Tim S.

You mean there's a time when you leave the house without your gun?

Long grip length BEHIND the reel seat is what makes it uncomfortable for me personally. A fly rod has little or no butt and works fine in a kayak. Sitting in a kayak while casting conventional gear forces you to use upper body only to cast, sometimes with 1+ oz. lures tied on. When you stand, your entire body is used, not just your arms.

Some folks don't like having to raise their arms up when going from a cast to retrieve position, when you transfer the rod butt from one side of the body to the other each time. It had never bothered me until I tore the labrum in my right shoulder and it now throbs like a toothache after a couple of hrs. in a yak. The paddling doesn't help much, either. But the shorter-butt rods extend the time I can fish by an hour.

Those old reels are priced that way because non-fishermen are looking for a collectible that would validate their "man card" among other snobby elitists who wouldn't know a bowfin from a bluegill. They aren't so rare as they are percieved to be, as evidenced by others who have posted here saying they have a reel or reels like it.

Look at the *** 2 rods. The butt sections are a little shorter than typical rods and that has always made it easier for me in a 'yak or canoe. The 6'10" medium is about perfect for t-rigs, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, weightless worms, 3/8 oz. jigs, even squarebills & mid-depth cranks if you have a good drag in your reel. I have even thrown frogs in sparse cover with it, though it serves as my 5" topwater rod now. As for the 2nd set-up, I would get a little longer spinning combo, 7' to 7'3", ML power and fast action. It would serve you well for nose-hooked finesse plastics duties and light cranks like #5 Shad Raps and F7-to-F11 Rapalas. Whatever spinning reel you settle on, I would recommend keeping a spare spool on hand spooled with light(15/4) braid to fish tubes and other lures that have a single, larger hook.

And I have it now

I cut small styrofoam cigar(crappie/panfish) floats into pieces and shove them into tubes and either dropshot or c-rig them. Vary the size of the pieces to get different rates of rise. A spot of Venom worm glue will keep even small pieces in place. It works amazingly well at times. I will even shake them in place on a heavier dropshot, too. The Z-Man baits will float, depending on the size of hook you use. For instance, if you use a 4/0 superline hook, even the 6" lizard won't float.

Don't forget, you have to call to get the discount on Shimano, Daiwa and G. Loomis, among other brands.

I have the 2 pc. Volkey 6'8" Light BFS stick and it is a sweet little rod that does much more than BFS well. I am still considering the MH Nanoace jerkbait rod, though. Sensitivity isn't an issue with a reaction bait rod and they fish lighter than their ratings.

Couldn't see the reel seat, Matt- otherwise I would have known it was from the X7 line. Sweet set-up, no doubt!

That's an IS63L with a MB IS Finesse spool. I will take a shot in the dark. The rod is a Destroyer Phase 3 Criffhanger....?

Nice custom sticks, Bob. I have gone the custom rod route, as well. Will post some pics when my final rod is finished, probably later this week.

There it is! There's a few that look familiar in there, Gary.

I ALMOST bought that rod, but you snuck in during my fit of indecisiveness lol!

Hey Matt, I know where u got that from....

If u wanna part with the stock line guide from your PX68, give me a shout. I have been looking for one for over a year now.

If you don't like it, give me a shout.......

I grew up fishing 200+ days a year(tournaments with my dad) and then framed houses for 6 years after high school. During that time, I never wore any sun protection. I'm as white as can be, but I was once mistaken for a black man by a black woman due to all the sun I had gotten that summer, lol! That being said, I have worn SPF 30 or higher for the last 9-10 years and wish I had worn it all along. I now have a couple of spots on my left forearm that I'm going to get checked out next week. Remember this-EVERY DISEASE HAS A THRESHOLD. And EVERY time you are exposed to a trigger(the sun is the trigger in this case), you have brought yourself closer to that threshold. And you never gain ground with skin damage, only lose it. Once you cross that threshold, the disease becomes active. There is no 'do-over'. This was graphically demonstrated to me about 10 yrs. ago, when a friend I attended church with was diagnosed with cancer throughout his body. It originated as a melanoma, according to his doctor. John Jones died at 32 years old and left behind 2 little girls and a wife. So please, wear your sun protection anytime you go out, even for a short time.

Ain't that the truth! I have 10 very tricked-out reels w/ custom rods, with well over $4000 invested in them-but my dad usually outfishes me with one worn-out Shimano combo from 1987.

I do.... I have a nice TD-Z 100M with a few upgrades and a JDM TD-X Airmetal on the way!

You can boil a pot of water and pour it slowly over an EVA grip for 3-4 seconds at a time and that worn, smooth look that EVA gets will instantly disappear, along with any dents. But be careful not to heat it too much or the epoxy will soften and your reel seat will suddenly roll out of place. Won't fix gouges from hooks, though. An old friend from Japan taught me that-and it worked very well for me. On a side note, cork has become so expensive because all the cork farms in Portugal are cutting their cork trees down and building wineries and planting vineyards . Supposedly, there's more money in the wine business. Ironic, since wine bottles need cork stoppers(at least the good winemakers still use cork).

No, when baitcasters were first modernized(in the 70's, starting with Lew's reels), all the tournament guys did this. It allowed the spool to spin faster with less chance of a backlash. Had to do with gravity always keeping pressure on the line to one side of the levelwind guide, instead of down, which caused loops to bury under the spool(mono was pretty stiff back then and spool speed was a fraction of today's modern reels lol). My dad is in his mid-60's and he has always done this as far back as I can remember. Bill Dance is the one who told him to do it.

^^^THIS!^^^ I have some powerpro that has 3 seasons on it and it is very quiet, as braids go. Of course, my rods are customs and the guides are wrapped on with a little more care and concern than ANY production rod you can buy. The proper alignment of the guides will mitigate that noise, also. Likewise, the misalignment of said guides would increase the noise. And most production rods I have handled/used over the years have had misaligned guides. That's another advantage of a custom rod-there's no question as to whether the guides are straight.

You saw them already, back on page 83, post #1245(near the bottom of the page). http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/40660-show-off-your-stuff/page-83

I got a 23# flathead on a crankbait this morning on the rod with red trim. The Carbontex drag did it's job surprisingly well.