Osprey39

I might get some flak for this but I don't see any reason to spend more than $100-$125 on a single rod. Fishing is no different than most hobbies in that the manufacturers of equipment make stuff in all different price ranges because everyone has a different budget. I'm not saying the more expensive rods aren't better, they are or the manufacturers wouldn't be able to command those prices for them for very long. That said, shelling out $250 for a rod isn't going to make you a better fisherman any more than spending $2000 on a top of the line set of golf clubs will take you to a single digit handicap if you're a 20. By the same token, nobody will ever convince me that this reel http://www.cabelas.com/product/Fishing/Fishing-Reels/Casting-Reels%7C/pc/104793480/c/104760180/sc/104259780/Daiwa-Steez8482-Casting-Reel/739081.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse%2Ffishing-fishing-reels-casting-reels%2Fdaiwa%2F_%2FN-1102352%2B1000003177%2B10000055%2FNe-10000055%3FWTz_l%3DSBC%253BBRprd739081%26WTz_st%3DGuidedNav%26WTz_stype%3DGNU&WTz_l=SBC%3BBRprd739081%3Bcat104259780 will catch more fish than one that costs $150. If you can afford it, go for it but personally I'd rather buy two good rods than one very good one. That's just my personal preference though. Now as for the Mojo Bass rods, I don't have one of their spinning rods but I have about 5 of their casting rods and I am very happy with them. They fit in my budget and I still have money left to put gas in the truck and boat to get to the lake lol. Your budget may be bigger though and if so, I'm sure the Legend series is probably a better rod but again, the question I always ask myself is this: Is it twice as good? Usually the answer to that is no for me.

Good advice. We don't have another event there this year (thankfully!) but I will strongly consider this next time I'm there. Part of the problem with getting to know this lake for me is it is about 3-1/2 hours from my house so it isn't someplace I day trip to very often lol. I definitely need to get a better handle on it though.

See my thread in this forum titled 'Your Favorite Rod'. I have caught 99% of my fish this season on a 30 year old spinning rod that my dad made. Are new rods better? Sure, especially in graphite they have made a good deal of improvements but that doesn't mean the old ones can't get the job done if they are in good shape. It's not a really fair comparison with new reels to new rods. Reels have a whole lot of moving parts and they've been greatly improved even in the last 10 years. Rods are pretty much 4 components: blank, guides, grips and reel seat. There are no moving parts and really only the blank materials have been improved much in the last 20 or so years.

Incomplete list of choices in my opinion. All those fish listed are found in inshore locations and/or saltwater rivers. They didn't give a billfish choice or any other primarily offshore species for that matter.

Maybe it's just because of the equipment I was introduced to when I started using each but I use left handles on spinning reels and right handles on baitcasters. Whenever I try to use a reel that has the handle on the other side, it feels incredibly awkward to me and it's not the act of reeling that feels weird, it's working the baits with the rod. Bottom line is that once you get used to something, it will feel normal to you.

Well the first thing I have to ask is did you tell him he wasn't giving you room to throw?

I've been fishing with a local bass club for the 2.5 years or so. We fish many different lakes here in New Mexico and I have done ok at just about all of them save one: Ute Lake. I think I have fished 5 tournaments at Ute and I have yet to bring a keeper fish to the scales there. Now part of the issue is that Ute has a 14" size limit on smallies and they seem to be the predominant species there. Everyone in the club catches their share of shorts there due to that bigger size limit but they get plenty of keepers too. Not me. I've had one fish in those 5 tournies that would have been a keeper but he came unpinned while I was trying to get hold of my net. My biggest quandry is that I go to places and catch fish but they are short. I am always reluctant to leave a spot where I'm catching fish just because they are short. My thinking is that if there are smaller fish in the area, there are probably at least a few bigger ones too. I just never seem to catch them at Ute. Any comments or suggestions?

Think he means that it works better in low light because of the vibrations the blades put off. Fish don't need to see spinnerbaits and that's why they are a good choice in muddy or heavily stained water.

You guys are lucky. The Walmarts here in Albuquerque have mostly crap for bass fishing tackle. They mostly sell stuff for trout. We just got a Dick's Sporting Goods here too and I went over there the first day they were open all excited because I have always heard how great their fishing departments are. They had like 2 aisles of fishing stuff and it was mostly junk too. In order to get the lures I want in the colors I want, I pretty much have to order online.

Cool, I've never seen one that small. I grew up in Florida and I've seen some huge ones but never a little bitty one like that.

I prefer shorter rods because I'm not a tall guy. I'm about 5'10" on a good day and with a baitcaster it's much easier for me to pitch with shorter rods. With spinning rods, I just find the 6'6" length easier to handle, especially in tight quarters. The spinning rod I use most often is 7'0" and that's my only beef about it, I wish it was 6 inches shorter. Anyway, as someone said earlier and you can probably tell from the replies you have gotten, it's pretty much personal preference.

Is that a little gator you're holding there man?

You sir, are certifiably nuts! I don't buy any baits that cost more than 5 bucks so if I can't get them back after a couple minutes of effort, I just break them off. If I had one of those high dollar swimbaits and I lost it, I'd be very sad.

Haha, I play hockey too! I never have had a problem with tape residue on a stick though because if I take the tape off for some reason, I just put it right back on over the place the old tape was

It's no big deal to get that off either. Put a little alcohol on a rag and wipe it right off.

More pics folks! As an aside, I talked to my dad on the phone last night and told him I posted this thread here. He got a good chuckle out of that and he agreed, that rod has caught way more than it's share of fish over the years. I told him if it was just 6'6" it would be perfect to which he replied, "Well you've got all the stuff now, build that rod yourself." Think I just might!

With all due respect, you're the only person that I have ever heard say that spinning reels don't cause line twist inherently. I've been fishing with them for a long time (I'm no spring chicken anymore) and it's always been an issue albeit never to the extent that it is with this particular reel. In my experience with other reels, I could easily fish with them all day and not have problems with line twist. This one won't even make it half a day before I start to get them.

I don't think it's fair to answer this question simply with 'jig' lol. There's so many different kinds of jigs and they all have different things they are good at. Yeah, you can flip a swim jig or swim a flipping jig but there's a reason they make different styles for those things I would have to say tubes myself because like jigs, they can be fished so many different ways. You can fish it with a jighead for open areas or fishing up in the water column or you can Texas rig them for flipping or fishing heavy cover. You can also skip them under docks and trees if you are good at that sort of thing (I'm not...yet).

The only thing I really get picky about gear ratio on is my crankbait reels. I like to have something 5.0:1 or slower for crankbaits because it is harder, for me anyway, to reel a high gear ratio reel slower than it is to reel a low ratio faster. In other words, when I want to fish a crankbait slowly it is much easier to do that by using a lower gear ratio with a normal retrieve than trying to go extra slow with a higher gear ratio. For all other lures, 6:1 or 7:1 suffices. edit: I have a question for the guys using inches per turn as a measuring stick. Isn't that going to vary by how much line you have out? For instance, one revolution of the spool is going to take up more line when the spool is full than it is when the spool is nearly empty. Seems that way to me at least.

Tom, I have scissors and they rarely cut through the thinner braid on the first try. I'm perfectly happy with fluorocarbon. I rarely lose a fish because the line broke. When I lose one it's almost always because they threw the hook. When I have lost them to broken line in the past, it's almost always shortly after thinking to myself that I should re-tie because the line is frayed Personally I just don't have any reason to use the stuff and lots of reasons not to.

We all have a favorite rod and the reasons for it being a favorite are probably as varied as the rods are. I've attached some pics of my favorite. I'm not sure of the exact age of this rod but I know it's over 30 years old. My dad built it back in the '80s when he was into building custom rods. I'm not sure of the components in it but based on what he liked to use I'd guess it's a Fenwick blank with Fuji guides and reel seat. The grips are dense foam rubber that my dad custom shaped. It's 7' long (I wish it was 6'6" but oh well), fast action, medium flex. The bottom wrap is a totally wicked thunderbird pattern which I have always loved since I was a little kid. Between my dad and myself, this rod has probably caught somewhere between 500-1000 fish over the years including everything from crappie to cobia. It's still in very good shape and it could easily catch another 500+ fish without a sweat. I just wish I had a kid to hand it down to! Let's see/hear about your favorite rod!

Not for me Seriously, I hate braid. It's hard to tie knots with, hard to trim the tag end on your knots and it is too expensive for my liking. I use fluoro on just about every reel I have except for my topwater rod (learned real quick that the sinking fluoro will pull smaller topwaters down with it.) I know a lot of guys on this forum love braid but I refuse to use it. Oh and by the way, it still twists on a spinning reel and good luck getting braid twist knots undone when you get one. I appreciate all the input from everyone. I ordered the Symetre last night so it should be here in a few days.

How do you work your crankbaits? I ask because I can out catch my buddy 3 to 1 on crankbaits because he only uses a steady retrieve when he fishes them. I constantly start and stop them with varying lengths of time on the pause and retrieve. Most of my strikes come after a pause.

Salt & pepper colored tube jigs. I always try them when I know the fish are feeding on shad but I've never even gotten a bite on one. I put it down and pick up my chrome and black bomber model A and start catching fish. I'm not sure why I keep trying them, hard headed I guess.

Chrome & Black is my favorite but I've caught a fair number of fish on crawdad patterned ones early in the year working it on the bottom like a jig.