OkobojiEagle

In your opinion... would "super tuning" these reels (polishing friction points) benefit these reels? oe

... or you can work the Pointers in a more subtle cadence. oe

How big is that cooler that comes with the Scorpion? oe

Given some of the responses indicate a bulkier profile is part of why a skirted jig is successful with smallmouth some of the time, do you think (or have you tried) throwing a larger un-skirted jighead/trailer at these times? oe

Are your skirted jigs the same jigs you catch largemouth on or down sized versions of the same? oe

Is your presentation to smallmouth equally split between skirted jigs and unskirted jigs? oe

Google the technique your interested in and dig deeper than the first page of suggestions... lots of good information being accumulated on web pages. oe

Charlie Brewer Spider pro head or Spider wide gap jigs will work in your situation. You appear to be more interested in playing with your tackle than catching fish... oe

You know that as soon as you use the second $50 rebate your waders will begin leaking like a sieve!... oe

Felix77... do you think it is a species preference between the lmb & smb or a technique preference you have when fishing for the different species? oe

Yes, a small strip of J&J adhesive bandage tape on each end of the reel's foot fixed the problem. oe

I'm impressed... did you stumble across this rod on your own or were you influenced by an older angler? oe

I smallmouth fish. I use skirtless jigheads with plastic more often than skirted bass jigs with trailers. Having said that... I assume many of you consider yourself successful fishing skirted bass grubs for both largemouth and smallmouth and l'd like to read your "theory" about why a skirted jig is more successful for you than a skirtless jighead? oe

There is a little known jig named the "Hairy Bug" that I've grown fond of. The only place I've found it is a small website named Redshad.xxx oe

fine tuning rod balance and easier to build. oe

I'm curious what the age is of the board's youngest member that routinely uses a Tennessee handle rod? oe

I wouldn't depend on down when wading... not much good when soaked. oe

Fishing is fun, but... don't become a statistic. oe

A number of years ago I attempted to upgrade several versions of my 4601c reels with bearing supported cog gears. Along the timeline Abu changed either the spool gear or worm gear slightly as some of the reels accepted the new cog gear and a couple did not. The cog gears I got (Japanese) were built some with a snap fit, some with a c-clip. The snap fit needed to have the "snap top" ground off and c-clip used to work well. oe

I've read about you guys that go both ways... I'm guessing this is what that meant???... oe

John, I'm quite impressed with your mastery of cleaning Chinese built reels as your muffin tin picture shows... filling first the top right cup working your way top to bottom then right to left as the characters on a traditional Chinese written page. oe

... and there in lies the question. I use four spinning reels that have to have the rotor reassembled to know whether the IAR bearing is installed correctly. (just an example) As I wrote above, err on the side of caution. oe

I would agree that using paper towels as a work table cloth isn't a very good idea, but I think a cloth towel (as suggested above) carefully laid flat is a helpful precaution. Part orientation isn't always easily identified from a schematic. I've learned that an IAR bearing can be reassembled upside down and doesn't work in that orientation... my schematics aren't discernible as to which end of an IAR bearing is up. I use a muffin tin like yours as well, but will lightly dot the top of some parts with a felt tip maker. I'd rather err on the side of caution. oe

When you lay the parts out on a towel as mentioned... lay them in an orientation that helps you remember which side of the part is top vs. bottom. Some parts it doesn't matter when re-assembling the reel... some parts it does. oe

A "balanced" rod will remain in the position you want to fish it in when you release your grip. I want my crankbait rods to be slightly less than horizontal, my jig/plastic rods about 10 o'clock. This is my preference... you'll determine your preference. With all due respect to SirSnookalot, I'm balancing my rods to be able to more easily feel what is at the end of my line. Balancing is done without any additional "bait weight". While fishing I want any additional weight, including the "bait weight" to put the rod combo out of balance... that is what I want to enhance the feeling of. I want to feel the bait, the increased weight of the bait and the decreased weight of the bait. oe