JamesD

No, I see the logic of which you speak. I can completely understand the logic of a leukemia survivor when it comes to protecting one's self from the UV rays of the sun. Don't get your knickers in a twist.... I wear either a cabela's leather safari hat, or my DCU boonie hat, and a short-sleeve dickie's shirt 90% of the time when fishing. I DO try to keep myself out of the UV if at all possible. I am, on the other hand slightly disturbed by all the creature comforts of today's modern age. I grew up old-school, my father's a 65 year old prior service green beret. He's also a very cautious man. Growing up with him, I learned to 'weather the elements' so to speak. To do work, sometimes you have to be in the sun. Just a fact of life. The same could be said for fishing, shooting, hunting, or any other out door sport. I am not one to judge a man for protecting himself for fear of his life. You'll have to excuse my point of view, As a welder, I cannot stand wearing long sleeve shirts or gauntlets while working. It's just too much. Sure, I get a little 'farmer's tan' but it comes with the territory so to speak. I still feel we, as people have too many creature comforts. Granted they have a purpose for a percentage of people, it's just the other 75% or more that buy into it for god only knows what reason. Also... I can be a disturbing individual?

Strangest thing today.... took a friend out to my little spot and ended up catching a fish that Croaked at me (like a bull frog) when I got out of the water. It was silver in color with some darker coloration at the top, and an all white smooth belly like a catfish? I don't know what it was? But it struck on my strike king trailer-hook spinner bait. Bit both hooks too.... I didn't have my phone on me or I would have gotten a picture of it. It barely bent my rod, probably weighed in around 1-1.5lb and was about 12-15" long. Incase you're wondering, this is where I fish. I know there are bass and catfish in our waters, especially where I'm fishing from. I also know that there are carp in the Ross Barnett. I just don't know what I caught...

Are we talking about the lake/reservoir in Southern TN on the MS/AL state lines? Hmm... I might be able to make that?

That's a nice collection. You seem to have an affinity for the wood. It looks like there's some coca-boa in there, and some walnut. I was fondling over an American Classic Amigo 1911 the other day... I've been reading about them ever since I read Bersa was working them. I just found it locally, but they're asking $599 for the blued version, I'm kind of after the stainless. nice Kimber btw.

I'm personally a fan of the Shimano Spirex FG & RG. They also have the Syncopate. But for me it's the Quickfire II trigger system. I don't care much for 'immediate stop braking'. The Spirex can be had for less than $50 online, and sometimes less than $40 but I don't know about shipping. The Syncopate is available for less than $40 from walmart. http://fish.shimano.com/publish/content/global_fish/en/us/index/products/reels/spinning/Spirex.html http://fish.shimano.com/publish/content/global_fish/en/us/index/products/reels/spinning/spirex_rg.html http://fish.shimano.com/publish/content/global_fish/en/us/index/products/reels/spinning/Syncopate.html

I don't know what that stuff you're talking about is... And I'm not sure I want to. What ever happened to wearing a hat, and getting some sun? Are we really a world of men who need to wear protective gloves to keep out hands out of the heat of the sun? .... This disturbs me greatly.

I tend to fish early in t he AM in one particular spot... I left the house today at 5 and was on the water casting by 5:25am.... I find that top water, and buzz bait really work well for me.... Then again, I don't know how to, and have never successfully fished with worm, but it would seem to me that it might also work well. The water I fish in most days is too shallow for cranks, That's just the life of shore-fishing.

I have an older 6'0 Berkley Lightning rod in the Medium-Light variety. I use my little EZ-Flip Shakespeare ugly spin on it with light (6-8lbs) line. She casts 1/4 & 3/8 oz lures fairly well and reacts well to strikes. It's a nice little rod that I salvaged, it only has the hand & half grip though.

As a 2nd Amendment activist, I refuse to shop at Dick's Sporting goods due to their stance on the sale of hand guns for self & home defence. Thanks, but I'll pass. I have a 7' ugly stik for my spinning rod and absolutely love the cast & action from it. Call me simple-minded if you may, I think it does fine.

Thanks guys!

Okay guys.... As a secondary Question. Now that I have this reel working as it SHOULD, I still need to re-line it. As I mentioned earlier, I had it lined with 12 or 14lb mono from Academy, their H20 Express brand. The line isn't huge or anything and it cast out decently well without issue. The Zebco Red Rhino Rod that I have this reel mounted on is a 6'0 Medium Heavy. What brand, type, and lb test line would you recommend? Bare in mind that I mainly fish from the banks/shore of the Ross Barnett Reservoir and other small ponds and lakes in Central MS and Madison County. I am considering buying a 7' Ugly Stick for this reel in the near future unless I can find a better rod for less than $50 from either Walmart, Academy, or Bass Pro (I don't buy rods I can't test out in person). Anyway, with all of that said, what do you guys recommend?

Dang! That's good-enough logic for me.... I will certainly buy a few this year!

You can see the pitting on the stainless wheel and damage done to the organic washers, I cleaned them off with a knife blade, then a tooth brush, and soaked them in very fine/thin machine oil. I ground, and polished that stainless wheel down. Don't be fooled by the photograph, you can see my finger prints, that's extremely high detail that in NO way effects it negatively. At least not compared to how bad it was! After re-assembly, and tying on a top water frog, I was able to cast out at least 10-15' further with half the effort as before, AND NO BACKLASH! A lot of the 'whining,' 'whirring', and 'zipping' sounds the reel made on casting are gone, it makes a faint sound of the line traveling and the spool spinning as the line goes out. Man, I sure am glad I pondered this, and thank you for your input DVT!!!

I'm sure glad I decided to ponder this today.... What you said got me thinking, and I began to recall the night I tore this reel down. I failed to tear it down completely and missed a few things apparently... have a look for yourself! My HTC doesn't take the 'best' pictures in the world, but with a jeweler's loop as focusing assistance, I get some pretty high-detail shots. Take a look at how bad off the actual mechanism was!

Those were my thoughts, I use a home-made combination of lubricant that I developed for sharpening and honing the blades that I forged. it's a combination of light machine oils. There is a minor amount of 500° axle grease on either side of the spool's axle to reduce wear and friction. I went back through the reel about 6 months ago, cleaned it all over again and re-lubricated it. I doubt that my oiling job is what's impeding the cast. I'd lean more towards the bearings. Although, all of my lures are between 1/8 and 1/2 ounce. Most of what I cast out is 1/4 and 3/8 ounce. The red rhino is a nice flexible rod. I saw a LOT of improvement when I went from a 6'0 ugly stick to the 7'0 for my spinning rod. I could disassemble it and take pictures if that would help?

Okay folks, this is a long awaited series of questions I have in regards to my baitcasting reel.... First & foremost, it's either an '81 or '84 Abu Garcia 5500C baitcaster. And like most everything I own, It's been well used. It was in the attic for god knows how long, possibly since the mid 90's ('95-'97) until sometime last year when I tore it completely down, cleaned it, and re-lubricated every single moving part of this puppy. It's fully functional and does a GREAT job.... but! It won't cast worth a darn! Somewhere, I read it's considered a trolling reel for off-shore fishing? That's entirely possible, but I'm not for sure. Anyway, I lined it with Academy's house brand line, H20 Express, in the 12lb variety and used it for quite a while. At that time, it was on an old 6' Berkley Scout two piece BC rod. I could get a good 35-45' cast with it using both hands, but I really had to swing that sucker! It's been kind of 'retired' lately, as I used half the line on it's spool for another reel and I filled the void with some rather old spider line braid, probably 40lb test... I use it for top water when I'm out hunting that BIG bass... They seem to hit those top water's pretty hard and I've had two lures stolen off 8lb line... Anyway, that Berkley Scout rod ended with a snapped tip one morning out on the lake and I had to dig up another rod, so I'm running it on a Zebco Red Rhino 6' rod. I'd like to know what's keeping me from being able to cast this puppy over 40'? Is it my line? Is it my rod? I'm looking at Berkley fireline right now, and I've been considering buying either a 7' or 7'6" BC Ugly Stick to use with it. It may also need new bearings, as even when I went through the reel, I did not replace them. Any help in trouble shooting this issue would greatly appreciated. Here's some data on the reel in question: http://www.abugarcia.com/sites/default/files/schematics/5500C%2084-2.PDF http://www.abugarcia.com/sites/default/files/schematics/5500C%2081-08-00.PDF And some pictures! (everybody loves pictures, right??)

Shakey head?

That might work with powerbait, but not the grubs or worms I've tied on. That sucker sinks fast and swims erratically!

I haven't quite figured out how to get it on top of the water except for the last few feet of my retrieve. What are you doing to pull that off?

I have one, it works, but I can't find the soft bait anywhere anymore. I've been tying on worms to it for a while now.... it's got some pretty awesome swim action, I'll tell you that!

Well I'm going to have to pick some up then. Won't be much use to me until I get my canoe on the water, but I'm sure at that point I'll be able to make GOOD use of them!

I've been a gun-guy a lot longer than I've been a fisherman (or do we say Angler here?), shooting has been a long time hobby for me. So it's nice to see that there's a place for the gun culture on this forum! Anyway, after looking through all four pages here, I've deduced there aren't nearly enough gun-guys (or gals) posting in this section! So, here's an opportunity to post up your gun pics. I'll kick it off with my carry weapon, but if you'd like to post some pics of your collection, cabinet, or safe, go right ahead! I carry a Springfield XD .45 in stainless. It's the compact version with the shorter grip for the 10rd mags which I keep in it day to day. I have several other 13 and 10 round mags for it that I've bought over the years. I keep a few 'extras' in the car/truck with me.

I have this old Bandit crank bait with a small bill that I refer to as 'Ole Faithful'. I've caught Flathead catfish, small mouth bass, and large mouth bass on it. It's an amazing crank... https://www.banditlures.com/shop_product.asp?pid=7

Tag? ...I don't follow? I've decided to buy a few when I get my canoe on the water to fish deeper areas of my little honey-hole. At least that way I can make good use of a 6-8' crank without snagging on some underwater branch/limb. Any other input?

I'm actually a Tiger's fan myself (mother's side of the tree is Cajun), but I don't get into FooseBall much... Although, I could go to Oxford dirt-cheap, as my dad is Alum from like '72... And yes... we have some gorgeous ladies... (and some down right hideous ones too) Luckily, I don't see too many while I'm out wetting my hooks. I was teaching one how to fish for bass, as she grew up in FL and became accustomed to offshore trolling... Although after a while, I decided to cute the line and tie on a different lure... if you know what I mean. Oh, and before I forget, Thank you all for the Warm Reception!