Yodie

I hear ya on that one... 2:44 here... got a bag of popcorn in the micro...probably gonna tick my roommate off (i live in a dorm) but Im hungry, bored, and not able to sleep... Late nights are fun, but not when you are the only one up...

Muddy, got a question for ya.... I know this may seem mundane and totally pointless, but its something I have always been curious of... Is there a difference between the Mob and the Mafia? Or are they just two different words for the same thing?

Hahahaha... that one made me chuckle a bit... I have more free time now that im in college tha ni ever did in high school.... I work 30 hrs a week and am pulling 18 credit hours and still have plenty of time to goof off. Unless,of course, he is one of those wierdos who actually sleeps at college.... last semester i think i slept around 6 nights worth.... thanksgiving break and half of xmas break....

Tin said: There is a lot to learn from history, because it always repeats it self in a way. Boy, If I would have heard my freshman History 150 prof say that one more time before last semester was over I was going to start pullnig my teeth out with tweezers... good point?....yes....true statement?....yes.....need to be repeated 50,000,000 times?...... hell no...

Hopefully...here is a pic of my baby... I hate leavin my poor,sweet Roxy out at the stadium lot at school, but she is the only car I have....

Ahhhh.... PSYCH 100 all over again.... I believe you would be talking about the Prefrontal Cortex.... as follows from my handy dandy incrediblyoverpricedbecuasetheprofessoristheauthorandhewantsustoseehowsmartheiseventhoughhecantteachforspittle PSYCH 100 textbook: ""The prefrontal cortex, which governs the executive functions of reasoning, advanced thought and impulse control, is the final area of the human brain to mature."" Yeah, yeah I know I cheated a little bit, but you never said it wasn't open book...

Some of my ole' college chums and I were sitting around our lovely dining court (If only you all knew the sarcasm inflected in my thoughts right now) and we started talknig about what makes a man...at what point are we men and not boys anymore. We all were able to agree on one thing, age has little to do with it. Turning 18 or 21 or anywhere in between doesnt automatically grant one manhood... so what does? Lets just hear all of y'alls opinions of this particular subject...

Im not sure about other Manfr's or other shimanos for that matter, but when I went to buy my Symetre, the only different I could tell between the 1500 ans 2500 was line capacity and the grip part of the handles were different.

That is very personal but may be this help you. 1) If you want to open a reel every time you have to change your settings and dig with your wet fingers in little caps, get the Curado. 2) If you want to comfortable and quickly do it by dialing a tiny wheel from the outside, get the Revo. Good luck Hmm... Ive seen these kind of staements on here before, but never really understood them. The way I was taught about a baitcaster and how to use it was to set the brakes ONCE and let them be, and then use the cast control tension knob on the other side to adjust for the conditions if needed (i.e. really windy, lighter weight bait,really heavy bait....etc...) I guess its just a preference thing, I have had reels with both types of brakes and on the ones with the external brakes I found myself spending more time adjusting them and blaming them for my lack of control. They basically became a crutch that I blamed in place of my real fault of not enough practice. Needless to say, I now have a curado 100, calais 100, and 3 calcutta 50's and the last time I had the reel open to adjust the brakes was also the first time. It just isnt an issue with me I guess.... To each his own though...its what makes the world go round.

Wow...RoLo just put to words what I have been thinking since I was shopping for a good spinnin reel last spring. what his last post states is what I found out too and went with the Symetre and couldnt be happier. Recentl I bought a 2006 Stradic 1000 and can see in no way how it is any better than my Symetre.

I'll suggest my go-to rod for pretty much everything as it does it all, and very well I might add. G Loomis SMR 882S (Medium power, fast action, 6-12 lb line, 1/8-3/8 oz. lures) plenty of length for insanely long casts. plenty of backbone for good strong hooksets soft,yet sensitive tip for detecting those subtle bites with a slack line weightless plastic. Great rod, worth more than its retail price in my opinion.

Kentucky/Barkley would be amazing... My parents live down there now and I have been fishing that lake since i was about 5 and my dad since around 1959. Please keep this area into consideration for future trips. There are many great palces to stay here too... Kenlake, Sportsmans, the Moors, KY Dam Village...

So, a while back I got that dreaded question from my parents...what do I want for christmas... so I began looking around and ended up on reelmech's rod site, and from there I proceeded to browse his on the rack, already built, custom rods. As I am looking down the list I spot something that peeks my interest: a 7' medium shikarii drop shot rod, and at an awesome price. I told my mom about it and a while later she ordered it. Much to my enlightenment, it came in the mail yesterday while I was home for break from college, and my mom being awesome like she is decided I could have it early because I was fishin today and it would be the last time for me till Im out for xmas break. Needless to say I took it out today and it is AMAZING. I know I like to praise my Loomis SMR882S here sometimes, but the Loomis just took the backseat. I spent all day fishin this rod with a bear hair jig and uncle josh eel on the rocky points and caught some dinks and had fun with it, but the real fun came when I got an incredible THUMP at the end of my line and I hauled back on it and the fish took off.... long story short, after at least 5 minutes probably more, about a 10 lb. drum came to the side of the boat, dad had a ball laughing at me becuase this was the first fish of the day, and the first fish with the new rod. So on top of saying thank you to reelmech for an amazing rod, I would also like to apologize to him for not breaking the rod in proper, with a nice bass....stupid drum.... If anyone is looking for a custom rod, I wouldnt hesitate to contact reelmech, his work is top notch, and purty as all get out too...

I am originally from Kokomo area, but I am currently in Muncie at Ball State. ive fished the st. joe up there in South Bend, good smally fishin.

I have one, and honestly, you would be better off going to Ebay and buying one of the old used ones. 100000% better IMO. You can get the original Cardinal 4 (green,heavy,aluminum) or the "newer" 80's C4 (black, graphite,lighter, bigger skirted spool) Both have fantastic rear drag systems and an awesome worm gear system to boot. Dad wont use anything but the old green ones, even on his Loomis's, and I prefer the black ones, but Im slowly switching to Shimano's. BTW, how do you like the Saros, been lookin at them pretty hard.

Well, Im not sure if this is exactly what Matt was talking about, but when I was trying to find a lizard exactly like I wanted it...and failed...I decided to make my own. I filled a shallow bread pan with about 1 1/2 in. of plaster of paris and let it harden. Then I took a little diamond cutter head on my dremel and began making the biggest mess of my life...my mom seriously thought I had started dealing cocaine and had gone bonkers...it was a little dusty, nonetheless, when I was finished I had a mold of my perfect lizard. It is great and I use them all the time, catch lots of fish too. The only problem with my method is that this only accomodates for a flat sided bait (which is what I wanted anyway) im not sure how to be able to carve out two slabs of plaster that are perfectly symetrical on each slab...

That is a GREAT deal. Now you can take that extra $70 and spend it on as many shaky head jigs as it will buy because its easy to go through them pretty fast. If you would like to know of a guy that sells hand pour shaky heads that are fantastic PM me and ill give you his number. He is great to work with and has the cheapest prices I have found anywhere, especially when you buy in bulk.

This is going to be a shameless plug for my school pride... Look into Ball State University here in Indiana. Their Entreprenuership program is top 10 in the nation. Their Miller college of Business as a whole is getting national attention more and more all the time. the campus is relativly small (I can walk across it in 15 min.) The people(i.e. faculty etc...) are great, very friendly, and helpful. We have a small bass club that could always use more great fisherman. This sport in college is getting ready to explode, it can only get better from here and we have a small club that is on the verge of getting the recognition it needs from this school, we just need more members now. Muncie is a nice little city, not like Indy or any other big metropolis but it has all the things anyone would need. The technology at BSU is top notch, also nationally ranked. Dorm life isnt so bad (although im getting out as soon as they will let me) The food really is pretty good as long as you go the right places, also it svery diverse. I almost ended up at Purdue, and boy am i glad I didnt, I have friends over there that are miserable. But most importantly the next few years are only going to be what you make them. Think long and hard, it will pay off. Shameless plug over... IK

the BCR853 is a great rod, I love it too. But, I might say, if you are a fan of a truer MH power you may want to go with the 854 instead of the 853, the 853 is a little soft for most peoples likings, I personally like it the way it is and wouldnt want it any more powerful, but just a word to the wise.

...It only gets better from here...especially when your on the water. You won't be dissapointed.

I have this rod. I like this rod. I like this rod a lot. In fact, I LOVE THIS ROD. In some of my previous posts I have preached this rod, and for good reason too...this rod is amazing. When loaded up this rod has a soft, but sensitive tip section. When a fish makes even the most subtle of bites and its time to set the hook, this rod gets the job done with an extremly powerful butt section. And even being 7'4" long this rod is still light weight, although since it is so long I needed to balance it a little with a rod balancing kit, but it doesnt take much weight at the end, less than an ounce. I use one of the rubber ends that comes with lead discs to put in it and I have just the rubber end, no weight inside of it. I actually prefer this. I put a 3000 sixe reel on it and it balanced perfect, but, to me, without that rubber cap the handle is too short, so I went back to my Symetre 2500 and the rubber cap. It is balanced perfectly now. I use this rod for pretty much everything, and it does it all superbly. Shakey Head, Drop Shot, T-Rig up to 5/16 oz. weights, tiny torpedo,small-ish crankbaits, <5/16 oz. jigs, split shot, drifting tubes on the flats, 1/4 oz. rattle traps, senkos, ikas, kreatures (all weightkess and weighted) I mainly use this rod for shakey head though, this summer and fall I got into fishin the shaky head and have boated lots of fish, some biggun's too. Two weeks ago I caught an 18lb. flathead and the rod handled it fine. I would not be afraid to buy one of these, actually I like this one so much I am considering buying another becuase it is such a versatile rod I have so many things I want to do on it. A day on the lake has more than once consisted of this rod never leaving my hands, even as I change baits. And just so you know, I have baitcasters that could do all the things I listed, its just that this one does it better. Anymore the only baitcasters I use are my BCR853 GLX for bigger jigs and t-rigs, and my Avid 70MM Big crankbait rod for DD22's and the like. Hope this helps...I LOVE THIS ROD, by the way.... IK

HaHa Fishtank... As I was sitting here pondering an answer to this question I was trying to decide between my Loomis Bronzeback and Symetre or my dads old Case that I have carried for years... I think I am going to go the same way you did...this little knife has got me out of some pickles and for some reason its comforting just to knwo I have it with my no matter where I go. So my Case XX 61048 is my winner as my favorite fishing gear..may be my favorite piece of gear for my life in general too...I love this little blade.

Lol Rw... I guess I should have seen that coming. I have been meaning to try some YZ, but I want to make sure it is just line problems I am having before I spend good money only to be wasted by an injured reel. Ill steal some of dads freshest stren and give it a try, if all goes well I plan on getting som YZ and may have to try the McCoy on my spare spool too. Thanks guys, IK

What do I look for? It being stuck, or damaged or what? Thanks, IK

I have the 7' St. Croix Avid Crankbait rod that is heavy power moderate action. It works great for smaller cranks and performs outstanding for the huge ones, especially DD22's