the weight than without.

The last time I was seriously competitive about something was autoxing a Camaro I had in sports car club of america events. Courses where lined with small traffic cones to set up a mini road course, with handling, and precision car placement mattering the most. You would get a 2 second penalty for each cone that you hit and that basically threw out that run. I had two events of several dozen that year that I didn't hit any cones. I don't know what was happening other than it was this monkey on my back all year I couldn't get rid of. And I couldn't consciously not hit them as I felt then I was slowing down. Point being you fall into a rut. If you think about it, and analyze it things just get worse. I'm so much cooler and collected under pressure that I don't let things like this spiral out of control. You take what you are given, 'or' make, and then move on.

While you will certainly learn alot being a co-angler there are many things to learn having your own boat too. One of the most important being boat positioning which you can't learn without on the water experience. Also, being a co-angler doesn't mean you are paired with a better fisherman in the front of the boat. They may need to develop their skills as well, but prefer to fish from their own boat. In that case, what are you gaining? You saved on entry fees, but if you aren't on fish you are SOL. So the entry fee is lost anyhow as you aren't on fish...... I don't mean to paint a negative light but I know of a couple of guys who have fished BFL tournaments as boaters, and honestly I'd be disappointed to draw them.

We have a thread discussing what you did different in 09' This is a thread discussing what you are planning to do differently in 10' I'm planning on picking up a rod/reel just for tube fishing. Refining my jig fishing....Maybe getting a new rod for this-to match my plastics rod. Fish more TX rigged plastics-worms, and beavers. Downsizing my line on most rod/reel combos. Refining and developing my hard jerkbait technique/equipment.