Kevin22

I bought 30 of them last year. Figured if they didnt work well I could always give them to friends who paint lures. I have not tried them yet.

6

He put it on upside down.

Line and rod. Reel is not important to me because I mostly target cast at short distances.

Plastics

8-10 for jerks, and senkos if you use drag. If you are a "tighten it down and rip em out" type of guy then you probably want 14/15 for senkos.

There will be more resistance from a crankbait being retrieved than a spool tension knob set at a normal setting would apply. Unless of course you are throwing 8oz baits.

Spool tension has nothing to do with gears.

That mlxf and the legend 69mlxf are nice rods! Perfect action for drop shot IMO.

Ive caught cats on every type of lure there is. Got into them real good one day a few years ago on topwater frogs and buzzbaits.

I fully agree about the tool being an accident waiting to happen. Stinks that it cost you that much for a split second accident, but that is the price you pay for high quality reels and parts I guess. I know people who are so cheap that instead of buying good reels, they buy cheap reels just because they are too cheap and lazy to maintain them. Instead they sacrifice casting distance, accuracy, and end up tossing reels every year because they wore out from neglect.

I should note that for the most part, I fill the spools almost all the way with braided line. Just because I can fish a good 3/4 to full season with it, then flip it around the next spring and use it for another half season or more. Usually during the flip of the line I have to add more backing due to breakoffs. I found that if I do 50% then by the time it needs to be flipped there is not enough line left on it so I waste a half season worth of line by throwing it away. For instance, I took a full 150 yard spool of 6/2 sufix 832 and put it on a spinning reel with 10 feet of backing so it didn't slip. This was feb 2014. I fished with it all last year, then flipped it this year about a month ago. It will be good for another full season. That is $10 a year for line for one reel, that is darn good IMO. And there is no way any fish is going to spool me with that much line. (this is a walleye reel, and I need to make LOOONNG casts with it). On another reel I used up my last half-spool of power pro 10/2 and spooled it at the same time, that is 75 yards. By july I had a wind knot and a few breakoffs and was hitting my knot on long casts. So wasted half a spool for 5 months of use. That equals out to 10 months use for a spool of power pro doing 50/50, vs estimated 24 months for a spool of sufix at 95/5.

I use 6# shakespeare $0.98 walmart line as backing. Used to use the $5 1/4lb spools of cajun red until I ran out. The amount of backing depends on what main line I am using. For instance, with 65# braid I hardly use any backing. Maybe 5 turns of the reel, just so the braid doesn't slip. Simply because I can't get a lot of 65 on the reel. Now for 10 or even 8# I will use about 50% backing and 50% main line. I have only had one fish take me to backing in the last few years, and it was a 20# drum on a 10# reel. The 6# backing held up just fine, because by the the time it got that far out it was already wore down. If I knew that it was a drum I wouldn't have played it like I did and just horsed it in, but you never know what you will hook in the mighty miss. If it is a flipping reel, you probably don't need but 30 yards of main line.

Just FYI, the best backing I have ever found was $0.98 shakespeare 6lb mono at walmart. Smaller dia lays better as backing, doesn't leave voids like thicker line does.

Its very visible. Good catfish line.

Abu will still probably honor the warranty, they have great customer service. Costs 9.95 for a warranty claim.

Guess you'll just have to take some out of each bag if you need to cut weight. You know what is going to happen though, you are going to hit a hot bait and only have 3-4 of them.

That sounds right, and don't they grow upside down (pointing to the sky)?

Your walmart has a banana tree? COOL! Wish mine had that! Getting tired of picking the apples in there, need some variety! Aren't lemons green also, before ripening?

And then came out with 2.0 because of the breakage issues with the Generation 2. I have a few gen 2, hoping they send me a 2.0 so I can try that out and compare.

Could always just take what you think you will need and leave the rest in the truck, then if you need it just go back and exchange it for the stuff that didn't work. That's what I usually do.

Did you try contacting lowrance? they might be able to help you out if is one of their mounts.

There's another thread going titled "???" that is the best $100 rod. From test driving a friends selection of ducketts, I'd have to say the micro magic is the best $150 rod. Very sensitive and great actions. Im very eager to try a ghost and see if it is the same. I hear its the same blank, just cheaper guides.

If they are just for yourself, paint them with fingernail polish and then clear coat with epoxy or clear nail polish. Sally hansen hard as nails is what you want. Comes in hundreds of colors. We had to do some emergency painting once on a trip, the fish were inhaling black spinnerbaits and all I had on me was 1. Fish destroyed it so had to make a trip to the local shops in the area but nobody had any. Found some black skirts and bought all they had, then stopped at walmart and bought some black fingernail polish. Took white and chartreuse spinnerbaits and painted the heads and installed black skirts. Was the only option. Surprisingly they held up great and I still have them somewhere.

Red and chartreuse are the known bleeders. Keep those baits contained in their own packaging.