FloridaFishinFool

Today was going in new territory on a 1992 Zebco/Quantum hypercast HC3 spinning reel. A kind of bizarre reel I purchased at a pawn shop the other day for cheap. My son needs some saltwater tackle and this reel came on a Berkley CherryWood 7' MH rod all for $10. This reel is one I have never seen before and never worked on one. No one ever brought one of these into the shop that I ever saw. Kind of glad they didn't too. This one had 3 or 4 times as many springs as other reels. There were at least 7 springs in the rotor because of its unique casting mechanism. This reel was one of the dirtiest reels I have seen in a long time. That old brown petroleum grease had dried and hardened up to cement. The side plate was glued on. I spent 90% of my time scraping, brushing and trying to clean each part. Taking it apart and putting it back together again was the easy part. Mineral spirits almost did not work. I was almost considering using some gasoline to try and dissolve that old cement grease. The body of the reel and rotor are plastic. And this presented the obvious age problem I'll show shortly. But to shorten this comment I'll head straight for the rotor since it was the most difficult and had me checking the schematic several times to double check some things. When I opened up one side of the rotor to remove the bail, I noticed a part just kind of floating around in there. I was looking at it wondering where did that come from? Did I miss something? I did not see it fall out of anywhere. The part seemed to fit kind of where I found it. I had wondered why the cover plate to this side was loose and not fit on well and now I know. That part in there had obvious wear marks on it, but it did not match anything within the area of the rotor I found it. This first image shows exactly how and where I found it under a lever. So I figured maybe it just slid out of place? It seems to fit this lever where I found it. But those wear marks on it do not fit this at all. So I tried the other lever on it to see how it fit. Not going to work like this. It pushes that lever too far up and cover will not fit on correctly. The top lever is supposed to be flush with the one it fits on. Shown here it is raised up. This can't be right. So I tried it in the only other place it seemed to fit, but it does not go there either. The wear on this loose part floating around in there does not match anything in there. So I downloaded a schematic for it, and low and behold, the schematic does not even show this part. I accounted for every single part in this side of the rotor except this one. It does not belong in this reel. It was throwing me for a loop until I got a schematic and with the wear marks not matching and it not fitting anywhere and now the schematic not showing it. This part is coming out and leaving me wondering why it was even put in there in the first place. Due to the cheap plastic rotor, a screw hole stem or whatever they call it had split down the middle. Glue is not going to fix this and hold. Something else might. So I pulled out a capacitor and cut off one of the leads and twisted it around this stem to help hold it together to hopefully prevent any further splitting. And I did not even have to glue it in place. It can't move down and it can't come off because the top of this screw stem touches the cover and is screwed down tight so it will stay in place no problem. As is common with a lot of spinning reels, when reassembling the bail I always check to see how far off it is from aligning with the bail arm screw hole. Always bend these back aligned so there is no side pressure on the bail hinges. I removed one part that did not belong and replaced the handle screw with a shimano that fit right in there. And now this 33 year old strange little reel is back up in smooth fully operating condition. I plan on trying this one out myself before possibly let my son have it, but I am still thinking about what BigBox99 said about this reel today: "I had a hypercast my dad would use. He hated it. You had to check the line at the bail on every cast. Braid would wrap around the bail arm instead of falling into the line roller and then fail to release on the cast. I think it would work fine with stiffer plastic lines but braid would catch." Well I plan on putting that comment to the test. This reel came with some braid line I thought I would put right back on it, and try it out and test your comment. She's back... And this one has a worm gear to oscillate the spool almost identical to a shimano stradic. The main drive gear showed almost no wear. And this reel comes with those white teflon drag washers that seem to last forever. 33 years old and they looked like brand new. And on old spools always feel around the edge where line flows off and reeled onto the spool to see if there are any knicks or burrs. This one had to be sanded some to smooth it out. They can catch line and damage line. Still smooth after 33 years!

I read it.

Makes the plug fit snugly. Not the electrical connections. If those are bad you could glue it in there and still have problems. It is those connections that need to be snug and tight. Without seeing it I tend to think the O ring is to keep water out, not make electrical connections is my point. Either way you slice it, it appears a new connector may be your best solution all the way around. Both would be best.

It sounds like the connector is loose. Those pins should fit tightly and snuggly into their connecting holes. Bad or loose connections can cause increased resistance across loose connections and tend to heat up. Sounds like a new connector is in your future. Replace and keep on keeping on.

Bulldog posted elsewhere that Lew's is selling one.

Multiple fishermen can say all they want to and it does not mean a thing in court- unless called as witnesses. https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2025/06/alabama-fishing-tournament-fatal-crash-company-disputes-blatantly-false-account-in-lawsuit.html One of the lawsuits already filed made this claim in court records: "A lawsuit on Broom’s behalf was filed in May, targeting three parties. They are Major League Fishing, tournament competitor Davis and fishing guide Holcombe. Among other things, the complaint alleges that Major League Fishing failed by “organizing and incentivizing high-speed boat operation in foggy, congested conditions on a public waterway shared with recreational and guided fishing vessels.” It likewise accuses Davis of “traveling at excessive and unsafe speeds” despite “dense fog, mist or clouds” covering parts of the lake." Fog may not cover the entire lake. It does not have to cover the entire lake so keep that in mind. Fog may not have been in that area at the time, but if fog existed on other parts of the lake will surely matter in a court of law as to how MLF should have handled it. Fog is now legally a part of this accident case regardless of what any anglers say. They don't matter unless they are called into court to testify. Other than that nothing more than hearsay on their part. Here is another description from AI search: "Yes, initial reports stated fog was thought to be a factor in the tragic boat accident on Smith Lake, Alabama, which resulted in the deaths of two fishermen, but later reports indicate it was not the primary cause; it was a combination of the narrow channel, racing down the lake, and heavy steam from the water causing limited visibility, according to a YouTube video." I want to know how they will differentiate steam from mist from fog? That will be interesting. But fog may not have been a primary cause, but is certainly a major contributing factor- or steam, or mist or whatever it is they choose to call water vapor these days. Again, the MLF has to take an entire lake into consideration when calling a halt to a tournament for fog or whatever it is. If fog exists only on Southern end and northern end is clear you can't cut the lake in half. Its either all or none and that was missed big time. But it will play out in court for sure! To your point of the boat being anchored in a bad spot is also irrelevant. Legally anyone can anchor where ever they want to. No rules or laws to prevent it. Was there a sign on that spot that said "Bad spot no anchoring here"? If not, that point is irrelevant to the case. Those deceased people were well within their legal rights to anchor up there, and no one should run them down for any reason. MLF messed up here big time as I see it. Many are saying the tournament should have been paused or held back until fog and mist fully cleared from the lake. This is at the core of the case now big time. Now maybe it was technically a bad spot, but so what. That does not matter. The fault rests exclusively on the driver of the boat that hit them. End of story. That is like saying when I get rear ended by someone from behind that I am parked in a bad spot for them- victim blaming. The law puts full responsibility on the person driving who caused the accident. All this bad spot talk is just crazy talk like you said of the GPS which is NOT crazy talk. Its already here and being used and will be used even more heavily in the future. I was merely pointing out what I am hearing and reporting it here. If it is crazy talk to you then so be it, but that crazy talk will save lives and its use and further implementation is coming- I believe it. Tesla and others use it now. GPS tracking of those tournament boats could have possibly prevented this tragedy. And you wait and see what comes out of all of this. I will bet you down the road MLF and others will do something similar. These types of accidents are avoidable. So its not crazy talk if future accidents like this can be prevented by way of simple application of already existing technology.

Beautiful rod FishTank! Thanks for posting it! I have never purchased a JDM rod. The Japanese do fabulous work. Very high quality. My father came back from Korea with a similar bamboo rod in a box he purchased in Japan. He was going there for Nikon cameras, but did bring back one fishing rod. This is a one of a kind custom rod that is not supposed to even exist. It is rarer than rare. I call this rod my Nacho rod. And the reason for that name is the man who made this rod was nicknamed Nacho. He was a well known local central Florida fisherman who was a regular customer of the rod and reel repair shop I worked at in central Florida area for some years. During the time I was working at the shop Nacho became terminally ill and his entire fishing rod and reel collection was put up for sale right after he died. This rod was one of the few I was able to get my hands because no one else wanted it. Since I was on the bottom of the totem pole, I got the scraps from that collection and everyone else got first choices on a lot of his really good rods. Heck I never even got to see most of them! Gone before I could ever lay eyes on them. This rod piqued my interest because I love to fish for schooling bass on the St. Johns river in central Florida area. Where I fish there is no cover. Nothing for any fish to run into and hide or get tangled up in and the river bottom is scraped clean by the current. So in a fishing environment like that I can get away with using medium and medium light rods for having a blast with the all day chasing down of schooling bass up and down the river. The lighter rods kind of balance out the fight more and for me makes it more enjoyable fishing rather than go out with heavy rods and crane them in. I prefer to use the rods to do battle with the fish. That is the fun of it all. Change that and the fun goes away. So that is my reasoning behind choosing this one particular rod from what was left of his collection. I paid his estate $40 cash for it since no one else wanted it, I thought I got a good deal on it. I have considered stripping the guides off of it and turning it into a spiral wrapped rod, but as yet I cannot bring myself to touch it. This is Nacho's rod. And to date I have left it as is. But what makes this rod so special to me now is that this rod does not exist, yet it does! I have contacted the company who made the blank to ask them about it and they have told me that this rod cannot exist because they said they NEVER sell or allow any of their whole full blanks to get out of their manufacturing process. And they mean never! As in not possible at all. So they balked when I told them I had one. They said "not possible." The blank this rod is constructed on is a Air-Flo JourneyMan Nan-Tec blank made in the UK. They only make fly fishing rods and nothing else. And, they only make sectional fly rods, so that is all that they sell and all that is commercially available to purchase from them. Yet here in Florida, some how Nacho got his hands on an intact complete full fly rod blank. How he did it is a mystery. No one at Air-Flo could adequately explain it or have any answer for how a complete rod blank found its way out of their tightly secured manufacturing process. I was told in no uncertain terms that this rod does not exist and is not supposed to exist because they have very tight security and do not allow anyone to remove or take full blanks out of there. Yet I have one. And here is the Nacho rod! A 6'10" medium to medium light, more light, bass fishing rod custom cut from a full Air-Flo JourneyMan Nan-Tec fly rod blank. This is a rod that is not supposed to exist! Yet it does! Rest in peace Nacho! I won't change your rod from how you made it! I just wish he was still around to explain how he got it, and why he chose this section of the fly rod blank to cut out. I have no details on it other than this. And its kind of ironic and humorous a rod like this one came into my possession. I tried my hand at fly fishing when younger, and I just don't care for it at all. So its perfect that I now have a bass fishing casting rod cut out of a fly rod which for me gives it a new life better suited to me.

Before starting this thread I did a forum search for any similar threads and did not find one. So I would like to start a thread about rare fishing rods. To clarify what I mean about rare, I am thinking of defining it as meaning first, one of a kind rods like custom rods, but also brand name off the shelf stock rods that are today extremely hard or impossible to find. So I would define "rare" as doing a google or AI search online- the world over- for any mention of your rod. And if google or AI can come up with 10 rods of same type and model to be found, or less, then I would say that is a rare rod. But if your rod can produce search results finding hundreds of them out there or thousands, then I would not consider that as rare. If anyone has any other way to define rare, please post alternative ideas. I just came up with a basic definition for purposes of this thread discussion. If you have a rod with 50 mentions it would also be a rare rod. So maybe anything under a 100 mentions found out there in the world is maybe a better definition. But for my part in this thread I will try and keep my input to less than 10 mentions of search results. This thread should exclude any and all rods that are currently in production and commercially available today. There is nothing I love more than searching for rare fishing rods all over Florida for the last 40+ years. So I know I would greatly enjoy seeing some of your best rare rods in this thread. And I bet there are other members here who would also really enjoy seeing and learning about some really awesome rare rods, and even one of a kind custom rods, and why you have it, and how is it constructed type of thing, and why? Even the history behind your rare rods would benefit other members to learn from. I hope this thread can be a rare rod super thread that goes on forever! Explain your rod preferences, and why you are attracted to particular rare rods. I hope many of you will share them, and show us all your rare fishing rods.

I did have one of those! I wish I still had it. I love those types of grips. I custom shape my own as well. Bass Pro had the famous "Power Hump" grips. I did a modified power hump on a mid 1980's Team Daiwa rod. And as I was constructing it I had to battle with myself over should I install it straight up and down vertically same as all manufacturers do? Or, should I turn it so it fits the hand more comfortably angled off center. I settled on comfort and off center and LOVE it! Not trying to hijack the thread or anything, just continuing on with a comment to another comment. I've been collecting the mid 1980's Team Daiwa rods for decades now. And years ago I came across a rod like no other. It is like a magic wand rod. Super light. Super responsive. Just an incredible blank. The only reason this rod survived to today is because of one thing. The reel seat came loose and reel spun around the rod. So someone put this rod away and never used it. And it is because of that decades of storage that this rod made it to 2025. I just did an online search for this rod's model number and google and AI both searched the entire world for me and found nothing. There are no second rods like this one to be found out there, except maybe still hidden away somewhere unknown. But it is because of the weakness or lightweight thinness of this rod as to why all of them are now gone. Probably broken, worn out, and destroyed. But not this one! I have the one surviving rod, and I am glad to have it. To repair the reel seat the old cork handle had to come off so I could reseat the reel seat onto the rod securely. So when I reconstructed the cork grip I purchased some of the best quality cork to be found and custom shaped a similar grip to what is shown above on stock rods. The one thing I did different was slightly turn the new power hump grip slightly off center about 3 degrees so now it fits my hand perfectly for casting. This is a dream rod. And now one of a kind. My custom power hump styled grip is installed upside down to how Bass Pro did theirs with most of their hump to the topside. Mine is mostly to the bottom and 3 degrees offset to the left side. Its more comfortable this way. I spent some time handling the rod with grip in different positions and just settled on what was most comfortable. Upside down, backwards, and off center. AI says: "A TD-v I701MLFB" did not produce any direct results for a specific rod model. This could be because the model name is incorrectly typed, is an obscure or discontinued Japanese domestic market (JDM) model, or is part of a series where the full model number is less commonly referenced. However, the model number can be broken down to understand the rod's specifications based on Daiwa's naming conventions for its Team Daiwa (TD) series of rods." Kind of cool to have a number of rods AI and google basically says "Does not exist." Back to topic, the Denny Brauer F&P rods comes from this same series and look identical to it. I now have about a dozen of this series of rods. Great rods. Well made. I do have another H in the collection I could use for a F&P rod, just have never done so when I have others to choose from that are at the head of the line. I am using one now for a frogging rod. Hey TomCat there is an idea for your next thread! Froggin' rods!

The Minn Kota repair tech I spoke with yesterday said they started the alphabet use in 2000 and began with AA, with "A" representing zero. So "B" would be 2001, "C" 2002, etc. right on up to this OP's "L" he figured was 2011. Just passing on what I was told and how he figured it. If what he said was correct and the motor may be behind drawing too much current shutting down working motor driver supply and the control board all still works, then the cheapest solution here would be to rebuild the motor or simply replace the motor with a newer one. Then it may work fine again. IF. And that is a big IF. But from my experience, when I rebuild a motor and go to the shop to buy all the parts I have needed in the past the price of all parts was less than $20. All I had to buy was new brushes, new housing seals, and shaft seals. That was it. But if what he said is correct and the motor may have bigger issues like magnets weakening, or armature/coil problems, those would be more costly. But still a lot cheaper than an entire new trolling motor. Again, just throwing this out there trying to be helpful.

Green rods? Not sure what you are saying here. A little more info please.

I think we all knew this was coming! And Glenn I hope you don't mind me posting this information here. If so, please delete. I hope this post is considered as relevant to this tragedy. I'd add that some people think, maybe myself included, that MLF probably should have held the tournament under caution due to fog, but under pressure may have pushed forward not being as cautionary as maybe they should have been. I wonder if this might add to the MLF liability in this case? Just a tragedy all the way around. Hope it never happens again. There is talk of using GPS location devices to try and prevent this type of thing. Biologists want to do the same in Florida with manatee. Since we can't see them and boaters run all over them injuring them seriously and killing hundreds of them. If they were all tagged with electronic trackers, then boaters could use GPS to prevent future collisions. It has many applications with tournament bass fishing being one of them. Other uses the biologists are considering and may be doing already is to put trackers in invasive species like the pythons and boa constrictors running loose in South Florida. They hope the snakes will lead them to areas the snakes prefer so hunters can use that data to help eradicate them. Other animals like our Florida panther also has some trackers on some of them now already. There is a fine line between freedom and safety and going too far. Tragedies like this one are behind why safety changes to laws happen. The lawsuits and publicity give them the cause to pass laws to change things if we the people do not choose to do it ourselves is when big brother steps in and does it for us. And it could very well be coming too. After every major plane crash there are calls for changes to try and prevent it from happening again. I should add the biologist I talked to wants to incorporate this GPS tracking into boat controls. So if a boater is flying up river at full speed and the GPS tracking data shows a collision is imminent with a manatee, then the boat controls would give warning first, and then maybe even throttle back on boat to prevent collision if the driver does not want to slow down or change course. The electronics they want to implement might do it for them. Kind of like how drunks can't drive because of the electronics they use in cars. Biologists don't want the manatee going extinct here in Florida because of careless boaters killing so many. So they are looking at future options. GPS tracking maybe could have saved some lives in this tragedy as well. It can be a good idea used correctly, but there is also room for abuse. Law enforcement would love to use it to track criminals. Already are. Cellphones and Apple have been a big help to them in this area. Expect more in future. I'd like to add more of what a state of Florida biologist told me. He said presently the state of Florida in conjunction with various corporations like Sea World and non-profit foundation corporations like Sea to Shore Alliance all have a combined effort for a rapid recovery rescue and response teams all across Florida to try and rescue and save manatees who are injured, starving, or trapped in various places, or even dead. They even want all sightings called in if people would only do so to help them track manatee right now. My son just reported one in New Smyrna Beach directly to state biologists on their report a manatee phone number. He thought it might be trapped because of low tide. But his manatee got out OK. If they could implement the GPS tracking data into AI, they hope to have early warnings on manatees in trouble. They even want the tracking devices to transmit the manatee's vital statistics so veterinarian doctors can know instantly ahead of time what they are getting into and how to respond with their rapid response teams. Every single one of them all across the state would be alerted instantly. What this means for all of us, if they have their way, new boats will come with tracking devices mandatory. And maybe if they can get it some boat controls like an engine kill or throttle back if a collision is imminent and their warnings go unheeded by boat driver. This means they will be watching all of us on the water everywhere we are. And they will KNOW before any of us hit and injure or kill a manatee and they will know who did it too. Every manatee in the state of Florida they can locate are all photographed, tagged, and named. Injuries documented. The biologists take saving the manatee and other animals very seriously and are working hard to change laws more in their favor which means less in our favor. Do these animals deserve to be saved from extinction is the question. GPS tracking of boats may be the only way to do it while also preventing more tragedies like the MLF boat accident. This is what they want to put a stop to as soon as possible: I think a lot of us Floridians take it seriously about trying to save and protect the manatee. Some boaters going through manatee slow speed zones don't slow down. Now with GPS they can track that as well. But what I want to say is that I have a 40 plus year association to various biologists in Florida. And, I try and teach my sons ages 12 and 14 to be conservationists. Pick up trash rather than throw it down. Leave things better than you found it type of thing. But one thing I am trying to do for my sons is to use that connection to state biologists to get my sons into manatee rescues as volunteers. When a manatee close by is in trouble and they need an army of humans to rescue the manatee, I would like for my sons to be a part of that rescue. I think it would have a profound effect on them long after I am dead and gone. I think they would think more highly of themselves if they knew they were a part of saving and protecting the manatee. Florida is also designing custom machines to go into remote places to rescue these manatee. To save this stranded manatee, heavy equipment was brought in to dig a water path back to the water. We can all be a part of this effort. Especially all of us boaters on the frontlines. We are the eyes and ears for the alliances. Technology is bringing it all together. Those 3 fishermen killed might still be alive today if the biologists had their way. Who knows, maybe their lives lost will be what it takes to move forward with this type of technology to save future fishermen from the same possible fate.

TomCat I still have 5 flipping and pitching rods. I no longer use 4 of them and had to reduce size or length due to my boat being too low to the water to use the 7'6" rods, and getting older now, and those large rods are getting harder to handle. So now I have moved down to a 6'11" rod I can handle better. Don't necessarily like it as much, but it does what I need it to. 1)Daiwa TD-V76THRB (I have two of these rods mint condition) 2)Fenwick HMXT-76H-T 3)No.8 BlackOut BOC-76MH XF 3)Dobyns DC-734C-SH (Shortened to 6'11") I confess that my flipping and pitching rod choice early on 40 years ago was directly influenced by and designed by Denny Brauer as shown in his 1986 awesome video on Flipping & Pitching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJhbnvjIHSU So I purchased back then two of his Team Daiwa rods he designed for Daiwa. Today these rods are no longer available and finding one is extremely rare. I plan on passing mine down to my sons one day. A family heirloom! I have had offers years ago, and one guy offered me $300 for one of them and I turned him down. Today I would not take double that for one. Just too rare these days. These are historical legacy rods that set the standard still used to this day. Could be museum display rods if we had a fishing rod hall of fame, these would be in it. The following Fenwick rod borrowed from Denny Brauer's legacy as well. The Fenwick is a copy cat exact replica knock off of the Daiwa Denny Brauer designed rods. A darn good flipping and pitching rod though. Before I reduced rod length I tried downsizing to a lighter rod but not as heavy of action. And that is where the No.8 BlackOut rod came into play. Great rod for the price. I got it cheap in a pawn shop and turned it into a spiral wrapped F&P rod. Love the rod. Just too long for me these days. But due to how lightweight it is, about half the weight of a Team Daiwa rod above, it was much easier for me to use with less fatigue. The Dobyns rod was a shift for me. I had been looking for a shorter F&P rod and a customer brought this one into the shop years ago to see if it could be repaired after he broke 4 inches off the tip. No one at the shop wanted to attempt any kind of repair of the rod. Adding 4 inches back onto it does not make it the same rod it was before and was a liability really. If it failed you know he would be back demanding it be fixed again for free so the shop just passed on it. Since he wanted that particular rod, he decided to just go buy himself a new one, and he left this one at the shop. It was going to be thrown away so I grabbed it, stripped it down and turned it into a spiral wrapped rod and by default it has become my current F&P rod. Kind of heavy but a much easier length to maneuver for me. I am working on another rod right now that could also become my newest favorite F&P rod. It is an amazing blank the likes of which I have never seen before. Its a SixGill "Creature" series CREC700MH fast action rod. I have been quite surprised by how good this rod really is. Amazing does not begin to describe it. An online search says "1 Piece Blended Japanese Toray Carbon, Fuji Guides, Split Cork Grip Handle, Fast Action" Its lightweight, well built, and balanced and extremely crisp & responsive rod of amazing quality. My newest love! Looking through this thread are some great choices I would not mind adding to my rod collection. The Loomis, St. Croix, and any 'made in USA' only Falcon rods are at top of my list as well.

I think some rod manufacturers refer to it as line control guides or line management guides more or less. Guides to keep line in line! I have never considered doing it how you suggest by using a secondary line to hold rod in place loaded and then thread reel line through guides to adjust them that way. I wonder if it would be the same or different? I will have to try your method and compare. Thanks for suggesting that.

You can choose any guides you want to. The taller the guide the more angular bends in line flow you will see on your rod. I use micro guides on most rods and run my line closer to the blank. Just a preference. I start at the tip and I work back to the reel. Not towards the tip. The reason for this is because the 180's and tip guide are kind of set in stone as to where they go. So install those first and put a reel on the rod with line under load and follow the line back to reel under load to show you where those guides go by letting the rod and reel show you where they go based on your chosen degree of rod load bend. As for the bend section of the rod you can use any standard placement guide. I've used this one and others. Very true! I said basically the same thing. John Scanlan patented the first idea of a spiral wrapped rod in 1909. 116 years ago! Here is the image from his original patent. He shows specific degrees of guide placement for ALL rods! And you may notice how he does what many others do in trying to spiral wrap the thickest part of the blank closest to the reel. He also has a very peculiar tip on this rod. I'd like to see the detail drawing on that one.

Perfectly. I don't buy crooked rods! That would bug me forever. I'd have to try and straighten it. I passed one of these rods up a few weeks ago in Deland Florida pawn shop that had too much tip broken off to be useful. Had to put that one back in the rack and it killed me! That's 3 Loomis rods in less than one month, and total spent less than $120 for all 3. Not a bad month. And the reels will help pay for most of them once sold. I was working the bundle deals hard!

Its not that the bass are right there waiting on it. Watch Glenn Lau's film work and see that the bass are moving all over the place and rushing to grab the lure BEFORE the next bass can. They are competing. I do believe Pat mentioned the magic word first. Competition. And here it is on film. Legendary! Is there any consensus on the competition angle? I agree with others that the splash or noise of a lure may attract their attention to a possible food source, but as I see it, once more than one bass move towards it, that a survival instinct for competition for food kicks in to strike it.

Days like today are what I live for. I hit the pawn shops again today looking for rods and reels for my 12 year old son to beat up in saltwater and I found one for him and one for me today. I found a unique old Zebco/Quantum HyperCast spinning reel, an HC3 still smooth and fully functional. A neat old reel! I think my son is going to like this one. And it came on a brand new Berkley CherryWood 7' MH F rod for $10. And with the cork grip still covered in its original new plastic protective cover still on it. Like new. So my son gets a rod and reel for $10. When I finish rebuilding this old reel and getting it all cleaned up, who knows, I might use it for a bit. Never had one of these! AI search says: "The Zebco Quantum Hypercast HC3 is a vintage spinning reel featuring a unique one-handed operation system with a lever to open the bail and grab the line, a complexity highlighted by its internal fork and firing pin mechanism. It incorporates a worm gear drive for its balanced rotor, front drag, and auto anti-reverse. As a relatively old and uncommon model, it is often found on marketplaces like eBay and Etsy." But that other rod stopped me in my tracks. I search and search and search for these rods and persistence pays off every once in awhile and today was one of those fabulous find days! I found a rod and reel combo in a rack for $25... Upon closer look and what did I find today? An unbroken in good used condition, an All Star rod made in USA by LCI, Inc., or Loomis Composites Corporation, Inc. from back in the days before Founder of All Star rods Morgan McCain was making his own "made in Houston, Tx" rods. Morgan McCain when he started All Star rods he did NOT make his own rods at that time. He sourced all of his blanks from Loomis Composites Corp. which was Gary Loomis and his partner Don Mook. Later on Morgan McCain would ask Don Mook to come to Houston, Texas to build him his own rod blank factory so Morgan could begin making his own rods. This one predates that! It is definitely an LCI rod! The cool thing is I can rebuild the reel, an Abu Ambassadeur 5000 and resell it online for $50 to $60 all day long, and when I do, this Gary Loomis rod will not only be free, but that pawn shop will have paid me $20 to $30 just to take it off their hands! How cool is that? Paid to take another Gary Loomis rod! I did the same with my last GLoomis pawn shop rod find. Persistence and determination pays off today! This one is kind of a rare model and sought after. The last comment in this old thread shown below is some guy asking if anyone wants to part with one of these rods. Um, no, not really. I plan on stripping the guides off this rod today and start turning it into a spiral wrapped rod with modern micro guides. Can't wait to finish this one. Like I needed one more rod. I cannot pass up a Gary Loomis rod. Once it is my hands it is NOT going back in the rack unless the price is outrageous. But not today! SOLD! A Zell Rowland "Topwater Special" rod. Online says its a MH F rod, but by my estimate its an upper M F. One thing I did pass up today and I am kind of kicking myself for doing so was this box of lures. A lot of them in there were all wooden older Rapala lures. Priced at $25 I probably could have bought it for $20 or less. I might go back and take a closer look. Just one lure in this box could be worth what they are asking for the whole box. What a great Loomis day today is! There is a God! And the he side of God made Loomis rods! And this one just arrived in the mail today. Another saltwater baitrunner. This one is an Okuma Avenger 8000 in almost out of the box like new condition. It was offered on ebay as a broken parts/repair reel. Only one other person bid on it. I got it for $15 plus shipping. These retail around $100 or so. I emailed the seller and asked him what was wrong with it and he said the drag did not work. I did not say a word to him about it that maybe, just maybe he did not use backing line. I saw no reason the drag should not be working on a like new reel. So I kept my mouth shut and bought it because its an 8000 size for my 12 year son to use in saltwater, and sure enough the line slips around the spool no matter what he sets the drag to. Gee, that's a simple fix. Thanks! Should I email the seller and clue them in? I don't want to make him feel bad for messing up like this. But hey, maybe he will do it again! 😁 I'd say all that free braid line is worth what I paid for the reel! Maybe I should feel guilty or something? Nah.

Ain't that the truth!

See! I get to use fewer guides on a spiral wrapped rod! Same as a spinning rod for same length of blank! This rod has 10 guides plus tip and is 7' MH F.

I am on phone with minn kota repair rep right now. He says your electronics is old analog. Today its all digital. Because it is an ST model there are no more circuit boards or remotes available for it. AA serial number began in 2000. L being 12th letter in alphabet add one year for each letter. Serial number L is around 11 or 12 years later or 2011/2012 era. 14 years is pretty good! He said buy a new one because repairing this old one is pricey. Since he repairs these motors daily he had a totally different scenario in mind based on your description. He said that it sounds like your 2011 motor may have worn out brushes, and or the magnets may have lost some charge down in the motor leading to increased current draw from the motor. He said those old driver electronics come with a built in current limitation circuit to prevent over current situations. They simply shut themselves off rather than try and deliver excessive current to the motor. He said without seeing it he could not be sure. Its either motor now drawing too much current and working driver electronics is shutting itself off to prevent physical burning, or the driver electronics has failed or control board. He said the shop still has remotes and circuit boards he uses to check out and test motors with of that era. Some can be repaired. Others can't. It depends on what is wrong. He said he could test your motor to diagnose it properly with the extra parts he has in the shop, but the shop is not going to give any of those up because they are no longer available from Minn Kota and you have to hunt for working parts on your own in used markets if you choose to repair this one. But I can tell you if it is the motor only, you can replace it fairly cheaply without going to minn kota for the motor. A newer used 24v/80lb motor will work. It just takes labor to switch them out. But without a proper Minn Kota rep diagnosing your problem I would not recommend you attempt any repairs yourself and waste money on something that may not be the problem. Find a Minn Kota rep in your area and let them diagnose it. He said straight up since it is that old to just replace it and buy a new one. Too bad you are in Minnesota! I would either help you customize that one cheaply if I lived close enough, or be happy to take this one off your hands when you buy your new one! Then I would customize it for myself! Ha! No, I don't need another 24v/80lb thrust. I'm going straight for the big boy the 36v/110lb motor. Presently I am running my 12v/55lb motor because my power supply failed from corrosion when I stupidly stored it too close to a bottle of muriatic acid the fumes of that acid corroded the power supply badly. Now I have to buy another one, but have been holding off until I just got this 36v/110lb motor as my next project. This is the 40 year old awesome Minn Kota maximizer designed and built back in mid 1980's. Works awesome to this day. Made before remote controls though. This power supply is 12 to 60 volts but only 70 amps. Worked great on my 24/80, but I want a 100amp supply for my 36/110. When I purchased this one it was under $50. A 100 amp supply may cost me over $100 or $200. Still cheaper than a fully electronic new trolling motor.

Now we are getting to a different scenario. A 10 speed motor? If you DO have an electronics motor driver, then its possible the problem is in the electronic speed control. Many of these use mechanical relays inside. These also burn up the same as the speed switches. They usually do not use semiconductors to switch this much current. So I am now leaning towards a mechanical relay or something inside has been affected by the high current draw. You could have issues there. It does not sound like the motor driver circuit has failed all together because the same electronics drives motor through all speeds. If you are losing the highest speed under load, then this indicates the maximum current draw is causing an issue with that motor driver. Engineers and corporations are kind of funny in this area. If left up to the engineers they design electronics to carry the loads and handle it easily over long term. But if it does not burn up the corporation does not get return customers buying new stuff or parts and repairs. So corporations demand engineers design stuff to just meet the minimums needed to get the job done. I see this same thing in other electronics as well. If a circuit draws 50 amps they will use a 60 amp part rather than a 100 amp part kind of thing. Bare minimum for corporate profits over durability. They call this built in obsolescence. Done 100% intentionally too! ADDED: One thing engineers are doing these days is circuit stacking. Here is an AI description of what they are doing to achieve variable levels of operation in power supplies: "A multiple-rail MOSFET power supply uses power MOSFETs to create and control different voltage outputs, or rails, from a single power source. This can involve sequencing the activation of different rails or providing a more flexible power architecture for devices that require various voltages, such as analog circuits needing both positive and negative voltages or digital circuits needing different fixed levels. MOSFETs are ideal for this due to their ability to handle high power and act as efficient switches to direct power to specific rails based on a control signal." And this is more than likely what Minn Kota engineers are doing as well. It is very common these days throughout all industries. Audio. Motors. Lighting. You name it. Anything needing driven by power supplies is getting this type of design these days because of its efficiency. A Hi-Fonics Zeus audio power amplifier is a good example. Engineers either build single rail pulse width MOSFET power supplies or they build multiple stacked levels of power supplies. When I turn on a Zeus and volume is low, only level one power supply is driving audio amplifier. But as I turn up the volume and demand more current draw to amplifiers, now level two kicks in, and then at full volume level 3 power supply adds in to the supply rails going to amplifiers. Motors work the same way. Turn on low speeds and level one power supply is sending voltage down the rails. Turn up the speed and levels 2 and however many others are needed automatically kick in based on demand. And its possible your electronics may be designed similar and you can lose one or more of those power supplies. Burned foil runs on circuit board. Mechanical relays. If the semiconductors shorted out in any of those 3 levels of power supplies it would blow fuses and breakers instantly. Nothing would work. So now what you are saying is 1 the motor works. Not the issue more than likely. And 2 the driver electronics has partially failed in the highest current section and is borderline if it works on land but not in water. That little bit of current change may be enough to cause the problem. Its an odd issue to say the least. Not common from my experiences. I am an old bench electronics tech who had to repair these power supplies for years. I always installed higher current semiconductors just so I did not have to see it come back in again if possible. Just throwing this out there as well to help narrow down your problem based on your descriptions alone. I love repair detective threads! They go all over the place until the final solution conclusion! And its endlessly hilarious when we are all wrong! Nice to be right every once in awhile though. Or on target at least! These threads can be informative though.... and that is a good thing!

Its possible if it is an auto resetting breaker. I did not think of that one. Its possible. If breaker trips wouldn't that shut down the motor at all speeds? Unless it is an auto resetting breaker- it could be. Good call. Its possible. OP said "What I do know is that it currently will go up to speed 5 - and if I turn it up past that the motor turns off. Oddly this does not happen when I try the motor while on land -- but anytime the motor is in the water it shuts off when it is turned up to anything beyond speed 5." I avoided breaker because he said it did work at high speed, but NOT in the water which loads the motor. I went for speed controls, but an auto resetting breaker could be a good call culprit in this case because an unloaded motor draws less than a loaded motor would. I've never seen a situation running that close between on land and in water. It would be an odd situation if it were. One I have never seen before. Interesting if this is the case! But changing speed controls for ANY reason is a plus in my book. I want that extra efficiency and longer trolling hours and the variable speed works well with changing wind and current conditions that 5 speed limitations may not work well with. Great suggestion CBF!

Can you describe what is changing the speed in your motor? I tried looking it up and could not find what I was looking for. Some motors use a switch to change speeds by way of fixed wire wound resistor coils down inside the motor kept in the water to keep them cool. Other motors use electronics to drive the motor with a variable speed control. Since you said your motor has 5 speeds, it sounds like to me your motor is using the old switch and speed coils method. If so, then that is more than likely where the culprit is if the motor works and turns fine and you are only losing top end speed. The problem could be related to the switch or speed coils or internal wiring and connection burning up under standard 50 amp approximate draw for these motors. A motor driven by electronics tends to sweep through all speeds using the same electronics to drive it. So if the top end would fail with these, all speeds should not be working. So based on what you said and how you said it tends to point me towards your speed controls and not the motor. A common issue with that type of speed control are the switches overheating and beginning to melt the plastic housing leading to switch shape deforming as it slowly burns up and melts and deforms certain contacts can move out of place and no longer connect. You could also have burned contacts inside the switch for that mode of operation since we are talking on average about 50 amps draw at full speed. And wiring and connections at the switch or down in motor could be culprit as well. If motor was bad it would not work fine on any speed. Losing one speed points me to speed controls. A secondary speed issue happens down inside the motor where the speed coils are. If one of those opens up it could cause a loss of speed control in specific speed modes as well. I am going to mention what I do just to give you some ideas about how you choose to move forward. You can fix what you have and get right back into the same boat- no pun intended- that you are in now, or you could use this as an opportunity to change the game for more durability and endlessly variable speed control not just 5 speeds which might not match your conditions where variable does, and more energy efficient so you can troll longer on same battery charge. If it were my trolling motor I would customize it rather than repair this type of problem and eliminate the switch and speed coils all together and simply go with a variable digital pulse electronic motor driver. I take broken old trolling motors and wire directly to the brushes and toss in the trash the stock speed controls and use digital electronics to drive them and have zero issues with my electronics in decades of use. 40 years to be exact. Its amazing how well electronics driven motors works as compared to the switches and speed coils wasting battery energy as heat and heat causing failures. This is a free 24v 80lb motor some guy burned up the factory digital electronics motor driver mounted down inside the motor underwater- which killed this one. I ripped out the stock electronics and wired directly to the brushes. Motor back in business. Then added in a new aftermarket pulse width MOSFET high speed variable power supply with forward and reverse and comes with a motor braking circuit no trolling motor brands include in any trolling motors at any price. They let the water brake their motors. I can instantly reverse mine thanks to the added brake circuit. This one is for 24 volts and higher. For 12 volts I use the 1984/85 Minn Kota maximizers. The best thing ever invented since sliced bread! Today you pay thousands of dollars to get this kind of motor speed controls in trolling motors. I can do it for under $100. That includes motors and electronics to drive them. Anyone can do it. Minn Kota made it so it can be sold right over the counter. Take a read on what you gain by doing it this way... 3 times the trolling on same battery charge. What this ad says is that the old way of switches and speed coils is wasting battery energy as heat down inside the motor underwater. Cutting out all that stuff and look at the increase! And its far more durable. I am using a 1985 Minn Kota motor driver that still works flawlessly 40 years later! Even the new Minn Kota trolling motors electronics are not as reliable as this one is! I just wanted to throw this out there to give you some alternative ideas that point you in the direction of longer hours of trolling on same battery charge, and point you in the direction of more durability as well. Its either fix what you have and puts you right back into same situation you are in now down the road, or change course and sail into the hidden secret of trolling motor electronics that today costs thousands of dollars. It does not have to be that way! Both of my electronics motor drivers cost under $100. The following Minn Kota add says "Rheostats slowed motors by BURNING energy as heat" down inside the motors using those speed coils to waste battery energy! You cold eliminate that with this opportunity, or fix what you have and repeat it over and over through time. Those plastic switches do burn up. It could also be wiring and connection issues inside trolling motor or housing. Its a shame the most common speed controls found out there are the most likely to fail. Switches and coils and wiring not up to the task as well. I bet most people around here will say fix what you have! Which is easiest. But same boat down the road! Granted what I do is not for most people. I'm an old shop guy so this type of thing is a fun challenge for me. But the results are by far worth it to me. I post a long comment like this one simply to help inform others of options they may not otherwise think of or come into contact with anywhere else since most people will say fix what you have repeatedly. I just want to offer alternatives and outside the box thinking.

I believe "fun" and "favorite" are one and the same!