georgeyew

That's pretty odd. I would call Okuma support first before disassembling it.

I know of only 2 types of handles on the spinning reel. The cheaper type that uses a thread through rod and secured by a cap on the other end; and the friction type that you spin on. When you turn the handle does the cap turn as well on the other side? If not, then you have the spin on type. It is reverse threaded, so you have to spin the handle backward to loosen it.

I hear in the past that snakeheads have made their way into Burke Lake, but this is the first confirmation that I have seen. Thanks for the heads up. I have to be sure to bring my grippers with me in case I hook into one of them.

I agree, the Berkely Lightning rods are a great value.....especially the newest version ones.

Academy is having a clearance on some of their H2O baits. I stocked up tonight.

Glad that you are enjoying your new rod/reel! I saw that deal yesterday and was tempted. But I had to say no. It was a great deal nonetheless.

I had a pro model for a while. It was great to find out the deep pockets on a body of water with it along with the water temps. I did not find a need for the extra feature like mapping and GPS so I replaced it with the Deeper Start (basic) model instead. It worked just as well as the PRO (minus the extra features) for $100 less.

I have the lightning shock rod and I love it. But the new non-shock lightning rod looks awesome. Love the raw graphite look and feels pricer than what the label says.

Don't laugh at me but I do mine differently. I just use a medium powered spinning rod with 8-10 lb line. What I do differently is instead of using the rod to throw the deeper, I open the bail and throw the deeper like a baseball. I find that I can get plenty of range and with great accuracy. The only down side is that the deeper tends to spin a bit during flight. But that hasn't been a big issue yet. It saves me from having to buy an extra rod for the deeper.

I would think that a squirrel swimming would look similar to a rat.....except for the fluffy tail.

I keep my thumb on the spool. And I try to estimate the amount of time the lure will be in the air. It comes with some practice time.

Just a FYI, they redesigned the Lightning Shock rods. It looks bright orange with clear reel seat.

Yup, that exact idea.

Nope, it was snug. Just pressed on. Your rod butt may be a different size, but those rubber caps are pretty flexible and stretch easily. And it helps that the caps come in various sizes if needed. The 1" fits most of my rods.

I used a 1" rubber stool cap with 4 quarters attached to the butt end of my rod. It helped to balance it out and was a cheap fix.

Unless the fish that you are setting the hook on is right at your feet, I don't think you need to worry. Most of the time when people break a rod by high-sticking, it is because they are trying to flip a fish in with the rod raised up high.

The whopper ploppers are not on clearance at my local stores.

I thought that I had at one point, but then I fell off the wagon.

The interesting thing in that video is that after the bass would miss the hooks, it came back for the lure.

I might have a few packs of the black and blue ones. Let me check tonight and get back to you.

You can also try casting with more line out when you are using lighter lures. It helps when I do that.

No luck here, they didn't send me the discount email.

I've been catching tons of bass on homemade beetle spins.

I didn't know any better when I first started fishing. I didn't know there was a difference between spinning and casting. So I went to Walmart and bought a spinning reel and paired it with a casting rod that I thought looked nice (all the spinning rods on the shelf were 2 pieces). The trigger felt a little weird against my palm, but I thought that was normal because I didn't have a lot of experience. I used that rod/reel combination for a long time.....and even caught the 5.5 lb fish in my profile pic. It served me fine until I found this website. After which I had to get the right equipment so I would not be laughed at by other fishermen. Long story short, I am older and wiser now and I don't really care about what people think anymore. And I have a casting rod that I absolute love for catfishing. I cut off the trigger and put a spinning rod on it. And it has absolutely no issues catching 15lb+ cats. The only negative that I found is that the smaller guides reduces the casting distance slightly. So my point is, yes it will catch fish, and the rod/reel will be fine. The only thing that you will have to worry about is the slightly shorter casting distance and having others laugh at you for being a newbie.

I have the regular buzz plug. And I swapped out the hook with a #2 treble. The #4 treble might be a little too small with the big butt on the buzz jr. But it wouldn't hurt to give it a shot.