pbizzle

I knew that they're good reels but this got me worried. This is what I thought. No big deal, I'll just stop by after church tomorrow.

I know that I wouldn't be that smooth but compared to the floor model it's really rough like rubbing gravel together and it sounds like it has sand in it. I heard someone that said they put new bearings in it and made it smoother. I know that once I take it a part that there's no way that I could put it back together. I think it's just a used reel that some one returned.

I'm just going to take it back. I just looked around it more and some of the paint is chipped. I'm really surprised that this would get through any form of quality control. I'll just exchange it for another one.

It also feels geary. Not what I'd expect from a ten bearing reel even if a lot are in the handles.

Well, I just got a mettle at 8:30, got home and took it out of the box and it sounds pretty geary and it's real loud. I haven't done anything to it yet. Is this normal or should I take it back?

At Wal-Mart you can buy some curly tail zoom grubs for like a dollar for 15 pack of 4 inch grubs. They're in a plastic box and all it says is panfish love em... I've been successful rigging those on a drop shot and just dragging it in. Nothing huge but I did get a good sized gill. Any grub would do but those are the cheapest I could find. I'm also fishing from the bank.

This is really well put. I was just trying to get across that you don't really need the baitcasters for anything when it comes to bass fishing. They're a tool and good to have, but not necessarily a necessity for any technique. I know lots of old guys who only use zebcos and spinning reels and will outfish any one they meet. The only difference between them and me is that they can use that tool to get the job done.

I wasn't trying to attack any one or anything, just say that it's not necessarily needed. I actually prefer my casting reels for this, but I wouldn't ever tell someone that they can only use one thing for a technique.

It's alright. I just get a little upset when I hear this because a guy at Academy (who now longer works their) completely turned my friend off of fishing because of this. He had to fish on a fairly tight budget and couldn't afford a baitcaster, but the guy just kept shoving them in his face. This convinced him that he was just too poor to fish. Which was not the case one bit. I'm not a fan of catching big fish on a light line, just because I can't ever play them quite right. I think it's good to recommend a baitcaster to new fishermen (which is completely not the case with jason41987) but not to keep forcing it on them.

In my experience... however you want. To put this better however the fish want it. I've been fishing one day where they'll just hammer a bait when it's dragged and hopped but on the next day they'll only eat it if you swim it, yet both days have the same conditions.. Lately I've been big on using a keel weighted ewg and slowly swimming them or even darting them like a fluke, it's a very weedless technique. I only use the weighted hook because of how slowly they sink. I don't know how clear the water is in your lake but if I'm at a spot where they're feeding on gills and there's clear water I like to use a watermelon lure with a chartreuse tail, looks just like a gill in the water. I really recommend this with any soft plastic jerkbaits. By the way I'm a bank fishermen my self.

I am. I caught my PB on some 8 pound mono from the bank in heavy hydrilla before I even learned to use a baitcaster. It was so coated in weeds I thought I had a 7 pounder or something. I've also caught reds who have taken me into some pretty crappy stuff. My uncle even owns his own deep sea boat in which he strictly uses spinning reels besides for a couple Penn Internationals. I only picked up a baitcaster because I'm a naive 13 year old (14 in 2 weeks) who believes everything that he's told. I would actually say that I enjoy using a baitcaster equally as much or more as my spinning reels. I just got tired of hearing everyone saying that they need to use a baitcaster for these techniques.

I'm going to start keeping a cheap disposable camera in the box.

Do you know what I just realized? I just realized that all that stuff about you have to use baitcast gear for heavy weeds or heavy cover blah blah blah is really a bunch of horse crap. I mean look at all the east coast saltwater guys. I can almost guarantee you that most of them use spinning gear 90% of the time. And you can't say that it's because there's not as much cover or whatever to fray line until you try getting some big redfish out of some mangroves using a 4000 size reel (which is also my newest bass reel). I'm sure that SirSnookalot can elaborate more on this.

The main reason I don't like them is because of how they feel in your hand. They can really hurt your wrist after a long day of crappie fishing. As for bass fishing, I've only used the cheap one's and wouldn't trust them. That's not to say that one made of quality fish aren't any good but they definitely aren't as good as any $100 baitcaster although I can't afford one of those. However, for the cost of a quality spincast reel you could get a great spinning reel or an h2o xpress mettle.

By the way, I consider anything holding more than 100 yards of 4 pound mono ultralight. So a 1000 spinning reel with 6 pound mono is what I would consider light.

I'd throw my 7' dinger...

Pics?

Me to. It seems like once I get on a boat I can't catch a cold.

They smell exactly like mirrOlure soft plastics I use for trout in the salt. The goo bug is a smaller bait though. Seems like it may be good as a jig trailer. I won't get to really fish them until the 24th when I have my next club tournament , but I'll try to try them out a couple times before. I'll tell y'all how I do.

I was fishing a worm when I thought I got hung up in some weeds. Once I reel in to take them off, it turns out to be an employee id card from JC Pennies.

Lake Chickamauga has recently been reproducing lots of big largemouth and I caught a bunch of spotted bass in June for some reason. Since I'm trying to get my first big bass I wouldn't want to go light. You also need to remember that I'm really far south in Tennessee and theirs been a lot of weeds. That's not the reason I wouldn't want it for smallmouth though. I only get to fish for smallmouth in the river around the dam were theirs lots of rocks to knick up your line. I'm also taking it that he's a beginner and doesn't know how to play fish very well and will just horse them in.

I saw this also. I take everything I read about pro's with a grain of salt. I mean there being paid to advertise and use the products and could probably make a spark plug sound like the next senko.

These were on clearance at Academy for $1.98 a bag. Got the last two bags they had in carolina bug and june bug. Are they any good?

They're all freaking amazing. I've tried all but a few (wide load, slop craw, back slide, and smash tube) and have to say that they catch some quality fish. Also, they're super cost effective and only comparable to big bites.

It would be a lot easier if you say what your budget is. I only use an ultralight for crappie (bass pro micro lite glass $20 and a daiwa d-spin 500 $15) so it's not any good because I'll only use it twice a year. I can say that I wouldn't be comfortable using an ultralight for bass, and especially smallmouth. If you can spend $100-150 I would really recommend a Fenwick Eagle GT or a St. Croix Triumph and a Shimano Sedona or Pflueger President.