Josh Smith

I do not let my 2-year-old girl or my 8-year-old boy watch anything like that. They will emulate. Heck, Belle would rather watch fishing shows than cartoons because that's what she's used to watching. She'll also grab any reel she sees laying around, and whether or not it's on a rod, she'll try pretend to cast with it. That's not a bad thing. It only shows to what extent kids emulate. It's not anyone's place to tell you how to raise your boy, but if you don't want him doing what he's doing, Clayton, don't encourage the behavior by letting him watch the adult stuff. Josh

Thanks Raul. Reckon you have 10 or 15 years on me. I'm 38 and some of this stuff I remember quite dimly. Josh

When using braid, no leader: Single hooks: 3/4 to full drag. I'm usually fishing salad with this, and go to full lockdown. I've known some folks who take pliers to their drags. I'm not one of those. Treble hooks: Generally not used without a leader, but would go to 1/4 to 1/2 drag as long as the drag's not slipping on the retrieve. I'm thinking deep crankbaits here. When using braid with leader, or mono: Single hooks: Generally not used, but on the rare occasion they are (like with round head jigs) I set the drag to 1/3 to 1/2 the weakest link, with the weakest link generally being tied at the lure. Treble hooks: 1/4 to 1/2 the weakest link breaking point. I'm usually fishing open water and I do this to prevent fish loss more than anything. Josh

Dang, some folks are getting offended. Maybe I should have not used the word "gimmick" but rather "things that didn't last"? The fightin' drag looks like a gimmick to me. I have no trouble spinning a drag knob while fighting a fish. I never heard of that TN handle. It looks like the simplest solution to a real problem, though not one I've encountered. The TWS makes sense, sorta, but there are just too many moving parts to make me happy. "What was the helicopter lure of fishing reels" may have been the best way to phrase it. I seem to recall Boron fishing rods. Sensitive but broke easily, right? They were phasing out in favor of graphite, I think, by the time my memories of gear beyond my Zebco 33 started. Regards, Josh

If it's patented or copyrighted, you need permission. Sometimes they will ask money for this permission. If it is not patented, then it's known as public domain. It could be public domain because someone decided not to patent. An example would be the Ruger copy of the Keltec design in firearms. It could also be that a patent has expired. I'm sure the levelwind had a patent at one point; it expired and now everyone uses it. Regards, Josh

You know, the TWS makes sense to me, but I also see it as one other thing to break. I figure you can have a fragile(???) TWS, or have friction at when the line comes off the outside of the spool while casting, or you can transfer that friction to a non-disengaging levelwind (my preference as I feel there's more to be done there than the disengaging levelwind). Josh

That's a good question. It was made by Zippo and looks like a lighter. I've always carried it in my pocket. I don't recall where I got it, though I probably swiped it from my dad, who was a GM engineer while I was growing up. I acquired a lot of promotional stuff from GM's business partners through Dad back then. Josh

Hey Guys, We had a similar thread about gimmick lures, so I figured maybe we could do one on rods and reels. I'm wondering what gimmicks you guys remember on rods/reels/etc. I remember back before I got out of fishing for a while, it seemed every new spinning reel to come out had a danged trigger on it! I tried one and couldn't like it. What about you? Josh

I really appreciate it! My calipers that I always keep around the desk have gone missing. Using a tape measure, I'm getting 9mm OD x 4mm ID x about 1mm thick. It's plastic or hard fiber. It almost feels like pre-carbon drag material, but it's definitely not felt. The spool spins on it while the drag's going out -- it's part of the drag system, it looks like. Is that how it is in the Shimano reels? Regards, Josh

Huh. I always thought a conventional didn't have a level wind. This is based in nothing I've ever read; just sorta' assumed. Dangit. Josh

So guys, this is what I'm looking at: There are no washers except for the drag washer. Do I need a thinner drag spacer washer, then? Thank you, Josh

Was it any good?

Hi Guys, Been looking at the older Shimano reels as I think they might just complement my Ambassadeurs nicely. I've been wanting a reel for cranking, too, and have been deciding between a '70s 5500 or buying something else. Mostly, though, I put the bid in for $22.50 because I figured it would be cool if I won two reels for that price, and I'll be danged if I didn't. I figure I'll clean 'em up, service them, and see what happens. The rods are shipping with them, too, so the shipping cost of $15 ups the price to a little less than $40, but still a deal, I think. What can you all tell me about these reels before they get here? Thanks, Josh

Lift, reel. Lift, reel. Lift, reel. I've horsed 'em in when I had to, you know, out of thick cover, and this is one reason I prefer Ambassadeurs. They can handle it. The 4.7:1 and 5.3:1 (21ipt and 26ipt) ratios work best for this. However, for general open-water, there's no real advantage, and with treble hooks, you don't want all that much torque. When I river fish, I have not noticed any difference between 21ipt, 26ipt, and 31ipt when fighting the fish. I have time to let the rod do the work, and I frankly very rarely feel the reel handle in any conscious manner. I kinda' doubt I'd feel a 100ipt reel handle during a fight, though. Regards, Josh

Let us know how you like these. I have been debating on getting one. Regards, Josh

Thank you all, gents. I'll take it apart and look at it. Between Dad and I (mostly Dad!) we have several retired/broken spinning reels I'm sure I can part out. Will see today what's in it. Just in case, do you have the Shimano part number, Smallie Mike? Thanks again! Josh

Hello, I use a little Pflueger President reel for my UL spinning setup: As you can see, the line tapers on the spool. This is about as full as I can get it before it begins overrunning the rear of the spool. The drag is tight, and does get slightly worse when I loosen the drag. I've never seen any other spinning reel do this. Is this an intentional thing by Pflueger? Is there a spacer in there that's too thick, or something? I'm not a spinning reel guy and use this out of necessity for really light lures; I'm not well-versed in spinning reel construction or maintenance. That taper bothers me. Any insight would be appreciated. Regards, Josh

Hi Guys, Thank you. Before I started playing with palming the reel, I fished with two fingers in front of the trigger with my thumb on top of the reel, in a semi-palmed position. It's what was comfortable for me. This time around, after my time off, I've found that palming 4600 and 5500 Ambassadeurs is about perfect for my shovel-sized hands, so I do. Vance, my son, just wants to emulate me. I did pick up a little Lew's baitcaster sometime back; it was supposed to be used for panfish, I think, similar to the BB1 but much smaller. It's his size, but it wouldn't hold up and even I have trouble casting with it. I think I'll work on encouraging Vance to find his own way to hold it. I emulated my dad a lot, but also had to work out my own salvation. Same will be true for Vance. Regards, Josh

Hi Folks, I wonder if anyone has any suggestions for "palmable" baitcaster sizes for an 8-year-old boy. He's ready and does well enough with the one I gave him to practice with, but it's too large for him to palm. Thank you, Josh

Iodine worked!

I repeated using 5 drops in a mouthful of water. I gargled for 60 seconds and spat. We'll see. The first time this looks bad, I'm going to the doc for antibiotics. Still, I'd like this to work, and it seems like it wants to. Lots of the old techniques are forgotten, as are doses etc. Regards, Josh

Hello, I've played with cheap tablets, the Chinese versions, generally Allwinner. They work OK. The charging systems break in 6mos to a year, but they do work for as long as they charge. The problem is bloatware and spyware. I unlocked/jail broke/gained administrator privileges on one to get rid of that crap. I followed it all the way down into the root directory. When I deleted them from the root directory, the tablet stopped working. Let me phrase that a different way: Spyware/Adware is part of the operating system of some (most?) of these cheap tablets, and cannot be erased without bricking the device. That would be like Windows running a Trojan SAM in its root directory, with the file being required to run. To make it more fun, the Android version was altered just enough to run on this hardware that no other version I could find would run. Cheap tablets might work well, but there's a mighty big tradeoff. I'm personally looking at the Samsung models. Josh

Update: Some pain is back, but it's only the deeper pain. There is no surface pain as is normally associated with a sore throat, and to locate the source, I tried a benzocaine lozenge. It didn't help, so it's deeper in the tissue, possibly viral. I'll give it 24 hours and then repeat the dose. Regards, Josh

Naw... The poison is in the dose.

Hi All, Years ago I asked a question about old time remedies, what folks did before the widespread use of antibiotics. One answer was that parents painted the throats of kids with iodine. One member I highly respect on the forum on which I asked suggested that I make sure I'm not sensitive to iodine should I be inclined to try this, so I began by using iodine water purification tablets, then straight iodine to purify the water. Seems I'm not sensitive. Since a lot of the time iodine tincture is made with wood alcohol, I've been wary of using it internally. Recently I found "Lugol's Solution". It's not a name brand. Rather, it's a type of solution, not a tincture, and can be had in many different brands. The ingredients on the one I ordered are distilled water, 94%, potassium iodide, 4%, and iodine, 2%. I've had a sore throat for a few days, so I took the opportunity to use this stuff to paint my tonsils. Just a drop on a Q-Tip on each tonsil, nothing radical. I guess we'll see what happens. An hour later I'm not experiencing any reactions, so I'm hopeful. Will report back any delayed side effects, as well as the ultimate results. Regards, Josh