FloridaFishinFool

I am doing some research on this as well. I found a couple of videos about it with this one being the most useful: Trying to pay close attention to the physics details makes some things very clear. If I followed it correctly, he is saying that these beads work best when a tire is rotating faster than 50mph. Once the tire passes this rotation speed is when the beads begin to spread out for correct balancing. But if a person uses a trailer for slower tire rotation speeds, the beads do not balance out the tire and can tend to move into the heaviest side being thrown outwards the most. So for around town use under 50mph it does not seem to me this is a great idea. But if one travels long distances and exceeds the 50mph rotation speed, the beads are of great benefit, and he said that the beads will stay in their balanced locations until tire rotation speeds drops to a speed that gravity can overcome the rotational forces holding the beads in place. So if one drives from 0 to 50mph only, the beads are not of any value and can cause even more of an out of balance situation. But if one can exceed the 50mph speed to highway speeds of 65 and 70mph, that one can then drop back down to below 50mph and beads will stay in place until rotation speed drops below a certain speed, so the tires may stay balanced down to 25mph, or 15mph, or maybe even 10mph. It is not clear to me what that lower threshold rotation speed is which might be different for different size tires. I am leaning towards trying this out because on most trips I can reach highway speeds and should see the benefit of this idea. But if I do travel in town and have keep speed down, I may try and reach it just to balance out the tires and then back it down if I can get away with it, because it does not sound like a great idea if I can't reach that 50mph magic zone. Am I on track here? This is all new to me.

Just want to point out a few things. When I worked on reels in an under contract warranty repair shop we had to go by the book on brand recommendations. One reason was warranties can be voided if the wrong lubricants are used on reels. And some brands may refuse to service reels if they have unapproved lubricants used inside. There are also engineering reasons for why different greases are used. In this thread the terms shimano or cal's drag grease are kind of loosely used without specifics. Both Shimano and cal's have at least 2 different drag greases. The specifics of why are not making their way into this forum. Does this matter? Two Cal's drag greases. Which one is suggested and why? Not specified in this thread. Shimano has 3 drag greases: Daiwa also has 3 drag greases: So just between 2 reel brands and one aftermarket drag grease that is at least 8 choices. Do you think warranty service centers can get away with using just 1 or 2 drag greases that are not clearly specified? Engineers who design reels have very specific lubrication requirements. There is a phenomenon in service centers across USA and possibly around the world known as "forum reels" where some random guy online told some other person in a forum to use this or that lubricant on their reels. And when things don't go well, a lot of those "forum reels" wind up being sent to the brand repair center or under contract warranty repair centers to "fix" the "forum reel." I can tell you from personal experience that when a mailman walks into a warranty shop with boxes of reels with lubricants dripping out of them, quite often those packages are refused and the shipper is informed to return it to the sender unopened. I guess the one bit of advice the DIY tinkerers at home do not get is to use lubricants sparingly. Apparently there is a tendency to think that more lubrication is better than less. So some tend to way overuse lubricants. Service centers and mailmen sometimes need hazmat suits to receive some "forum reels" because of people reading things that should not be happening and chemicals are oooozing from packages of forum reels. My whole point here is to simply provide information that is in line with brand recommendations and nothing more. Forum readers can choose for themselves what they want to do. But I do think that brand approved information should also be available and I see nothing wrong with that. In another thread on reel lubricants it is the general consensus that no matter what the brand of reel, that only 2 lubricants are all that are needed to service ALL fishing reels. And yet in this thread we are already at 2 lubricants (1 shimano drag grease, and 1 cal's drag grease) are all that are needed. It is conflicting information from where I sit. Which cal's? It has not been said. But the 1 particular shimano grease has been identified. Just be aware that all reels are not the same. And all reels do not use the same lubricants. When I still worked at the warranty service shop we received visits from shimano engineers every year just ahead of ICAST. They wanted to see what we were seeing in terms of common repair issues that they could take note of and maybe go back to the drawing board and fix for the next year's line of reels. No other brand did this. I asked those shimano engineers why they do not go online and into forums and try and straighten out the misinformation found on forums. They laughed at this and said to me "U.S. forums are hopeless" was their exact quote. Hopeless. As in hopelessly infected with misinformation that they concluded was hopeless to try and correct and straighten out. And this is where it stands to this day. We who read forums don't seem to realize how many reels across the U.S. are ruined every day and every year by people trying to service their own reels unsuccessfully and they discard it or toss it aside and move on. Many of them wind up being sent into to service centers to fix what they did wrong. Many others wind up for sale in online websites. I have sat on the receiving end of this. I've seen it. I have had to restore an endless stream of forum reels. So my whole point is to get accurate information. Research it. Find out what the engineers of your brand of reels want used inside their reels and why. This is how you get optimum performance from your reels for years. Listening to some guy online may not be the best way to go. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it isn't. I'm just playing devil's advocate here trying to post what I would call brand approved lubrication recommendations. I'm sure at ICAST 2026 this will once again be a topic of discussion. But I am going to tell you a brand secret. Reel brand corporations KNOW that end users like to tinker with their reels. So sometimes a brand might put a part or 2 or more into one or more of their reels that will self destruct if the wrong lubricant is used. But the end user will never be informed of this. But they will be easy to spot when their reel reaches a service center. I've seen it. In the old days decades ago when most reels were made of metal, petroleum lubricants were cheap and used across the board. But as plastics and other materials made their way inside of reels, there was a switch from petroleum lubricants to synthetics. If one tries to use a petroleum lubricant on a modern reel, they may wind up causing more harm than good. Parts inside can be destroyed with the wrong lubricants. So I guess my whole point of this comment is to simply provide brand approved recommendations and try and help at least one person from adding their reel(s) into the "forum reels" servicing pipeline. But for guys like me, I love to buy "forum reels" that hit online sales websites cheap, cheap, cheap. One man's trash is another man's treasure. If you spend hundreds of dollars on quality reels, to me it is just common sense to use only the lubricants that are approved by that brand for that reel rather than taking advice from forums that don't always align with brand recommendations. But as we all know -and do- there are other lubricants that will suffice, but are they the best choices? I do it myself. I do use brand recommended greases, but when it comes to bearing oil I choose my own since the reel brands do not make the stainless steel bearings used in reels. It is the one area where a change can be done without causing harm. But where it concerns brand specific parts, my suggestion is it is best to use brand recommended lubricants where they are supposed to be used. How often do you read on a forum brand approved recommendations? Not often enough. Posting this type information should be welcomed on forums. Not demonized. Fishing is our passion. Tackle is our tools. Surely getting it right is important? It is to me. I try. Right here on this forum are comments telling others all you need are just 2 lubricants for ALL brands of reels. Until you get to this thread. Now I am reading suggestions that 2 drag greases are all one needs for all brands of reels. I am reading conflicting information. So my best suggestion is to simply follow brand approved recommendations to stay out of trouble and get the best performance from your reels. I don't think this is bad advice. At ICAST next year I plan on asking various brand engineers some lubrication questions, especially shimano engineers. I want to ask them about what they think about us using aftermarket lubricants on their reels- like Cal's as an example. I want to know and hear it directly from shimano engineers. I can tell you this... I use Shimano stradic reels as my preference. I use only FG, FH, FI, and FJ models. I won't buy or use any older than these. And I won't buy or use any newer than these and I won't get into reasons why. But what I can say is that using the correct lubricants is the ONLY reason my stradics continue to work smooth as new 20+ years later. Proper maintenance using correct lubricants is the key to longevity. I have zero issues. Zero problems year after year. I just rebuilt a Shimano Stradic 4000FG I purchased in a pawn shop 2 days ago for $30 for my 12 year old son to receive on Christmas morning. He likes my stradics so I bought him one of his very own. His first stradic. It is now well over 30 years old. FG Stradics were first introduced into the market in 1991. My son's "new" 34 year old stradic will work for him for decades to come if well maintained. It even looks like new. Super smooth. Super reliable too. For baitcast reels I read all over this forum of various brands of reels having problems over and over and over. I read a thread about Daiwa yesterday. Lubrication issues at core of it. I personally don't use any Daiwa baitcast reels. My preference has been Shimano Curado's, Chronarch's, and mainly midline reels for what I think are good reasons I won't get into here, but my primary go to baitcast reel today is the Shimano Curado HG series. I have been using them for years and I have zero problems. Zero issues with them year after year and I even slack off on annual maintenance and use them until I think they need it. I can go for years with zero problems. You won't see me posting threads about my reels and their problems because I don't have any. At the core of my reliable use of reels is quite simply using the correct lubricants. End of story. And I don't get this correct lubrication information from off of forums. It comes directly from each brand of reels as to what is correct for their reels. Back to regular programming...

Some of you who use kayaks may appreciate this story! From a small airport north of St Augustine, Florida, this morning a student pilot took off on her own alone from this airport and crashed into the salt marshes about 2 miles north of the airport. A police officer in the area witnessed the plane going down and was first on the scene. Shortly after he arrived, a battalion fire chief arrived at the crash scene and commandeered a neighbor's kayak next door and used it to go rescue the pilot. The kayak was used to fish the salt marshes, and had not been used in a while, but was fortunately readily available to help save a life today! So a fisherman unknowingly helped save a life today by leaving his fishing kayak on the dock behind his house. https://www.wokv.com/news/local/neighbors-kayak-helps-firefighters-rescue-student-pilot-who-crashed-st-augustine-creek/JMKH3VZTPBFMPBJX7Y7CO44VQI/ Neighbor’s kayak helps firefighters rescue student pilot who crashed in St. Augustine creek By Madison Foglio, Action News Jax October 23, 2025 at 2:28 pm EDT ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — A young pilot is lucky to be alive after her plane crashed in a marsh just hundreds of feet from people’s homes in St. Augustine. The plane crashed in Redfish Creek, less than two miles north of the St. Augustine Airport. “My heart’s still racing,” neighbor Mary Strong said. Strong was coming home from pickleball Thursday morning when she got a call she’ll never forget. “A neighbor called and said she’d heard an explosion. I didn’t know what was going on. I was scared the house had blown up,” Strong said. She immediately drove home and learned a small plane had crashed in the marsh behind her house. “The aircraft departed off Runway 31 about 7:50 this morning. Upon departure, the aircraft had some trouble,” Courtney Pittman, Interim Executive Director of the St. Augustine Airport, said. Pittman said the pilot is in her early 20s and is a student at a local flight school. The Florida Highway Patrol said the pilot was taken to the hospital with minor injuries. When St. Johns County Fire Rescue arrived, they used a kayak at a nearby dock to paddle out to the pilot and bring her back to shore. “It’s heroic, I don’t know any other words,” Chris Naff, public information officer with SJCFR, said. It’s a kayak that Strong knows all too well. “That was your husband’s kayak?” Action News Jax’s Madison Foglio asked. “Yes,” Strong said. “We have not used it in months, but I’m happy it came in handy to get that pilot out of there.” FHP is investigating the crash. We are working to find out what caused the plane to go down.

I'll second what Micro Module Police said. Shimano drag grease is smoother. I won't bother with Cal's any more.

To me this is a good thing. Gives fish populations a chance to recover and grow larger. It also might mean fewer people on the water at same time we are. That's always a good thing! And it also might mean more good quality used tackle hitting the aftermarkets! I just scored a Stradic 4000FG like new and smooth as new for $30! So if they don't want to use it, sell it to those of us who do! Loading up boat right now for a bass fishing trip to Starke Florida. We are sure to have the lake all to ourselves too! This thread is good news today! So thanks! And thanks for the reminder to renew my license which expires in 3 weeks. Florida could not make it any easier to renew with the new FWC app they provide for us. $17 for a whole year of bass fishing in Florida is cheap. Now I am curious... do I need a saltwater license to fish the St. Johns river for redfish? Or, will my freshwater license cover it for that body of water? Where do they draw the line between salt and freshwater I wonder? Its only $17 more for the saltwater license. Still cheap. So why not get both and be done with it. All that is left is the special snook license when in season.

Tom can you explain more about "mixed bag" comment? I assume pro's and con's? I'd sure like to hear them before I try something new.

Pat I need you down here in Florida to pick apart my lakes and solve the mysteries! 😁 I got a long list of lakes for ya! And then a couple of rivers! From dark water rivers like St. Johns and Little Econ, to crystal clear spring fed rivers like Rainbow, Wekiva and others. It would be interesting to see how you analyze some of the lakes and rivers. One lake I have been fishing lately- Lake Brooklyn in a small one traffic light town- is suffering from dropping water levels- and I mean a huge level drop like 11 feet. I had hoped less water means more fish congregating in less water would increase feeding competition, but have not seen this to be true yet. If any of you need a good north Florida lake to break the cabin fever give Lake Brooklyn a try. The boat ramp is pieced together locally, but useable for now. They have extended it 3 times because of dropping water levels. Today my fishing buddy wants to go to Lake Samson in another small Florida town. Remote, clean, clear lakes filled with bass. Each one very different from another. But have some great Florida bass fishing for sure. Right now I am working on trying to unlock the northern end of the St. Johns river where freshwater meets saltwater. There are LMB and all the freshwater fish mixed in with saltwater fish like reds and black drum all mixed in together. Its tidal and is kind of tough to figure out sometimes but I have some good fishing buddies to point me in the right direction for this area. As this weather cools schools of big reds move up and down the river so chasing them can be productive. I want to put some reds on the grille! And my 12 year old son wants to try and beat my personal best red 38". So I want to put him on some big reds real soon. All the local guys say to forget the electronics because the water is so shallow often less than 8 feet deep. They say to just follow the birds. So I am about to switch from LMB to reds and maybe do some shrimping as well when they run. These schools of reds are offshore and not relating to cover. Once you find a large school of them it is one fish after another almost on every cast until they wear you out.

And he's all bundled up like an eskimo! Nice fish!

An interesting question that can go in many directions. With exception of JIS tools, some of the most common tools to use on various reels are a good selection of screwdrivers for both types- straight and Phillip's. And, some prefer nut drivers for things like handle removal on baitcast reels, but I have always preferred a good quality 6" crescent wrench as it is easily adjustable to any size nut and has less contact with handles and does not scratch them. My preference brand of screwdrivers is the old Craftsman type. Sometimes you might need an e ring clip removal/installation tool. And some really good needle nose pliers come in handy as well. Not the mechanic type with blunt ends, but more or less the electronics type that are thinner and more pointy for things like C clip installing on small parts where our fingers are just too large to do it. Surgical forceps can be used for similar. Another handy tool are dental picks of various shapes and sizes, and a good spool axle pin removal tool. I use a brass wire brush often. Brass is a softer metal and can remove dirt and corrosion without scratching the metal being cleaned. Just basic common hand tools, but on a smaller scale than automotive tools. Some basic chemicals are needed as well. A weak solvent is useful like mineral spirits to clean out bearings and parts. And you will need some synthetic lubricants. I use Shimano drag greases as there are several, and a good synthetic oil. Lots to choose from. I prefer corrosion X because I live in Florida a salty corrosive environment and I want the best corrosion protection I can get for saltwater reel use. I can fortunately say I don't experience rusty bearings at all. The primary grease we used in the shop is superlube. An almost clear synthetic grease. Try and avoid petroleum based lubricants as they can harden up over time and act more like glue than a grease. And some reel brands have parts that may dissolve with petroleum products, and can sometimes mar the surface of plastic parts and reels. Most synthetics will do fine and cause no harm. I should add a disclaimer on Corrosion X. The shop I used to work would not allow it in the shop for use on reels and WD40 was also banned from the shop because it is a petroleum product. Its more solvent than lubricant and dries up quickly and is about useless for anything other than breaking loose parts corroded together. It does soak in good and that's about it. The corrosion X was not allowed because the shop owner said it can creep under painted surfaces and possibly cause reels' painted surfaces to flake off. I have never personally experienced this and works fine on my reels, but just letting you know some are allowed and some are not. https://www.ebay.com/itm/285633503567 You don't need all of these, but just showing you what a warranty repair shop has to have just for Shimano brand of reels. SHIMANO Service parts Reel Maintenance Grease Oil - Part No - Select Brand : Shimano Part Type : Oil / Grease - Select Weight: 4.5g / 30g - Select Type : Reel Maintenance Country/Region of Manufacture : Japan Package Includes : SHIMANO genuine grease oil list - Part No - Select ACE-0 ( DG 01) - 30g ACE-2 ( DG 04 ) - 30g SHIP-0 (DG 06) - 30g DG -1 ( DG 12) - 30g SR-G ( DG13) 30g DG15 - 30g OIL1 B100 oil - 4.5g OIL2 SSRO-01 oil - 4.5g ■ SHIMANO genuine grease oil list Part No: ACE-0 ( DG 01) [SHIMANO] Drag Grease ACE-0 - DG01 for Spinning reel and Baitcasting Reel ・Part name：Service grease ACE-0（Old name DA） ・Contents：30g ・Where to use：Felt (general purpose spinning) drag washer ・Double-screw reel carbon washer ・Friction ring of spinning reel ・Sliding parts of the bale, etc. ・Felt general purpose spinning drag washers. ・Carbon washers for double-spindle reels ・Apply well to drag washers and felts of spinning and bait reels. Part No: ACE-2 ( DG 04 ) [SHIMANO] Bait casting Reels Grease ACE-2 - DG04 ・Part name：Service grease ACE-2（Old name DC） ・Contents：30g ・Where to use：Gears for both axes and electric motors (excluding Tiagra) ・Grease for drags and gear of baitcasting reels ・Please paste felt Drag Washer. Part No : SHIP-0 (DG 06) [SHIMANO] Gear Grease SHIP - DG06 for Spinning, Baitcasting Reel Part name：Service grease SHIP-0 （Old name GA） ・Contents：30g ・Where to use：General-purpose spinning gears and worm shafts ・Various handles ・Various bearings, A-RBs (excluding Tiagra) ・Grease for baitcasting/spinning reels ・This is useful for gears, plastic parts and wearing metal parts. ・In comparison with other types of grease, this is more soft and smooth. ・It helps bearings and low torque gears to make their spinning smooth. Part No: DG -1 ( DG 12) SHIMANO] Grease DG -1 - DG12 - 30g ・Contents：30g ・Drag Grease DG12 for SW Spinning Reels ・It is the grease for application to the drag washer of SW spinning reel. ・Please apply grease to the located in the spool surface of the drag washers. Part No: Grease SR-G - DG13 SHIMANO] Grease SR-G - DG13 - 30g ・Part name：Grease SR-G ・Contents：30g ・Where to use：SW Spinning Reel Gear / Drive ・Grease for saltwater spinningreels and baitreels. ・This is useful for gears, plastic parts and wearing metal parts of saltwater spinng reels and baitreels.. Part No : Connector Grease - DG15 SHIMANO genuine] - Connector Grease - DG15 (30g) ・Part name：Connector grease ・Contents：30g ・Where to use：Electric reel connector ・Recommended use：Electric reel connector Part No: OIL1 B100 [SHIMANO genuine] -OIL1 B100 oil (BANTAM OIL)- ・Part name：B-100 oil ・Internal volume：4.5g ・Where to use：Roller clutch (spinning) ・Recommended use：Roller clutch (spinning), centrifugal brake (bait reel other than DC) brake pipe / brake ring, spool shaft (general), bearing in general (general) Part No: OIL2 SSRO-01 oil [SHIMANO genuine] OIL2 SSRO-01 oil ・Part name：SSRO-01 (oil) ・Internal volume：4.5g ・Where to use：Worm shaft (general), bearing (general), etc. Bait reel spool shaft ・Anti-corrosion applications for exterior parts (such as crimped shafts) ・Recommended applications: Warm shafts (general), bearings (general), bait reel spool shafts, rust preventive applications for exterior parts (crimped shafts, etc.) And that is just for Shimano! Daiwa has their own preferred lubricants for their reels: https://www.ebay.com/itm/285633614731 But what you will find is that a lot of people working on reels at home won't follow the brand recommendations nor use brand preferred lubricants. In that case, a lot of times you will find that maybe only 3 or 4 lubricants will be used most of the time. A drag grease of one type, a superlube grease for most applications other than drag washers, and maybe one or two synthetic oils of various viscosities will usually suffice. There is the brand preferred and recommended way to reel servicing, and there is the non-brand way. Since they are your reels, you can go whichever way you choose. We all do anyways! Just how it goes. Working on some reels can be a lot of fun and rewarding when it goes right. And other reels can be a nightmare and not much fun. I hope you enjoy it. Let us know how it goes and post some of your work here on the forum.

You do have a good point and may be right if slowing a boat presents insurmountable safety issues. Its interesting to follow this subject and see where it goes. Florida may be on the frontline on this one out of necessity.

Pat the lake I was on yesterday was different in that I found baitfish everywhere. I would cast to a spot and watch baitfish skitter and jump out of the water thinking my lure was a fish coming for them. Those baitfish were in shallow open water, shallow cover, in open deep water and deep water cover as well. I was amazed at how many there was and how spread out all across the lake they were. Bass were able to feed just about anywhere. I was kind of surprised at how much schooling action was taking place way out in the middle of the lake over deep water with no cover to hide them. So this presented a confusing situation. All of my fish yesterday were caught by observing a feeding bass and casting to it. All the normal ideas and methods were basically out the window. It was a day of winging it to put fish in the boat. 4 out of 5 fish were caught by observing actively feeding fish. I cast to one and it hit my lure and I missed it and the tail of my lure was ripped off, and while I was switching lures my co-angler cast to same fish and caught it. And then had a smirky smile for having done it. But in like turn, I did the same to him and caught a fish he was trying to catch. One fish was actively feeding behind me and my co-angler alerted me to it and as I was spinning around I was making an over my head lob back that way and darned if I did not catch it. Following baitfish around was simply not possible with them being everywhere. All we could do was take advantage of seeing actively feeding fish. Nothing else was working except for my one trolling fish. But like Swamp Girl wrote in her article, its about the adventure itself. We had a good time regardless once we started catching but it took awhile. Do any of you come across conditions in lakes where baitfish are plentiful everywhere? Skittering across the surface on most casts? Yesterday was unusual for sure.

I agree with you that those large screens can and do present substantial vision blockers, I think the police and criminal case here state Flint Davis had a clear view for about a mile before the accident. So the criminal cases are discounting vision blocking, but it may come up again in both criminal and civil cases. Its my opinion they do block some vision causing blind spots possibly but also present the driver with distractions that is outlawed in some states for on road driving. Not so for boats as yet but it may be coming. The problem here in Florida with manatee is you cannot see them even in clear water they can blend in with water and bottom background. Fast boats run all over them daily. I learned from state of Florida biologists that they would like to see impact preventing electronics brought into use. They are already using GPS tracking for numerous animals from our Florida panthers, to invasive species and beyond. So it is really just a sidestep now to trying to use it to protect the manatee. I was pointing out if the law does go in that direction eventually, it could be used to prevent all types of collisions to include those helpless critters that are being slaughtered by boaters. Florida manatee number from 8,000 to 11,730 left in the wild. And just here in Florida some 70 to 100 are killed every year by boaters. We don't have much time left to save them. Biologists want their new GPS tracking methods implemented as soon as possible to save them from extinction. So the first step is to tag and track each manatee, and then take that GPS data and feed it into boat electronics so up to date boats can be made aware of their specific locations and movement and warned in advance of collisions. Boaters in Florida have no idea most of the time manatee are even there until its too late. And most collisions with them are not reported so the manatee does not receive any medical help. Boaters who hit them don't want to get in trouble and tend to not report what they have done. Biologists are simply trying to save a species from extinction with boats being one of their primary killers. Preventing collisions is something they desperately want implemented as soon as possible. There is some big money behind the private foundations like Sea to Shore Alliance who are connected with the biologists I talked to who are suggesting boaters not only have access to manatee GPS tracking data, but maybe also implement some boat control to prevent collisions. It is already in use in on the road vehicles. Why should boats be excluded? My whole point was that maybe one day soon they will be included. If it had been implemented sooner Flint Davis would have been notified and warned of impending collision ahead of time and maybe could have prevented this tragedy. Its all the same technology already in use. It is mandatory in on road vehicles. Some cars, vans, trucks, buses are already using electronics to brake their forward movement to prevent collisions. "Automatic emergency braking (AEB) will become mandatory on all new passenger cars and light trucks sold in the U.S. by September 2029, according to a new rule finalized by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). This mandate requires that all light vehicles have an AEB system that can detect and react to imminent crashes, including pedestrian detection, with specific performance standards for speeds up to 62 mph for vehicles and 45 mph for pedestrians." ALL passenger cars are now required to have it installed by 2029. My whole point is boats are possibly next in line. But will it come in time to save the manatee? Another thing biologists are doing to try and save the Florida manatee is to create healthy new colonies away from Florida in some Caribbean islands and other countries of the world that can sustain them because boaters in Florida are absolutely slaughtering the helpless creatures no one can see. Electronics is their only hope here. I believe this same technology could have also prevented Flint Davis tragedy. The question is are the manatee and human lives worth it? Some say yes. Some say no. Sometimes things like this are out of our control. We may not have a choice in the future is my point. Liability can be dealt with down the road. Saving lives should come first I would hope. But I do agree we need more enforcement of existing laws, but none of them have done much to stop the slaughter of manatee. We would have to turn the entire state into a manatee zone and limit boat speeds on all waters manatee are known to exist would be a great help. That would be impossible to enforce from a human perspective. But not from the electronics perspective if they can get it mandated one day. Satellites see it all. All that data will tell them which manatee is in danger and who is endangering it and where and when precise data that can all be remotely monitored by AI. Unreported manatee collisions will be known if they have their way. And they are also going further by creating electronics that monitor the manatee's vital statistics so doctors and vets can know in real time if a manatee is in trouble and send a rescue medical team to try and save them. Seaworld and Sea to Shore Alliance and others are heavily invested right now in developing specialized manatee rescue teams and custom one of a kind rescue machines to rescue manatee in trouble anywhere in Florida's vast wilderness from swamps to rivers to lakes. Large sums of money is being invested in this. But they are coming for our boats same as our cars. Biologists and big money are in favor of it. They lobby for changes. "Automatic emergency braking (AEB) will become mandatory on all new passenger cars and light trucks sold in the U.S. by September 2029" It is already here. Boats are in line I do believe. We can resist all we want to. But sometimes the greater picture requires actions we may not agree with or want. In this thread I was merely bringing it up as part of the discussion on how to prevent tragedies like this thread discusses. Bass boats by design prevent drivers from seeing manatee. Looking over those consoles and large screens is meaningless to the manatee in the water. Drivers need to see in the water and become aware of manatee long before getting close to them. Electronics and GPS tracking is the only way. It will come down to which side are each of us on? The resistance? Or, the save lives no matter what side? I guess in this thread I am making it known I am already on the side of saving the manatee if possible whatever it takes. And saving bass fishermen and other boaters as well.

I took your advice yesterday and put my winning fish in the boat trolling. Did the same as you mentioned when moving from one spot to another across a lake my co-angler tried casting during the move and caught nothing. I used a rat'l trap to get deeper and it worked. I trolled along the edges of cover to the new spot because I had seen a few schooling bass busting up along that cover edge line and decided to follow it to new spot. I think my co-angler will quickly learn to do it as well since my one trolling fish gave me the most fish in the boat yesterday. But I did take note the hook was not in the fish mouth. Hooked on the outside, but it still counts! Trolling can be awesome! Yesterday was a tough day even tho' the solunar calendar said it was a 92% day. The fish just were not cooperating. We managed 5 total. I caught 3. Other fishermen at boat ramp had similar low numbers. Usually this lake can triple that or more. Even the schoolies were no where near what they usually are. Curious what some of you use to troll with? The lake I was on has some deep water for Florida with holes over 42 feet deep. So I chose a sinking rat'l trap to get down near 8 feet deep. In shallow lakes I use a rapala floating minnow lure and can get down 4 feet or so. My co-angler saw my rod bend on that fish and he said "did you get hung up?" I said no, fish on! I could see the wheels turning in his head. I bet he will take up trolling now since that one fish cost him dinner.

I'm going to give this a try myself. I do a lot of traveling towing the boat like yesterday was an 80 mile round trip. I did not balance the new trailer tires and saw some boat seat vibration yesterday in rear view mirror, and I wondered about it as I drove. This is an interesting solution and will give it a try. Balancing is one thing, but I was also wondering if maybe a tire might not be perfectly round. I'll find out soon enough. Thanks for this suggestion.

I like how Katie wrote it not about the images, but about the adventure behind them. "...they’re a nearly flavorless wafer compared to the banquet that lies behind them." No truer words were ever said! Well done! Well written! Thanks!

A weedless paddletail fluke, swimbait, and rat'l trap for starters. Maybe a spinner. And as last resort maybe rubber worm. Whatever works!

The price of these E series reels has skyrockted. Unbelievable how much they are these days. I have been very happy with my HG series. I can get the citica version which is virtually identical to curado and bump it up to a curado with a few parts. On average I can get the citica HG for $40 to $50 and the curado HG reels for less than $100 while the E series are now double that up to around $200 now. I was thrilled yesterday to find in a pawn shop a very nice Falcon Buccu rod on sale as a combo. It had apparently sat around unsold for quite some time and the pawn shop was motivated to sell it. This makes my 24th made in USA Falcon rod in my collection. I bought it for $30 plus an orange plastic junk lews reel on it broken as usual which probably helped this rod to not sell. I cut off the rat'l trap lure, wound up the line on the reel and handed it back to them. Keep it. I don't want it. No doubt they will put a $50 price tag on a broken reel. The rat'l trap is going to my 12 year old son. Going back today for the made in USA Powell rods. The person who sold them to the pawn shop tried to do his own repairs on guides and handles and absolutely butchered them. So no one wanted to buy them. All I see are good blanks needing some TLC. All I need are more projects. So, after buying the Powell rods, time to load up boat and drive across Florida for some inshore and bass fishing for a few days while keeping an eye on a GLoomis 7' MH spinning rod auction currently at $26. no doubt will go over $100 soon. Pawn shops are the place for out of production fishing rods and reels. Sure wish I could find one of those E curados in a lefty. Man those are rare to find these days. I'll have to take another look at the Citica E series. The Citica HG and Curado HG are just about the same reel give or take a couple of parts easily replaced. Cool find. I hope you don't me asking how much you paid for the Curado 50E?

Congratulations indeed! I think Swamp Girl is the most successful catcher on this forum! She is leaving the rest of us in the dust!

I did think about that, but chose to not do it because this Rick Clunn reel and another one like it are going to my 12 year old son who is just getting into baitcast reels. I did not want to make it more difficult on him by stretching out that spring. Maybe down the road when he becomes proficient at it he can consider it. I'm just glad I caught it before giving it to him.

While finishing up the Rick Clun reel I ran into an uncommon issue. One of the last things I checked doing final reel assembly was the spring loaded metal plate on the spool that the magnetic braking uses to control the spool. I found it was stuck in place and not moving. This would compromise the reel's ability to function normally and make casting more difficult. It is designed so that at the top of the cast on the high speed spin out, this plate pushes against the spring to move it closer to the magnets for greater braking effect and greater control over the cast. With it stuck in place on spool shaft it does not move closer to magnets at top of the cast. This would reduce cast control ability. This could be why it wound up online for sale so cheaply- not sure- just speculating. I paid $20 for it. So I removed the plate and cleaned the spool axle, cleaned inside the hole on plate, used a vapor thin amount of synthetic oil on it, and reassembled, and its now back to functioning easily and smoothly. You can twist test it on the spool. It should move freely, and upon release the spring easily returns it to its resting position. If not, disassemble it and clean and lubricate it lightly. If you have any older Bass Pro or doyo made reels with this same type of feature, it might pay off to carefully check this one out.

I gotta get back down to the shop. I was just informed one of our shop's long time customers, an old guide captain just brought in boxes of his old reels and donated them to the shop. So if I want to get in on some of that, its time for a road trip to see what is in those boxes. I also need to find a 7'6" MHF blank for my son's inshore custom spinning rod he wants to build. Only 12 years old and already wanting to build his own custom rods. This comment is for Bass Pro and Rick Clunn reel owners. I recently purchased a couple of old Bass Pro Rick Clunn signature reels off ebay for like $20 each. Cheap! Cheap! Cheap! Love the prices! One of the reels has a sticky thumbar very difficult to move up and down in its slot. Lubricating does not help. Trying by hand to move the thumbar up and down proved difficult. It should freely move up and down. For this particular reel this is an important issue to correct because the part that the thumbar uses to switch the reel into cast mode, and same part the reel uses to switch or push the thumbar back up into a retrieve reset mode is a plastic piece that can twist and even break off if the force needed to apply through it is too great. Addressing this problem can be accomplished one of two ways. One way is to sand down the two thumbar retainers on each side, but those are already very thin as they are. So that is not the best choice here. In my opinion the best choice is to lightly sand the ends of the thumbar just enough to make it move up and down in its slot without any resistance or difficulty. Once this accomplished, the reel can be reassembled, and one can be sure the connecting part is not subjected to too much force moving in both directions. Ease of operation here is key to longevity for this reel. Just lightly sand both ends of thumbar with fine grit sandpaper to remove just enough plastic so thumbar can move freely in its slot. Not all reels will experience this problem. When reel is apart on the bench one can quickly check for this problem by simply inserting the thumbar into place in its slot and test it by hand. If it is too tight. Lightly sand. If it moves freely as is, this is not needed.

I have to disagree with your use of "terrible" fisherman! No such thing! There is more skilled and less skilled. There are no right ways to fish and no wrong ways to fish. There is only what works and what does not. So you are in no way a terrible fisherman. You are an in progress fisherman working your way from less skilled to more skilled and may fall somewhere in between. I think we all tend to fit this same description. The fact that you want to improve skills tells me you are a great fisherman on your way! Only the fish are not cooperating with this narrative much of the time. Next, The electronics is not a way to measure your fishing skills. Spot lock is not a fishing skill. Looking at some electronics screen is not a fishing skill. I believe a fishing skill is when you pick up a rod and reel and use some sort of artificial lure that you use your knowledge and muscle controls to try and make that lure come alive so you can fool fish into thinking it is something to eat. When you accomplish this, you are becoming a more skilled fisherman. The electronics in my opinion is not a fishing skill at all. They are simply tools that help you use your fishing skills. I think one of the best ways to improve as a fishermen and increase your skill level is to research your area. Research your bodies of water. Research the fish in those bodies of water that you choose to try and catch. Then research what it is they feed on and when, and then you simply try and fit yourself into the fish's natural habits and feeding choices and I bet your ability to catch more fish will improve. So rather than have a negative perspective, I would try and turn it around to a positive perspective and find that path to improving skill levels based on what your local area is showing you. Let it teach you. Pay attention to Nature itself. Observation is one of the greatest teachers. Today at 61 I no longer use any electronics. I recently gave away my Lowrance dual sonar to another member here because I never use it. Its just my boat, a trolling motor with no spot lock, and my tackle. I go forth and conquer the few fish I catch doing it the same way my grandfather and father did. I find this to be most enjoyable and most satisfying. Spending time looking at screens and playing around with all the gizmos and gadgets is not fishing and is actually taking away from fishing. Getting back to old school fishing and sweeping all the new modern electronics aside and getting in touch with Nature will be the fastest path to increasing your skill levels. And I also prefer to fish the edges or shallow waters of my lakes. I find that most of the fish I catch are in 8 feet of water or less- primarily because most of the lakes I fish are dishpan lakes and usually less than 20 feet deep. So the shallows tend to be very productive indeed. I'd say concentrate on the science to the fish in your area. Learn their secrets and how they live and feed and then just fit yourself into their known patterns and fool every fish you can into the boat. Practice makes perfect, and it improves with time, patience and determined persistence.

I mistakenly typed OMD motor above. It is an OMC or, Outboard Marine Corporation (OMC) was a maker of Evinrude, Johnson and Gale Outboard Motor 1929-2000. Yours is more than likely a commercially available model. I bought a used military model known as MARS. Great motors. Mine still runs like new and on original 1987 settings. I believe the key to keeping them running so long without settings changed is fuel treatment. I have used a combination of products in my fuel for decades and never have any gumming up issues fortunately or fuel that decomposes over time due to fuel stabilizers. It helps.

Have you checked fuel pump? My 1987 recently did not start on water. Primer bulb pumped up tight. But it would not fire up. Not getting fuel. But it was enough to sputter once in a while maybe because the primer bulb was forcing some fuel through the pump into cylinders. I guessed it was fuel pump being so old, and just got lucky this time. I replace it and she fired right up last outing. I can not imagine how much that would have cost me to take it in to have someone else diagnose it. My old 1987 OMD MARS motor fuel pump cost me all of $14 with free shipping. I could not be happier this time around. Maybe your repair will be as painless and as fast. Oddly enough, I just checked ebay for your fuel pump for "1984 Evinrude 185hp" and it shows your motor uses the exact one my motor does (if correct). And it was very easy to replace and took me less than 5 minutes. I did swap out the original wire ties and go with adjustable steel clamps instead. https://www.ebay.com/itm/156928612925