golf n fish

What reel would you put on this? http://products.gloomis.com/gl/products/alltackle/detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524441760583&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302032502&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474395181201&bmUID=1259338164271

No hardline budget really. My PP is pretty stacked right now. I guess I'd prefer to stay under $200, but mainly I like to buy stuff that I can sell later at minimal loss. With most of my hobbies (golf, fishing, photography) I find that as long as I buy smart I can usually sell it for close to the same price. Right now I have 5 rod/reel combos. 3 Citicas, 1 Curado 200, and 1 cheapo. I have 10 lb fluoro on most of them, and it works fine. I was just thinking that 4 or 6 lb fluoro on a light rod would be fun, but I hate spinning rods. I'm catching mainly small fish around my house right now. David

What's the lightest baitcasting set-up y'all use? I find that I enjoy fishing with light tackle, but I hate spinning rods. Anybody use 6lb test on a baitcaster? What type of setup would you recommend? david

Don't a lot of people kill the Gar on purpose anyway? It's not exactly a treasured or endangered fish and it competes with good game fish doesn't it? I didn't kill the ones I caught, but I've seen plenty of people do it. David

What kind of cat was it? I would expect that blue cats would hit a crank.

The two gar that I caught were babies. Only about 15 to 17 inches long. Maybe the young gar are more likely to hit the cranks? They sure do flop around a lot on the ground. A lot more than bass. The gar barely put up a fight as I reeled them in. That is, until we could see each other, at which point they went nuts. I was working the cranks pretty slow with a steady retrieve. No aerial displays from the gar either. They were trying to dive deep when they got close. Is gar meat any good? What do y'all do with a gar when you catch one. Kill it or throw it back? Don't they compete with bass for food? David

Everything was biting yesterday. About 20 bass total, biggest one 5 pounds, and lots of dinks. Caught 1 crappie that was about 2.5 lbs on a small lipless sexy shad crank. Plus, I caught 2 Gar (one on the lipless, and one on a fat free shad). I didn't know Gar would hit a crankbait! Crazy. I had a tough time getting the lipless crank back because he inhaled it so far, but I got it. Anybody else catch Gar on a crank? David

I have 2 boys (4 and 7). I'm not so much scared as I am disappointed. I'm not sure exactly what you're referring to, but maybe eventually we can get off foreign oil and the crazy people can go back to fighting themselves instead of us and we won't care (like Africa now). Or maybe you're referring to the lack of personal responsibility in our own country these days? I hope my kids don't live in a country that taxes the rich to pay for the "rights" of others. David

I was using flurocarbon, pulling the bait with rod movement, then taking the slack up with the reel. Also, I was using a rod with a little faster action than normal crankbaits so I could rip it through the top of the grass/weeds easily. As far as hits go, the minus 1 is so shallow that I see a surface disturbance just about every time I get a bite. I just ordered some Gamakatsu ewg hooks to upgrade my minus 1. David

Thanks for the help guys. Lots of good info. I just put some lighter line on my spinning rod, and I'm going to try it again. I also tried to load my spinning reel the "correct" way this time. I think line twist was getting me since I loaded the reel like it was a casting reel last time. I anxious to see how much different it casts now. David

I was actually fishing on a pond where I live on a golf course in Athens AL. Usually the pond is good for 1 or 2 fish each outing, but I caught 9 Saturday morning. The bite was definitely "on". Then I caught 6 on Sunday. I have my boat stored at Wheeler in Decatur (where I work). I'm trying to learn how to fish Wheeler. I'm also just trying to learn to bass fish, so I try out new lures at the ponds. I can get there on my golf cart, fish for a few minutes, and be done. It's a quick fix. Where are you? Any advice for Wheeler? I know it was kind of weird this summer because the flats didn't grow milfoil this year. David

What a lure! This shallow crank was killing them this weekend as I ripped it through the top of some weeds. It even got hit twice just floating on the surface before I started the retrieve. I guess they would have eaten anything. Maybe my new favorite lure.

Thanks for the help guys. Lots of good ideas. I should have also mentioned that safety is a consideration. Any bait I tie on my kids line my very well end up stuck in me, so I prefer to avoid treble hooks. Weightless worms and floating frogs have been my choices so far. David

Lots of Gar here in north AL. I guess that could be the problem.

I have two boys - 4 and 7. What do lures do you suggest for little kids going bass fishing with dad? Preferable something that floats and is weedless. David