Basswhippa

Oh man. Prayers brother. Keep fishing. It is what your son would want for sure. It will help in many ways. By being strong and brave enough to share this with us, you are helping people who realize whatever they are dealing with may not compare. Bass wishes.

You have several. Maybe the least of those becomes the part reel.

It is typical Shimano junk. Please send it to me and if you buy anymore junk, send it to me as well. Go forth, and by yourself a BPS, Plueger, Revo, Lews clone and never have any problems again. I'd tell you how to fix the junk you've got, which requires reading the instructions, but would rather own it.

Points, humps. Crankbaits should be good. 5 inch smoke grub has probably put more smallies in the boat at Pickwick than the next two best lures combined, if you could only throw one.

I'm in a pickle myself. I caught some two truly massive smallmouths this week. A 7.72 followed by a 7.9 plus a 6.1. I want at least one replica, but the fish were short tanks, and I suspect there is a lack of molds. The 7.9 was only 21.5 inches, and the 7.72 was only 21. They were super dense TN river tanks, like RW has in in his profile. Any suggesions? Doubt the molds are out there. The 7.9 was caught before, with a torn mouth. Someone else may get to enjoy, I paid it forward as someone did me. I have used Lake Fork with largemouth with good result, but suspect that is there area of expertise, largemouth. Looking hard at Angler Choice.

The Citica is less expensive. If you can find the Curado for $135, then you can find the Citica for $15 to $20 less. Same reels except it doesn't have anti rust bearings. If you don't fish the saltwater, and take care of your reels, pick a color or money option and go with the reel you like. They are as close to the same as these lines have ever been. Awesome reels.

I have handled them. Well balanced and good looking. They will be a hit. Cork and SCIII in a $120 rod. True contender for best in that price range category.

Cheap and easy fix. Those are one of the few parts that wear regularly on that reel. Otherwise mostly bullet proof and will last many years, sometimes decades or even generations.

And hence a best in class value award.

I got my hands on these at BPS. This is going to be a very robust and hyper competitive rod in the slightly over $100 category. I predict the St. Croix Mojo yo be a grand slam home run.

Throw me in with the civil disobedience crowd. It is a "black bass" after all.

If you maintain them, they will last a very long time. I have had some since 1993 and they are still in service.

I think they are all 3 excellent. And I also hear they have good customer service as well. Not sure if there is a right or wrong choice with those three. You could let the way the rod looks and feels sway you.

Yeah a replica is a mold of someone else's skin mount. Lake Fork is one of the best there is, but the mount we got back is a larger girth fish and would have weighed at least 1 more pound. We are happy with the larger look, but it wasn't our fish.

Except for the fact you can get a really good skin mount for $100 to $200 cheaper than a good replica. And there are unusual shaped fish, etc. There are tons of good skin mounts of fish to 10 pounds on a certain auction site. Get your measurements and then get a similar skin mount. I see 12 pounders regularly and have seen up to 16 pounders.

That reel is legendary. I have 4 myself. It is what our poster Big O favors, and he uses it at Falcon to pull in 10 to 13 pounders. He says it is the only reel he has found that can take what Falcon gives. Lots of articles out there. For the record, the handle that is on there is superb as well. Pop the tops off, grease, unscrew the screws, pop the handles off, and grease the bushings every now and then and it will be smooth for decades. If you don't like the small knobs, add your favorite color of reel grips. I have camo reel grips on mine, and they look, feel and work phenomenal. Bantam = 6.2 gear ratio.

Shimano should quit making left handed reels and pass those savings on to the vast majority of their customers. The tooling costs that could be saved would be substantial. At a minimum they should only offer leftie retrieves in one ratio.

I'm right and learned with a Zebco 33. Left on spinning though. I now am learning to cast pretty darn well with my left hand. Will never switch from reeling with the right hand. Just the way I learned to use spin cast and baitcasters.

The anti reverse bearing is all that is needed. . That said, you can bend the ears in, and grease the area it makes contact, and it should be OK. The pawl is a backup, if you leave it in. Google "The life cycle of the pawl 2coolfishing". All the info you need on your problem.

Pinch the ears inward on the pawl or take it out altogether. There are multiple threads and reel experts that say the back up pawl causes more trouble than good. They can weaken, get dented, come off and cause major damage. That said, I have some in my reels and some out. If they make noise, I normally pull them out, but have pinched them together too. Good reel, BTW. Not Shimano's finest effort, but better than most other manufacturers. Where did you get a deal like that?

The problem you describe is a common problem for those reels to those who don't put it back together right. I will give you $26. You get a $1.0 profit and I'll take the trouble.

I think you had to go to the actual factory. (Lots of gas $) LOL

They used to use dead shiners at Stick Marsh all the time. Don't know if they still do or not. There were a lot of bass there back in the day. Guessing there still are.

My son has had a couple. One got broke in transit in a car wreck. He told me not to ever use his, because I would want one. I made that mistake, and fished a texas rig and caught a couple. It is an awesome $100 rod. Light, balanced, sensitive, Falcon build. That says enough. Just a work horse rod.

I would have just bought Shimano Chronarch 100a's. With a few replacement parts, you could use a lot of those for decades, and never be "out reeled" by todays modern equipment. They cast as far, and are as smooth or smoother than anything available today. And they are very reliable. If I were telling a teenager or 20 something what to do today, I would recommend Citica and Curado I's for the same reason. If you buy 10 of them, you'll have them for decades. Even if parts become obsolete, you can always use one or two for a parts reel and run for a very long time.