Goose52

Yeah - the DC reels are pretty cool. I had my Calcutta 100DC reel on the water today - casting crankbaits right into strong wind gusts. No worries mate !

Carbontex drag washers are available for the PQ. Call Dawn at SmoothDrag and she can fix you up. The PQ uses the same drag washer set as the 1st gen Revo S. TT has a nifty machine that they use to test drags and one of the metrics they record is the variance between start-up force and the steady state force (or whatever terms they use) at various drag settings. If the variance is significant, the drag might be labeled "lumpy" or "stuttering". When they see that variance exceed a certain percentage, the TT guys will wail and moan and declare the drag unusable. And, if one was using 4lb test line on a PQ, that variance might indeed be enough to cause break-offs due to that stuttering drag. Meanwhile, out of the laboratory and in the real world, most people are running 10 to 20 pound nylon/flouro/hybrid or 30-50lb braid, and a little stutter at start up is not going to be a problem. AND, most of the times you probably can have your drag set at only 3-4 pounds and a 10% start-up variance only equals .3 or .4lbs - not a big deal at all. Me, I perform the impossible on a regular basis. TT gave a failing mark to the PQ drag...but I catch fish like this, on 10-pound test line, and don't seem to have a problem with drag performance....

Great fish! Where you been ?

More scores for what Dwight referred to as "indigenous swimbaits"... Great fish - looks like you're having an AWESOME vacation !

There's a couple of photos floating around of them and a lengthy thread on a tackle-focused site...

Exactly - the marketing for the bait would lead one to believe that it was a deeper running Wart kinda bait with that nice hunting movement. I guess I'm not in a hurry to order any of these - it sounds like it would perform similar to my go-to Norman Deep Little Ns...

You beat the winter...and didn't let the winter beat you...good show!

I have two Tatula rods - the 7'2" MH-regular and the 7'7" M-regular. They both fish as moderate-fast. Weight? The 7'2" MH weighs 124 grams (4.4 oz) and the 7'7" M weighs 130 grams (4.6 oz). While they are not uber-light...IMO they couldn't be considered "heavy"...

WOW - GREAT fish !

Crankbaits are the only time I do use snaps. I might be targeting various depths as I work around a lake and might have 5 or 6 different crankbaits laying in a tray in front of me. I might only make a couple casts with a certain crank before I grab another one with a different depth range. ...AND, I do have the discipline to periodically retie the snap...

Exactly !

I've caught 9 grass carp between 35 to 48 pounds in the last few years - all were landed on 10lb test - BPS Excel nylon mono for one, Yo-Zuri Hybrid Ultra-Soft for the other eight. A properly adjusted drag is your friend...

Well, the possibility of taking your son with you answers one of the questions above. I car top the canoe. Everything is modular and detachable. It takes less than 15 minutes to rig lakeside. The canoe and all the gear stores in a dolly that I built for it (my wife calls it the canoe hutch ). The outriggers are store-bought (Spring Creek Outfitters) but there are also lots of ways to make outriggers yourself. My canoe is only 12 feet (actually 11'6") long and I consider the outriggers mandatory since I stand nearly the entire time that I'm on the water. With a longer, heavier canoe, which usually translates to added stability, the outriggers would just be for insurance.

(copied & edited from one of my posts in a similar thread a while back) To determine whether you want to get a canoe or a kayak, you need to make a list of your needs, and then determine which craft is the better fit for you. Some of the factors to consider: • Stabililty and standing capability (moving around, landing fish, another person or kids or dogs in the boat, standing to fish, etc.) • Cargo/gear storage (how much stuff do you want to take) • Inboard storage & handling (canoe) versus handling things in your lap or over the water (yak) • Seating position (usually, but not always more upright seating in a canoe vs. legs-out in yak - have back problems?) • Vessel weight (how much can you lift/transport) • Transportability - to the water and possible portaging (do you have a truck, trailer, going to car-top, need to portage, etc.) • Ease of paddling • Will you want the capability to motor it? • Manueverability • Type of water (lakes, streams, white water, etc.) • Number of people in the craft • Stay mostly dry or don't mind getting a bit wet • Length of voyage (couple hours or a couple days) • Etc. Once you answer those questions based on your own capabilities and needs, you'll come closer to chosing either a canoe, a yak, or a hybrid. All are great watercraft in their own ways, you just have to find the best fit for YOU. I faced the same decision as you are tying to make now but I was open to all types of small watercraft from float tubes up to bass boats. The best solution for ME, was a heavily accessorized canoe. I only fish my local, small (1.5 to 201 acres), no-wake lakes. Some of these lakes don't have boat ramps. I needed something car-topable without a special rack, modular, very light weight, with as much capability as possible. I wanted stability so I could stand and fish all day, lots of inboard storage, motorized, and little to no maintenance. I didn't want to have to buy a truck or other tow vehicle, I didn't want to consume a garage bay or driveway space with a boat and trailer, didn't want high expense and high maintenance, and didn't want to use gasoline power. Taking everything into account, I ended up with a canoe, trolling motor, and outriggers for stability. My canoe is a Radisson - very similar to the Sportspal:

Grass carp will tug your line a bit...

The Scorpion XT1000 is a 50-size reel that is the JDM counterpart to the USDM Chronarch 50E and Curado 50E. The Scorpion 200HG is the JDM counterpart to the USDM Curado I.

X3 on the Walmart Everstart Maxx. I use them for the TM on my canoe and they're my primary power source. I got three seasons on my first one and had no problems with it but since they're so cheap I just got a new one so I could start the next season with a fresh battery. I now have three full seasons on that second battery and am going to go ahead and keep running it for the 4th season coming up.

Here it is !

$119.99

They probably considered the Prolite Finesse redundant with the 1st gen (gold) Carbonlite that was introduced at the same time as the Prolite was discontinued.

BPS has re-used the "Prolite" name AT LEAST two, and perhaps three times, since the ORIGINAL Prolite Finesse was discontinued in 2009 - each time the reused name was for special buy reels of different designs than the original Prolite. AND, there were three models of the original Prolite Finesse reel (PRL05H, PRL05HB, PRL05HC) just to confuse matters even further. Re-use of the Prolite name is perhaps good marketing for BPS, leveraging (but gradually destroying) the good rep the original Prolite had; but bad news for anglers since it's hard to keep all the different Prolite iterations straight... The original Prolite Finesse (3rd model):

Your reel has a different dual-braking system than a PQ. The earlier generation BPS reels having dual-braking (PQ, Prolite Finesse, Rick Clunn/RCX/Carbonblack, some (all?) of the Johnny Morris reels) all had similar design dual-braking systems - the one with Doyo as the patent holder (see scan below). As BPS sourced reels from OEMs other than Doyo, more "dual-braking" systems were introduced, most having little to do with the original Doyo system. Your "Prolite Special" (not to be confused with the original "Prolite Finesse") is one of the later reels with a different system. In the current BPS BC reel lineup, probably only the PQ and the Johnny Morris have the Doyo system - all other dual-braking BC reels (Carbonlite, Extreme, et. al.) have different systems.

I have the new IMX 843C - a rep sample rod that came in new like Tywithay's rod. It's...just OK. It weighs 135 grams (4.7oz) - probably about what the old model 843 weighed I expect. Not a fan of the reduced diameter rear grip, but at least it's a full cork grip. This rod does the job I got it for (mostly lipless cranks) but other, cheaper rods would do as well. I don't expect to get any more of the current gen IMXs in the future.

I recommend you scan through the PQ 5-Year Challenge thread(s) and focus on the sections dealing with the centrifugal braking system. This is the main weak spot for a PQ that will see LONG service. The brake shoes will wear, are not readily replaceable, and the brass brake drum can wear as well. The wear can be slowed, but not eliminated, by keeping the brake drum clean and lightly lubed. Otherwise, a solid reel. The 5.2:1 PQ gives 21 IPT, the 4.7:1 PQ gives 19 IPT. I use a 4.7 on a deep cranking rod, and a 5.2 on a heavy spinnerbait rod.

Nope - they're not free-floating brake shoes like Shimano, et al.,