QUIENYO

My old Shimano Spirex 1000FD blew up last week and now I am without a finesse spinning reel. I will be throwing mostly stick and lizard baits and a few small cranks and inline spinners when I'm river fishing for smallmouth. I have a 6'6" two piece medium rod that I plan on holding onto. My goal is to keep the price under $100 as I am on a tight budget. The reels that I am considering are; 1/ Shimano Sahara 1000FE 2/ Pflueger President 650 3/ Daiwa Fuego 100A I know the Shimano brand and feel like I'm ready to venture away from it in this case. I'm torn about the Pflueger, half the folks I ask about it say its a great reel, the other half say stay away from Pflueger products. Finally the Fuego; I read an old TT review of this reel and at the time the MSRP was $249. The one I'm looking at is less than half of that. I'm a bit skeptical that the significant price drop was for good reason. You guys (and gals) are the the best source of honest reviews and opinions that I know of. I hope to get some clarity before the end of this weekend so I can take advantage of the many labor day sales. Thanks in advance for the help.

Nice.

Those are some nice looking striped bass. What is your swim-bait set-up? Looks like a Dobyns 795, what reel and line? I love the moxie of the little LMB that hit bait that is as big as they are.

I've kept it at three; 1/ 7ft spinning set up for finesse and most plastics and some treble hook lures 2/ 6ft casting for cranks and light top waters 3/ 7ft casting for jigs and frogs I would like to pick up a HS casting reel to match to a 7-6h rod I have and make that my dedicated jig set up. For me, this is all I need. Down the road, I may grow the collection some, but I don't think I'll get to the point of ten plus on the boat with me. You never know though.

Thanks for the insight. I guess there is life after hopping jigs along the bottom with craw trailers.

Same thing happened with my five year old last year. The first one or two the we caught he lipped, no problem. The third one was a bit larger and the "teeth" scared him. He still won't lip them, but he wants to throw the smaller ones back. As far as reeling them in, he gives me the rod sometimes when he thinks the LMB is too big, but most of the time he reels em in and I net them. I'd say if you don't think he's ready to bring em in on his rod, go with your plan B. No sense in losing a rod. Good luck, can't wait for the photos.

Great couple of fish you got there. Don't sweat it, we all get excited when we hook into a big one. You just happened to have a camera rolling to capture you emotions. Those were both lunkers for shore fishing. Good work.

I feel your pain. I'm convinced that its the ones that break our hearts that keep us coming back for one more chance. Still sounds like a good morning of beating the bank.

I'll call it "crazy" good! I just placed my order. Should cover all my jig needs through the fall. Very good marketing/promotion.

X2. Your eyes show your excitement. A bunch of great looking fish, nice job.

Looks like this is the trip to start planning for. I read that June and July offer the best fishing at Baccarac and Salto due to lowered water levels. The water is at its lowest in July since the local Sinaloa agricultural "grow season" is at its peak this time of year. I recommend checking out the web site for Baccarac Lake. I bet some of Jeff's pictures make the fish of the month photo album. Amazing story an pictures, thanks for sharing.

Yep, sounds like you have pond fishing all figured out. Time to go back to the lake, nothing to see here at the ponds, just easy fishing for us simple folks.

I was looking at some used G-Loomis sticks and the seller made mention that all G-Loomis rods are unconditionally guaranteed and backed with a free replacement, no matter who turns them in. This sounded a bit fishy, so I checked the G-Loomis web page and lo and behold, the warranty is only good for the original owner/purchaser. Makes sense to me, but has G-Loomis ever carried this type of open ended guarantee on older products? I seem to recall Shimano having the same sort of issue. At one time they offered unconditional guarantees for some of their rods, but have since changed things to reflect the original owner. Anyone have a definitive answer on this? I am trying to decide if I should make an offer or call BS on the used sticks. Thanks

Last I checked, TW still had a few high speed Abu STX in stock for $159. That or the LEWS TP would be the reel for me if I was picking a dedicated jig reel. Please let us know what you decide to go with. I'm hoping to get a nice jig reel myself next time I have a little extra money. If I had the cash now, I think I'd get the old STX from the above mentioned e-retailer. Good luck.

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Wow! She's huge. I'd love to hear all the details. Beautiful fish.

If I understand your question, you are looking for different ways to present plastic baits? You are throwing from shore into areas with high snag probabilities? I would say that limits you to TX and Carolina rigs. You mentioned you have success with worms, have you tried any craw or creature baits TX rigged? Throwing a craw bait will get you hit on the fall many times. If not on the fall, let it sit for 15 seconds, then just give it a twitch or two before reeling slowly. Repeat this cycle to shore. From my limited experience, I have had much success with the craw baits, pick your brand. If you have a heavy set-up with braid, try throwing a jig with craw trailer. Same as the craw above, let it sit for a bit, then give a twitch or two before reeling. Good luck.

I had the pleasure of going out to a nearby lake with my buddy who recently bought a bass boat. A couple of hours into the trip, thought I had snagged some lumber along the bottom and was bemoaning the fact to my buddy, when the "lumber" decided to make a run for it near the surface. We had been trolling along a bank of reeds and I was throwing a 1/2 oz. jig on 50# braid. No time for the net, so I opted to hoist the fish into the boat. What a great feeling! I knew as soon as I saw it that it would be my new PB. It ended up weighing 5lb 3oz. Catching a five pounder was my goal this year, so I'm pretty happy. I'll post a photo when I get off work.

Thanks fellas. I'll see what I can handle on my own. If it gets too deep for me I may have to send it east to DVT.

My first casting reel was a 5501. I bought it about 15 years ago and still use it regularly. Not trying to hijack the thread, but I have been having an issue with mine recently. Sometimes, after I've made my cast the reel does not "engage" when I begin to reel in the line. The handle spins, but there is no click and I'm not able to retrieve any line. Usually, when this happens I need to manually pull more line from the reel before the reel engages from turning the handle. Any ideas? I'm running 14# Yo Zuri. Thanks.

I'm in Tucson, so triple digit temps are the norm this time of year. I definitely stay out of the mid day heat, its just too much. I do stay out in the morning until 1130 hours though. I find that when I'm on the banks in the heat of the summer, the bass are as hot as I am. I have had almost zero luck throwing into the open water with search baits. This time of year, I go light and use my spinning set up to hit the bank structure. If there is a bank with reeds, I'll throw a soft craw bait, TX rigged against the reeds and let it fall. If there are fish there, they hit it either on the way down or after the first twitch. I find that the larger fish tend to get the prime cover real estate. If there are any spots along the bank with overhanging branches, toss a weedless set up so it hits the branches before hitting the water. My limited experience has shown that that sort of presentation will almost always get a good bite. I always wear long sleeved shirts and a large brimmed boonie hat for cover. If it gets too hot, I'll soak my boonie with water. Good luck and I hope this will translate to the noga waters.

Wow, that is a beautiful smallie you got there. Kudos to you for recognizing your "stubbornness" and making the the change. Many of us (myself included) are sometimes too set in our ways to not only just recognize the need to change tactics, but make the change after the light comes on. Good for you.

I got my first round reel in 2001. It's an Abu Garcia 5501C3. I would bring it with me as back-up on various fishing trips, but it saw very little use behind my spinning reels. I wanted to learn how to use it, but most trips ended with me cutting out the worlds largest birds nest followed by me swearing I'd never use it again as it was thrown into the truck for the remainder of the trip. All told, I'll bet I took the reel on four trips in ten years, and I might have made two successful casts the whole time with zero fish. Fast forward to last year when I started reading this forum. I decided to make a commitment to learn how to use this casting reel. I had a one ounce drop weight that I tied on and began to drive my wife crazy with my attempts in the yard. I finally was able to cast it, just not very far. I had the brake set very tight in fear of the backlash. I finally got the confidence to try it out on the water. I didn't have any backlashes, but I was frustrated with the lack of distance. I think I even posted a question here about it. I thought something was wrong with the reel. So I would continue to bring the reel and use it sparingly. I finally figured out that if I lighten up on the brake and throw my heavier lures, the reel was great. Then I bought a 51e. That reel was a game-changer for me. Long winded way of getting to my point, but I still go to spinning gear when I want to throw TX rigged light plastics. Other than that, it took ten years, but I have become very comfortable with the simplicity and control I feel I have with casting reels. If you want to learn, get some heavy pound test and a one ounce weight and start practicing. Hit the water, but use the casting gear in small increments, one day you will look back in disbelief that you ever had trouble. Good luck.

Took my five year old son out this morning to one of the local ponds. I decided to leave all the casting reels with the braid, jigs, spinnerbaits and cranks at the house and bring the light spinning gear out. A ten year old, 6'6" two piece Cabela's rod and a Shimano Sedona 1000FD spooled with Yozuri 6# Ultra with nothing but TX rigged soft plastics. Spend about 45 minutes and landed five decent bass, with a few wily vets that tossed the hook. My son had a blast working the net and taking pictures with my phone. A great way to spend the morning befor heading out to work a swing shift.

Nice fish! Now you need to get your friend to catch some big ones as well so he will bring you back whenever you want.