Josh Smith

The gears that Dad put in this '75 back before I was born are 6.2:1 or 6.3:1. It was an aftermarket kit that came from Japan if I recall. I'll have to ask again. I know for a fact it's as fast as the Black Max I have and bloody well outperforms that Black Max in about every area. The other 5000 I have is ineed 3.8:1. This is the one I need to upgrade. That first one, though, I was out tearing up the water with spinnerbaits this evening trying to get a reaction bite. Overfished lake, about 1" of rainfall the a couple nights ago, murky water, and post-spawn got bass fry hitting the spinners, but I couldn't find the big bass. It was mostly a spinnerbait test, though. I pretty much want to build the other 5000 into what the first one was modified to be, and I'd like to play with the envelope. We shall see. Josh

Thank you 0119! Found this: http://www.castawaytackleshop.com/Abu-Garcia-Brass-Gear-Parts-s/1853.htm and this http://www.castawaytackleshop.com/Reel-Upgrades-s/1893.htm I was looking under bass fishing and not catfish fishing, so that may have been part of the problem with the searches before It appears they have bent drag stars, too. Methinks I'll call and talk to them on Monday. Regards, Josh

Hi Folks, I love the Ambassadeur series, and the 5000 is my favorite all-time reel. I do have some questions, though, for those of you who may be a bit older than I. (I'm 36). First, I have two standard Ambassadeur 5000 reels. One has high-speed gears Dad got in the '70s. They were in his, which from what I can tell, was built in '75. I want to upgrade the other. Is ther any place to get them? I found a source that advertises that they're for "Ultracast" Ambassadeur reels, but I have no idea what an Ultracast is. Second, I've alwasy believed in ball bearings over bushings, and the standard 5000 has bronze bushings. Can bearings from a 5000C fit a standard 5000? I don't hotrod cars or anything else these days, but I'm not against a bit of modernizing. Bearings, in my experience, don't wear as fast as static bushings, for example. Thanks for any help you can provide. Josh

I was in auto tech school once-upon-a-time. It was during the transition from electronic carburetors to TBI, so I had to learn both. I got singled out for most of the diagnostics by the instructor, and then I passed the stuff down the line to be fixed by other kids who had other specialties. So one day I brought my Jeep Cherokee in. It had stopped heating, and I didn't know much about the climate controls. Lambert (instructor) opened the passenger door and said, "Yep. Smith, you see that water running down from the heater core?" "I do," said I, "but I was running defroster and the A/C pump kicked on. Are you sure it's not water?" "Taste it!" "Taste it, Lamberto? But it's poison!" "Eh, a little won't hurt you. Taste it!" And he stuck his finger in it and tasted it himself. I followed suite. It tasted sweet, like Kool-Aide. "That's antifreeze, Smith! And you have a leaking heater core!" And thus I learned automotive climate control diagnostics and the pure joy of changing modern heater cores. I still taste antifreeze when I need to be sure. Hasn't hurt me yet... I don't think. Josh

Hi Folks, Some of you remember when Belle was born. My wife was in a car wreck and went into labor early the next morning. Belle was about four weeks premature. She really didn't show it then, and definitely doesn't show it now. She was helping Big Brother and Daddy sort fishing lures, and decided she wanted to help. She loves this plastic worm (Zoom, I think). She is of course supervised and not allowed to chew on it! Josh

Sulfuric acid... That spray that was mentioned is just baking soda in water and pressurized. I would get some of the pressurized stuff, poke a needle hole in the seat, and run the spray's straw down through it. Let 'er rip! Josh P.S. Wear goggles.

Bass are not active most of the time. Josh

Hi Folks, The Boy and I went out last night for about an hour, hour and a half before his bedtime to toss some lures into the local small lake. There had been a cold front with rain the nigh before, but the water was still relatively clear. I was trying for a reaction strike with a 4" Reaction Strike Bass Harasser. Well, I got a reaction strike, but only half-hearted. I watched the bass strike, but it only struck lightly at the tail. It did not hold on at all. After that I tried some small swimbaits, a Texas rig, and few other things on the ultralight, then switched to some spinners I repaired recently, just to try them out. It's a heavily-fished lake, and fishing is challenging in the best of times. I probably would have stayed longer and tried more baits and techniques had The Boy not been there, but he had a busy day. Josh

I have the smallest President, the 6920 (I think that's the number). It takes 100yds of 4lb mono. I really like it, with two caveats: 1. It's made in China. In my experience, made in China stuff just isn't quite as good and this reel does feel made in China. (I looked it up after feeling it so it wasn't a prejudice on my part.) 2. The bail is just slightly harder to trip on this one than on others. It's loosened up some but will never be as easy to trip. A lot of the time I flick it closed manually. This is good for finesse fishing, so it's not a huge deal. Josh

Try this: http://avidangler8.tripod.com/id10.html I used to prefer the Albright, but it was complicated to tie. I now prefer the Seaguar knot -- it's very simple and fast to do. Josh

I go from 4' to 8' on the leaders, depending on what I'm doing. I used to be a snap-swivel junkie, but now I just tie fast. Braided line doesn't have the memory of mono, and twisting with spinnerbaits has ceased to be much of a concern. Josh

Try this: Cast, and wait until the ripples settle. Twitch it, and let the ripples settle. Repeat. Josh

I like the centrifugal, though Abu Garcia's 5600 is pretty nice. The rest of the time I prefer the 5000 series. Josh

I handload for the .45acp, the 7.62x54r, and the 7.92x57js. (The 7.92x57j, 7.92x57js, and the 7.92x57jss are typically lumped together in the US as the 8mm Mauser. They are three different, though closely related rounds, but the more powerful ones may take apart older actions like the M88.) Josh

Yes, daily. For the past three or four years it's been a full-sized 1911 I gutted and rebuilt, undercut, etc. It had some lug bump going on so I fixed that as well. Ammo changes to the 'mission' but the pistol and holster, a Super Speed Scabbard by Ken Null, stay the same. Before the 1911 it was a Taurus PT92, older version. I do not recommend the new versions as they simply tend to be of poor quality. The holster was a DeSantis speed scabbard if I recall. I sold an LCP when I got into black powder. I now wish I had not, but at the time it seemed logical as it was not seeing much use. The 1911 just got strapped on every day when I became self-employed. Josh

Blackmax, Really need more info. Is it a manual or automatic? Did it come with a light tow package? I love my Blazer. It's a 2000 with a 4.3SCPI (sequential Vortec). I'm a real fan of the S-Series. The 4.3 is basically a 350cid with two cylinders lobbed off. It gives close to 200hp and, more importantly, a buttload of torque. The bumper hitch that is on it is rated to Class II (350lbs tounge/3500 tow). Recently we moved. I was towing a large flatbed trailer with the Blazer. It towed very nicely, but man, on certain roads it would start porpoising and when the wind hit, I prayed for sway control. The brakes did well unless I tried to stop really fast at speed. Brake fade and glazing were the results. That Blazer is good to around 5000lbs, bu with the right equipment. The same is true for your Colorado. Josh

You should have at least 1900lbs towing capacity on the Colorado. I can check with Dad (former GM truck engineer) if you'd like, or you can take my word for it. My concerns are 1) you might not have enough tongue weight and 2) like others said, you really need trailer brakes for anything over 1,000lbs. It might be worth it to look into sway control, though for a low-profile trailer it's not as big an issue as for something like a travel trailer. Josh P.S. You have an axle ratio of 3.73:1. This is important to know. J.S.

DBL, I personally would go with a Texas rig using a black and white, blue and white, or green and white worm. Put braid on your reel and use a 2' to 4' fluro leader. Cast sort of downward, hard, so that the lure fires throught the weeds. Give it a second then play with presentations. I do specify braid so that it will cut the weeds and reduce snagging. Josh

Took some more pics 1. Preparing to cast -- thumbing the spool 2. Tipping during the cast to reduce friction 3. Become one with the reel while working the lure 4. I encounter problems with the longer rod handle/balance when trying to use full range-of-motion. Jerks to the left are especially challenging Now, I know some of the arguments for longer rods, and while they make a certain kind of sense, it just doesn't work for me. Greater accuracy? Naw. I used to practice by casting at a tent stake. I'm not the best in the world, but I can hit a tent stake at a respectable distance. Better leverage to land fish? I never had a problem, and a LONGER lever creates more force at the fulcrum anyway -- in this case, the hand located on the reel. Greater casting distance? I don't really see it, though that 6500 does cast a bit further, maybe 10 yards. I can make accurate casts with the 5' to 6' rods to 25 or 30 yards, though, and semi-accurate casts to 35 or 40 yards with the same rods. The 7' rod might add 10 yards to that, and that's 10 yards I don't need. For a long rod, though, they got the Lightning Rod right. The Jupiter rod, that silver one I'm holding, is the one that bugs me most. My casting is all in the wrist and mos of the lure action (especially finesse action) comes from my fingers and a little bit of my wrist. I hope I anwered ya'! Josh

Tony, if you want a guide, let me know. I'm not in the guiding business, but next time you're up here just let me know if you want someone to show you around. Been doing a lot of supplementive mapping of Salamonie while repairing the boat. Josh

Thank you Mark!

Hi Folks, Thought some of you might enjoy this: Those are my rods. Left to right: I wanted the smallest reel I could find for my Ultralight. It ended up being a Pflueger. The rod is an older Berkely Limited Edition I bought back in the '90s sometime when I broke the tip on my previous ultralight. Next is an Abu Garcia 4-screw Ambassadeur 5000. I bought this one and fixed and cleaned it. The rod is a Daiwa Spinnerbait rod I bought as a teenager, again in the 1990s. I remember I was attracted to it because it has "Bill Dance" on it. Heh. It's a good rod, though, and the only thing I hate about it is that the guides are slightly canted counter-clockwise. To the right of it is an Ambassadeur 5600Mag on a 7' Lightning Rod. Dad didn't like it and gavie it to me. (I in turn bought him a Silver Max and put it on a Lightning Rod; he prefers the reel handles be on the left side so he can work the rod right-handed.) The Black Max on the Saturn Rod is a medium weight rig. It's an experiment I just set up this year, and I'm not sure how much I like it. I don't like longer rods with the longer handles. The way I hold them, the handles get in my way when working a lure. Next up is my dad's Ambassadeur 5000 from the '70s. It's the first reel I remember him using and sat for the longest time on the Lew's Speed stick next to it. I rebuilt it and put it on an Ugly Stick I had laying around. I need to get a heavier rod and reinstall the fast gears he had in it (they went in the one on the left because his needed a new frame.) I also need to find a new reel handle as that small one isn't really usable for me. Next is Dad's old Quantum. It replaced his Ambassadeur 5000 and he since replaced it with a newer Quantum with the reel handle on the side he prefers, so he let me have the old one. I rebuilt it and put it on Dad's old fiberglass "Lew's Speed Stick". I heard tell some folks prefer fiberglass for cranking, and that's what this one is aimed towards. We'll see if I like it. Finally, that's a graphite Fenwick rod. I had to repair the tip; it was Dad's as well. The reel was Grandpa's. I still fish it now and again. Currently the line is stripped and I'll probably be finding some Dacron braid for it. Believe it or not, it casts almost right along with the free-spooling baitcasters, but the gear noise is hard on the ears when it's thrown out that far. ___ Of these, the three on the left have been used most, though this year the 5600 was out of action until recently. It somehow suffered a blow to the left side that took out the sideplate, magnet holder, and axle; I had to order parts and rebuilt it. This year the ultralight and the four-screw 5000 have seen the most use, with the Black Max trailing as I get used to it. The Ultralight has accounted for the most bass this year,, followed by the Ambassadeur 5000 three-screw mounted on the Daiwa Spinnerbait Rod. Those combos are the two I've had longest. Josh Edited: That's a 5600. That's what I get for posting sleepy.

Bass will eat any time. It's just at certain times they eat more readily. Active bass search for food. Neutral bass will take food if the opportunity presents itself. Negative bass will eat if goaded into it. From what I understand, most bass or neutral or negative most of the time. When they're active, you can pretty much catch them on a bare hook reeled throught the water. The rest of the time, you really need to drop the lure in front of their noses. This does not take into account spawning males, who will not eat. The only way to catch them is to fish the nest and I refuse to do that. Dropped a worm on a nest once to see what would happen as I had visual down near White River at a fishery after the fish kill in the White River. I caught the male bass alright, but felt bad about it. But yes, they feed constantly. Their strike reflex is similar to that of you slapping a mosquito biting you. You might be faster or slower at certain times, but you will slap the mosquito eventually. Josh

Thank you Mr. Darren. That's one of the nicer bass I've seen, the one you're holding in your picture. Josh

Hi folks, I grew up watching Dad fish heavy spinners and such, and I have a few of 'em. I have to repair them and have ordered skirts with which to do so. I've also bought some modern spinners (his were bought back in the '70s and '80s). The ones I find these days just seem a bit less sturdy than the older ones. Am I just finding cheap spinnerbaits or are they all like this now? Thank you, Josh