upnorthbassin

That brings back memories. When I was a kid my dad had a victrola in the garage. There were only a few records with it and one of them was The Shadow. I used to sneak in there and play it every now and then. But back to the topic at hand...which shakespere reel did you get and why do you like it?

I know it is somewhat subjective but I think the avid throws lighter weight better because of the softer tip. It's also rated down to 3/16ths versus say the triumph which is 1/4 for the 7' M. I don't think either is really much faster than the other but that's just how they feel to me.

I have a couple of SC Medium power rods. They are both fast action. I think they are a good all around power rod....almost like a MH but not quite. I feel like the Avid series has a little softer tip than the premier rods but still has a good backbone behind it for a M rod. I rarely if ever go frogging so I'm no expert but I don't know if they would be ideal for that based on what most people describe as ideal.

I don't think I want a swivel going through my guides. Did they mention leader length?

Right now you can get the Sahara from the cabelas website for $49.99. That's probably the best deal going but I am more of a plflueger fan overall so if I had to spend $100, it would be the Supreme. If I wanted the best value I'd get the Sahara...or maybe 2 of them.

I think he means fireline braid.....not regular fireline based on the compaison to 12lb mono. Regular fireline doesn't advertise a comparable diameter fireline to 12lb mono. Berkley 50lb fireline braid is .014...very close to most 12lb mono. The closest regular fireline comes is in .012 or .015 which is closer to 10lb and14lb mono.

Powell Diesel 723CEF would probably be my first pick. Shimano Clarus rods are on clearance at a lot of places but those seem to be love them or hate them....they have the sellus and the convergence for less money though. I'd say it depends on whether you want a fast or extra fast rod and whether you want a split grip eva or full cork. If you like cork check out the Fenwick rods....they seem to have the best choices in that price range with full cork grips.

Looks like their spectra braid with a coating of something on it (which makes it thicker also). Could be interesting. They don't carry much tufline products at a lot of places around here. I hear they are similar to powerpro in some ways but I don't know for sure. I wish they had this packaged in 150 yds instead of 100 but for $5 it's still a good deal. Ok.....I got some of the 20lb. I like trying new line so it's worth the $5 just to experiment with.

A saltwater reel i got for striper fishing...penn sargus 4000. In the store they are $90. It's 44 online right now for no apparent reason.

From last oct til dec cabelas had the v1 models for 49.99. I picked one up when they had their free shipping deal along with it. I don't have the rod anymore but for that kind of money I think it can't be beat. Walmart is really strange with their pricing. I just got a reel off their website for half off. It wasn't even labeled as a sale or clearance or rollback....just priced that way.

Yeah, for $30 the sojourn seems like a real good value. Since they advertise the heavier models as light saltwater use they should probably change the guides on those to something a little more resistant to the salt. For $30 you won't hear me complain though. I got the heavy one also for throwing larger bucktails and artificial eel rigs with it. 15#-20# mono is what most people use around here (I usually run the 20lb big game on the larger reels because it's cheap and it works) and the 14lb fireline should be around the same strength but let me run more line than the mono on this smaller reel. I'm going to give that a shot. I know it's a love/hate line but I figure it's worth a try. If I don't like it I have enough 20# powerpro to spool it up with later.

I've backed reels before with mono but now I think it's just one more step and one more knot in the mix. I mostly did it on bigger reels to use as backing for braid. I am also liking the smaller reels like the 30 size pflueger reels for example. It's not going to take a ton of line to just spool it up and I don't feel that I need a bigger reel than that for bass. Now if I was using tatsu or something in that price range I might do it more often to save money.

Thanks for the advise guys. I figured that I'll just buy the roof rack and try it. I'll probably make one of those loading bars since they look like they help. If it doesn't work, I'll still be able to use the roof rack for other things. If worst comes to worst, I'll just use this canoe when I have someone with me and then get something else to use solo.

I use a lot of 20# mono on my surfcasting reels but mono really wouldn't be the best for this setup. First is you couldn't fit much 15lb mono on that reel at all. Another reason is that this is going to stay in the car.....mono isn't the best line to leave spooled on a reel sitting in the sun in a hot car all day long.

The only thing keeping me from not just spooling it up with powerpro is that a fair amount of people online are complaining about the way this reel lays line and suspect that it might cause more issues with lighter, limper braid. I got it anyways because it still seemed like the best option for cheap money overall. I'm going to leave it in my car so I don't want to leave anything expensive in there. Fireline seems a bit thicker and stiffer which might not cause as many problems. Who knows though...the internet is full of misinformation. I will say, I've used powerpro plenty and never had issues with wind knots even with much lighter line (obviously not on this reel of course). I always close the bail by hand and I pay attention to the line which might be why. I figured "hey...maybe this is an opportunity to try out something new" and avoid a potential problem (which may or may not even exist anyways).

Put together a cheap striper setup to keep in the car. Reel is the sargus 4000. Rod is a sojourn. all together only cost me $75. Going to use braid I'm pretty sure or maybe fireline. Should I go for 14 or 20 lb for fireline? I've never used it before. I would normally probably put 20lb or 30lb power pro on it but I kind of want to try something different.

There are also some fish that you are not legally to remove from the water in some places.

I have also bought YZH from this seller with good results.

Here you can get 1lb spools of 4lb and 6lb for only $22. All they have left is green and smoke. I got a 1lb spool of the 6lb clear for spinning reels and it's good stuff. http://www.overstockbait.com/Yo_Zuri_Hybrid_Fishing_Line_p/hb1p.htm

I gotta say.....5" senko weightless texas rig. It's not expensive or exclusive....it doesn't require tons of skill to fish effectively. You can pretty much fish it anywhere in just about any condition. It might not be ideal all the time but it probably won't be the worst thing you could throw out there either. Since you can make a texas rig weedless it's more versatile than most wacky rig setups or anything that isn't weedless for that matter...especially when you're throwing it into cover. It just plain gets bit period. And my resolution for 2013 is to fish it way less than I did in 2012.

Yeah, for $60 they seem like a good deal. I don't really like the feel of them that much though....although I haven't fished one...just handled them in the store. They have a real skinny layered texture grip. If you like the way it feels, buy it for sure...a rod with fuji alconite guides doesn't normally cost $60 and they seem like a great deal for the $60 although I don't own one.

It's all about the location. I fish a river here all the time where there are no largemouth bass but you can slam the smallies in the places you'd think the largemouth bass would be....if they were there. But they are also in places that you wouldn't bother fishing for largemouth. Sometimes to me they are an enigma wrapped in a riddle...surrounded by a puzzle. hehe. One day it seems they are in fast current in the deeper water and the next day I'm slamming them in the laydowns right off the rip rap in 2-3 ft of water with minimal current. The best smallie fishing I've seen is one or the other depending on the day. I have a feeling that I have no idea what I'm doing...I'm like the beverly hillbillies and I'm just firing until there's a giant windfall of oil....or...smallies. When I hit that sweet spot it's absolute smallie mayhem. I never claimed to know what I'm doing so hey.

I bet they'll be out of business in the next 10 years anyways. Maybe sooner.

Unfortunately trailers are pretty much not an option at this point due to storage. It's unfortunate because I could easily get a nice trailer for a couple hundred dollars used from more than one person at the moment (one even had new bearings and tires on it which alone are worth almost that). I'm thinking about going with the sportrack and then adding a homemade loading bar. That way I can prop one end of the canoe up on the loading bar and then swing the other end around onto the rack. I was also thinking of getting a couple of 5 gallon collapsable water containers and filling them up to use for weight in the front. Another option is changing out the seat on it to something I could sit backwards on.

I picked up an Old Town Saranc 146XT canoe recently. My main concern is being able to load/unload/paddle this canoe by myself. It weights 80lbs which isn't ridiculously heavy and I can pick it up myself but it's pretty unweildy. It always wants to tip or flip over and there's no real good place to grab it since it has those big molded seats and bench seat in the middle. As far as paddling I was thinking I could either sit in the middle seat and paddle with a long kayak paddle or put some weight up front and paddle at the stern. You can't paddle it backwards since it has built in seatbacks. I also need either a roof rack or foam blocks to be able to transport it. I need a way of loading and unloading it solo and safely getting it from one place to another. The roof rack seems like the best idea but costs a lot. It seems like it would be easier to load it by myself with a roof rack than the blocks though.They sell those Sportrack racks made by Thule for about $200 which is cheap for a rack but I don't want to spend that or any more than that if I don't have to. I'm already regretting this purchase a little. I bought it on a whim because it was brand new and over 75% off. It was obviously a steal but I think I would have been better off getting a smaller, lighter canoe or maybe something entirely different. I thought foam blocks would work but it seems hard to load with those with just one person since you can't really slide it around and you have to load it from the side which is kind of awkward. I don't want to dump a bunch of money into it because I might not end up using it a lot. Any ideas?