castaway

Posse ? Its more like mobile talking billboards who try to shove Shimano stuff in every post. Lmao.... Why don't you buy a gift certificate and let your Dad decide.After all he is the one who is going to use it. If you want to buy a very good Shimano product, buy a Shimano triple impact lure.Its a real nice Shimano product. ;D Ivan

Figure out what lure your good at fishing with and then buy the type of rod you think will help your favorite lure presentation.I use baitcaster outfits for everything except worm fishing.I use a 6' spinning rod, not because of light line, or light lure presentation.IMO, the spinning outfit seems to allow the worm to fall straight down through the water colum where a baitcaster doesn't allow the lure to do so, it always tends to pendulum back towards you slightly instead of fallig towards the intended target.For most purposes, it wouldn't matter much, but I beleive it catches more fish on days they are tight to cover, or they are out on isolated, or sparse weed patches.I am not always correct though. ;)Ivan

Jinkai, or Toray line were awesome for me, but they are expensive and sometimes difficult to find. P-Line, Mustad Thor, Sufix siege are very good as well.Pick a line you can buy locally to save you the trouble, most lines are pretty good, or they're not going to be on the market for very long.

Unless something changed, the braid will turn white with use anyway.I wouldn't let the red line part deter you from buying it.It might help if you stated what type of fishing you will be doing with it.For Braid, I only fished it in heavy grass beds. I never noticed the white colored line effecting the bite ratio, but then again I didn't use it for general applications. There are those who wouldn't fish anything but flourocarbon line for any technique they fish.

Yes it was the only one they had left, there was no box with it, but it saves me money.Actually I went to buy a pocket knife since I lost mine, I couldn't let it go even though its gonna cut me short for the week, be eating crack head soup (Ramen noodles) & peanutbutter sammiches.I got my priorites right. ;DIvan

I bought a Shimano Citica D reel at my local Walmart for $69.95 Its a 200 series. I also got a dozen pks of Waveworm tiki sticks in sweet potato color for $1.00 a pack, 6 Rapala DT6 for $2.50 each and a Rapala X Rap in perch color for $2.50. I am not a die hard Shimano person, but if I can find 6 more in my area for that price, I might become one.You might want to check your area soon.;)Ivan

Instant message Dodgeguy.I know he is a big pflueger fan, but if my memory serves , it is the Pflueger medalist spinning reels he prefers over the president.The medalist has aluminum frame and side plates where the president doesn't have.I hope this helps, :)Ivan

I have had the TDX and TDS reels.I liked them alot except for the drag systems.You had to crank the snot out of the drag to get it tight enough so it wouldn't slip when pulling bass out of matted milfoil beds.I didn't buy them new, I didn't care to fish them as well as I do the 3 TD1 reels I have.The TDX series replaced the TD1 & TD2 series reels. :'(Ivan

Castaway Bud Pruitt HG40 7'6" Heavy flipping stick with a Abu Garcia RevoS and 20lb Jinkai line Castaway Bud Pruitt 7'6" MH flipping stick with a Daiwa Millionaire CVX103A and 17lb seaguar carbon pro line Lures 3/4 oz. All terrain grassmaster jig w/ Gene Larew salt craw trailer Yamamoto 5" senko smoke w/ black hologram color. Lucky craft LV 500 in american shad color Baby paca craw in summer craw color. 1/2 oz. Leverage spinnerbait in gold shad color

Ted & Reel Tech., I am sorry, I wasn't aware that there was a difference in the Shimano reels sold here compared to the Japanese. It must be like the Abu Garcia 3500 CS ROCKET IAR reel I own, I bought it in Sweden and cannot buy parts for it in the US ?Abu said that it is only sold and distributed in South America. Its been a rock solid reel so far even though it has aluminum gears in it. :-[ Ivan

Thanks for the tip Reel Mech. ;)I have always used the green scotchbrite scouring pads my wife already had on hand in the kitchen. I apply a bit of dish soap to the cork , add a bit of water to the pad and just lightly rub the cork lifting the dirt and oil out of the cork making it look brand new again.you don't have to use the green scotchbrite pad , if your worried about damaging, or re- shaping the cork. Rubbing the cork with your bare hand and dish soap will clean the cork pretty well. As reel mech. said, make sure you dry the cork handles before storing. This is a good tip to those of you selling your old rods.Would you rather buy a used rod that looks new, or one that has an old dirty handle on it ? ;D P N J

I have 2 of the older 2004 Johnny Morris reels,I put Quantum drag washers in them , because the origianls compressed to where the drag slipped all of the time.I always back the drags off after I am done fishing, so I cannot explain why the washers compressed that badly. My friend has the new Johnny Morris and he likes it alot.He hasn't experienced any drag trouble. The new reel also has the magnetic system that works really well, I found it to be very comparable to the Daiwa magnets.What little I got to fish with it, I say its a pretty nice, really smooth reel that cranks the fish to the boat with ease. :)Ivan

I use a Extreme flipping stick with a Daiwa CVZ Millionaire 253A reel and 30 lb Tuf Line braid.The Daiwa magnetic system is great for throwing frogs, I use a scum frog trophy series frog which weighs 5/8 oz and will cast farther than I like for frogs in the heavy slop.Imho, get what you can afford,I bought the Millionaire off from ebay for $92.00 shipped.I have bought 2 more since at $100 each.I think they were replaced by the Luna reel series, but any higher end Daiwa has the same magnetic system that makes it a great froggin reel. ;D Ivan

I don't know what your looking for, but the Abu Garcia RevoS is a pretty small reel.It sits lower on the rod than anything I have had so far.The Daiwa Fuego was my second choice out of the reels I have.The Revo casts a 1/8 oz. tungstun weight with a smallie beaver with ease, but the reel weighs 8.6 oz. where as the Daiwas and Shimano most likely will be lighter in weight and cast lighter weights just as well. The REVO S is only $99 new .I paid $175 for my Fuego used and IMHO, I would rather fish with the Revo.I am not always correct through other peoples opinions. ;)P N J

The money you have invested in them, I would send them to the reel mechanic.He gives this site members a discount as well. My point is he is a trained Shimano repairman and will know what to look for and he most likely already has the schematic sheets and knows what the tolerences are to what the parts need to be at and probably already has the part numbers to get the correct part for you if your reels might need them. Also with being a Shimano brand , he most likely has had alot of experience with repairing the reel. P N J

......and don't forget to scrub those cork handles using dish soap and a scotchbrite pad to restore them like new before storing them. ;DIvan

I really like the Quantum HSX54 rods.I own 6 of them now, but I found mine at Gander Mountain for $49.99 each. :-/ I would have to say the Citica /Extreme is the best of the the choices.My extreme flipping stick takes alot of abuse, used as my froggin rod. Ivan

Here is a site for Saint Croix deals.I agree with Craw, either rod would be a good choice to buy. Ivan http://www.reedssports.com/main.taf?cat=1888

Yes I have owned several Curado reels, 2 Castaics, 3 Chronarchs, and real recently a Citica .The Citica was short & sweet, bought it one day, spooled it up & casted it in the yard , took it back & traded it in for a Abu Garcia RevoS the next day.I have owned Curados as far back as when they were red in color, so I can say yes I owned a few Shimanos in my time.Am I looking to buy another soon ? Not really, but I will never rule it out . IMO, they are over priced, you can get another brand of reel that will perform just as well,maybe better for less money.You people were forgetting to put shipping charges on the items. That my friend would put you out of your budget you set for your Cardiff reel, or any other decent Shimano reel. Ivan

Well as you can see, everyone put you out of your price range.Stay the hell away from Shimano if your looking to stay within your budget set. I can recommend a nice flipping outfit and stay well within your budget. First the flipping stick. I recommend a Castaway Bud Pruitt flipping stick, they are very light, very sensitive, and durable as hell.They also come with a 5 year warranty, which I never had to use, but its there if you need it. Here is a link. http://www.nbswebstore.com/cgi-bin/web_store/web_store.cgi?view=products&cart_id=9912414_1292&product=BaitcastRods&manufact=CASTAWAY%20STANDARD%20GRAPHITE%20RODS For the reel since the flipping stick eats up better than half of your set price, I recommend this reel as long as you are pitching and flipping jigs. http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.TextId?hvarTextId=74636&hvarTarget=search I would have recommended an Extreme flipping stick as well, I have one I bought for froggin , but I pitched jigs with it and it wasn't that bad. IMO, for the money the Castaway is a best rod in its price range and I have bought and tried alot of different brands before settling on the Bud Pruitt series flipping sticks. I like the Heavy action rod and I would recommend 30-50lb braid for jig fishing heavy weeds, or 15-20 lb test mono, or florocarbon line if your not a braid person. I hope this helps , Ivan

That little Ferris wheel thing is the centrifugal weight system. The red caps are the weights that can be locked in , or out to help acheive the maximum casting distance with the minimum backlash problems.I always unlock all of them starting out and adjust accordingly to the lure weight I am throwing with that reel.If your having alot of backlashing problems, it can be confusing to figure out what your doing wrong until you use baitcasters a while. The trick is to know when the backlash occurs, for example if the reel starts backlashing almost imediately on the cast, you need to adjust more centrifugal weights out.If the reel starts backlashing once the lure has landed , you need to adust by tightening the spool tension knob on the side of the reel.Once you get comfortable with your reel, you can readjust the reel to acheive greater casting distances.The thing you want to try to do is keep your casting a steady consistant casting motion.Practice out in the yard, if you don't have a practice plug, use a old jig, I cut the hook shank, so the hook doesn't snag when retrieved as I practice pitching to different objects.A bell type sinker will work as well.I hope this helps.

I am just curious , why would you fish jigs with a spinning rod when you have a baitcasting rod to use ?Are you talking mini jigs ?Why aren't you going to use Yo Zuri soft on your baitcasters as well as your spinning gear ?

instant message me if you are wanting to sell it.If it still functions like its supposed to , all it needs is a cleaning and lube.I never liked the Trion I have, too wide,IMO, the Trion never casted that great, but I bought it cheap enough to not pass it up. Let me know if you want to sell it, or possibly want help to clean it, I am positive it can be smooth again in no time. Ivan

I forgot the Stren. It worked well except for the line color would bleed off on my clothing as I held the rod against my body while getting the jig from the fish.It did seem to want to wrap around the rodtip more so than the other braids, but that may have been the way I was pitching the jigs. I use a around the world underhand pitch motion to get the jig in motion on my pitches.Given slack line, it will wrap on the rodtip easily. I hope this helps, BTW, I am the only one who seemed to have the line bleeding problem, It may be caused from the Catcher brand smelly jelly scent I use on my jigs, other than P-Line & Stren, the other 2 brands turned white from use, but Stren is the only braid, I noticed bleeding off on my clothing. Ivan

Well I have used Power pro , Tuf Line XP, P-Line spectra IV, Stren Super Braid.IMO, the Tuf line XP was the best of the braids, with P-Line running a close second.The Tuf line is flatter than the other braids, which isn't a problem, but I did notice on the soft bite days Tuf Line boated more fish for me because when the fish started applying pressure to the line , it squeaked on the guides allowing me to detect the strike and set the hook before the fish let go.I found it especially useful when jigging the 10-14 ft weedbed depths.Power pro was very noisy when pitching, but it worked well cutting through the weeds . The P-Line kept its color the longest of any braid I have tried and seemed more limp to pitch with and was quieter through the guides than power pro.They all would bind in the spool upon hookset which isn't a problem if you unbind the spool before the next cast.Wear is easily detected on all the braid I used, the line started to fray up the leader, I cut about 18 " of braid off and retied and never had a break off problem other than the toothy critters on the hookset.I didn't notice one brand being better than another,I did have the same spool of Tuf Line on a flipping stick for 4 years, I am seriously thinking of going back to mono after breaking a flipping stick tip off with braid, I think it wrapped around the rodtip and I didn't see it before I set the hook and snapped the rodtip.Sorry I couldn't be of more help. :)Ivan