Chris W.

Isn't the reel the workhorse of the whole operation though? I'm not disagreeing with anybody here, i was stating my thinking.

My reel is pretty horrible, i mean it's useable, but nothing i'm used to. Tight money makes for crappy reels! If i had a rod laying around i would have bought a decent reel with my money, but it had to be split between line, a reel and a rod. I mainly fish topwater with this setup, so i see the strike more than i feel it. I've never had a problem sensing a hit on any rod ive had. My thinking is, money wise, a reel is more expensive than a rod, and i can more than live with an ugly stik for a rod. I think a 70$ reel and 25$ rod and 5$ line isn't too bad for a setup of 100$.

Lol, i have one on my baitcaster and love it. They're cheap, durable & maybe not as sensitive as my old shimano, but as of right now, i more so need to dump money into a good reel, a good pole can come later. I can pick up the rod for just over 20$, thats not too bad. Those berkley rods were like 40-50$.

So i've decided i'm going to stick with the shakespeare ugly stik. I've narrowed it down to two reels, either the pfleuger supreme if it's still on sale or the abu garcia 500albi, and possibly if someone can recommend a shimano in the 60-70$ range, i like how both those reels have 10 ball bearings.

What about this setup? I was able to find it all in one shop. Still need the money though! -Sufix® Seige Monofilament 330 Yard Spool (8LB test) -Abu Garcia® Cardinal® 500ALBi Series Reels (One for 8lb) -Shakespeare® Ugly Stik® Spinning Rods (6'6" 2 piece medium) I don't know what it is about ugly stiks, i just love em.

Here's the final product. A thick coat of epoxy, then a coat of clearcoat spray. it didn't come out glossy like i wanted, but at least everythings sealed up. I left the eye on the back in case i want to put a trailer hook on at some point. I don't even know if it will catch anything or hold up, but it was fun anyways. I'm going to clean up the bottom after i get it out on the water, unless it floats fine, i'll do a better job on the next one. The clearcoat i sprayed bunched up around the hook and i didn't know it was while it was drying. Oh well!

I was going to try basswood or aspen next, but working with the balsa was pretty fun. I was going to try and find some nice pine to work with on my way to my fishing spot tomorrow, i hope i'll be able to test this thing out tomorrow. Thanks for the comments. Taking bets as to if it will work or not lol. What do you guys think?

What i did was after i sanded it all down nice, i positioned all the hardware the way i wanted. Then, i had my girlfriend paint it and we let it dry. I then took a tooth pick, put some epoxy in the holes i made, then put some on the hardware threads and then epoxied over the screws and eyes and such. I just tried pulling the hooks out, good luck getting those suckers out! I painted the entire body with epoxy, then just to make sure it was all sealed, i sprayed it with a clear coat. That puppy should hold up well, Took a few hours to make, hope it works! I'll try it tomorrow if it's all dry. I carved that whole thing freehand from a 4" square block of balsa. I'm pretty proud of it. Just have to get some pics of it finished just in case something happens to it lol.

She painted it, we let it dry and then i put epoxy all over it. I figured the epoxy would seal the wood & create a tough finish as well as holding all the hardware in a bit better. We'll see how it holds up. I hope it catches something, if not i'm not out anything. Had fun with the project.

Buzzbaits. I usually buy a 5.1:1 because i can vary the speed. You can make a fast reel slower, but you can only max out a slower reel.

I use my left hand at the bottom of the rod to use as a pivot to get some extra distance on my BC's and spinning. I use really tall rods so it's awkward to cast with one hand. If i had shorter rods like a 5'6" i could probably cast one handed. I use 7' rods.

I fish a lot of weeds and do need the strength, but right now the 10lb is working fine, if i get a new reel i'll switch over to braid though. I do have a question on braid. Say i want to use 10lb. Do I look at the diameter of 10lb mono on a chart and find the same diameter of braid or do i just buy 10lb braid. I've noticed buying 12lb braid that it lays funny and snaps randomly, i thought it may have something to do with the diameter. I bought some when i got my quantum accurist pt some years back, i bought spiderwire stealth in 12lb and first cast it snapped. I wasn't too impressed so i've stuck with mono ever since then.

So right now, due to money flow issues i have a setup of a shakespeare combo rod (it's red i forget the name, nothing special...) and a mitchell avocet silver reel with spiderwire ez. I had to heat up the rod tip guide and remove it and replace it with the tip off my shakespeare excursion (bought when i got the reel around opening day this year) because the guide insert was cracked therefore fraying my line. The excursion 7' med action rod got snapped because the drag on the avocet, although smooth when pulling line has a tendency to stop or stick when fish stop and go. I was reeling in a 3lb pickerel i had hooked on a plastic frog when the thing made a dash and my rod snapped. So, i come here with a question. When i get some money up (all this can be had for ~100$ brand new) is this a good setup? -Okuma Epixor EF 40b Reel -Shakespeare 2 piece 6'6" med. action ugly stik rod -Spiderwire super mono xxx (love this stuff) in clear

I got bored today so i decided to make a lure. Grabbed my buck 110, which hasn't really been used that hard, told my brother to get off his xbox 360 and we were going to make some lures. i used a 1x1" ~3' piece of balsa wood and cut two 4" sections off. He decided he wanted to make a minnow type lure, i decided to make a popper. The only popper i own is a hula popper so i wanted to try and make another one. So we went to work. He didn't know too much about whittling so i showed him the basics and how to control the knife. He used his mini ambush. I used my swisschamp's saw to cut the pieces. Anyways, here are a few pics. I gutted an old broken hula popper of its parts. I'll post the finished product when it's done. For the record, i've never made a lure, and have limited experience whittling balsa wood, so take it easy. My girlfriend painted it, i asked her to and she gladly painted it. The first few pics got cut off in this forum for some reason.

I bought some Spiderwire Super Mono EZ when I bought my new rod & reel combo. As i was cleaning it it got to be a bit of a mess, so i stripped it off and went out and bought some Spiderwire Super Mono XXX for my girlfriend and I. I got a spool of 350 yards and put it on both of our reels. I LOVED the EZ stuff, will I like the XXX more, less or the same? I'm going out tomorrow morning so I want to know if it's me or the line if something goes wrong. Input please!

I've gotten a bunch of bass. My girl got a 4lb largemouth and my buds caught a few trout, perch and a bass or two. hate the sunnies! Where in CT are you all fishing?

My crazy crawlers arms are riveted together. Tomorrow is supposed to rain until 8am, then be partly cloudy and high of 60. Would this be a good time for topwaters? I walk about 30 minutes to my spot through the woods (it's honestly a secret spot) so i want to pack the right boxes.

Is it possible to fish it too fast or slow?

I have a jointed jitterbug in perch (normal size). The hula popper is the 3/8oz one i believe, it's the larger one and it's in yellow with a red and yellow skirt. And the Crazy crawler is in the bull frog pattern, normal size.

Where do you fish these, when, and how? Also, the crazy crawler arms stick and make it spin, how do i fix this?

THe only good thing i see of snaps is not having to keey retying. I use a rapala knot for a loop knot though. I don't use snaps anymore.

pick up a rapala original floating minnow.f-11 or f-13 for l.m. really no wrong way to fish em. I have a whole collection lol. I'm a pro at them haha

Ill bass always strike top? And in open water?

I have a hula popper i got a bass on once. A jointed jitterbug, crazy crawler, frog and chartreuse mouse, and some creature baits. How do i fish each one and when? I want to fish topwater so bad but no luck ever.

Went out today, her first fish of the season. She didn't even want to go! She caught a sunny and used it to get the bass. We estimate at 16" but we didn't do a measurement, just weight. She wants everyone to know she was wearing my shirt and it was windy lol so thats why she looks "fat" :