.ghoti.

I don't leave home without "em. Any brand is better than none. I have, I think, four different kinds, all bought on sale, and don't recommend one over the other.

Like everything from Quantum, Hot Sauce is either loved or hated. Not sure why that is, but it sure seems to be the case. I don't hate Hot Sauce grease, but I don't use it. It's simply too messy. I also don't think it lasts as long as some other greases. Hot Sauce oil is OK, but I don't use it either. You'll get a lot of opinions on this subject, some of them quite heated. I got my first "good" reel when I ws 12. My pop made me clean and lube it every winter. So I've been servicing my own reels for almost 50 years. I'm not the expert here, but I've made all the mistakes that can be made doing this. And, I still screw up every now and then. Just ask 5 bass, one of our moderators, about that. Here's what I use. For spool bearings; Daiwa red oil. When I run out of that, I'll be using Ardent yellow oil. Lots of choices, and opinions about this. I like a thin oil for this application. Yellow Rocket fuel is good, Daiwa red is good, Ardent is good, Hot Sauce is OK, etc. The down-side is, with the thinner the oils, you'll need to re-lube more often. Not a problem for me. I have no issue with cleaning and re-lubing spool bearings several times each season. If you're only going to service your reels once per year, use a thicker oil on the spool bearings. For gears and drag washers; Shimano drag grease. I've only found one product better, and it is so expensive, I just won't use it. For frame and handle bearings; 50wt gear oil. I used to grease these bearings, but it is too difficult to get them clean after they've been greased. The heavy oil is much easier to get out, and seems as smooth as grease. Never use grease on the levelwind components. It seems counter intuitive, but grease will trap grit and debris. A greased levelwind will wear out a lot faster. A thin coat of oil is much better. I'm experimenting with TSI 321. Google it and check it out. Just started using it at the end of last year and have no real conclusions yet, except one. This is the right stuff for level-wind components. Once it dries, nothing sticks to it. All of my reels have the level wind lubed with 321. It seems to be very good for spool bearings, but they are a bit noisier. I have one reel with all frame bearings lubed with 321. I have another with everything except the drag washers lubed with 321. I'll report my conclusions at the end of this fishing season.

I have Kindle with 3G. Love it. I had several people tell me to get the 3G version. After having it for a few months I don't know why 3G version came so well recommended. I never use it. Save the money and buy a wireless router for your home. That's a win-win. My wife also decided she needed one. I got her one without 3G. I've played with my daughter-in-law's color Nook. That's a nice device also. In reality, I went with the Kindle because Amazon is going to be around for a while. Barnes & Noble? Who knows if they will be.

Try fishing with some of the kinked ones. Then you'll be on here asking how get them to stay bent. I'm not really kidding. Fish a kinked Senko, with the kink oriented down, and see what happens. You will be sorting out the kinked ones to save for when you really need a couple of fish.

I have four Alphas, the JDM version of the Sol. I can, and do, use them for everything. The only down-side, as far as I'm concerned, is the retrieve speed. Sometimes you just need a faster reel.

Thanks Nate. I knew something didn't look right, but I am no expert at what can be done with today's editing software.

"My engineering staff would have taken a month and 10 meetings to design this. " Well, I've spent at a lot of years cursing that dad-blasted spool pin, and never thought of this thing. And, you are correct. I spent some time thinking about a tool, and every thing I came up with was over-engineered, and would have been expensive to produce.

What's not helping is the current exchange rate yen - dollar. It's about 30% out of whack in the wrong direction right now.

If you're thinking in terms of mass production, I'd have to agree with you. 10-12 bucks would be just about right. I'd be willing to bet that Hedgehog studios is one guy who has to contract out the machining to one outfit, the anodizing to another, ditto for printing, and packs them for shipping in his basement. There will never be a mass market demand for such a tool, so, economies of scale just aren't there.

It's cheap compared to a new spool. If you continue to use pliers, or punch and hammer, sooner or later you're gonna be ordering a new spool. Been there, done that, blasphemed.

Four of my twelve baitcast rods have full rear grips; the rest are split. Of my spinning rods, two have full grips, one is a split grip, and my favorite has no grips at all. I don't see any advantage for either design while fishing. Or disadvantage for that matter. I'm happy with either style. I started to go off a rant about foregrips, but I'll start another thread on that some time.

http://www.break.com/index/man-walks-away-from-lightning-strike-2050919

Two excellent points. I'll add another. People are going to talk about you if start killing off jerks.

I was trying to inject a bit of levity, but missed the mark. I can't find my calculator, and can't do the math in my head. I need to stand in the shower to count to 21. 2992 inches Hg would be between 1400 and 1500 PSI. We'd all be smashed flat at that pressure. :D :D

Two thousand, nine hundred and ninety-two inches of what?

Grubs will catch almost anything that swims. In my experience they're better for numbers than size, but big fish will eat them too. I have double sided binder bag just for finesse baits, and it always has 3", 4" and 5" grubs packed, ready to go.

Ronnie, it was a treat to see ya again. Here's hoping we're both there next year.

I was the first person I know to jump on the braid bandwagon. I bought a fill of Fenwick Iron Thread back in the early days when you could not buy a spool of braid. I had to find a tackle shop that had it, and let them fill up the reel. It was expensive. I discovered early (first trip out) that the line would slip on the spool, and corrected that. I thought all was right with the world, and had all the rest of my reels filled with IT. I fished nothing but braid for the next four years, trying Spiderwire, every version Berkley came out with; every other brand I could find for that matter. I discovered all the problems: line slipping on the spool, fixed that poor knots, fixed that with better knots digging in the spool, fixed that by going to heavier line. wrapping around everything, I just learned to deal with that broke two rods on the hookset because the line was wrapped around the tip, sort of fixed that by watching more carefully. Cut my hands, a lot. fixed that etc,etc,etc; You know the litany. The final straw was getting outfished in three successive tournaments by the guy I was fishing with, throwing the same baits in the same places. I was using braid, he was using mono. When he pointed this out to me, I told him he was full of beans. He then offered me his rod. I picked up his rod, loaded with mono, and started catching fish. Went back to mine, with braid, and stopped catching fish. Point taken. Went home, bought some mono, stripped off all the braid, re-spooled with mono, and have never, I mean never, looked back. With mono, there is NOTHING that needs to be fixed. For all of you who use braid and are happy with it, I say more power to you. They're your rods, your reels, and it's your game. Play it how you want to, it'sa none of my business. My experience with braid was not a happy one. I have no intention of ever buying another spool of braided line. Except maybe for the tomato and pepper plants that is. Well, maybe for one application. If I fished in the salt a lot, I would put up with braid for the strength and line capacity. That would be a good trade off. But there's not much saltwater here in the middle of Illinois. 90% of my fishing is done in very clear water. I've found that I catch a lot more fish with light, clear line. I've trimmed my baitcasting collection down to a dozen combos. One is filled with #8, one with #14, and the rest split between #10 and #12. My lighter spinning combo has #6 with #4 on the spare spool. My heavier spinning combo has #8 and #6. For the record I use Trilene XL for everything. I hope I didn't offend anybody. This is the type of conversation I've told myself over and over to stay out of. ( see how well that worked?)One of those Daiwa vs Shimano vs Quantum vs Pfleuger discussions, if you know what I mean.

Sir Snook, you've managed to do something nobody else has. You've convinced me to try some braid again. I'm getting ready to put out my garden, and I need something to tie up my tomato and pepper plants. A spool of #50 Power Pro sounds like just the thing.

Check this out; go to the bottom of the page and look at the hedgehog tool http://www.japantackle.com/Tuning_parts/tuning_bearings.htm I ordered one of these before the RoadTrip, and it was waiting for me when we got home. Got to try it out yesterday, and all I can say is; Why didn't I think of it? It works perfectly. This is the easiest way I've ever found to tackle this task. I tried it on a brand new reel, and it pushed the pin out with ease, and with absolutely no damage. It made the re-install very simple and foolproof also. The tool appears to be very well made. The threaded shaft mates perfectly with the tapped body. We'll have to see about longevity; as I said, I've used it once. I think that as long as you don't use a pair of pliers to turn the cross-shaft it should last a long time. I was able to remove the pin from a brand new reel with just finger pressure on the cross-shaft. I'm thinking the only way you could ruin this tool in use is to try to push out a Revo spool pin backwards.

Good to see you again Big-O. A treat as always. I started another thread when we got home, and told all that you bestowed a new name on RW. But i did not reveal what it was. You gotta tell this tale, buddy. Baits and PM sent your way.

Absolutely. Steve has already called, and we're trying to get a couple of trips blocked out. Otey, I'll be sending you Steve's cell # as soon as we get a date or two set. I thought I had your number; I do not. Sned it to me and I'll get it to Steve. GMAN, it was great to meet you finally. And thanks again for the jigs. I'll try to not lose them all in the same place. Ditto on the trophy Country trips. Make sure you let me know when your new stock of jigheads arrives. I'll get some. You can never have too many jigheads. Ed, glad to hear you and Dad got into a bunch of fish at TC. Too bad you didn't get a big "un, but they are there. Ditto to you too, on the TC trips. Rich, I've already called my favorite local wine shop, and they have a few bottles of Oliver Blackberry in stock. Thanks for the gracious offer. Hope to see you again.

Love this comment. Three thumbs up.

First off, for Mary and me, the fishing was not so good. But the trip was a blast. We had 20+ people for the Saturday Night Wine & Cheese Soiree. I won't list all the names because I'll no doubt forget somebody, and don't wish to offend.In any event we made some new friends again this year. Most of the food we brought got consumed. Most of the beer and wine we brought got consumed. Didn't have to take much home, thankfully. Uncle Leo brought several bottles of his home brew; very tasty. We saved one out to take home with us. WMD brought a very nice Malbec which did not get opened for some reason. Mary and I had with dinner last night after we got home. Thanks Mike; you should buy a bottle or two for yourself. Great with a nice, big ribeye. Scrutch brought some Indiana wine to add to the mix. I'm not a big fan of fruit wines, but that blackberry wine was delicious. I only got one small sample, then it disappeared. Thanks Rich. Honorable mention to senile1. He went out of his way to drop by just for the evening; bringing along about six six-packs of Boulevard beers. Some of that got consumed Saturday night, and more disappeared Monday night. I took home a mixed six, left a six in Kent's frig, and another in Leo's cooler. Thank you, Ed. Wish you could have been there for couple more days. Sunday evening was truly dead. Most of us stayed up pretty late Saturday, and fished all day Sunday. When Sunday evening rolled around, I think most folks ate and retired early. Monday night was RW and Long Mike's burger cookout at the lodge. Uncle Leo manned the grill, serving burgers and beans. Well done Leo. John Parks, the new owner of Fisherman's headquarters, gave a very informative talk on side scan technology, and gave all in attendance a nice bag of tackle. Thank you, John. We of course had stop in on the way home and buy some stuff we really needed. Big-O was again in attendance, and gave us several informal seminars on the fine art of fishing. You can't be around this guy and not learn something. He is always "on". He again gave away a bunch of Rage Tail baits. Thanks again, Steve. I heard several reports of good fish being caught. I'll let those who did the catching do the telling. I have no big fish to report. We fished Sunday with CJ. He worked his butt off trying to put together a pattern, but it was a tough day. The wind kept us off of a lot of spots we wanted to hit. Thanks again Chris, for a fine day on the water. We fished part of Monday with Long Mike. Not much in the way of fish, but a good time none the less. Thanks to you again, Mike. I'm probably forgetting something, but I'll add it later as it occurs to me. OH YEAH, here's a teaser. RW has a new name, and it's a good one. I'll let Big-O tell you about this, since he's the one who bestowed the new name on our old friend. Finally, when we got home Tuesday night, some serious bad weather hit, and it was headed for Kentucky. All bloddy heck broke out here. Tornadoes, hail, 65+ MPH winds, torrential rain; the whole nine yards. I hope none of our friends got caught out on the water when it hit.

There is indeed a lot of talk about "shakey heads". A true shakey head presentation includes a floating bait. In my experience, most of the plastics sold as floating baits simply do not float. The most buoyant baits I've ever found are the Strike King 3X baits. Never tried the Gambler baits Roger mentioned, but I will. If you are not using a 3X worm, or something as buoyant as 3X, you're fishing a jigworm, not a shakey head. Anything else will fall over and lay flat on the bottom if you leave it in place. Nothing wrong with a jigworm. I've been fishing these since In-Fisherman talked about them decades ago. But, the true shakey head presentation involves leaving the bait in place for extended periods of time. Times long enough for most "floating" baits to fall over. Some jigheads will help stand the bait up, but not for long.