Loop_Dad

I used to go out before work, during lunch and after work because there was a lake in 10 min from my place which is okay place to fish with some big ones in it. I liked doing that as I am more concentrated. However they almost drained the lake this year and now the water level is less than 10 percent. So I have to drive more this year and I say my average probably around 6 or 7 hrs on the water.

Larry, you maybe comparing a reel with spool tension applied and a reel without. The tensioner is the one next to the handle. Besides free spin is just one part of the equation. I have one Silvermax that I won from some other website. It performed pretty well right out of the box. I quite frankly thought the it is built 'tighter' than Citica and it is a $50 reel. After flushing and oiling the bearings, it even worked a bit better. Casting performance wise, I didn't see any major negative compared with Citica. I agree with others it is a decent reel for the cost. One disclaimer is that I do not generally throw light stuff, so your mileage might differ if you are throwing lighter stuff. That reel is now sitting on top of my frogging rod, which get used occasionally.

Dumb question for you guys if I may... You customize jon boat instead of buying bass boat to save $$$, correct? Roughly how much of saving you are looking at? What is the difference of the bottom shape between jon boat and bass boat of the same size? The ones from tracker looks very similar on the pics...

You guys are lucky, I'm only once a week average, so it's around 55 days. Things might change next year thou.

Many things I bought and tried as the direct results of BR, but the biggest one is Humingbird 998 SI. I know for sure if I didn't come here, I wouldn't have bought it. It is not something you walk into a store and pick up because it looks nice. It works great, better than expected. Only regret is 'why didn't I buy it before'. However I got a good deal, so I guess it is a wash.

I use Hi-Vis Yellow. The line color matters to me because I watch line and I want it to be as easily visible as possible. I run sharpie for the first one rod length thou, just in case.

Thank you, Mike and all of sponsors, mods and members at bassresource.com. I don't know what I would do if this site does not exist. I am looking forward to another great year here.

Ron is right about the wind. I don't have one but I used to communicate with a guy who fished on it. You need an anchor especially you need to position your boat without a motor.

You can buy Daiwa Tatula for around $115 on the auction site. (I snatched mine for $101 shipped) I just used mine today for the first time and I really like this one. It cast well with a good break. It is very smooth with lots of bearings. Or you can find Citica G for around $100. Been using this for two seasons. This can cast as well as Tatula. If you can do a bit of clean up, used one can be had for a lot less. Never used PBS Pro Qualifier, but it sounds like lots of folks like that based on other replies.

So snap failure is one of the biggest reason for loosing them? Some of those snap look absolutely tiny. My $6.99 blade was lost due to snap opening.

I didn't even know what the blade bait was a month ago until someone mentioned here that they work well in winter. I went to local store and asked them if they had blade baits. They went, 'blade what?' It took for while till I found one in the store. They said that's a spoon. Maybe they are called differently in west coast. The one I bought was from Damiki and cost was $6.99. I thought it was expensive, but it looked really nice. Anyhow, I really liked fishing it, although I caught nothing before loosing it. It went to the bottom in no time and I felt the vibration on my rod very clearly. Since then, I've been buying online, taking advantage of free-shipping deal or just plain discount deal. I have two more coming from overseas. From top left counter clockwise: Binsky 1/2 oz Heddon Sonar 1/2 oz (Nice and big hook) Johnson ThinFisher 1/2 oz (I like the look and build of this bait best) BPS Lazer Blade 1/2 oz (This supposed to be 1/2 oz, but it is actually 3/8 oz size. ) Cotton Codell *** Blade 3/8 oz (The front hook is a double hook. I'm bit concerned if it will stick or not.) I haven't fished these yet. What are your favorite blade baits (color, size)?

Yeah, each one is different, so unless you happened to find the video of your model, your schematics is your best friend. Also do it when you have plenty of time and in no hurry. You guys don't believe what happened last night. My new reel came in yesterday. I decided to clean out the bearings before I spool it. It was late and I was tired. I should have waited to do it, but I was too excited to wait. Since it was unfamiliar reel, I was paying more attention to the schematics than my hands. Then, one of the bearing retainer pin slipped away from under my finger and flew away probably over three feet. I heard it hit the wall, hit a box and hit something else, but I couldn't find it after 40 minutes of looking. Decided to give up and order the pin from Daiwa. Big sigh. Their site wasn't very user friendly about ordering one on-line, while it said I could. I was frustrated at that point. Then I heard my cat got a hold of spool tension cap that I had in my muffin tray. I went over there to pick it up and chase the cat away. When I picked up the cap, my lost pin was stuck on it. Be careful with bearing retainer pins, they don't just fall, but they tend to fly. This is the second time that it happened to me.

My take on this is that there's no comparison between car GPS the fishfinder. The size of market is very different.

The first one for me is to be good at using electronics. The second one is to be good at pitching and punching.

Congrats on your win! I also won a reel from other site earlier this year. And it was like you, I never expected and one morning there was this email saying I won! I 'also' happen to have 7" Clarus cranking rod (MH). I have Citica with 30lbs braid on it. I don't do much cranking to be honest due to weeds, but when I do, this combo can get the job done for me.

I received my new Fenwick Elite Tech Smallmouth yesterday. This is 6'9" MHF. I couldn't wait to try this out, so I went to near by lake this afternoon for a couple of hours. First I like the grip. Some parts are fatter. This helps me to securely hold the rod without gripping too hard. The lure rating was from 3/8-1 oz and I was bit worried that the tip might be too stiff for my liking, but it seem to cast ok with 1/4 oz. My main range is usually 1/2 oz and with that it cast very nice. Sensitivity was good that I was able to feel everything I expected to feel. No problem setting hook with heavy gauge hook. I only got one fish (4 lbs), but it handled the fish as I expected. So the bottom line, I am very happy with this purchase, especially with the good deal I got. (I got two for price of one! ) Thanks folks. BTW: This is not only my first Elite Tech fish, but also my first Rage Tail fish (craw).

Yeah, I hate about garbage, but that's not limited to fishing per say. There are just so much garbage out there and there are so many who don't care. Amount of trash in this country is crazy. And for things I would like to change about 'my' fishing situation is about the boat. It is a 'work' to get out there for me with my boat. I break sweat every time. At the same time, this is also what I feel thankful for, that I do have a way to be on the water. I don't like getting skunked. I used to hate it, but not as much as before. Use of positive thinking made the difference. (So this thread is a bad thread, sloneZP )

One time I swear I could hear this bass fisherman coming from a mile away because he cranked up his music so loud. We have lots of wakeboarders around here and I thought he was one of them. With that kind of volume, I had no doubt fish could here him. Due to frequent wakeboarders blasting music, that kind of noise might not chase our fish away. However noisy fishermen chases me away alright. So please be considerate to your fellow fishermen. For your disagreement, you just have to fish one day with music and one day without, to see who is right.

I was wondering about this when I see some folks selling less expensive rods. I am being more careful buying rods online than reels. I will sell rods locally or keep them just in case. I have had times when I thought I didn't need certain rods anymore, only to find a better use later. Anyhow, aren't PVCs a lot heavier than cardboard tubes? You are talking about regular plumbing PVC pipes, right?

Wow, Goose, very nice! I recognize some of them, even though what I am thinking about was probably from later years.. Heddon Supper Sonic (I used to have one), the plugs above it on your picture look like monkey face (I used to have this too), Mitchel spinning reel, ambassador 5000. I have a Shimano BM-1 from 70's. This is Japanese Market Version of Lew's BB-1. I had to save up to finally be able to buy this when I was a boy. My brother kept this for me for decades. I didn't even know. And I was recently united with it. I also still have a Fuji Speed Stick ( which I am guessing it was sold by Lews in USA as Speed Stick ?) to go with this, but it is at my brother's storage.

I did my first flush and lube this summer and since then I did all 7 BCs I have. After first one, the rest is easy. When I did my first one, the spring flew away and spacer behind the bearing misplaced (and didn't know that was missing for awhile.) So until you get proficient doing this, find yourself nice clean desk with lots of lights and concentrate on what you are doing. Also study the schematics of the reel. Rippling-lips can do while he watches TV because he knows what he's doing.

Thanks, Wayne. These are awesome! I remember seeing image like your first fish SI image above (post #33). They are sort of like while line, sometimes very short.Mine were bit more difficult to see as the bottom looked brighter. As you suggested, I'll play with SI sensitivity the next time dim the background out. When you spy fish with SI, do you set a way point and try to get back there using your GPS? I tried several times but I was never sure if I went back to where I intended to go back because I caught no fish doing that. And delay of GPS update made me nuts. Another question regarding how to figure where the fish you see in SI. Using your post #33 image and the fish closest to left upper corner of the screen, the boat appears to be on about 20 ft of water at that time. Your SI range is set up 75ft. And your red circle is a little bit to the left of the half way point between left edge of the screen and where vertical water column ends. So I would figure that point is about 75Ft x 0.6 = about 45ft left of your boat. Does that sound about right? And how do you figure how far back that circle is to your current position? (I have SI scrolling speed set to about the same speed as boat.)

Hey Wayne (or anybody else), do you have SI image of fish that you can share with us? I see you have one above where the fish was under water column below you boat, but I was wondering if you have an example of fish on the side. I sometime see these white dots which are brighter than the rest of the image and not sure if they were fish or rock. It is also kinda difficult for me to determine size of rocks or humps when I am looking at SI.

Thanks guys! I'll try out the Flash Mob Jr.

Any particular head/bait work well with this?