Goose52

Thanks folks! The old PQ is not going to win any smoothness contests...but it still reels in the fish which, at the end of the day, is the point (at least to me!)...

The test reel for the PQ 5-Year Challenge hit its third service anniversary on October 26 (today). The bite is dropping off a bit here on the plateau but the reel did manage to bring in one 14" bass today to celebrate the anniversary. Background: This previous thread detailed the background of the PQ 5-Year Challenge: http://www.bassresou...interim-report/ Briefly, the challenge resulted from some board members expressing the opinion that the PQ reel was a “one-season” reel, and certainly wouldn’t stay in an angler’s arsenal for as long as 5 years. The subject reel is being used to test those opinions. Current Statistics (based on documented catch data and assumptions as discussed in the earlier thread): Reel placed into service: 26 Oct. 2009 Months of service as of this report: 36 Number of “catch days” (days when fish were caught with this reel): 294 Number of fish caught: 630 Biggest fish caught: 48.6 lb grass carp Biggest bass caught: 9.5 lb LMB Number of cycles (casts & retrieves): 31,000+ (see note) Note: Number of cycles is based on catch data, not on total days/hours of use. The reel was used many days where no fish were caught, especially during the winter months. Actual number of use days probably easily exceeds 400. Actual number of cycles could easily be in excess of 40,000-45,000. Significant Events Since the Last Report: The last report on this reel was on July 5, 2012, to report a repair to the centrifugal braking system - see this thread: http://www.bassresou...ad-to-paradise/ Since the last report, the reel has brought in another 117 fish - the most noteworthy being my new PB LMB of 9.54lbs. Another grass carp was foul hooked and landed - this one was 45 pounds. Since this reel is on my primary lipless crank rod, it will be seeing quite a bit of use through the late fall and winter - as long as I have soft water. Since a lot of fishing is done in winter...but not very much catching, there will again be quite a few "undocumented" cycles that will be accrued by this reel over the next few months... The 9.54lb LMB: The 45lb grass carp: Previous Maintenance/Repairs: December 2010 – Annual cleaning. December 2011 – Annual cleaning. Replacement of line guide pawl at about 26 months of use. Interesting factoid – the pawl had probably made at least 320,000 passes across the worm shaft at the time of replacement. July 2012 – Repairs: Repair 1 - debris jammed the line guide pawl causing the pawl to create a burr on the worm shaft. Filed off the burr and thoroughly cleaned the reel. Repair 2 – centrifugal brake wear – replaced the palm-side sideplate assembly as reported in the July 5th thread linked above. Current Condition: The condition of the internal parts of the reel was reported in the July 5th thread. Externally, the reel has some minor rash on the top of the reel. Since the side-plate assembly on the palm-side of the reel was replaced in July, the cosmetics in that area appear nearly new. The spool bearings are noisier than when new but are still serviceable. The reel continues to feel a bit “loose” as compared to a new PQ but this is a subjective perception and I can’t attribute it to any particular causal factor other than "high-mileage." As I mention with every report, this reel has not been babied, and has often been rode hard and put away wet. Indeed, in winter, the reel is frequently rode hard and put away frozen, with ice still in the line guide when taking the rod out of the trunk of the car! I still believe that much of the centrifugal brake wear that I reported back in July may have been a result of cold-weather service (air temps down to below freezing) - causing some of the grit and congealed oil film on the brake drum to become particularly abrasive - accelerating wear on the brass drum. The only operational issue of note at present is that the anti-reverse bearing slips a bit from time-to-time: I'm hoping that will be resolved when the reel is cleaned/serviced over the winter...and not that the AR bearing is wearing out. Added Maintenance: BPS does not show the inside of the brake drum as a lubrication point; I believe that this is a BIG mistake. I now try to remember to clean and lube the brake drum whenever I remove the side plate. The wear to the brass brake drum, and the captive brake shoes in the spool, are my only areas of concern on this reel and I believe are the weak link in the overall durability of the reel. Closing: This reel continues to provide excellent service for a reel at its price point. I own six PQs, some bought new on sale, some bought used. My average cost per reel is $64. I have already, in my opinion, received more than that in value/use and it’s all bonus here on out. In regards to the long-term durability of a PQ, my use data could be compared to your fishing activity. I have used the reel somewhere between 300 and 400 days and reeled in 630 fish. For some anglers, that might be many years of use - for other anglers, that might be only one "season." And, there is still lots of life left in the reel. More to come – 5 years is a long time… P.S.: So, people keep telling me that the PQ is a "one-season wonder" - it will just fall into pieces after the first season, its parts will tremble and disassemble when confronted by a whopper, it's drag washers will melt when pulled by a smelt... I think not...

A recent shot of the "war canoe" - I just went over 1,000 fish caught from it in the last 3 seasons.

I wish I could say that having an offset line tie was my idea....but someone thought of it quite a while ago - as seen on this ~50 year-old Shyster...

I routinely make two modifications to a Roostertail: - I bend the line tie over (similar to the old Shyster line tie) - this reduces the tendancy of the entire bait to spin. - I put a bend in the tip of the blade - this will get it moving. I posted this photo a couple years ago on a similar thread: I agree with the folks above - Roostertails are not the best in-line spinner, but with these mods, they work well enough. If you tend to lose these things - I'd rather lose a cheap bait than an expensive one...

Perhaps the OP is inquiring as to whether there is a modern iteration of the reel seat common 'back when'...

My favorite hardbait since it is so versatile. Sam gave a great summary above. I've caught (as of this morning) 299 fish so far this year on lipless cranks - including my PB LMB of 9.54lbs. Great baits - you just have to have confidence in them... And Sam, I've lost about 40-50 lipless cranks over the last 3 seasons - and 3 in the last week alone...

The Radisson canoes have sockets for oarlocks - I have bolts (that really just act as locating pins) that extend down from the dashboard into the sockets. I cut the holes in the oak dashboard so these bolts would be pre-loaded a bit (you have to pull the gunwales together a bit to get the locating pins/bolts to engage the sockets). In the photo, the bolt on that side of the dashboard is hidden from view by the mounting portion of the slidetrax arm. On another canoe without these sockets, I would have made a clamping mechanism to lock the dashboard to the gunwales (similar to what's used on canoe TM brackets.

I have an aluminum canoe so I use the "stick" (Slidetrax Transducer Deployment Arm). With a traditional sonar, or with Down Imaging only, you can keep the transducer at, or slightly above, the bottom of the hull. So, you will ground the canoe before before you hit the transducer. The deployment arm is hinged so I fold it up out of the water when the sonar is off. When I went to Side Imaging, I had to lower the transducer below the bottom of the hull so I have to be a bit more careful now. However, the deployment arm is somewhat flexible, and will help cushion any shock if I do drag the transducer on the bottom. Also, the arm will pivot/rotate around it's mounting bolt under impact, adding to the cushioning effect. The deployment arm, and the sonar unit itself, are mounted on the wood dashboard that you see in the photo. One-stop shopping - all of the sonar components are mounted together - so no dangling cables. I run it off the TM battery, but I also have an 8ah sealed battery that I can use as well. The only downside of this mounting, for me, is that if you are trying to get through some heavy slop, pads, etc. the deployment arm will foul on that stuff. Since you're usually in shallow water in those cases, I usually just turn the sonar off and fold up the deployment arm.

Good point. I have BC combos that would toss these 1/8oz buzzbaits easy enough...but since one of the conditions that would lead me to use a buzzbait is wind, I just don't make the effort to fish them on BC gear and nearly always toss them with spinning rods (as shown in the photo above).

I don't use 1/8oz spinnerbaits too often. I have some Strike King, BPS, and perhaps some other brands on hand. For 1/8oz buzzbaits, I use the Strike King Mini Pro-Buzz as well. Like you say, they're pretty flimsy but still a relatively good value - especially if you tend to loose them on brush, trees, etc. when fishing from shore. I got two pretty nice fish earlier this year on the Pro-Buzz - a 4.80 from the boat, and a 5.11 fishing from the bank.

9.06lb LMB - caught on a rod made in China... http://www.bassresou...-does-it-again/

48.6lb grass carp - caught on a "flimsy" sapling with line on it...

9.5 pound LMB - caught with a sapling with line on it....

During the summer months, when the fish caught tend to be smaller, I often fish lighter tackle for the exact reason that you mentioned, to have a better fight. My lighter tackle (under medium-power) consists of spinning rods in UL, L, and ML powers; as well as casting rods in L and ML powers. They all have their niche, but if I was to pick one power that would be the most versatile, it would be ML. Light enough to have a pretty good fight with the smaller fish, heavy enough to take on the 5 pounders that you mentioned. Long Mike mentioned a pretty nifty spinning rig in ML that would work well. You didn't say how open your water is....but if it IS open, then UL or L would work - but you're really adding risk factors - especially with traditional UL line like 2 or 4lb, or even nylon mono in 6lb. These lines have little tolerance for abrasion, nicks, etc, and you really have to be attentive to continually trimming back and re-tying. Nothing wrong with going UL or L in open water - set your drag properly and have fun. BUT, if you have any slop, rocks, timber, etc. you will end up with some lost fish. If you plan on using braid - then some of that risk is reduced. If you still want UL (or L) spinning, I think a 20-size (or 25 size) Pfueger President would work well, along with the UL or L rod of your choice.

Hmmmm - I think I need a similar matched set.....

I guess it depends on what you are planning to use the rod for. For the techniques that most folks would use a 3-power rod for - I would think you want the 100. The size is still manageable unless you have very small hands and it has better spool capacity for heavier weight lines. I have the Conquest 50 - it is a delight to palm (for a round reel) but is really more a "finesse" type of reel with a line capacity of only 80yds of 10 pound line. I have 8lb on it right now and have run 6. However, if you wanted to run 12 or 14lb test on that 50-size reel, I think you would be really capacity-limited, even for bass fishing... "Baluga" fishes the Conquest 100 (in the salt no less!) and may come along with his advice.

Yes, I've used them quite a bit this year - 192 fish so far. Do they work? 9.54lb LMB - caught with an H2O Xpress Rattlin' T - 5/8oz - blue over chrome.... Now, are there higher quality lipless cranks - yes. Are there lipless cranks with better fall characteristics, nose down running, or other specific characteristics that may be important in certain circumstances - yes. BUT, for general purpose use, I find that these work very well. I got mine in 6-packs that Academy had on clearance for under $10 - a great price. I bought them to use in low yield, high risk water (fewer fish, lots of stumps) and ended up using them a lot this year. Also - be aware that Academy has (at least) two types of lipless cranks. I've been using the "Rattlin' T", which has a profile similar to an Xcalibur XR. Academy also has the "LCR" which has a profile somewhat similar to the Aruku Shad - I have not tried these yet. I'll have to admit though, that after I caught that 9.54 on the H20 last week, I tied on a Red Eye Shad and have been fishing the RES in that lake for the past week (and got a 3.5 pounder the following night)...

Time to invest in a scale...

When things get slow for bass in the summer, I sometimes get out the UL rod and go for panfish. Every once and a while, a bass will come along as well. The only file photo I have is of a nice 17" / 2.44lb LMB. The rod is a 25+ year old 5' Shimano with a line rating of 1-4lb test - a real wet noodle rod. The reel is a newer Pflueger President - 20 size. Line is good 'ole Stren 4lb mono. The bait was a Strike King Bitsy Pond Minnow - a nifty little crankbait. I'm always surprised when those little #14 trebles stay hooked up in a larger fish...

Thanks K_Mac! And did you notice that the bass was landed with the PQ Five-Year Challenge test reel? I seem to be able to perform the impossible on a frequent basis. Why, everyone knows that a PQ is a "one-season wonder" - it will just fall into pieces after the first season, it's parts will tremble and disassemble on a big fish, it's drag washers will melt when pulled by a smelt... Meanwhile, this PQ is nearing completion of it's third season, has reeled in 570 fish, including a 9 and 8 pound bass, and earlier this year - 3 carp with a combined weight of 130 pounds, and it's still tickin'. If I cost average my 6 PQs, then this reel cost me $66. A good value methinks....

I personally like Pflueger spinning reels and feel that they are a best value. I have 10 of them: 2-Presidents, 1-PresidentXT, 5-Supremes, 2-SupremeXTs; in sizes 20, 25, 30, 35. Of all of these, I feel that the Surpreme is in the sweet spot on price vs. features - magnesium frame, light, durable. Of the sizes, the 30 is the classic, do-it-all size for light freshwater...but for "finesse", I actually use a Supreme 25. I have one of these on my "grub rod" (Loomis GLX BSR852). This reel has been in service for 3 seasons; as of this morning, it has reeled in 1,344 fish, up to 5 pound bass. The only service it has had is to put a drop of oil on the line guide roller bearing about once a year. Good luck with your decision...

Yup - you do the mongo hook-set, nothing moves, dang - I hook-set into wood. Then the log starts moving........ GREAT fish!

Thanks again to all. I've been going back to that lake every day and I'm getting some nice fish...but no more hawgs yet... Full moon tonight though....hmmmmmm

4 to 6 rods for me...the back of my canoe looks like a porcupine with only that many....