.ghoti.

I'll pay 5 bucks to watch that.

The real question is; did Mr Loomis just raise the bar? I'd like to get my hands on one of those rods, and find out for myself. I just told myself, self, you're done buying rods and reels for a while.

By the calendar, it ends today. It will end for me when I catch my first bass of the year. Water temps here are still way too cold, and the weather has truly created a vacuum.

How does a spiral wrapped rod keep ypur bait in the zone longer? I'm calling BS on that.

Looking forward to seeing you again, Mike.

At this point in time I've only heard from a couple of people who plan to attend the Wednesday Evening Wine & Cheese Soiree. That's OK, there's still plently of time. Just let me know sometime the week before the RoadTrip so I can go shopping. In the past I have not taken donations or charged admission, but this year I will do so. No set charge, just give what you like. All proceeds will go to Glenn for his Tackle the Storm Foundation. This is a worthy cause, and I hope all who attend will support Gllenn in his efforts to make a difference. On a different note, I just put a post in the flea market section. I have some rods for sale, and would prefer to sell them at The RoadTrip to avoid shipping problems. Take a look, if you're in the market, and let me know if you want one.

Your assesment is right in line with mine, which makes you a pretty sharp guy. LOL!

It's the hook. You need a more open throat design. Or just do as suggested; bend the hook point out a few degrees.

I got one as a birthday present from my sweetie. I spooled it up with 10lb mono and put it on a 6'6" med-fast Setyr rod I use for jerkbaits and small topwaters. The reel is perfect for that application. I've caught a lot of fish crankin a Pointer or X-Rap down with the handle then switch to the twitchin bar to do a slow jerky retrieve with little forward movement. Easy to do with this reel; not so easy to do with rod movement. It's nowhere near as good with light baits as an Alphas, but a little experimentation with spool tension and brake settings will produce acceptable results. My back-up plan was to put the reel on a pitchin rod for the same reason Francho outlined. It's done well enough on the jerkbait rod, that it's gonna stay right where it is.

You're thinking in the same range I am, except for the 5" Senko, which is heavy enough to load most MH rods. I had mine out in the backyard again today with a different reel. Tried an Alphas spooled with 8lb mono. That felt better than a Fuego, and a lot better than a Zillion, which is what I originally tried on the rod. I don't know at this point what the practical lower limit will be. I set out today to test just that, but the weather put a halt to the process. I do know that 1/4oz was no problem at all, and a 3/16oz jig should be good as well.

Aavery2, that is interesting. I made a bunch last year. 2/0 - 1/16oz, 3/0 - 1/8oz, and 4/0 - 1/4oz. Didn't even think about building anything heavier. Now I'm gonna have to try. Hat's off to you for the tip. I did well with my home-made versions, except when using a worm. For me, the worm/jika combo was no good. Short, compact baits seemed to be the ticket; craws, roosters, monkeys, hula grubs, Ikas, etc. But, the real surprise was a tube, on the lightest rig. That was good all year.

Took a nice trout fishin trip last month, to Lake Taneycomo, with Long Mike and Bassnchris. Broke off a lot of three way drift rigs, so I had tied quite a few surgeon's knots during the day. After dinner i was showing Chris how to tie a back to back uni knot. I should say I was trying to demonstrate this knot. What I actually did was try to tie a back to back surgeon's knot, which was a miserable failure. Four times in a row. Took me that long to figure out what I was doing wrong. Chris was looking at me like, "oh yeah, I really want to pay attention to this knucklehead".

I just received the same model rod. Haven't fished it yet, just some flex testing and backyard casting. My original thought was this would be a typical St Croix M-XF, in other words, a MH rod with a softer tip. It doesn't seem to be that. Feels like a medium power stick, with a very fast, soft tip. I'm going to try for lighter baits than I originally intended, with a lighter reel and lighter line. This rod will not be used with braid. First impression is, this is a rod built for a light line, clear water, finesse approach. A bit of time on the water will tell me where it will fit in my lineup. I too have been a long time hater of braid. Long Mike is sending me a spool of the new Tuf Line. I'm going to give it a shot on my frog/buzz bait rod. Don't know what to expect. I've despised braid for so long it's going to be difficult to suspend my bias, and give the new line a fair trial. But, I'm gonna give it a shot, and, to answer the original question, it will not be on my new Legend Extreme rod.

And there, in a nutshell is my problem with longer rods. I put my Dobyns 7'6" Champion up against one of my Setyr rods, a 6'6" model, and from the reel seat forward the Dobyns is a little less than 6" longer. The rest of the difference was in the handle. A handle of such length that it was, well, unhandy.

Dremel sells a polishing kit containing an ultra-fine polishing compound. That's what I use for internal reel polishing. If you're talking about polishing the teeth of the gears, I've done two gears sets so far, with mixed results. Both were Daiwa Fuego baitcasters. The first turned out to be a much smoother reel on the retrieve. The second showed no such improvement. I don't know, at this time, if I will ever do another. Polishing the gear teeth is a time consuming process. I went through a lot of felt wheel and nylon brushes. The gear teeth just chewed "em up. Polishing the metal components of the drag stack is a much better thing to do. If you have an old, lower end reel, you may not see much improvement, except for the drag, which will benefit from a good polishing. NO GRIT PLEASE.

I gradually increased the length of my rods until I hit the point at which enough was enough. That happened at a bit over seven feet. At the beginning of last season I had three 7'6" rods. A Ducket swimbait rod got sold. A Dobyns Champion got trimmed down to about 7'2". A Setyr med-mod crankbait rod got retired, and will probably be offered up for sale sometime. Haven't quite been able to convince myself on that one. I take a 6'6" and a 6'8" out on the yak.

This has been one of the most interesting threads I've seen in a long time. The comments have been strange, off the wall, dumb, smart, well thought out, knee jerk, etc. All across the board. And, wonder of wonders, lgmgambler has not put in an appearance to make his gratuitous Shimano infommercial. Hooligan made the best reply to a thread we've seen in quite a while. I have to agree with him totally. Having said that, I do have to admit there are techniques I'm not all that fond of. I don't throw a swimbait often. I only have a few, and the only thing I've caught on them were a couple of muskie. Nothing wrong with that; I like muskie fishing, and do it all winter, weather permitting. But, no bass caught by me on a swimbait. Drop-shot and carolina rigging are two things I seldom do. Not a fan of either, but if that's what it takes, then that's what I will do. However, there have been very few occasions when one of those two techniques were the only way possible to catch some fish. I will drag one out now and then just to stay in practise.

I refuse to use a senko knock-off

The only thing I planned for the winter was some reel tuning. Couple more TD-Z handles, some carbontex drags, a few abec7 bearings, etc. Got most of the stuff I need for that project. Told myself I didn't need any more rods and reels. Bought a Steez spinning rod, 7' ML-XF, and a St Croix Legend Extreme casting rod, 6'10" M-XF. I have a reel for LE, need another spinning reel for the Steez. So much for good intentions.

Nitro, da wife had two things to say. Do I have to? Can I think about it?

Thanks guys. Got a platter of sushi in the frig and a bottle of wine breathing right now, waiting for my sweetie to get home. That's the extent of the celebration this time around. Nitro, I don't know if my wife would bail us out. I'll ask her when she gets home, and let you know what she says. Might be good to have that information before the RoadTrip, if you're planning to be there. Her response may not be suitable for posting on this forum. LOL Got a really nice birthday present this year. Had my semi-annual vist to my cardiologist today. I've been on five daily medications since having a heart attack a few years ago. My blood workup numbers were so good that she took me off three, and switched the others to lower dosages of generic meds. I used to spend $100 per month, but now will be only out twenty. That's 80 bucks more per month I can now spend on fishin tackle. SHWEEEET!

don't think so? ponder the following two sentences. Let's eat, Grandma. Let's eat Grandma

Rooster, if I'm seeing oyour pic correctly, you may indeed have to modify your grip. I have reels with swept handles and without; about an even split. I don't see any real difference. They certainly do not feel any more ergonomic than straight handles. I would not base my purchasing decision on the shape of the handle. Now, a handle with four bearings: that would be a different story.

old, old joke. sorry I couldn't resist. I'm a full time professor and part time consultant. 65 to 70 hours per week, and I love both jobs.

I'm a diesel fitter.