FloridaFishinFool

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Get Bit OutDoors has an amazing 75% off some items sale. I just purchased a made in USA rod blank for $20! And an entire custom rod kits are now under $50, and that includes the rod blank and guides, and reel seat, cork grips, hook keeper, and basically everything you need to build a full custom rod- except wrapping thread and epoxy. I'm going back for 4 more made in USA rod blanks! Can't beat this deal anywhere!

Just picked up another bottle.... Its called Hell House Whiskey made by some people I have known for decades... This is made by the widow of the late great Ronnie Van Zant, former lead singer of the Lynyrd Skynyrd band. They are getting ready for a new tour with Foreigner and this whiskey is a tour sponsor. You can see it is included right in the middle of the tour dates poster right in between the names of the two bands... and BTW, if any of you are interested in going to any shows, these are the official upcoming concert dates so far... For those who may not be aware, but the name "Hell House" is the name Skynyrd band members gave to the small cabin they rented to write songs within and rehearse that was located on an old horse ranch just outside of Green Cove Springs, Florida from 1970 long before the band got famous, right up to their 3rd album in 1975 before relocating to more professional studio accommodations closer to home in Jacksonville area. The cabin was located along Peters Creek and had a small dock that band members liked to use to fish from. The band used to write and rehearse in Jacksonville but they were bothered endlessly by people stopping by and interrupting the band. And neighbors often called the police on the band for playing too loudly, so they had to go somewhere remote out in the woods behind locked gate to get away from all people, and police. And it was at this specific location, and small cabin in the woods that the great Lynyrd Skynyrd band wrote many of their most famous songs like FreeBird and Tuesday's Gone and Simple Man, and many others. The cabin was called Hell House because it was so hot and did not have air conditioner, and band members always complained about it and the bugs, and each night at least one band member was assigned guard duty and had to sleep inside the cabin to protect the band's guitar amplifiers and gear from being stolen. It happened once here. They would not let it happen twice. Fortunately no guitars were left there. Only amps were stolen and hauled away by boat down Peters Creek. Photos on the cover of the band's 3rd album Nuthin' Fancy were taken here. This is Hell House! Some of the greatest rock n' roll ever created came out of this small remote cabin deep in the swamps of Florida!

I recently acquired a couple of old stradics I'd like to get into and illustrate some common issues found, & may be more extreme in Florida reels. This first reel was recently given to my 12 year old son by the rod and reel repair shop I used to work at. Shop manager and trolling motor repair tech Greg had this one squirreled away in a hidden spot for years untouched. My son was expressing an interest in stradics and we were digging through a box of old reels someone donated to the shop. I found two in there they gave to me just for parts reels. One was repairable but the second one was toast and will be shown below this first one which was in pretty good shape because it had been used so little. Greg was willing to give it up because he never uses a spinning rod and reel- ever. He said it needed work, and he was right. This particular stradic was one Greg held onto for years because its a rare model with a magnesium frame. These were only made for 2 years back around 2007/2008 era and discontinued. This reel kind of falls in between the older stradics and the newer more lightweight stradics. That was the goal and direction of Shimano when developing this reel in Japan. Its listed on JDM websites as well. Its a model 2500MgFa and retailed new back then for $190. Today these Mg reels are getting harder to find. So my son is excited to have a JDM reel, and a kind of special one at that. Upon taking it apart the first issue I ran into is the original friction ring made of black rubber has turned into goo. It is important to thoroughly clean this goo out of a reel. As will be seen on the next stradic, a do it yourselfer at home attempted a "service" job on his reel that also shows signs of the friction ring turning to goo, but he did not thoroughly clean it off the reel before putting it back together. This is how the goo piles up when you try and spin the reel as normal. The rotor sticks to and grabs the gooie mess and piles it up in one spot. The black goo gets onto the inside of the rotor and gets into the bail reset trip lever and kind of glues it up so proper function is either really hard, or does not work at all like the next stradic shows. This stuff is a mess! Mineral spirits will dissolve it away quickly- which is why using petroleum lubricants on reels today is a no no. It can destroy plastic and rubber parts sometimes. (I will be picking up a new blue silicone friction ring for this reel soon. Those do not turn to goo like this one.) Another issue I see on a lot of spinning reels coming across the bench is the spool shaft has flared out metal where the spool clicker ratchet sits. This bent metal or flared out metal can prevent the pinion gear from sliding off the spool shaft. Sandpaper will not take care of this. Careful work with a fine file can and will reshape this metal so the pinion gear can slide off easily, but is not necessary if one can disassemble the reel and remove the spool shaft from the reel, you can easily slide the pinion gear off the spool shaft going in the other direction. So don't ever try and force the pinion gear to slide off over these bent, flared out areas! Just hang tight and wait until you can slide it off the other way. Then reassemble in reverse and you won't have to use a file to remove the flared out metal. This next issue is something that is missed or ignored by a lot of reel techs. I guess many do not think it is necessary and they can get away with ignoring it, but its not the best idea to do so. Over the years the bail itself can corrode inside of a bail hinge. Often these act like one solid piece, even though it is two separate pieces of metal. It is always the best idea to put a drop of oil on the bail wire where it goes into the hinge, and a drop of oil into the bail wire lock hole on the side. Let it soak in for a little bit and then begin to twist the hinge back and forth and work it loose on the bail wire. This is important because a bail is kind of self adjusting. And if you want the reel to work for a longer period, this hinge and bail wire need to be able to adjust rather than be locked together like one solid piece. Work it loose with some oil before reassembling it. The bail will function better if this bail wire can move or twist inside the hinge under normal operation. Over years of use, saltwater can cause corrosion that solidifies this junction of two metals, and that needs to be loose and able to move. I can't tell you how many people overlook this and don't even consider it. This MgFa reel had a solidified bail wire to the hinge. I was able to carefully work it loose twisting it carefully back and forth and it moves a little further each time. Often you can get it to point where the hinge will freely spin 360 degrees around the bail wire. I did that for this reel. And hopefully the oil used will help keep corrosion down for awhile, and keep the bail wire moving freely in this junction. Also seen on the hinge is a little bit of corrosion on the surface area that contacts the rotor. These corrosion spots are raised up some off the surface and this is a hinge. It should be smooth all the way around. If it isn't, then smooth these out before reassembly so bail operates better and more smoothly. One final issue with this reel, is make sure to clean the old friction ring goo out of the rotor, especially in the channel when the bail reset trip lever is supposed to slide smoothly. This goo getting in there prevents normal operation of the bail. In the following image, it can be seen getting into both channels in the rotor, and on the bail trip lever itself. All of this goo has to be carefully cleaned off before reassembly! The do it yourselfer below is a major fail on this count! The bad friction ring, and solidified bail hing to bail wire were the only "problems" I encountered with the Stradic 2500MgFa. It is now back like new minus the friction ring which will soon be replaced. This next reel is another story. When I worked in the rod and reel repair shop, this next reel is the type of reel we would get shipped to the shop in the mail. We called reels like this next one a forum reel. It is one of those situations of a guy needing to service his reel and attempting to do it on his own. Quite often they run to various forums and ask what to do and how to do it and get all kinds of advice. Some good. Some brand recommended. But much of the time they get information that is not good for the reel and the company who made it definitely would recommend it for their reels. I need say that this reel is a free parts reel I got from the shop. I would not even attempt to repair a reel in this condition. The gears are shot. But I can get plenty of other good parts off a reel in as bad of shape as this one. One part I am always seeking are the oscillation blocks. When I removed the rotor, take a look under the hood! Gobs of grease! And, petroleum grease at that! Brown, nasty, automotive petroleum grease! And the old black rubber friction ring is also missing, most had been removed, but NOT thoroughly cleaned out. A guy at home gives it his best shot on a reel like this after consulting a forum or doing some reading online and possibly watching some youtube videos, and this is the result. And you know with lubricants, MORE is ALWAYS better right? Some sure seem to think so like this guy! Not sure exactly WHAT this guy was trying to grease here! The underside of the rotor does not need grease. Maybe, just maybe all this grease was his failed attempt to seal up the reel from his saltwater use of this reel? A classic Florida forum reel right here! Done ALL wrong on every count! I get a huge kick out of this... after scraping away just enough grease on the AR clutch bearing to read the clear, large words Shimano put onto their AR bearing just for guys like this one to ignore! It says NO GREASE right on top of the AR bearing! Duh! Maybe this guy could not read? Maybe someone on a forum told him to ignore that? All I can do is shake my head and wonder about things like this... I can save this AR bearing. Just need to thoroughly clean it and get all that grease out of it. At least it did not rust so that's good. But take a look at the inside of the rotor... he failed to thoroughly clean out the black goo from the old friction ring. Eh, just throw gobs of grease on and maybe it will slide up and down just fine? I doubt it. This one is glued in place and not moving. Bail function brought to a halt right here. And finally the insides... years of saltwater abuse, and DIY at home abuse of not knowing what to do or how to do it to save this reel. It had a bucket of beach sand and shells inside grinding the gears down badly to the point of can never use them again. But there are some good parts still left on this reel to keep others up and running... I'm going to do a quick solvent cleaning on these to remove most of this before storing this as a parts reel. This is why saltwater reels need regular service and maintenance and proper cleaning and lubrication rather than use it until it grinds to a halt and then consult a forum and youtube for info and attempting to DIY at home. Even I would not attempt to fix this one! Not enough left of it to put back together. Just a few free parts is all this one is now. That oscillation block is worth more than gold! I really should have a machine shop make me some out of aluminum one day...... The shop also gave my son a brand new Denali 7' MH F spinning rod to go along with his new Stradic 2500MgFa. A Christmas present. Our shop has been donating rods and reels to kids charity groups for years, so helping kids fish is kind of a shop tradition we all participate in.

Bass Pro service center can find the part. They stockpile tons of old reels they strip for those parts. Think of all the reels people have sent to them over the years and not paid for service and abandoned with them. And Bass Pro also has leftover new stock, and much more. Another thing to consider is that Bass Pro reels share a lot of the same parts between different reels. I'd bet they can find the part. They have always taken care of me and sent me free items on some orders. Good people!

Its just my opinion I think I can operate a spinning rig faster than I can a baitcast reel. For me it is all about longer distance accuracy more than speed. But when I see a bass actively feeding 150 feet away near shore and I want to cast to it quickly, I really need the accuracy a spinning setup offers me. My baitcast sidearm just is not as accurate. When I am standing on boat looking at say a small hole in the lily pads- say a 2 or 3 foot wide open hole I want to drop a lure into and its 150 feet away on backside- shore side of lily pads, I am more accurate with spinning than baitcast probably due in part to being a sidearm caster with a baitcast reel. With a spinning rig I may be able to hit it accurately in one cast, maybe two. But less accurate at that distance with baitcast if I can reach it at all with a baitcast reel. Maybe I can hit it accurately, but it might take more casting for me to put it where I want it with a baitcast reel. The OP is getting the info they requested I do believe, and I don't see the thread derailing over discussion on why to choose one or the other. It might help them decide. The key here is light rubber lures only. I think spinning is a better option.

I probably do have more difficulty with baitcast over spinning. I am now a senior citizen in my 60's. Never thought I'd live this long, but I am getting weaker for sure even though I exercise and take care of myself, there is nothing I can do to beat mother nature in this game. And it is my observation and opinion that I cannot cast any baitcast rod/reel setup as far nor as accurately as my spinning setups. Just not happening. I can often nearly double the distance on a spinning rod and reel. And my accuracy on spinning is much better than baitcast especially at the distances I am talking about. To me its all about getting that distance on the cast, and being able to put it where I want it. I simply cannot do it with any baitcaster. I just did a google search and asked the same question twice switching out reels and got this response: How far can spinning reel cast? "A spinning reel's casting distance can vary significantly, with beginners averaging 20–40 yards and experienced anglers potentially reaching 80–120 yards or more under optimal conditions." How far can baitcast reel cast? "A baitcasting reel can cast a distance anywhere from 30 yards to over 100 yards," Even google gives an edge in casting distance to spinning setups. But google does say a baitcast reel can cast as far, but requires more weight to do it. And this thread is about casting lighter lures over heavy cover so that is why I tailored my response the way I did favoring spinning over baitcast for this situation. When I am standing on my boat looking out over the water, and 15 feet of clear water between me and cover, and then the cover, and looking to clear open water behind cover to shore some 100 to 150 feet away on average, when I want an accurate cast to a pinpoint spot at the farthest distance I can cast to, I have to choose spinning for that. I simply cannot make a baitcaster do it as well or as fast. Maybe a younger person can. I think part of my problem with baitcasters is that I am a sidearm caster. I don't like to cast a baitcast setup over my head. Yet with spinning most of my casts are overhead with very few being sidearm casting. This might have an effect on distance and accuracy at the tail end of the cast. Spinning is my top choice hands down for this type of fishing.

BigBox I have to agree with casts by fly on this one. I would not recommend a ML rod for lily pads use, and I also would not recommend a baitcast rod/reel setup. I think a ML rod is too light for lily pads. And a baitcast reel does not give one the pinpoint accuracy needed nor the casting distance for this technique. Your recommendation would work for along the edges of cover in open water, but a ML rod might not be enough to handle a good sized fish to keep it out of cover or pull it out of cover. I'd go with a 7' to 7'6" MH fast or extra fast spinning rod. I recommend spinning because I need instant pinpoint casting precision accuracy at longer distances than a baitcast setup can do- especially for lighter lures. Spinning setups can be reset and cast faster than a baitcast setup and this is important to me. I go with as light of line as I can get away with so 20lb and no heavier than say 25lb to keep line weight down and get longer casts. I avoid the leaders as they simply are not necessary at all. Straight braid from reel to hook. And a slightly weighted hook works well- either a 4 or a 5 is where I am at with 1/8oz weight or hook with no weights. A setup like this is just about perfect for long distance casting of lighter rubber lures over top of lily pads. I'd keep the ML rods out of cover and in open clear water where they can be a lot of fun. When I am fishing using this heavy cover technique on the MH rod, I have a medium rod laying on deck with a rat'l trap or spinner or jerkbait on it ready to cast in any direction for any schooling activity in the open water. I'd be curious to read any comments of others who might choose a ML rod for lily pads and heavy cover? What would be the reasoning for it?

As others have said don't worry about it if you take good care of your rods. But as far as how hard of an impact can break, crack, or damages the inserts. If you had a rod say standing upright on a tile or hard floor, and rod is leaning against the wall. If it were to slide over sideways and tip of rod smacks down on the tile floor could be enough to damage guide inserts. I've done it. And the guide frames were undamaged. I read a comment recently that stated the guide frames have to be bent or damaged in some way before the insert can be broken and I have not found this to be true. Just this week I have removed guides from two different rods with partially broken inserts. This first broken guide is from a spinning rod. It is a 4mm micro guide removed from close to the rod tip. The insert is chipped, and this broken insert was cutting line. Frame is undamaged but this fuzzy enlarged image shows the gap of missing insert material chipped off the front side of the guide leaving behind a very sharp edge on inside of this guide where line flowed. If an insert is 360 degrees around, then this guide here had a good 30 or 40 degrees of insert missing and cracked off, and a very sharp edge like a knife where line flowed. Bad news right here! This next guide is from a baitcast rod. It is missing some of the insert that cracked off the top center of the guide, but was as yet still not reaching center of insert and line flow was not compromised nor being cut yet by this guide. But if you notice the white line across the bottom of guide insert shown here, that is a similar crack across the insert nearly identical to the missing cracked off material on top side of guide. You can see a small part of this crack did reach the center of the guide and if this material had cracked off the guide like the top side did, there is a small section where a sharp edge would have been presented to the line flowing through it possibly causing line fraying and could also cut line. Point is, both of these guides broke without damage to the frames. And something as simple as a rod leaning against a wall sliding over sideways to the ground, and smacking any one of its guides on a hard floor can cause this type of damage. Frames do not have to be compromised for this to happen. On both of these rods, the owners did not even notice these damaged guides and got lucky no line was cut for them. On every rod I get, I use my finger tips to feel both sides of every insert on every guide checking for roughness or sharp edges. If my fingers tell me something is there, out come the super duper magnifying glasses for a closer examination. I don't think any of us want to be out on the water setting the hook on a big bass when the line is instantly cut clean through on broken guides like these. It always seems to show up on bigger fish for sure. Use any guides you choose. SIC guides or torzite or alconite or zirconia or titanium oxide or whatever you want, but treat all them the same and you should be fine. I'd say every one of them will crack and shatter with similar forces applied, so maybe one breaks quicker than another, who knows, but they all break when abused and all need the same or similar care to prevent this type of damage which is unfortunately often not caught when off the water, but surely shows up on the water! I think A-Jay got it right with this comment: "... the few times I've blown up a guide or fractured an insert, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have mattered what it was made of." I completely agree. But it is a good idea to check them before fishing to avoid finding out the hard way on that next big one!

For weightless weedless lures in lily pads I use MH fast rods from 7' to 7'6" as my preferred rod size. It gets some of that extra distance you want while having the backbone to deal with a fighting fish in the lily pads. I'd like to add that to me this type of fishing can be abusive to rods so I don't use high end rods in heavy cover where I am pulling on snags and fish tangled up in it. So over the years I have gravitated towards using my high end rods for less abusive fishing, and tend to use rods I won't cry about if it breaks in the lily pads. So my current heavy cover "abuse" rod- the same one I caught a 7+ pound bass on last week, is a Bass Pro Pro Qualifier PQD76MHS. Its a medium heavy with extra fast action and powerwall construction to help with the extra loading the lily pads can put on a rod. https://www.basspro.com/p/bass-pro-shops-pro-qualifier-spinning-rod "The Bass Pro Shops® Pro Qualifier® Spinning Rod is crafted using our exclusive RT3™ graphite with Powerwall™ construction, a specialized process that creates a strong, structurally enhanced rod blank with reduced wall thickness. Reducing the amount of material in the blank minimizes overall rod weight while enhancing sensitivity," When I hooked into a 7 pound plus bass last week here in Florida fishing the edge of cover, it handled the fish effortlessly. Not a bad rod for what you want to do. BTW, another member here caught another 7+ bass about on the same day as mine. We swapped photos thru texts. His was fatter than mine. Mine was kind of long and skinny. It would have been a heavier fish at another time of the year. But it was caught doing the technique the OP is asking about. I used a VMC 1/8oz. weighted #5 hook... or same hook with no weights sometimes. Either do about the same. One just casts a little further and has a faster sink rate. And on this lure I was using a zoom swimming fluke Jr. I switched to white ice color because the water was stained like tea or coffee with low visibility, and I wanted the lure to have a little better visibility so I was working boat right down a grass line along shore casting back up into the lily pads on other side of grass and working it through the grass to open water and letting it drop deeper right on the edge of all that cover. I was casting to new undisturbed water in front of the boat when a big one swirled on it about 2 feet down 1 to 2 feet right off cover in clear water. I set the hook and this rod was able to easily handle that fish and keep it out of cover with no problems, but it seemed like that fish wanted to turn tail and run towards middle of the lake to deeper water so I had no problems handling that fish with this $100 rod. Oh, and the line I use is usually 20 to 25lb braid with no leader. I know a lot of guys think heavy cover and they use 50 or 60lb line. Like you I want to be able to cast it further. I like to troll around Florida lakes about 15 or 20 feet from cover and be able to cast all the way across it to shore and work the lure back to me through it all and then fish the edges before making another cast. For this technique I always use a 4000 size reel. This technique can be a lot of fun. Some bass literally jump out of the water trying to get at the lure. Fishing like this can produce explosive action repeatedly each trip out. I just can't bring myself to pull out a $400 or $500 GLoomis rod and start abusing it in heavy cover. This is one of those techniques I choose cheaper rods for. Sensitivity is not an issue since I can see most of the lure strikes. I just want good backbone, and longer rod length for longer casts. The one complaint about this rod I am presently using is the location of the hook keeper. If I use two hands to make a power cast, where they put the hook keeper on top middle of rod just above grip is right where my second hand and fingers go to on the top of the spinning rod and is uncomfortable to me. So I removed it and spun it around the blank to lower right side in the one spot that is the most out of the way location. Good luck and let us know how you do!

The only one I use these days is the fishing and hunting solunar app. It is very accurate on time tables. Whether the fish agree or not is another story. Its 100% free to use for a 2 day period of observation through the app (today and tomorrow), but if you want the pro version, its not free, and gives unlimited look into future rather than just one day ahead. I have been happy with the free version. Just one app for fishing is all I need. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.antonnikitin.solunarforecast&hl=en_US But I will add, this one app situation is merely for fishing information. Once on the water I employ additional apps like weather alerts and a lightning alarm app for approaching lightning and bad weather. And a wind app as well along with radar apps so I can keep a good eye on weather as I fish.

As far as I know and has been stated here already, they are not tearing down the dam- yet. There are those who want the dam removed to restore the Ocklawaha river and the springs the more than 20 springs dam has harmed. And there are those who want the dam to stay in place because of economic reasons. Regardless of which side someone is on, the dam itself was never constructed to last this long. It is already past its designed useable life engineers are saying. So this means throwing lots of money into repairs, restorations, and maintenance which is where we are at with it now. The dam is now listed as a "high hazard" for failure due to its age and condition. But about every 4 years is a drawdown which is where we are at now... Google search: "The Rodman Reservoir is undergoing a drawdown from mid-November 2025 to early March 2026, lowering the water level by seven feet. This is part of a routine, periodic process that occurs every 3 to 5 years to help control invasive aquatic vegetation. During the drawdown, the water is drawn down to expose shallow areas, concentrate fish into deeper channels, and promote new growth. Rodman Reservoir drawdown schedule" Water Level: Seven feet below normal Duration: Approximately four months Start Date: Mid-November 2025 End Date: Early March 2026 Purpose of the drawdown Control overabundant aquatic vegetation Concentrate fish populations for easier fishing Expose shallow areas to sunlight and air to kill off undesirable plants Allow for the growth of new plant life Reveal submerged trees, springs, and other features" Florida locals to the dam like to target fishing on the outflow once the water starts flowing and gates are opened up some. It usually takes about 2 days for the fish to move in, but once they do there can be a feeding frenzy at the spillway. Huge bass and stripers all hitting lures like crazy. Everyone waits for the water to start flowing... show up about day 2 or 3 after gates are opened to get in on the fishing action!

On the spools is there a centrifugal inductor plate? One could be operational, and non working one could be stuck? If problem switched with spools its gotta be there. Last option could be difference in centrifugal brakes?

Well, carbon when it gets wet can be slippery to me. EVA is yucky and acts like a vibration damper and can make a sensitive rod 'feel' like it has almost no sensitivity because the EVA does not transmit physical vibrations very well. But out of all of the choices cork is best to me because for one it is a natural material and feels natural in the hands, and for us woodworkers who like the feel of natural woods around us and in our hands, cork is best. Best feel, and it transmits vibrations reasonably better than EVA, and does not feel slippery to me when it gets wet. I also like how easy cork is to shape so its an easy material to work with. Cork is at the top of my list, and those other two are not even on the list.

To answer your question, yes of course! None of us can trust rod manufacturers to all be on the same page with their rod ratings. And they surely are not. One of the most irritating things a rod maker can do is put graphics on a rod that tells us what techniques this rod is for. If there is one thing that should come to an end it would be that. I don't mind the attempt at rating the rod power and speed. But when a rod company puts graphics on a rod saying this rod is specifically for spinnerbaits or topwater is when it gets annoying real fast. Its my rod. I decide what techniques I want to use it for. Its very annoying to be holding a rod in my hands that says it is for topwater when I am standing there using it for a rat'l trap. Getting past that, I judge rod power and speed by hand. What is printed on the rod is merely a guide more or less to give us an idea, but it is up to us to make the final determination and use. Over the years I have noticed differences in how companies rate their rods. Dobyns tends to under rate them while the old made in USA Falcon rods tended to be overrated. I have a made in USA Falcon model BMC-610H I am turning into a spiral wrapped rod right now. It is rated as a heavy, but feels more like a MH to me. I plan on using it for MH techniques and will not be using it for heavy techniques in part due to the blank construction design as it is known as a thin wall blank so I don't plan on treating it like a heavy at all. I also have some MH rods that are more like heavies. So sometimes we have to ignore what is printed on the rods. And I believe that the MH's and H's can be one of those situations where rods can be marked one way, but 'feel' more like the other way. And it is up to each of us to determine for ourselves which way to go. So yes, MH's can be used for H's and H's can be used for MH's if one determines to do so.

Here's one you don't hear about much any more. The culprit sticky worm with a glued in velcro patch. True story... I once caught a small bass on a culprit sticky worm just by reeling in fish using velcro only. No hook in fish! The velcro had a good enough hold on his small teeth that I was able to reel in a small bass on just the velcro! According to the wording on original bag, it says the velcro was to help fish hold onto lure longer so an angler could get a good hookset. In my case, the velcro was all I needed for one small fish. I often wonder if the velcro actually impeded the hooksets? And why was this idea discarded and never repeated if it was such a great idea? The velcro did hold onto fish longer once tangled up in his small teeth. But was it now preventing hook from going deep enough in mouth to set the hook I wonder? I can see where the velcro may help sometimes and hinder at other times. Don't think I have seen this idea since.

I have the SLX 151HG model with 6 brakes, and I wish I had the model you started this thread about- the XT with the better variable brakes more like my curados have. I really prefer the brakes my curados have over this SLX HG. But I bet the XT is worlds different and better than the HG model. I'll get an XT and compare eventually. And maybe one day a DC.

Don't forget about the Mann's Mannipulator triple action tail! I still have bags of them from 40 years ago.

It might not be wear you are hearing. Above you said you soaked bearing(s) for 3 hours in 91% isopropyl alcohol? If so, then the noise you might be hearing could be from the bearings minus the factory grease that was in them, but is now dissolved out of them. Grease can quieten bearings, and when removed could be a new source of noise. Oil may help, but may not quieten as much as grease may have once done. Repacking with new grease may help make them as quiet as before, but also may slow down the casting some as well.

As I read some of these "Florida" stories I keep thinking- like with Fish Tank's story... "Just before sundown something odd happens there. Everything goes dead silent,..." and then I smelled this rotten smell in the air... and then I saw it! Skunk ape! But back to the panthers, bob cats, and gators... they work too! If its on youtube its gotta be true! Would this be a naturally occurring species? Or, an invasive species? And are they related to the big ones from up north? Ha! This guy disturbed his hunt for some lunch. Some good grubs, worms, centipedes, and maybe a snake or two in thereand some bugs! Panthers and bobcats not much of a worry. Black bears and gators can be. Fortunately both have some fairly predictable behaviors we can use to our advantage. Like Mike did towering over a gator he was in the water with. If he had been swimming he would not have looked bigger and scarier than the gator and its behavior could have been different. And like he said if he had stepped onto the gator it gets instantly wild. Usually spins around with jaws open snapping away defensively. Mike got past that one! Gators show a respect for us when we appear larger or taller than they are. I think it causes them to misjudge size comparisons and gators usually gives way to the taller size, but swimming in the water we appear smaller and more like prey. A whole different ballgame there. Surely someone has a good skunk ape story? Or, maybe they are telling them and just blaming it on the gators. 😉

Thanks for letting me know. My apologies for posting in the wrong thread. If this one is for lures, the bait monkey got me there as well. Zoom swimmin' Fluke bulk bags... And a few old trusty rapala HJ-8's, suspending lures in various colors...

Just picked up another 25 year old Shimano Stradic 2000FG for $30. And I bought a like new Shimano Miravel 4000XG for $40 - with a $130 rod tossed in for free. I have never tried a miravel. Have not heard much about them either. Hope its a good reel for the price.

Minimalist. I don't add weight to a rod unless I have to. This is why the smaller guides, least amount of thread wraps. Least amount of epoxy. Least amount of everything to simply construct a tool offering most benefit. And I don't add weights to balance out a rod. Keeping the weight down helps make casting it easier and over a longer period of time. Adding any unnecessary weight adds more work for muscles to do in each cast. Trying to minimize that. Not sure if anyone remembers this, but Bass Pro tried to sell the rod balancing weights years ago and made most of the rods they sold also fit their weight sets. I tried it then when Bass Pro did this and quickly left rod balancing weights behind, and out of the picture. It was a good learning curve to go through that era. I still have some of those rods and a few weight sets, but today its more or less an old joke I don't even bother with any more. So no, no adding of balancing weights either. I just try and keep the rod builds as minimal as possible and that keeps them as light as possible.

Some good choices in this thread! I think I messed up recently when I purchased some of this... not sure if I will finish the bottle or pass it on... call it an impulse purchase.

I just spit out my coffee and had to wipe the laptop screen upon reading that one! 😁 What you just said can become conflict in a boat over this one issue! Like you, I like to move. I am a new water guy. I got this one buddy I shouldn't name him- Zach! Who likes to do the same as Glenn. I swear when Zach pulls up to a spot he never wants to move even if he is not catching anything or even getting any bites. He will stay there forever! Meanwhile I have casted all around and also getting nothing so I am thinking can we move now? Meanwhile the lake is freezing over. Ice is forming and the boat is locked into place FOREVER in one spot. It can drive ya nuts! I'm getting impatient because the boat is NOT moving, and Zach is getting impatient because the boat IS moving too much for him! So maybe we should put the one spot guys into one boat, and the new water roamers in another boat! It is so true and really kind of funny when we encounter this situation from time to time. Oh, and then Zach comes up with my boat control must be behind why he is not getting bit because I am not positioning the boat so he can cast to good new water! So I must be using the boat to block his casting! And would you know, I never even think like that? I don't try and block my co-angler from catching fish even IF we have bets on fishing. But I get accused of bad boat control in favor of me winning the bet! I may have to own the accusation one day! Ha! I can't control the wind and how it blows the boat around... I think Zach secretly WANTS new water while still trying to squeeze that one fish out of his one spot all day long. It drives me nuts to stay in one spot especially when we are not catching anything. Zach and Glenn would be perfect together in the same boat! They can both work that one lay down all day long! See ya! Zach and his black and blue jig works well on docks. I'll give him that. Sometimes staying in place pays off and sometimes it doesn't. And for those of us waiting around for that one spot guy to please hurry up and get done with that one spot cannot come fast enough! I think there is an argument to made for both choices. Just depends on if the fish are cooperating or not. I slowly passed a dock one day with Zach in back of the boat. I cast under the dock and got a bite, but did not get a hookset. So I knew Zach loves docks so I moved on past it and left it for him and his black and blue jig. Darned if he did not pull 3 of them out of there back to back. He catches the fish, but he can also lose plenty of those jigs on those same docks and I've been fishing with him when I have seen $30 lost in an hour. It goes both ways. But my patience only goes one way! New water or bust! I have no patience for sitting on one spot for very long. Unless the fish are jumping in the boat would make me forget all about it.