Alpster

If you are concerened about losing expensive lures, then braid is your answer. I like braided lines for a lot of other reasons. Although some guys are pretty passionate about it, there are no iron clad rules about line test. There are lots of light line fishing records that easily prove that with the right rod, reel & terminal tackle you can successfully catch fish weighing many, many times the tested breaking strength of your line. Check out IGFA records website. Hope this helps. Ronnie

I have the cheap Berkley as well. It has worked pretty good so far and like the others, I don't want to lose a fancy expensive scale in the excitement. JMHO Ronnie

That's interesting, I use Megastrike on all my soft platic stuff and Bang Craw on my hard lures. I guess it's a good thing everyone doesn't think alike. Ronnie

I am building me 3 new rods. I give myself gifts all the time, cause I know what I want. Ronnie

Definitely a nice bass! That crappie ain't no slouch either. Good for you on a crisp fall day. Ronnie

Avid, The Straidic (I have two) is around $120 retail and they are solid reliable reels. If you want to spend your whole $200 you can pick up a sustain (I have a twin power Japanese sustain) and it's a big step up. I only paid $285 for my Stella on ebay and I don't think you can get a better spinning reel period. Watch ebay and you find a deal. JMHO Ronnie

You won't be disappointed. ENJOY Ronnie

AMEN! Ronnie

Now that's one sweet rig, You are going to love it! JMHO Ronnie

The main advantage of spiral wrapped guides is that they make a baitcasting rod behave like a spinning rod. If you want to feel the difference, take a conventional BC rod with no reel and run a 10' piece of line through the guides. Tie one end to the hook keeper or trigger and the other end to anything solid. Hold the butt end of the rod gingerly and lift the rod with your other hand to load it. Notice that it wants to flip over in your hands and point the guides down. Because your muscles do it without thinking about it, you don't notice how much energy it takes to constantly correct for that tendency for the rod to turn over. Especially if you fish all day like some of us do. This is especially true of spinnerbaits and deep crankbaits that load the rod during the retrieve. Also spiral guides distibute the load along the rod better and there is no chance for the line to touch the rod when flexed hard in a fight. I am so impressed with the performance that I sold a $1000 worth of factory made G-Loomis rods to make all my baitcasters spiral wrapped. JMHO Ronnie

I think I get it. Another option that came to mind is deck the floor around the box and put matching carpet on the box as a seat for a third fisherman or a mount for you fish finder. I guess I see incorporating the box into the design as the easiest solution, if there's anyway to make it fit your vision. As far as welding the aliminum goes. If your man has the right equipment and is smart enough to weld aluminum, he will know if there is enough material to weld to. As an amatuer welder with a Square Wave Tig welder I can tell you that there are various solutions to thin material. Adding backing plates to beef up welded areas is the most common when welding thin aluminum. I love reworking boats and I hope this helpfull. Ronnie

Fishbear, Why not keep it and build a floor deck over the top of the whole box? You can raise your seats up on short pedistals and make dry storage around the livewell. This would give you a nice fishing platform as well. I can't tell how big the boat is, so stability might be an issue, but I would try to keep it if I could. My boat is 16' semi V-hull and works great. Here's how I did mine, the livewell is under the door in front of the rear seat... JMHO Ronnie

Looks like you done goood! Any real deals at BPS we should know about? Allways looking for a bargain. Bait monkey just don't never let up. Ronnie

My opinion is, that no one has ever purchased a Calais and regretted it. If there is a smoother, more solid reel anywhere, I want to try it. I have two of them and if I could only have one reel, it would be a Calais. For deep cranking the calais CL200 (my reels) is fast, 6.2 :1. However the APV model is 5.0 :1. But that is a personal preference. Just an aside, if you want to mortgage the farm and have the ultimate cranker, Shimano Calcutta TE200DC 5.0 :1. Retails for $499 and goes for about $350 new on ebay. The most amazing reel you ever fished with. Casts an 1/8 oz crank bait or floater like a spinning reel and is as strong as a boat winch. JMHO Ronnie

Confidence comes from accomplishment. Everyone's confidence bait is the one that has caught them the most fish. I have a couple of what I call my confidence baits and I have to believe that if all else fails that if I bear down, concentrate and fish them right, that I will catch fish. If I didn't believe it, I may as well stay home and watch TV. JMHO Ronnie

I fried six turkeys today at church. We had 50 people, an awesome meal and a grand time . Lots to be thankfull for here! I hope yours was as sweet. Ronnie

I am replacing all my baitcasters with spiral wrapped rods. I am doing the work myself. DG Custom Rods AKA Reelmech can build you what you want and you won't be disappointed. Check out his work on his website. Here's the link... http://www.rod-crafting.com/ Good luck with your search Ronnie

I have always worked in and around the construction industry all my life and early morning is my time. I know of what you speak about being on the water when it's just light enough to see. It's sad that so few of us get to have that experience. LBH I got another kid hooked on fishing this past summer and one of the benifits for me is, on the days when I would start to cancel my fishing plans for something dumb (like work), Nick would call me and ask "are we going tomorrow???". How can you say no to a youngster who wants to fish? LOL The young guys help me keep my priorities straight. One of my frustrations with my favorite local lake is, that it doesn't open till 6 am and 1/4 the day is gone. Ronnie

Hey Muddy, You will see when we go to Fork, that I am a Shimanoholic. For Bass fishing I use them exclusively. However I have 3 reels made by ABU Garcia a 5000WS, 6000 (used to be my flippin reel) and a 5600DS. I use them for carp & catfishing these days. These reels are bullet proof and for the $ they are very hard to beat. I could easily recomend 4000 and 5000 series reels, they have a track record 100 miles long. The Revo and Record reels have not been around so long. My gut feeling is, Ambassadeur makes a good product and you won't be dissapointed, no matter which you choose. JMHO Ronnie

Although I am developing an affinity for the DT series, I still think the original floater is my favorite. Good fishing thread. JMHO Ronnie

Don't worry, Roadwarrior will show up soon and help you with the brown bass rig, he's the man for small mouths. Ronnie

They replaced 2 rods for me this year, no questions asked. A GLX and a IMX. I am about to order 4 new G-Loomis blanks. Not just great customer service, but 1st class fishing sticks also. Hey G-man, I've got an FS904 also, bought the blank and spiral wrapped the guides with foam grips, what a sweet fishing tool it is! JMHO Ronnie

Are you planning to do it professionaly ? Heck NO, I love rod building, but if I had to do it for a living it would certainly lose it's charm. Right now, I am selling all my conventional factory made rods and replacing them with spiral wrapped versions in roughly the same models and types. I am ordering 4 blanks to finish my personal arsenal. Then I have 2 others that I have promised to do for a couple of friends and I have two of my own that are under construction. It sure feels like a job these days. Maybe when I retire one day, I can suplement my income. We'll see. LOL Ronnie

I am hoping for a couple of Mattlure's Bluegills and maybe a LC sammy or two. But I'm wrapping me 4 or 5 new rods this winter, so I can't lose, no matter what Santa does. Ronnie

You say they are here to abduct me, but I say they just find me irresistable. Ronnie