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Raider, i wish you were going on the RoadTrip. You and I just might have something to talk about. For a lot of those years on the road, I was the guy on the other end of the prints. I did, and still do part-time, system design/integration, PLC programming, SCADA programming, etc. I was the guy generating the prints you guys use to put the systems together. I learned to value a good electrician, and I met a lot of good ones. I also ran until a few knuckle-draggers, but for the most part, I had topnotch people working on most of my projects.

Montecristo Chasteau Lafite Johnny Walker Blue Victoria's Secret Can you just imagine the wrap on that boat?

Raider, I feel for you, but it sounds like you manage to make the most of the situation. I'm 61 years old, and have spent better than half of my adult life on the road; at one job or another. I learned to hate it. For the last 15 years I've been home every night. I didn't have to learn to love that.

Just show up. You bringing your brother again?

Welcome aboard Swabby. Will you be there for the wednesday evening shindig?

I remember that ride, indeed. CJ and I were in Barkley when the wind came up. A south wind on Kentucky Lake can be deadly. We came through the canal from Barkley into Kentucky, CJ looked at me and said OH #$%^, hang on, we need to get across here now, before it gets any worse. And off we went. Was pretty sure I would be whizzin blood after that ride. The only part of me that didn't hurt were my ears, and they were numb. I gotta give CJ a lot of credit for his boat handling skills. I would not have attempted what he pulled off. He was wet, I was soaked, but the front deck was dry when we hit the marina. Had about a half hour wait at the ramp before I could back the truck in. By the time we got the boat out of the water, main lake waves were topping eight feet. We really should have quit much earlier.

Fish it either way. Sometimes one is better than the other.

When I tie on a T-rig, I always slip on a rubber bobber stopper first. Then a steel weight, then a steel or brass bead, then tie on the hook. I fish the rig with the stopper set just far enough above the weight to allow about an 1/8" of movement between weight and bead. I want a little click. To fish unpegged, I slide the stopper up the line about a foot. Sometimes more than a foot. This gets the bait down as quickly as a pegged rig, except for the last foot. The weight hits the bottom first, then the drop rate slows and the bait drifts down with a different look then when tightly pegged. Sometimes that makes a big difference.

I always tell mine I will whup their froggy little butts if they don't stop running. Works almost every time.

Yum Houdini shad

The 103 is the original purple one. The F is a silver color with a bearing added to each knob. The R has a different spool, different gears, and a two bearing carbon fiber handle with nice compressed cork knobs. As far as the magforce brakes go, mine stay between 4 and 6 almost all of the time. On the higher end for pitching and casting into the wind. On the lower end for everything else. You will appreciate the ability to fine tune braking without having to open up the reel.

Wish I could say that. I've wasted a lot of money over the years trying every new "best" line that came out. And I always went back to mono. Finally wised up about four years ago, quit falling for all the BS, and went back to Trilene XL for everything.

Approx 23" with the stock gears. a bit over 27" with the new PXR gear set.

If your spool is revolving, you're talking about pitching. The orginal question was about flipping. If you have a dedicated flip stick, the reel makes no difference. Get an el cheapo, lock down the drag and go for it. If you want a more versatile setup, you need a pretty good reel to pitch.

Great little reel, Matt. I have four. One 103, two 103F, and one R. Love "em all. If you ever decide you don't like it, let me know. I'll take it off your hands sight unseen. You, being used to centrifugal braking will have a learning curve with Magforce. I think you will find that you will need just a bit more spool tension compared to your Shimano reels. I prefer Magforce braking, and now have only Daiwa baitcasters, for that reason. Once you get used to it, if you do, you will see what I mean. As far as upgrading and tuning goes, here would be my recommendations, based on my experiences with Daiwa reels. First thing is a drag upgrade. Carbontex washers are nice, but polishing the metal drag washers is just as good. Doing both is an outstanding thing to do. ABEC 7 bearings will not make the reel any better at throwing lighter weight baits. The only way to do that is to upgrade the spool, which is an expensive proposition, with limited benefit. I did it once and will not do so again. Nowhere near enough bang for the buck there. Better bearings will make the reel cast a little better. Basically you'll get similar distances with reduced effort. Reducing casting effort will increase accuracy, so it's worth doing. But, this is already a very capable little machine, and a bearing upgrade is a small improvement. My suggestion; stainless steel ABEC 7's from biggreenfish. I do not like ceramic hybrid bearings. They are not much better than SS 7's and are way too noisy. I think my reels should be seen and not heard. You have a bearing in each knob. Adding one more to each knob is a small increase in smoothness, and may prove to be beneficial in the long term. My two 103F's have different handles. They came that way. I bought both used. One handle had a bearing at the base of the knob, and a bushing at the top. I replaced the bushing with a bearing to give me a four bearing handle. Nice. The other had a bearing at the top of the knob, and a collar at the bottom, which was non-removable. That one is still a two bearing handle. I don't know which reel had the correct handle, or if these were reels from different years, and thus had different handles. Don't know and have not looked for an answer to the question. I put the two BB handle on my least used Fuego, and put the TD-Z handle from the Fuego on the Alphas. PXR 6.8:1 gears are now available. Three of my Alphas have these gears. I decided to leave one at 5.8:1 for crankbait duty. After trying the new gears in the back yard, I have reconsidered and will be ordering another set of PX gears for the fourth reel. They are that much better. Faster, which was what I wanted, and smoother which I did not expect. Adding a bearing to levelwind is virtually worthless. Some report this upgrade makes the reel smoother, and makes the line lay on the spool better. Well, it only costs eight bucks for the bearing and nylon collar, so go ahead if it makes you feel better. It's not going to make your reel perform any better. I even managed to get a bearing on the other end of the levelwind on one reel. I had to do some machining, and make some parts to do that little project, and it was truly not worth the effort. So, I have one reel with a bearing on the gear side of the levelwind, and another reel with bearings on both ends of the levelwind. Both are Fuegos. I have four other Fuegos, and the only time I can tell the difference is when I tear them down for cleaning. There is no functional advantage I can detect. If you have a Dremel, an assortment of felt wheels and some ultra-fine polishing compound, there are several parts which benefit from a good polishing. Metal drag washers, spool ends, metal clutch components and the tip of the levelwind pawl are all candidates. I have polished gear teeth, but have found this to be an uneven upgrade. One reel turned out much smoother, one was a little rougher, and one showed no difference. I will no longer be polishing gear teeth. Happy tuning.

I would have farted a lump. Maybe more than one.

I'm on the cardiologist's diet after a heart attack. It's an easy diet to follow: if it tastes good, spit it out, and no bacon, ever. In the summer though, when my garden gives me tomatoes, BLT's are on the menu. Vine ripe tomatoes, bacon from a local smokehouse, fresh baked french peasant bread and homemade mayo. Not very healthy, but I eat "em anyway. May as well die happy. I just made some bacon jam. AWESOME!!.. If I have time, I'll make a batch for the RoadTrip.

I'll have camera and cell phone for on the water pics, and my ipad for evening pics and video. I'm impresssed with the capability of the ipad camera. It's much better than I expected.

I've made my packing list and my shopping list for the Wednesday evening shindig. I won't buy any food until the night before. So, nothing is packed and ready for that. All my reels have been serviced, and some have new upgrades I'm ready to try out. I still need to select which rods and reels will make the trip. I haven't spooled up new line yet. I'll do that closer to the trip. So, not ready. My tackle is still in the same state of disorder it finished last season in. It always starts out out organized, but finishes the year with stuff stashed everywhere. A fine demonstration of entropy at work. One day this weekend will be devoted to tackle organization. Again, not ready. So, I am ready, but nothing else is.

Owner Rig-N hooks, being shorter size for size than EWG hooks, are my choice for tubes. Poor Boys tubes are my tube of choice these days. Eagle Claw HP Quick Clip weights complete the rig.

gotta agree with Speedbead on this one. I'm about his size, minus ten pounds of beard.

Cool idea, Mike. I think we should aslo have a contest to select the rightfull "Drum Major".

What do you know Mike's rectal regugitator aspirated

I've used a baitcast combo as my dedicated drop-shot setup for several years. For the heavier, "bubba shot" approach, almost any combo you have will do nicely. For a light line, finesse drop shot, a special rod and reel are required. Mine is a LTB 6'9" ML-XF rod, and an Alphas, spooled with #6 clear mono. This is not the only combo that will work. There are quite a few options out there. The Japanese have lead the "bait finesse" charge, and you can find a nice selection rods and reels which would make very nice, light line, baitcast drop-shot combos. Just depends how much you're willing to spend. I'm switching to spinning gear for drop-shotting this year, for the reason Francho mentioned.

An excellent mag. Thanks for the reminder, I need to renew my subsription.