loudcherokee

It's all Lews for me. I tried a couple of Abus, Shimanos, Daiwa. Then I bought my Lews speed spool MG. I now own a Lews BB1 which is amazing for cranking, a Lews Tourney Pro, a Lews MG, and a Lews spinning reel. LC

Yup. picked one up not long ago. Cranking is SMOOOOOOTH and yes, it casts a mile. I dont notice the weight difference myself. LC

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh SNAP! LC

Now it starts! Hold on to your wallet. I started with an MG....before i knew it i had a tourney pro, a bb1, and a tournament HS spinning reel! welcome to the Lewsers club! LC

Yeah, I was born and raised in Oak Ridge/Clinton area. Lived there until i was 23 and moved to Pittsburgh. Norris is a really nice lake. Clean water, beautiful scenery, good fishing. Too many people in the summer, I agree. Catch one of those volkswagon sized catfish by the dam yet? Lol. LC

Dillon mini gun. /end thread :-) LC

I think in some places its called chili mac. Up here its cincinnati chili. Urban dictionary has a good definition of it: http://www.*/define.php?term=Cincinnati%20chili&defid=1680734 LC

very good stuff. I use it as the base mix for my chili. Secret to hot chili is in the meat. After browning and draining the meat, i add pureed jalepenos, the entire bottle of jalepeno juice, cayanne pepper, some red and green chilis with juice, and if im particularly daring that day, some minced habaneros. Let that simmer on low-med for like an hour, stirring occasionally. Let that meat soak up allllllll that juice and heat, then add it to your chili pot with your beans and what not. I usually have to make two batches, one mild for everybody else, and one my way for myself and the daring. Poured over some fritos and colby jack cheese, and its perfect. People up here like it with mashed potatoes or pasta. Crazy. Id really like to find a way to get ahold of some of those ghost chilis one of these days. LC

lol, i do that with the dinks. The bigger fish i like to let them fight a little bit to tire them out so they're not so fidgety when they're out of the water. I always feel bad if one wriggles and gets loose on land. LC

Love it. I think its a great rod for the price. Sensitive, and plenty of strength to spare. LC

You could say that. I was only making the suggestion based on what I've read, and limited personal experience. I just think a more adjustable brake control would allow a little more room for error from a beginner, with easily adjusting the brakes without having to remove the side cover every cast until they get a feel for it. I agree that there are many brake sytems that work great, both centrifigal and magnetic, I just think the mag brakes are a little easier to learn on. LC

I would probably recommend something with a little more control for a beginning baitcaster, either dual brakes or at least an external mag control. The Lews Tournament MG is what I fished on all season, and love it. Its what I "cut my teeth on" i guess you could say. I dont think the BB1 5:1 would be a very versatile do it all baitcaster, but they do come in 6.4:1 and 7.1:1 ratios too, with infinite anti-reverse. LC

I just got two new rods, a 7'1" *** *** Black in MH for baitcasting, and a 7'1" *** *** Black in M for finesse spinning. Only fished them once so far. We'll see if the problems keep up with the new equipment. LC

Just wanted to post up about my first trip out with my Lews BB1. Its my dedicated cranking reel, with a 5:1 ratio, multi stop anti reverse, and spooled up with 12# Yozuri Hybrid. The rod is a 6'6" medium Berkley Lightning Rod Shock series. Out of the box, the thing casts like a dream. Cranking the handle is smooth as silk, running a KVD 1.5. I haven't touched the centrifigul brakes. Not sure if they come from the factory on or off, but this thing was bombing that KVD a country mile, with NO backlash. The only time I had an overrun was when i snagged a bush behind me on a cast. I did manage to hook into a nice size 2 pounder. Only 2 pounds in weight, but this girl was LONG. Spawn time Im sure she'd be around 4-5 pounds. She was longer than my PB of 5 pounds by a few inches. Anyways, back to the reel, the drag performed smoothly. I had it set low at first, and she took a run and pulled a little bit, leaving me cranking with no retrieve. A quick tightening of the drag brought her right in to the bank with no issues. The reel could use a good cleaning. From the factory its packed with grease pretty good. Theres even some overrun of grease on the body where the handle enters. Can't wait to give it a proper flush and cleaning to see how it performs with good oil and grease. LC

Tackle this year has mostly been a Lews Tournament MG with 30 pound braid on a 7' MH Berkley Lightning Rod Shock. I would say the tip on this rod is about medium - moderate. My hook setting differs. Sometimes i set over the shoulder, sometimes to the side while reeling, and sometimes I get a little excited and just snap the tip of the rod up about 12 inches and start cranking. LC

I've lost more fish this year on the jump than any other way. Either the hook shakes loose while theyre in the air, or within seconds after they re-enter the water. I've read several different methods, ie point the tip at the fish, keep the tip down, etc. What do they mean by this? Wouldnt moving the tip down from an up position or pointing the tip at the fish introduce slack into the line, which is a bad thing with fish on? Its not the hooks, as ive lost them on jigs, spinnerbaits, and crankbaits. How do you guys fight jumping fish without losing them? LC

spiderwire worm binder from walmart -$9.98. Has 15 heavy duty zip lock bags inside on binder rings. I put 2 or 3 original packages in each ziplock, sorted by type (senko style, craws, creatures, etc.) This allows me to easily flip through the pages to find what im looking for. I attached mine to my tackle bag with carabiners for easy carrying. If you go that route, make sure it has all the pages in it. Walmart doesnt sell the extra pages, and ive come across some of them where someone has apparently helped themselves to the bags inside. LC

Jumping off topic for a second - try an external light source, no flash, and the macro setting on your camera. One of my hobbies since i was a kid has always been model cars. This always works good for getting photos of metallic paints like the gold youre talking about. Back on topic - legal sized gut hook - i would keep and eat it. Love fish, rolled in butter, little bit of lemon pepper...mmm mmmmm good. As far as mounting, I would probably try for a replica for anything over 10 pounds. My PB is 5, so I may never have to worry about making that decision. The state record here is only 12 something. I just cant see killing any animal to just hang it on the wall. If the meat could also be eaten, thats a different story, like a deer. Keeping a head mount while eating the rest of the animal is perfectly acceptable to me. If the same were possible for a fish, then i would go with skin mount. LC

Hmmmm....me+fishing hooks+inflated device holding my head above water+bad swimmer = NO WAY! Same with you kayak guys, standing and what not. Crazy! LC

Which BB1 is it? The standard BB1 with the 5:1 ratio has the multi stop reverse and is not an instant anti reverse. LC

I need to look into some good snaps. I recognize their versatility, but have none in my tacklebox. I did use one once, and found it impeded the action of my bait too bad, but i was probably using it for something it shouldn't have been used for. Are there any snaps where the part that goes through the eye of the lure is round instead of the box type? Do all snaps have swivels? LC

I got omniflex for backing. As soon as i took tension off the line, the stuff started flying off the spool (spinning) in big loops. Made a horrible mess. I had to take about 30 yards off before it would stop. LC

I'll have to try some of these out. I gave the san diego jam a whirle and couldnt get it to snug up tight so i didnt have confidence in it. LC

Tried unsuccessfully to tie a rapala knot. Kept ending up with a loop big enough to drive a mack truck through. Ended up going with a palomar. What is a better knot for cranks on copolymer line? Ive read palomar is bad with fleuro, so im assuming that may apply to copoly as well. LC

You go right ahead. Try prying the turtle from bigfoots hands. Ive seen the Jack Links commercials. NO THANK YOU. LC