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This is "pattern" fishing does always appear to be the pattern you might think it is. Example: marked a nice school of bass holding on a channel edge with blow downs near by. Put on a 3/8oz shakeyhead w/ a zoom mag. worm...Nothing...huh??? {always catch on this}the wife is throwing a T-Rig...Nothing. I put on a fat albert grub I'm in!! My school of "bass" turned out to be a school of walleye! I fish "fishy" spots 1st ie: lillypad ,mats ,blowdowns ,ect... then if I don't get bit I rely on my electronics.

I'm gonna stat fishing it in Oct. I use spinning tackle only and i'll be targeting smallmouth. What power rod do you guys/gals recommend ?

Well used it 4X so far but haven't used it around rock. Been using PP and gave fireline crystal a shot {wont but that again} same as regular fireline...junk IMO. Verdict is still out on EZ braid, can't tell much w/ only 4X. I know when I surfcasted Suffix Preformance Braid was best by far. I will try the 832 next, a lot of guys here brag on it.

I've had good luck with quantum's parts dept also...now their van staal division that's another story!!!!

hooligan, IMO is spot on. Fiberglass FW blanks aren't made to the same specs as they were when glass was the only option and graphite and boron was in it's infant stages. { I was told that years ago by a lamiglas rep.} The SW blanks are still basically the same. While I don't use any glass rods in FW I did use them in SW. I even have a glass 9' surfrod I built for throughing redfins and bombers.

He's right, if you don't know how to do it DON"T open up a reel, especially Shimano's.

When I live on LongIsland, NY most of the partyboats {AKA driftboats} didn't allow braidlines on their boats.

IMO the best way to do maintenance on a reel is to open it up, clean out the old grease, and replace it with fresh grease.

Tried the co-poly for the 1st time today, I really liked it !!!

Punisher makes some heavier shakey jigs

If he had the driftsock tied to the back of the boat it's highly likely. Growing up on Longisland and fishing the LI Sound and ocean it was common to hear of boats sinking cause they anchored off the stern.

I'd try this^^^^^^^^^^ I don't use the Albright, I use the Omni, sometimes I have to twist it more to stop it from breaking. I think the braid cuts into the leader and more twist helps preventing it from doing that.

When I first stared building in the mid 70's you where able to build a rod for a fraction of the cost of a factory rod .Not the case any longer.

Anyone use this ? Found a new spool of it in my stash, don't remember when I bought it but I spooled it up last week on a spinning reel only used it twice so I really cant give an honest opinion but I like the way it handles. Anyone have any experience with it ?

NOTHING like a custom rod!!!!!!! You can get exactly what youre looking for , tailored to your specific needs & likes.

I liked the video. Not a bad test IMO. I basically had the same results as him when I surfcasted. I never used PP SuperSlick but did use reg. PP. The Suffix had better abrasion resistance than both PP & Fireline. I never used the 832 but I believe i'll give it a go next time I need to spool up.

Depends how you look at it.I own both. Quantums I own are: Energy (1) Pulse (1) Cabo (2) Shimanos I own are: Symetre (2) Stadic (2) Sustian (2) Shimanos are a bit smoother if that matters to you. Quantums are a lot easier to do maintenance on. Pleasure to deal with Quantum when ordering parts, not so much with Shimano. Cabos are built like a Panzer tank!! Better drags than any of my Shimanos. With all that being said the reels are use most are my Diawa Tournament SS's. Those reels simply don't break!! Probably why they haven't changed them in 30+ years.

Had both the ambassaduer 4600C & 5500C. Also had bantam silvers and blacks. The black bantam was the 50G, a large baitcaster I used for saltwater fishing. The silver bantams were the 100 & 300 both bass sized reels. The Shimanos and ambassaduers were the last baitcasters I used for bass fishing before switching to spinning tackle. In the day they were fine reels. By todays standards I guess some would they are antiquated.I know that shimano doesn't make the bantams that I had anymore but if you got and they work they'll catch fish. As far as the "round" ambassaduers go I loved those reels!! I think they might still be in production but i'm not 100% sure on that. Use the reels and enjoy them they were workhorse reels for me.

Wayne,i'd like to apologize. That was a smart a$$ comment I made and it was rude of me. I'd delete the post but it's been quoted. So i'll apologize in the forum where I posted it rather than thru a PM.

I agree subtleties or bait

The spots that I fish aren't random spots theyre structure that holds fish. Of course not all structure holds fish. Waynes original responds to the OP was IMO useless in answering his/her question. He should explain further what he means by "patterns". For all I know or anyone eles for that matter, the OP could be a total newbie.

So you choose a pattern and randomly cast ? Yup that will catch ya fish ! LOL!!!

Nice bgraham... usually I down size my offerings if I don't get bit on my standard pre-front offerings. Today the blowdowns and rockpiles didn't produce (they always do) caught them on sand shoals today. Water temps feel 11 degrees since thurs.

Spots= Structure... I ALWAYS fish spots and figure out what pattern they're on

How do you guys fish it ? First I try my regular methods then if that don't work i'll start downsizing. I generally fish the same spots as I did before the front. Generally i'll do ok by fishing the same spots by downsizing but not always. Like to hear how you guys/gals fish a cold front and post cold front.