Goose52

A starting point would be the Tackle Trap. Lots of goodies there - including a kit to convert your Sols to a clicking drag adjustment if that floats your boat !

Congrats! Sounds like it will be an outstanding combo. My most used rod is a similar (factory) rod - GLX852S JWR - Loomis considers it a Senko rod but I call it the "grub rod"...

I use Rapala digital electronic scales. I've had five of them - four "50lb Mini Digital" and one "50lb Sportsman's Digital." All have been accurate to within two ounces at the 10-pound weight range. The only problem I've had has nothing to do with accuracy - it's had to do with the on/off switch getting dodgy then failing on one of the Mini Digital models. So, I've tossed one of the five but still have four in service (1 in the boat, 1 in the bank-fishing pack, 1 in the car, 1 as a spare in the house). Great service for around $20. Test report here: Rapala Mini Digital Scale - Load Test Report

Used to be 150K a while back. It's 750k on up now. The easiest way to display a photo is when you are posting - look for the button marked "More Reply Options." Click that, then at the bottom of the next screen look for the button marked "Choose files..." Click that and then browse your harddrive to find and select the photo you want to post. Click the "Open" button. You can post up to a 750k image or multiple photos up to 750k total. Done this way, the photo(s) will display as a thumbnail and folks have to click on it to see it full size. Another option - look for your user name at the top of every forum page. Click your user name, then look for the "My Gallery" link - click that and follow the prompts to create a gallery and to upload photos in your gallery. Once you have photos in your gallery, you select (click on) the image you want to post, then right click on that photo, then click on "Direct link to this image file." Then copy the URL that shows for that page. Go back to the thread that you want to post in, start a post, then click on the "Image" button (looks like a little TV) that appears to the right of the bold, italic, underscore, etc buttons. After clicking on the image button, paste in the URL you copied, and then click "OK" - the image should now appear in your post - full size. You may upload very large image file sizes into your gallery. Another option - post your photos in one of the image hosting sites, grab the URL for the photo from that site, then hit the "Image" button in your post, paste the URL, then hit "OK." Simple, huh..... There may be a tutorial or FAQ on this someplace but I don't recall seeing it.

The link I originally posted didn't seem to work so I deleted it. This might work better: https://fishshop.shimano.com/vip/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524441848573&SKU%3C%3Esku_id=1689949372101560 On the line lay - I've seen chatter about that on TT but never seen anyone prove that it's an issue...especially when only going from 6.4 to 7.0 gearing.

Left and right gear sets are different. If you were planning on ordering direct from Shimano, their web site shows the 51MG7 drive gear out-of-stock until 9-25; the pinion gear out-of-stock until 10-25. You can request email notification of when the parts are back in stock (Shimano has done a very good job with their parts web site).

I'm with you on the BIG stickers...but I still think smaller LMB silhouette stickers are kinda cool...

Yes! In the 60's neither my Dad or I knew anything like t-rigging (was it invented yet?). When we wanted to go weedless, we used the hooks with the weedguard, when we wanted to add weight, we used the weedguard w/weight hooks. And this was in South Florida...where there tends to be a lot of weeds...

Yes! Except my box was made of metal, was much smaller, had one tray, and had a 12" ruler stamped in the lid. Solid-glass rod, check on the 8lb mono, and instead of a Mitchell reel it was a Ted Williams 400. Oh wait, I still have that combo (with 8lb mono)...but not the tackle box...

Yes! Most (all) of these are 60's vintage and when you said "Rapala" back then, this is what you thought of...

Yes. Like these (from the 1964 Fishermens's Digest - everyone run and get your copy - it's on page 291)...

Remember when: The finest reels came from Sweden... ...and from France: And the store brands were from OEMs in Italy (cheaper labor there) like this Ted Williams 400 (aka Pescador 400)..................and the cheapest of the cheap (Lido 400) came from JAPAN...

Yes. A Mitchell 408 of course...but paired with a matching Conolon rod instead of a Silaflex. This combo is still being fished every once and a while nearly 50 years after I saved enough money to buy it. The below photo from last year... Yes. These were fished mostly in the mid-1980s but a couple were fished off and on until just a few years ago. Two of the below reels have since been eBay'd (one 35 and one 40 size) but I've still got the other seven. AND, I'm getting ready to put one back in service... Were Sigmas good reels? About 9 pounds good - this back in February 2011. Thanks for the memories !

Outdoor World Rod & Reel Repair - www.basspro.com/repair

Hey John...I have one more CU50E that is still NIB..................and its not for sale...

Nice reels... ...they work, reel in fish...

Indeed !Although, I think some Conquest gold in a 50 size would work on those rods as well. Will have to do some reel rotation later in the season...

Outstanding ! That had to be a great day indeed...

Look at the bright side - there might soon be a bunch of current-model Avids in the St. Croix bargain room...at about half price...

That's a NICE bass... Hmmm - CU50/51E reel on an NRX...sounds like a great idea...

OUTSTANDING... Enjoy the moment. NOW - go catch a bigger one! There's always another PB waiting...

Another Big-O biggun! Beautiful fish indeed... And congrats on the karate honors. I had a little 7.4 LMB towing me around the lake a while back...but then I was only in a 12ft canoe............not a 22ft. glass bass boat....

As mentioned above, BPS has the Extreme casting travel rod - three piece. It was on sale a few weeks ago for $80 (a bit above your budget). It's back up to $99 now. Bass Pro Shops® XPS® Extreme® Trigger Rods - Travel

Sounds great - especially the comment "3 and 4 lb'ers have been common." Man, I wish those fish were common in my water. The only thing common (or frequent) in my water is 11" bass... Keep it up - you might have a 7 pounder coming in July!

Sounds like a good day - with some adrenalin-boosting gator action! I grew up in South Florida and have fished the Alley many times..................................the last time in 1967! :lol: