Nibbles

Might be worth getting one just to cannibalize for the CF handle, considering how expensive aftermarket ones typically cost.

I think it is very relevant. The test was trying to prove a point. The existence of catchable more aggressive hunters verses the less aggressive more wary uncatchable bass. They could not even come to the public with the idea with out testing. A study test can not be considered legit unless it is fully controlled. The first round of separation and spawn was to see if the traits are inherent, the second round was to back up the first. Now, picture this. A country pond that is well balanced with bass and prey. It is never fished, ever. These bass would most likely be highly catchable. For, over many many generations there has been no need to be wary of any dangers. No, prey items have pulled them out of the water and they are the apex predator of the environment. Now, a large reservoir with tons of boats, countless of anglers, constant water level change. In larger, heavily fished, bodies of water generally the bass are not only predators but also prey. With gators and gar in the south and pike and muskie in the north. This piece of water is going to lean towards the uncatchalble bass over many generations. Now, both scenarios would obviously have both traits available but leaning heavily towards one or the other. How is it relevant for us? Depends on what types of waters you are fishing. Every piece of water lies some where between both scenarios. This could be why most anything will catch bass in the farm ponds and 1 million techniques are used on the large reservoirs. You're assuming that the traits that make a bass easy to catch for us are necessarily ones that make them more susceptible to predation. You're also making the assumption that the bass with traits that make them easy to catch are necessarily being eaten by predators and being kept by fishermen at a rate faster than they can be replaced. In the controlled study, the scientists removed a whole group of fish all at once, and repeated the procedure several times. In real life scenarios, these "easy to catch" bass will be removed at a steady rate over time and not all at once - and that's not even taking into account the consideration that they may or may not be removed at a rate faster than they can be replaced. Also, we don't know whether the traits that make a bass easier to catch by fishermen have any impact on their breeding habits. For instance, aggressive bass might be easier to catch, but their aggressive nature may or may not also improve their chances of breeding.

The study doesn't guarantee that, in the sense that the study was conducted in a heavily controlled environment where the bass with "hard-to-catch" traits were prevented from breeding with bass with "easy-to-catch" traits. You'd have to consistently remove enough bass from a fishery with "easy-to-catch" traits that the "hard-to-catch" bass have no "easy-to-catch" bass left to breed with in order to have similar results to those in the study. Also, just because a bass is "hard-to-catch" doesn't mean that they won't get caught at all. It's virtually impossible to determine what percentage of the fish caught and eaten were of the "easy-to-catch" or "hard-to-catch" variety. All this study proves, IMO, is that there exists the possibility of bass becoming harder to catch if large amounts of bass are caught and eaten from a particular fishery.

I'm not sure how this study is relevant to most fishermen. This is simply a case of artificial selection. The fish with certain traits that make them "harder to catch" are isolated from the rest of the fish and are bred with each other, which means their resultant offspring have a good chance of inheriting these traits. The offspring are then put through another artificial selection process where the ones that didn't inherit those traits are removed from the controlled environment's gene pool again. When the process is repeated several times, logic dictates that the fish will eventually all possess a bunch of traits that make them harder to catch. However, what those "traits" actually are is debatable. Perhaps it is intelligence. Perhaps it is aggression. After all, less aggressive bass do tend to be harder to catch. All this study proves is that the catchability of a bass depends on certain traits that a bass possesses. It does not prove what those traits are. Also, this experiment was conducted in a controlled environment with controlled breeding, whereas wild bass are free to breed with any other bass they choose. So honestly, I'm not sure how significant the results of this study really are when you take that into account.

Shows are shows. Parties are somewhat of a different animal.

Because guys who like to fish typically find it distasteful to take advantage of friends and family, as well as employing high pressure sales tactics.

IIRC, I got my Alphas Itos for 150, 160 and 190 respectively. I traded a mint Daiwa Sol w/ orange seal spool bearings for my Alphas R-Edition. You just gotta be patient and keep an eye out for them in various fishing forums' for sale sections.

I can't seem to reach them through the phone. I recently sent them a Conquest 50s to service, but according to the tracking number, no one accepted the package. USPS says that a delivery attempt was made and a notice was left. I'm worried because I don't want this expensive reel to somehow get lost during this confusion.

A Cielo 7' HF

What's really funny is how they just throw advertising/marketing terms around that don't belong. They have a supposed "corporate team", and many of the descriptions make no sense when you take into account what some of the terms used actually mean to someone who actually works in the industry.

Wow... that's tough. The best feeling combo I have would probably be an Alphas Ito 103-Ai mounted on a 6'6" MHF Daiwa Cielo. Balances like a dream, casts effortlessly, pitches very well, skips relatively well, etc. It's also ridiculously light. Best part is it handles light baits exceptionally well. For some reason though, I have a supertuned and upgraded Curado 100D mounted on an old 6'7" Falcon Lowrider XG MHXF that is pretty much idiot-proof. This combo is not as well balanced, is heavier, and doesn't work as well for skipping or pitching or lighter baits, but I've yet to have it backlash for any reason at all while casting for some reason. There have been many a time when I just load it up with a 3/4 oz jig and swing it like a baseball bat and forgot to thumb the spool properly, and yet it won't bird nest. I doubt it's the spool tension either because the combo casts things really far and the spool free-spools just fine - it spins for something like 6 seconds.

Top 3: 1. Daiwa Alphas Ito 103-Ai 2. Shimano Calcutta 200 TE DC 3. Daiwa Alphas R-Edition We shall see if that list changes when my Conquest 50s arrives after being serviced & upgraded by DVT.

Congrats on the two new reels. Doesn't that require two new rods? ;D Oh no you don't. The bait monkey has yet to force me into subsisting on mac n cheese and ramen, and it's not about to start now.

http://download.cnet.com/Office-Convert-PDF-to-JPG-JPEG-TIFF-Free/3000-10743_4-10900900.html

He's responsible for recently adding a Conquest 50s and a Calcutta 200 TE DC into my collection. Part of me is happy that I have these great new reels, but part of me died inside after realizing how much I just spent recently on these two reels. Thank god I bought all my textbooks already.

I have 2 - both made by Gene Larew baits. First is their skirted finesse craw, and second is their floating finesse craw. Damned hard to find these days.

French press for me. On mornings where I don't have the time, I just pop a thermogenic and it gets me zippy and going.

Tackle Warehouse had em on sale and a lot of people got em dirt cheap. Some people collect reels and the 50th anniversary thing may make the reel worth more to them. Others looking only for the higher speed retrieve have the option of getting a Zillion Coastal. I've seen them go for anywhere from 170-220 depending on condition. The ones priced higher than 220 tend not to sell well.

You can also paint scroungers and add skirts onto them. Try threading a flipping tube onto a scrounger for a unique presentation.

I'd be more than happy with a Skyline R35...

He may be referring to the I'ZE Factory handles from Japan.

"Power fishing." And by that I mean zooming around in a boat constantly changing spots and never throwing a lure in the same place twice because the trolling motor is always at full throttle when the outboard isn't.

If I use fluoro and am tying on a worm hook I will snell. Otherwise yeah, I use palomar for pretty much everything. I've yet to have a breakoff at the knot.

I sure do. It's at home though so I'll have to go home this weekend and grab it since I'm on campus right now. It's like a 20 minute drive though so it shouldn't be a problem. I'll cut you a deal and do 140 local pickup. I got the Zillion from Micro a while back and have only used it on 3 outings so the internals are still pretty much flawless. There's one pinhead ding on top of the reel from when I put it down to unhook a fish and it somehow got scratched by a pebble.

I have the Lowrider XG version of this rod, and yep, it feels more like a moderate fast or fast than an extra fast taper. I love it for spinnerbaits and jerkbaits though, since it loads em up nicely to toss lighter ones out far with a baitcaster. I just got a 7' MH Mod Fast Dobyns Champ "crankbait/jerkbait" rod, so I will test it out this coming spring and see if it really is any better for jerkbaits than my old Falcon.