.ghoti.

Bob, where the heck have you been? Wish you were coming again.

If you're a knucklehead, I must be as well.

THIS!

To keep from burning your fingers do the following. Attach a rubber band to a paper clip. Bend out the clip so you can insert one end into the tip guide. Pull on the rubber band while heating the guide. When the glue softens, the rubber band will pull the guide off without risking your delicate digits.

Thanks Hogsticker, but for that price I'll pass. If I used any of my Fuegos for really light baits, I would be tempted. It is a much better price that what i paid for the Japanese spools. The lightest bait i throw with a Fuego is a Poor Boys tube, on a 3/0 hook with a 1/16oz internal weight. The reel handles this bait just fine. For really light weight baits I have four Alphas mounted on medium or med-light rods. They don't need a different spool to throw an 1/8oz bait. I even took one of them, mounted on a 6'9" ML-XF LTB, spooled with #6 YZ, on a trout trip. I threw a 1/16oz hair jig, with no trailer, fishing for browns in the rocks. I couldn't throw it 50 yards, but I could toss it far enough to hit the bank while drifting downriver. Maybe 40 feet? Good enough for me.

I've been with Verizon since 1995, maybe 1994, I'm not sure. Never seen the need to switch. Their customer service has always been there and reponded appropriately to my concerns. They have not come to my house to vacuum the carpet or do the dishes, but they have quickly resolved the very few minor issues I've had over the years. I'm not a smart phone user, so I can't comment about data. I have friends and students who all swear by T-Mobile for what they claim is a superior data service. If I ever make the move to a smart phone, I will investigate switching to T-Mobile.

Muskie season starts for me in November. I want a few of those before then.

A week from today I'll be on the road!!!! I am so ready. This is the first year I've bought out of state fishing licenses before getting an Illinois license. I still don't have an Illinois license. I haven't been fishing here at all. I do have a Missouri and an Alabama license. Strange year for me so far. My first bass of the year will come on the RoadTrip. I'm a bit more ready. Have the Alabama license, selected the rods and reels for this trip, serviced and put fresh line on the reels, cleaned up and organized my tackle for the trip, purchased all the non-perishable supplies for the Soiree and started packing.

Right on the monay, Kent. Now, show us some pics of your wife's Stella/GLX combos.

To the original poster; I think we will be seeing used Fuegos and Sols going up in price. Many are aware that both are great candidates for tuning, and that upgrade components are widely available. I have 6 Fuegos, and the most I paid was 135 for a NIB. Expect to see higher prices. Classic case of supply and demand.

Hogsticker, where did you find that spool for 45 bucks? I bought two different "tuning" spools; one for 125 and one for 160. Both gave a me a slight improvement with light weight baits, but not enough to justify the cost. At $45, a spool upgrade is worth the cost of admission. I agree with you about the Fuegos. Add the Sol to the list too. Both are fine reels out of the box, and with a little time and cash, both can be made excellent.

Do not buy something you want, and try to tell her you got it just for her. There ain't a wife out there who can't see through that. Get her her own gear, and keep your hands off of it. And, don't go cheap. You will regret it. My wihe has two combos. Both are Avid rods with Energy PT spinning reels. They are hers. I don't use them; they are setup and ready for her use when she wants them.

That is one seriously fine guitar player.

It's been a long time since I had a C3 apart, but I think there''s a retainer spring keeping the bearing in place.

My best option is to fish elsewhere. Pull out to the first drop, and fish there for pre and post spawn fish. Both are much easier to catch than bed fish.

I have six of them. A "classic" supertuning is not much benefit. This calls for polishing the part of the spool shaft running through the pinion gear, and polishing the centrifugal brake drum. Daiwa reels do not centrifugal brakes, and do not feature a spool shaft passing through the pinion gear; thus the "classic" supertuning is not applicable. What some folks call supertuning is more what I would call upgrading. First step wpould be the drag. Carbontex washers are a nice, cheap upgrade. Polishing the metal drag washers is a nice, free upgrade. Doing both is very wothwhile. Next would be a four bearing handle. For my money, you can't beat a TD-Z handle. Four bearings, smooth knobs, light weight, and under 50 bucks. Next would be a clutch polishing. Take a good look at the clutch mechanism. You can easily see which parts slide over other parts, and can quickly identify where to polish. Basically, any metal part the moves when in contact with another part. This doesn't make the reel cast, retrieve, or fight the fish any better. It does make pushing the thumbar down to disengage the spool, and turning the crank to re-engage the spool silky smooth. It takes some time, but I like it, so I've done all of my Daiwa reels. Polish the ends of the spool shaft and the tip of the levelwind pawl while you're at it. Now the spool bearing question. I'm gonna open a can of worms right now. The first thing you should do is properly clean and lube the stock bearings. Do this right, and you will probably be suprised at how well they perform. A pair of ABEC7 stainless steel bearings will give you a slight performance gain over stock bearings. A pair of ABEC7 ceramic hybrid bearings will give you a very slight gain over ss 7's. It's up to you to decide if the slight improvement is worth the cost. All of my Fuegos have stainless ABEC7 bearings. Since the Fuego, Zillion and Alphas all use the same size bearings on the spools, I've swapped some into a couple of Alphas and one Zillion. Neither reel saw much improvement. In my case, the Fuegos showed the most gain, but it still is not that much. What I can get is the same distance with a little less effort. A little less effort equates to a bit more accuracy, and that would be the critical factor in casting. Distance may be good for the ego, but accuracy puts more fish in the boat. If you decide to upgrade spool bearings, go into it with a realistic set of expectations. I'm sure you've all ready reports stating a 25 to 30 yard increase in casting distance. That, simply put, is a large steaming pile of what drops out ouf the south end of a north bound bull. Thirty feet is stretching the truth; by quite a bit. I do not like ceramic bearings. I've bought two different brands, tried them, and sold them. They are way too noisy for my taste. I've said it before; I think my reels should be seen, and not heard. If you want to try them, you will soon enter the debate about running them dry vs oiled, and with or without the shields. I've heard every side of these arguments. They are noisy when lubed, and intolerable when run dry. Keep in mind that the only part of a ceramic bearing that is ceramic, and thus corrosion proof, is the balls themselves. The races and cage are steel, and will corrode. Most people run orange seal bearing without the seals for one simple reason. They are difficult, if not impossible to get back in place perfectly. It is very easy to re-install the seals, and end up with a seal in contact with the balls and/or cage. This, of course, totally negates the performance improvement you think you're going to get. Spool upgrades? Tried that too. You can get a small improvement in light weight casting performance, which comes at a premium price. A TD-Z 100M spool will fit a Fuego, and can be had for under 100 bucks. Want to spend that much to make your Fuego a little bit better at casting the lightest of baits? Only you can decide if it's worth the coast of admission. For me, it is not. An extra bearing can be added to most Daiwa reels, on the handle end of the the worm gear. Been there done that. I've even done some maching and re-working on two Fuegos to get another bearing on the other end of the levelwind. I thought if one bearing on the levelwind is good, two would be even better. It was a lot of work to get that second bearing in there. This is supposed to give you a smoother cranking reel, and to lay the line on the spool better. It does neither. Two of my six Fuegos have this modification, and the only time I can tell the difference is when I tear one down for servicing. I have two more bearings to clean when servicing these two reels. That is the only difference. I need to get into my lab. More later.

Will you two be there for the Wednesday evening get-together?

I remember taking that pic. I also remember I broke off the only decent fish I hooked that day. As far as jerkbaits go, I catch a lot more bass on X-Raps than on pointers.

Spoilsport!

Brandon, it's not my gear that's the problem. I have a rod and reel that will handle an A-rig up to about three ounces with no problem. The problem is me. I'm a light line, finesse type fisherman by choice. Fighting a big fish on light line turns my crank. Pointing the rod tip straight up, cranking as fast as I can, and making the bass sky across the water is NOT my idea of fun. Might as well fish with a throw net. Out of my 20+ combos, two have 14lb test line. The remainder have lighter line, down to 8 on some baitcasters, down to 4 on a spinning rig.

Expect some lousy weather. It would not be a Bass Resource RoadTrip without at least one day of monsoon.

I thinking spinnerbait, jerkbait, tube

Man, I hope the A-rig bite is done when we get there. I have a few, made for me by CJ. I spent a day last december throwing one in the Shelbyville tailwater area, one of the few places in Illinois where the rig is legal. My conclusion is; if I had to throw one those things all the time to catch fish, I'd probably give up fishing, and go back to playing golf.

I have a lot better gear now than I had twenty years ago. And I seem to do better now. I don't think the better gear has much to do with it. I have twenty years more experience to bring to the table, and that is the difference. I do enjoy my better equipment, but I don't think it has a lot of impact on my catch. It probably does give me a small edge, but nothing extraordinary.

The only sunglasses that won't fog up are the ones you leave in their case. I have not tried any kind of treatment on my Costas. Too much cash to risk.