cabela10

I don't recall seeing any basscats up here in Minnesota. I don't even think I see them at the boat shows. Seriously. I only see Ranger, Triton, Strato's and Champion's around here. Not even a skeeter.

Hmmm okay. So anyways.... I'm aware of how fast bass can swim.

Don't local companies have to advertise also? Usually you won't see a local/club guy with a big time sponsor anyways, they will go after the place they work for, or local stores to cough up some cash. You still have tournament expenses at the local/club level, why not try to have a company pay for it.

Do you actually think this move will boost sales?

???

You shouldn't want a 7.0:1 gear ratio for a buzzbait reel. That gear ratio will be way to fast for a buzzbait. The object of the buzzbait is to have it barely stay above the water, thus turning the crank slow for the most part. Your buzzbait bait shouldn't be retrieved at warp speed back to the boat. 6:1 gear ratio would be fine for this technique.

Also redlinerobert, Falcon has a new line of rods out called PEACOCK. You should go check out the website, it's there name plus the COM part. ha ha

I like them a lot. Enough to start a transition over from St. Croix Premiers. I won a Falcon Cara baitcaster rod in the B.A.S.S. Fantasy fishing contest for coming 2nd overall in points for a Major event. The rod is very sensitive and feels great. I have the same type rod but a St. Croix and the Falcon just reacts better when working a lure and fighting a fish. They are a little more spendy than the Premiers that I normally purchase. I recently just purchased the Falcon Cara Reaction Swim Jig rod. I use a lot of chatterbaits, and that is my new chatter rod. Right now, my rods are retired for the winter, can't report any new info until late April.

Aren't Avids around $180? Suppose to be the step above Premiers?

Minnesota ABA districts are thriving. The attendence has gone up 2-4 more anglers per season since 2001. The total right now is around 45 per event in the Twin Cities area. Thats pretty good for a low-end tournament.

The worst guys on the water are the Malibu Jet Ski boats with teenagers driving them. They have no idea about the rules because you don't need to be a student driver before getting behind a boat console. Why isn't there licenses to drive a boat, like a car? There should be classes all boaters need to take, and it can be like a driver's licence, you can apply and take courses when your 16. I believe this will cure a lot of the problems we see on the waters now a days. Simple basic knowledge about boating in a classroom setting would do wonders.

I would suggest a St. Croix Premier 6'6" Medium - Fast tip. That should work for all applications as an all-purpose rod. Falcon Cara rods are pretty nice also, that's what I'm switching over too in 2007. These St. Croix's and Falcons fall under your $150 price range. Your Stradic 2500 is a good reel teamed up with those rods. Your old rod seems like it would be a good tube or light worm rod, since it's only 6' in length. Any light rigging should be good with the old All-Star rod.

Sounds like a great setup. Tell me how you like that Energy PTi 20. I'm thinking of switching to those or the 30's.

JB_FROM_TEXAS...Is it possible that they used that ski course near you because it was a different level of course than the other ones around the lake. Know what I mean, maybe that course was the novice/beginngers course and the ski balls are closer together, and the other (yellow) course was the advanced course.

keith, if this canal area that your talking about is so small, why don't you talk to the local DNR to make it a no-wake zone.

Sufix Elite and Sufix Braid. Love it!

I just recently bought a rod online without seeing it. I can't find anyone around me that sells Falcon Rods. Plus I found them $10 cheaper online with out paying sales tax or shipping. Gotta love the internet.

cravenfish, we agree. It's too bad not everyone will replace items that they ruin that isn't there own. There feeling is, "If it's not there own, then who cares" and moves on. Personally, when I was a non-boater for 2 or 3 years, I would treat that boat like it was my own. I didn't take a wrong step and made sure I knew what was going on around me, like not having spike-it bottles laying around to step on or not be careful when working with that product. I know of a few instances that turned me off of a few non-boaters. Like if they get skunked, they literally get out of the boat, run to there cars and burn out of the parking lot, leaving the boater high and dry on the gas expenses and anything else that may of happened that day. Just some non-boaters are very very rude. Then again, some boaters are very rude also.

That wasn't nice to say. ;D

I believe it. I haven't serviced my reels since I bought them. I'm bad at maintenance on my reels/rods. Good thing they have never failed me in over 3+ years of fishing with most my reels/rods.

ReelMech, I'm gonna send my reels to you and I seen you don't service some reels. I have Shimano Curado and Castaic baitcasters. then my spinning gear is Shimano Stradic 1000 and Stradic MgF2000. Do you service all these reels? I printed out the form and ready to send

I would be all for the non-boater to tell me where to go and I'll fish his spots for half the day, but no way in h*ll would I let him run the trolling motor. There is just to many expenses for somebody that I don't know to run a unit that costs over $800. If my non-boater broke or dings up my trolling motor, would he pay for it? Probably not, he would just brush it off and say it's part of fishing. So I agree that it's good to have a non-boater, but bad if he thinks he should run the trolling motor.

Wouldn't you think this would be a better release date? For the simple fact that you wouldn't think a release date before xmas would be wise, because that is when your girlfriends, wives and friends are buying you, the fisherman, things. Instead of purchasing that chip for you, they will get you a gift card to your favorite outdoorsman store. Thus making these chips available for all the fisherman to come in and purchase the chip with those gift cards. Seems like a great idea by Lowrance.

Looking for a little help on this. I have 3 baitcasters and 3 spinning reels, I want to clean these but I want to bring them to a reliable person here in Minnesota, someone preferably around the Twin Cities. I've owned these reels for around 4 years now, never onced cleaned them and I've never had any issues with them, but I think it's time to give them a good cleaning. Some help would help, name and phone numbers if you have them. Thanks.

That's not what the ABA's purpose is. It's for the weekend angler to compete in bass tournaments with others around there area. It's not the Elite Series and it's not the FLW Tour. Maybe that is the problem you're having with this, your trying to compare it with those two tours. The ABA is a low entry fee event that is suppose to be fun while in a competitive atmosphere. The nice thing about America is, if you don't like something, then stay away from it, but I don't see a reason to bash it. God forbid you let some other person step in your precious boat.