flippin and pitchin

Got my second Tournament Pro today. My local dealer, who special ordered them for me, has seen enough and will be adding Lews to their inventory. I haven't had any experience with the lower priced models but this model has performed very well so far.

This is natural because of the motion of your wrist. If you learn that the wrist is a hinge and has more range of motion when the the " flat " of the hand is what flexes and not the thumb ( like driving a nail with a hammer ) you will get that distance, accuracy and entry you are looking for. It's a fundemental part of casting with a bait cast reel. It's like a reverse roll cast. Be patient, you will pick it up. Good luck !

Dwight, That has got to make you feel good. When I saw the post the first thing I thought of was " I bet he's using a jerk bait. " I got my first smallie of the year yesterday, a three and a half and I was excited. I still am. This should be a good year I/we hope. Nice fish and i'm compelled to beleive you will better that one many times over this year. Doug

Owner Stinger 36 or Gammi EWG for me. The baits I buy with the exception of SK come with good stock hooks but after some use they get swapped out. Yes, spit ring pliars work. Save your digits and get a pair.

I have three of the 3000 size. Two are on Lamiglas Excel 703S and the third on a Certified Pro 703S. I really like this model and it's features. They handle 90% of my smallmouth work.

I have used my Tournament series reel for a month now and really pounded it last week. I like this reel as well as my Revo Premiers. I ordered a second Lews but they are back ordered. So far so good.

Crawfish patterns and some Delta red until may then chrome/blue and shad patterns.

Just got back from six days at Clear Lake. This place is amazing. The bite was off according to the locals, we fished through back to back tournaments and that traffic and three cold fronts back to back to back and still caught some realy nice fish. Ed from Tackle It in Lakeport is an awesome guy who will help you in any way possible. My last two fish of the last day were a 7-8 and a 6-10 and the average for the trip was just just under five pounds each. Same for my buddy. I'm sore, my hands are raw and hurt, my nose is peeling and I can't wait to go back. Don't expect to catch 50 a day but a 12 to 15 fish day of quality chunkers is realistic. The " rat " of the trip was a 3 3/4.

Very classy layout Glenn. It's a little strange as in different but I can get used to it. Pretty slick !

I normally would say you get what you pay for but with spinning reels it's different. There are some tremendous products from the 60 to 100 dollar price range. I don't like to pay retail for anything and will shop my butt off once I get a feel of the brand and or model I want. If you get to the point you narrowed it down to a model or two, search the threads and or ask. The benefit of this group is you have opinions from OWNERS, USERS, SELLERS and FIXERS. It doesn't get better than that. I have spinning reels by Okuma, Lews, Abu, Pflueger, Diawa and Shimano. They all perform from well to excellent.

He has the new Power Pole stilts.

Thats fantastic. Thanks for sharing the pics. The kids are loving it. So are the children. Also, to make the fish appear larger, hold them out and not up. That's what works for me.

They each have their place. I picked up 2 200 Xcalibur's and they are as large as I want to go. Red gave me a 100 on the Christmas exchange and it's a super bait. Now i'm going to throw a wrench in the gears. I also picked up 2 of Cabelas "Pork Chop" square-bills. They mirror the Xcalibur. NICE baits. I was really surprised at the quality for a 3.99 on sale bait. They only have the 9/16 oz which is the same size as a 200 series Xcalibur. Anyone looking to pick up such a bait should at least look at the Cabelas product first. Options, options options.

You guys made me laugh. 1 1/2 on the top and 1 on sides for eight years now. Two things I miss the most. Non-prescription sunglasses and the ability to wear a visor. I wish Charlie Ingram would read this thread. Good Lord man, accept the concept of bald is beautiful. There is a significant demographic of chrome domes based on the number of us who read the thread.

Sorry about the editorial. Hope you love the Smoke. It sounds great!

Quantum changed their rod warranties when they released their new models. The Energy PT, which had a lifetime warranty last year, now only has a 1 yr. warranty. This is stupid! They probably "modified" it and they dropped the warranty cause they knew it was a crap rod and couldn't replace it. I'm not hating on Quantum rods but why drop a warranty like that? There is a trend in the rod business right now. Higher than normal customer returns. It seems more fisherman are " bouncing " their fish and this is increasing the number of failures. Anglers are demanding lighter and more sensitive rods. The primary way to obtain those attributes is by reduction in the blanks material. That and the fact high stress is placed on low mass portions of the blanks causes them to break. Expect to see less " life time " warrantees and more expitor type warrantees or lesser durations. The other option is to factor return percentages into the price of the rod, thus they become more expensive. It's business.

Lucky Strike and Kalins. Kalins has a Gammi hook. The lucky Strike a bit more movement. Put a Basstrix or similar swimbait on one and watch it work. I'm sold on that combo! I fish heavier heads than most I guess, 3/8 and 1/2.

My local dealer picked up some of the line. Ghoti got my curiosity up on the Devil Spear and I bought a bag, what the heck, 3 bucks. I now see what he was referring to about the subtle action of the tail. Very interesting bait. The craw is great but is a knock off to a number of other similar baits. I too have a mountain of plastics to burn through. At 2.60 a bag it's a logical choice.

That is some top notch stuff ! The 703 is so versatile. Shakey heads, flick shake, wacky worms, drop shot, Mojo rigs, split shot rigs, small finesse jigs, tubes, spider jigs, you name it. Enjoy !!

In the early 80's. Not the best color for me. Black grape was always my favorite. I caught my first worm fish on a Mann's. Worm fishing with a 5 1/2 foot rod was a treat. Once the brushhog came out the worm just died.

The Ima bait is the deal but they are spendeeee. Wordens Timber Tiger comes in a 1 footer and for the money, is a great choice. Far less expensive.

Scrounger head type baits are a different animal. The action they provide is pretty subtle. My experience with using a jig skirt and bulky trailer was not good. Too much bulk would over ride the rocking motion of the head (1/2 oz. ). But run a fluke or swimbait and watch it shine. Longer slender style trailers seem to allow the head to rock back and forth and do what it is intended to do. With that, it has great potential and produced some great action last year.

this would be me. back in the day, i had two of the old speed spools with the steeply-tapered v-spools and loved 'em. and, maybe for nostalgia's sake, i'm gonna get one. it's happened before...i had bought several iterations of abu-garcia's absolutely horrid ultra mag "low"-profile reels before they came out with the revos based strictly on how much i loved my old round abus. these days, all reels are pretty good and the differences between them all are seemingly getting smaller and smaller all the time. I still have 5 Speed Spools. Two are pre Browning and three models after Browning took on the Lews brand. I had my first two Lews made by Shimano stolen in 1982. Who would have thought a reel with THREE ball bearings could cast so well. Where is my light blue polyester jumpsuit ?

Lamiglas Excel 703C micro and smaller baits on a Lamiglas Certified Pro 663 Spinning.

Welcome and congratulations !!! This month's FLW has an article on High School bass fishing and it sounds like your folks made the way. I hope you will be light for other students around the county who have the same desire as you all.