Dave T.

For $300 you can get an awfully nice spinning outfit. You could pick up a Shimano Crucial or a St. Croix Avid somewhere between $150 to $180. That leaves you $120 to $150 for a reel... plenty of great reels in that price range, and you won't be sacrificing with either.

You won't be disappointed. The Avid's are a great rod, with a good warranty, at a fair price... and made in the USA.

Nope, you are not alone. I was saying the same thing. My son has two Crucial's.... newer ones, but not the latest. They are nice rods, and he likes them. However, his buddy is like me... a St. Croix fan, and has 5 or 6 Avids. I've fished with 2 or 3 of them, and they are great rods for the price, and fish as well as my LTB, and pretty close to my LE. Of course, none of them come close to my custom LX, but that's to be expected. When I consider that the St. Croix's are make in here in the USA, and not made in China, I feel a lot better about my purchase.

Avid's are great rods too... and built in the USA. Handle both and come to your own conclusions.

DVT, That's exactly the gear(s) I'm talking about... thanks. I thought because of the wear pattern, it might be advantageous to keep them aligned in their current line up. However, as you say, if it feels smooth... I guess that's all that matters. I'm up by the Wilkes-Barre area, and would love to get together sometime. I'm thinking about having a custom rod built for my son, and may stop down to talk to you about it. Plus, I could bring some of my reels.

DVT... That is awesome of you to do! Even though I normally clean my own reels, I may send some to you to give them a once over... maybe critique my work. Quick question... when you clean spinning reels, do you put a lineup mark on the main ring and pinion gear and put them back together using that lineup mark? Or, do you think it's a waste of time?

I agree with the others. A 6'6" medium light fast, or medium light xtra fast rod would probably be perfect. I'm not familiar with the Abu Garcia rods, but I am with the St. Croix rods. I would also have a look at the St. Croix Premier series.

I couldn't agree more!

That is one extremely nice smallmouth! Tell your wife... Congrats!

Fish with it long enough, and it turns almost white. Doesn't seem to matter to the river smallies. I think you can see it in this pic...

I've tried many of the braids. Some have certain advantages over others. The braid that works best for me (at this point LOL) is Sufix 832.

I hear ya on the trebles. I de-barb all of mine to minimize the damage to the fish. However, they still sometimes stick themselves really well. On the other hand, smallies are pretty hardy, and can take some bruising. With that said, if you don't want to fish lures with trebles, you are probably limiting yourself to spinner baits, and buzz baits for top water. Any of the soft plastic baits you are using are going to catch their share of cat's in that type of water. I find the spinner baits to work better in faster water, but maybe you can get some takers. The buzz baits seem to work in both slow and fast water, but they can be frustrating to fish with for smallies. Good luck, and keep at them.

Almost any St. Croix Medium Fast rod will be "stouter" than a Medium Fast Cumara. The Medium Fast St. Croix's are more of a "Light/Medium Heavy". With that said, it's hard to say if it will be stout enough for the Texas rigged worms you want to use... depending on how heavy you go.

My son had one of the $100 Supremes... made it through one season. The screws came loose on the side cover, and it screwed up the gears... but at least it didn't click. He now has a CI4 and loves it. I have two CI4''s, and feel the same way. Some guys don't like the knob on the handle of the CI4. Neither one of us notices anything wrong with it. To be fair, the new Supreme's ($150 or so) may be better reels? Although, I've read that a couple of folks have had loose side plate screws on the new reels too.

I have both the 2500 series CI4 and a regular Stradic FI. The only advantage the CI4 has over the regular Stradic is reduced weight... and it's a significant difference and important for me. If I'm wading the river, I like a light outfit, as I will have it in my hand all day. Initially, I thought the handle might be an issue, but after using it, it turns out to be a non-issue... at least for me. I bought one for my son, and he never noticed the handle, and really likes the reel. With that said, if weight is not an issue, a Stradic (or other similar sized Shimano like you mentioned) would be fine. If weight is an issue, you could always look at the new Pflueger Patriarch or Supreme. There are some other fine reels on the market... like some of the Diawa's. However, I like the faster retrieve and the beveled edge spool on the Shimano's.

Welcome to the world of those "nasty bronzebacks"!

Yep, Dwight pretty much covered it. Basically, if you are a largemouth fisherman, just downsize your lures and equipment a little bit. Be prepared, if you catch some good smallies, you might just hooked for good, and those ugly "green bass" will just be a nuisance. Just kidding... those green ones are fun too.

That rocks! I know your boy is only 6, but I bet he will never forget that moment... and if he does, dad will certainly never forget, and will remind him frequently. When my son was 10 or 11, I took him to see the first Star Wars movie at a drive in theater (yes drive in). He still remembers it... almost 30 years later. Really special moments.

Wow... that's the way to empty any bag of plastics! Nice hog man!

Shallow cranks are fine, but also consider some suspending jerkbaits/twitchbaits... like Lucky Craft's 78SP pointers, or 97MR Sender Pointers (or similar lures). They are excellent smallmouth lures, and the largemouths don't mind them either.

Well then, it looks like you are going to develop your own top 10 list, and you've got a good start. I would add some medium diving (3 to 5 ft), suspending, jerkbaits to your arsenal. Both the smallies and the largemouths like them. Maybe even some deeper diving crankbaits if conditions are right.

The guy is an absolute "fishing machine"... unbelievable!

Are you fishing mostly for Largemouths or Smallmouths? Are you fishing lakes, ponds, or rivers? Is the water mostly stained or clear? Heavy cover or light cover? Even though there are lures that can cover any of those conditions, each individual will have a slightly different "top ten". Most of our fishing is done for smallmouths in rivers... our top ten list will be considerably different than some others here.

Shimano... and I'm not in the posse.

St. Croix here.