tholmes

haha. Yeah, that's one of the things I plan to do with it. Tom

7.5" ribbon-tail worm, t-rigged. Why? Because that's what I catch the most fish with. Tom

My lovely wife, that is. She asked me the other night, "what was that fishing reel that you've always wanted?" I told her it was an ABU Ambassadeur Record. She said "Go ahead and order one." Yowzah! Today, the brown truck left a package from Tackle Warehouse. Insied was this beauty! I'll give it a good workout this weekend, but tonight, mama's goin' out for steaks! Tom

Post-spawn and mid to late fall have been my most productive times. The time of day depends a lot on the season. Midday (10:00 A.M. 'til 2:00 P.M.) with crankbaits and jerkbaits in the cooler months, early morning and late evening/night in the heat of summer with topwaters and spinnerbaits. T-rigged plastics and jigs pretty much anytime. Tom

I picked this combo up at a yard sale a week ago for the princely sum of $5.00. It looked like it had been dipped in motor oil and left in the barn for 40 years, but it cleaned up pretty good. It's identical to the first spinning combo that I ever bought. I had to string it up and take it for a spin and I caught a couple of small bass with it. Tom

I'd use it! But then, I'm a sucker for those old ABU reels. It might not be in my regular lineup, but, if I had it, I'd just have to get it out and put it through its paces once in a while. Tom

I used to fish for white bass a lot, especially in the spring when they make their spawning run in the rivers above the area reservoirs. Ultra-light spinning rig and a pocket full of maribou jigs, spend all day wading the river and you could catch as many as you could carry. Crazy fighters and pretty good eatin' too. Tom

Ditto on the Rage Tail products. They're not available locally (read: the local Wal-Mart doesn't carry them) and I'm too cheap to pay shipping for a few trial packs. Tom

Don't pretend, have fun! Tom

Yep! I'd throw in smoke/glitter for grubs also. Tom

It was 111* here yesterday and it's the same today. We get a break tomorrow though, it's only supposed to be 110*. Thanks a lot. Tom

No doubt about it, Shimano makes a fine product, their spinning reels are, IMHO, the best out there. I just happen to prefer Abu baitcasters. Not saying Shimanos are inferior, just a personal preference. Tom

Maybe we're the ones that have learned. Tom

Very nice! I'm gonna have to make it down there soon. Tom

Has to be crankbaits. Deep, mid-depth, shallow, squarebills, lipless, it doesn't matter. Even though I have well over 100 cranks, I can't seem to stop myself from buying more. Tom

No seam seperation problems, but I've broken the bills off of several 2.5 squarebills lately. Tom

I agree^^ Tom

^^ Yep! That's the way I do all my jigheads. Tom

3/8 oz. Arky-style jig, black/blue with a Zoom Super Chunk trailer, same color. Tom

I've not had any problems with superglue, but I use Loctite Gel superglue. The regular thin superglue doesn't work nearly as well. Devcon epoxy will work also, but the gel superglue is faster. Tom

I use the teflon base hole pins from Barlow's. Same process as Scorcher214 describes. http://www.barlowstackle.com/Teflon-Base-Hole-Pins-P2186C220.aspx Tom

I'm in central Kansas. Of my friends and co-workers that fish, only a few target bass. Most are going after catfish or crappie in the local lakes or traveling to area reservoirs for walleye, stripers or white bass. Even though one area reservoir has a very good population of smallmouth, no one I know (besides myself) shows much interest in fishing for them. Tom

I usually carry two rigs (strictly a shore/dock fisherman) but I can get by with one. A 7' MH Berkely Lightning rod and an Ambassadeur 5600 CL Rocket spooled with 12# Trilene Big Game. Certainly not top end gear, but it's rugged, dependable and I manage to catch enough bass to keep me going back, Tom

If this is your first baitcasting combo, I would recommend spooling up with an inexpensive mono to learn. Trilene Big Game in 12# would work well. You can get a big ol' spool at Wal-Mart for under 10 bucks, enough to fill your reel several times. During the learning process, you will probably throw some horrendous backlashes and destroy some line cutting them out. Good fishin'! Tom

My grandad used to tell me "If you're not losin' a few jigs, you'not fishing them in the right places". Tom