BobP

E series Shimanos are very popular and are getting hard to find/

There are several uses for a broken rod. Strip off the guides and use them as replacements on other rods. You can also use pieces of the rod to repair a rod you may break in the future (it's a little complicated to do this correctly) or to extend the handle on another rod. If you're not into any of these re-uses, it can make a pretty good tomato stake. Waste not, want not.

Dick Nite, a metal spoon manufacturer, also sells the paints and topcoats used in its retail products. I use his Fishermun's Lurecoat S81 to topcoat metal spoons after painting them and it works great.

If you prefer using the O-rings, you can put 2 of them on the bait, cross them, and then place the hook where the rings cross so that the hook point is perpendicular to the axis of the bait. Saw this on YouTube somewhere and it's a neat solution.

Gear change = pinion and main gears. I think the higher and higher gear ratios came about as they began to engineer reels with larger diameter main gears, the reels that require the side cover on the crank side of the reel to be bumped down and out so it protrudes beneath the reel foot. Once they did that, they could build reels with sufficient cranking power to accommodate 8 and 9:1 gear ratios. As far as what ratio gears to use for different presentations, It's all about comfort and what works for you. I converted my old ProMax reels from 5.3 to 6:1 ratio gears and haven't had any problems. But I still keep a Shimano 200B5 with 5:1 gears for fishing super deep divers. The 6.2:1 reels are considered moderate speed "do it all" reels nowadays but the ratios keep trending upward. Eventually, we may see reels with right side plates as big as tea saucers to accommodate 20:1 gear boxes. The fish won't care.

I fished in a 20 mph wind last week, using 12 lb braid and fluoro leader on a shakey head. Couldn't feel a d**n thing. I'm switching back to all fluoro. Braid transmits nothing if a fish picks up your lure and moves toward you on a slack line, which often happens if you are casting upstream and letting the bait be swept toward you. Fluoro does. You can keep braid's good handling, which is the only advantage I can see for it, except in grass. If you can't feel'em, you can't catch'em.

About 90% of the time, it's a Zoom 5" lizard in green pumpkin. Year after year, it just catches'em.

#4 and #6 trebles will take care of about 80% of bass crankbaits. Large deep divers usually mount #2 trebles. Cranks under 2" in size often use #8 trebles. My go-to treble is the Gamakatsu Round Bend. Widely available, sharp, and they have good temper so won't bend out. The general strategy is to mount the largest trebles on a bait that won't foul each other. Some guys like short shank treble hooks like the Mustad KVD or the VMC short shank hooks in order to upsize their hooks without fouling.

I use 6 lb fluoro most of the time, occasionally 12 lb braid with a leader, on a 20 size Shimano. This presentation is not very demanding, reel-wise, so use what's most comfortable to you.

I've used Super Lube grease for about 10 yrs now and doubt I'll see any reason to change. It's a white petroleum grease with a PTFE additive. NAPA stores carry it in a tub for axle grease, which is a virtual lifetime supply. Crack open a reel lubricated with it after a year's use and it looks like it was just lubed. But if you have a wet drag system like in most Shimanos, use a drag grease like Simano Ace-2 Drag Grease or Penn Muscle Grease. It's a sticky cosmoline based grease and will make drags work much longer and smoother than typical greases. You can also use it for general grease purposes in gears, etc but it is heavier and not as slippery as Super Lube

Back in 2000, Romanack and Holt got together a group of fishermen to establish what a long vs average cast length actually was, in order to set a baseline for their book titled "Precision Casting". Using an average sized crankbait (model and weight not specified), they measured a series of casts by each fisherman and found the consistent "average" to be 70 ft and "long" to be 100 ft. Actual testing of real life fishermen is darned rare and this is the only study I've ever seen on the subject. Say what you will, make whatever off the cuff guestimate you may want to imagine. I'll take actual test data. Yes, using an 8 ft rod and a supertuned reel to throw a 1 oz lead weight would yield much longer distances. But in the real fishing world, with typical fishing equipment, in typical fishing conditions, I believe actual test results. I also believe that 98% of the time, casting distance is a non-issue in catching fish. Crankbait not reaching the bottom? Change crankbaits or go with thinner line. Or switch to a sinking swimbait, or a jig, or a C-rig. There are lots of ways to skin that cat.

I've use the Alberto and the FG knot. Of the two, the Alberto has been more durable and less likely to come untied. However, the FG is the smallest diameter knot I've ever seen for joining braid to a fluoro leader.

I'm with DVT on this one. I'll buy a St. Croix Legend Tournament for fishing plastics and jigs, or any "hold it still, feel a subtle bite" presentation but I'm not gonna spend big bucks on a rod used to throw moving baits like a spinnerbait, crankbait, or chatterbait. As the price of a rod or a reel gets above the "sweet spot" (around $150 for me), you are paying more and more for less and less performance gain. If money is no object, that's fine. If money is tight, you can still buy rigs that perform perfectly well for less. Whatever floats your boat and catches fish.

The only times my Sedona used to bind up was when I went canoe fishing and got it wet. After it dries out, it is fine again. I don't know exactly where the fault lies but frankly, that's a fault I can do without and I've since moved on to other spinning reels. Dry day? No problems.

When you get down to it, it's worth the minor added expense to buy a specific kind of wood that has been kiln dried and has not been laying around on a job site absorbing moisture for who knows how long. I use balsa, basswood, cedar, and paulownia to make baits, depending on the buoyancy I want in a specific design. All of them are different as to how they cut, sand, and take finish. Using odd scraps of pine or whatever is ok if you're just fooling around and want to try your hand at a crankbait. When you get serious and want to advance your craft, you'll probably want to concentrate on one kind of wood and master how to make it into consistently good crankbaits. The raw materials for a crankbait are neglidgeable compared to the value you add to them with your hand work, so it pays to use good stuff to begin with.

I have a Gen I Revo SX with mag brakes that I regularly use and like alot. I recently got a Daiwa Tatula with mag brakes that I like even better, and they go for about the same price as a Revo S, around $100 on Ebay or Amazon. The mag brakes on the Tatula seem to work a little better. I mostly use centrifugal Shimanos but have to admit the mag brakes on both the SX and the Tatula work very well.

I rig the larger Keitech on a 3/4 oz jighead, do a long cast, let it sink to the bottom, and retrieve it with a slow steady pace in deep water. Excellent producer whenever the bass are deep - and there are almost always bass deep in the warm water periods. In the winter I like the smaller 4" easy shad on a 1/2 oz jig head since it more closely matches the size of the threadfin shad at that time. Bottom line, they catch bass anytime. You just have to know where the bass are and rig accordingly.

I use aerosol starting fluid (ether) to soak bearings. The more volatile the degreaser, the faster and better it works and you can't get much more volatile than starting fluid. Shoot some in a shot glass, throw in the bearings, agitate them occasionally, and let them sit with the glass covered to stop the fluid from evaporating. Take out the bearing, spin it on the point of a pencil to check its smoothness. If it's still rough, dunk it again. When finished, place the bearing on a paper towel to dry. It's dry when it won't spin as fast as it did when lubed with the ether. One drop of bearing oil and you're set. I've "brought back" bearings that set in reels for 20+ years with this method. There are lots of bearing oils and all of them work. But it's a trade off. The lower the viscosity of the oil, the faster the bearing will spin but also the faster the oil will be thrown out of the bearing and the more often you will need to re-oil during the season. I use Yellow Rocket Fuel or Ardent bearing oil (NOT their "reel oil"). No special reason - I haven't compared them to other oils, they just work fine for me. Also, be aware that bearing oils can change their viscosity significantly according to temperature. Some more than others. One of the better oils in this regard is the Quantum Hot Sauce - but I can't stand the red dye they put in the stuff, which ends up all over the reel's interior.

I had exactly the same failure last weekend as the OP, and it's not the first time. Lost a brand new crankbait. I'll try the double hitch knot to end the FG next time - but at the next failure I'll have to go back to a Uni knot, dang it.

I wouldn't be in a hurry to pay top dollar for old Warts if you want them for fishing instead of collecting. Some of them hunted. Some just ran straight. And some would neither run straight nor would they hunt, no matter how you tuned them. Most guys who fish them cull through their inventory to find the good ones and are happy to sell the duds to you, young man!

I use the 3/4 oz minnow spoons from http://lurepartsonline.com/Online-Store/Jigging-Spoons/Jigging-Minnow.html They work as well as the more expensive spoons I've tried.

I have no idea how Izor's break strength compares to Yozuri. I can only say that I've never had a bass break Izor Platinum down to 8 lb test, which I sometimes use for crankbaits. I can't imagine anyone breaking 15lb Platinum on any fresh water fish. But New2bc4bass has a point about spool memory - Platinum Izor has more than some other brands. Unfortunately, the tougher and harder the copolymer line, the more spool memory it will display. This is just an unavoidable quality of the chemical formulation of copolymer fishing lines. There is no free lunch! I think guys put too much attention on break strength of lines. I can't remember ever breaking off a fish in the last 15 years using a wide variety of line tests and brands. I bought a bunch of Izor Platinum and XXX 5-6 yrs ago on sale and am still using it up. No problems as long as you store it in a dark place where UV can't hit it. I'm currently using some Yozuri too and also like it. But I only use copolymer line for moving bait presentations, and use fluorocarbon for still presentations.

Izor is very good copolymer line and comes in Platinum and XXX formulations, which are analogous to Berkley Trilene XT and Xl. The Platinum has a harder surface, better knot strength, less stretch, and is more abrasion resistant, but develops line memory faster than the XXX, which is softer. You might say the Platinum is designed for baitcasters and the XXX for spinning. I use the Platinum in summertime and the XXX in winter, or alternatively use the Platinum year round but step down in diameter in the winter to avoid some of the spool memory. IMO, Izor has great performance for the price.

I've owned an All Star TWS Zell Roland IM10 rod for 10+ years. Good rod. $20 is a great price!

Some run straight without hunting. Some won't run straight and you can't tune them either. A few run straight and also hunt. It's purely a crap shoot, and a rather expensive one on some models.