FloridaFishinFool

Thanks for this thread SwampGirl. I am going to try some of the suggestions mentioned here in this thread way down here in Florida today. I tried using that AI request thing I read about in another thread, and it gave me GPS coordinates out in the middle of the lake off the tip of a point in a saddle between two deep holes- which is pretty much where you are finding them as well according to what I read above- off shore and no cover? I will put together some setups based off of this thread, and see if it can help put more fish in the boat today. Glad you are catching them again! The solunar calendar says we are on an upswing, and its a 90 day, so odds are pretty good hopefully.

Just finishing up the still as yet unidentified mystery reel... tossing in a few extra things getting it ready for some Florida styled heavy cover flipping and pitching. I wanted a minimum of 3 of these reels because I have three 40 year old Denny Brauer designed Flipping sticks. One for me, and one for each of my sons. All 3 of us will have the same rods & reels to start out with. Denny Brauer may have set the standard on flipping sticks that is still the standard to this day 40 years later, but his personally designed TEAM DAIWA flipping reel was a complete failure. I bet he would have liked this one though. So I changed out the stainless steel spool bearings and installed full ceramic bearings run dry. And I custom cut some Shimano Dartanium 2 drag washers for it. Now it has incredible braking power as compared to the old commercial pipe gasket cheapo drag washers it came with that were stuck to either the gear or key plates. The Dartaniums will be run dry as well. Shimano patented this material their engineers specifically designed as a braking material, and that's what I wanted in a reel like this one. Fish stopping power. The Dartanium 2 material is a carbon based composite that increases in friction as it is used and surface warms up. Dartanium actually increases stopping power while those cross weave carbon fiber and epoxy fake drag washers actually decrease in friction stopping power as they are used. Those actually tear up and fall apart under loads heavier than largemouth bass. Smooth and smoother means SLIPPING, not increased friction stopping power. Completely backwards for those fake drag washers! That material was NEVER made or designed for brake materials. Its NOT a brake material especially if it slips so much. And since when is smooth more important than fish stopping friction? Try that with your cars! Makes no sense to me! But hey, if it sells and makes millions, who cares right? A no harm situation. Slap some drag grease on those cross weave carbon fiber fake drag washers and make them even smoother, er, slip more. I guess we fishermen should consider ourselves lucky most of the bass are small enough to allow the industry to get away with this sort of thing. In my opinion, this Dartanium 2 material is a superior upgrade- as does Shimano engineers. So to me its kind of funny to read online guys saying they "upgraded" their reels to cross weave carbon fiber fake drag washers by REMOVING the superior Dartanium 2 material. Really? I'll take them! And, for those who install those cheap cross weave carbon drag washers.... how many of you have greased them up and looked at your fingers at all the small black particles falling off of them? Hundreds of small pieces and chunks breaking off as they fall apart in your fingers when just greasing them up. Good stuff huh? When reality hits the wall. They don't even know what they actually did was a downgrade! Misinformation rules the online world! Dartanium 2 is without a doubt one of the best composite materials ever created as a brake material for fishing reels. Cross weave carbon fiber are a fake drag washer and are a downgrade in my world. That's been my opinion on them ever since they started making them. Even Shimano tried to resist using that stuff in their reels for years. Now they just roll with the flow in their cheaper reels which are their highest sellers. I wonder why? Aiming for the average Joe's clearly. What exactly do you think Shimano is telling everyone here by doing it this way? The people who buy those lower end Shimano's should be ticked off if they knew what Shimano was really telling them! Ha! Clearly Shimano and other brands have caved in to popular demand, but ONLY in their cheapest of reels. What does this say about the "buying" market out there? Those buying those low end reels? Shimano is actually calling those misinformed people a name- possibly a perjorative- and I'll leave it at that. Shimano engineers NEVER wanted to cave in. The corporation did for $$$$$$$$$$$$$$. Shimano still uses Dartanium 2 in a number of their high end reels. So it is still in use in their top of the line reels costing $400 and $500 and $800. Then its good enough for my new $20 reel! Here is a brand new Shimano TranX reel priced at $745! And take a look at what is inside: https://fish.shimano.com/en-AU/product/reels/overhead/a071000000oyxyiaar.html "The Tranx's low-slung shape and light weight, thanks to the use of a forged and machined aluminium spool, aluminium frame and side plate, mean it's a pleasure to use. It holds 420 metres of 50lb Power Pro braid, and the Dartanium II drag system can produce 11 kilos of fish-stopping power." Gee. No kidding? 11 kilos of fish stopping power! Reel drag washer patented material everyone hates is still inside Shimano's BEST reels. Imagine that! Then its good enough for my $20 used reel too! But, but, but some GUY online said...... uh huh. Who you gonna listen to? Some guy online who never made a reel in his life? Or, Shimano's top engineers who spent years developing some of the finest reels ever made AND the specialized drag washer material made to go in them? Who you gonna listen to? I asked Shimano engineers to their faces one day about this very situation. And they all laughed in my face and told me instantly "U.S. forums are HOPELESS!" Their exact words. HOPELESS! Hopelessly polluted with misinformation they do not even try to combat. So why should I? Oh well.... Wanna tick off shimano? Just try "upgrading" the above $745 reel with cheap fake drag washers and they might send it right back! Can you tell I don't much care for smooth fake brakes? I love Dartanium 2. And when used correctly it is awesome! I do not listen to any of the whiners and complainers found online. If they don't like it that's fine. I will take every single Dartanium 2 drag washer I can find and use them in all my reels, baitcasters, spinning. Does not matter. Just wanted to hammer home this braking point this morning with some high test coffee kicking in... I know, truth hurts. I get a kick out of seeing all the reels with downgraded fake drag washers! Show them off! And then think about what Shimano is really telling you! 😉 😁 It don't take an engineering degree to figure this one out! Heck, sometimes even THOSE can't help! I think I will stick with Shimano engineers as I have been for more than 30 plus years. What they SAY goes as far as I am concerned. They have never led me astray yet! And today I am playing around with fitting into this one a low friction line guide pawl so the no longer available worm gear does not get worn any. I can replace pawls as needed but the worm gear may not be so easily replaced. Maybe the right handed version would fit into this reel? I might buy a right handed version just to see how many parts are universal in these reels. One of the coolest old flipping and pitching reels ever made and I may be the only person using them and definitely may be the only person in the entire country using them with Dartanium 2! And that's AOK with me. Glad to be out of the pack. I may change this handle out again for a longer one... will try as is now and see where it goes. Not too bad for a $20 reel! Heck the spool bearings cost that. I may also play around with different spools down the road since this reel shares similar tooling with other brands. The brakes could be an issue. Who says a decent reel has to cost hundreds? I am still trying to imagine how much different the Denny Brauer 1986 flipping and pitching video would have been if only Denny had had this reel instead of the "unfortunate" DAIWA made reel he had to suffer back then. Other than the reel, that video Denny did was one of the most influential I have ever seen. Its kind of funny to listen to Denny tell us his "technical" requirements for reels while at the same time telling all of us the reel he had back then he did not like how it was designed and he refused to use it as designed and said so live ON CAMERA! A great way to sell a DAIWA reel there Denny! I bet DAIWA chewed him out for that one! Denny Brauer 1986 Flipping & Pitching video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJhbnvjIHSU His flipping switch simply made the thumbar not lock into cast mode. He could push it down and it reset itself automatically, and Denny made it very clear he did NOT like a reel designed like the one he was using back then because his thumb was dedicated to holding down the thumbar to pitch and he could not do that and also feather the spool at the same time. One or the other. This reel here would have given Denny the ability to pitch and feather the spool at the same time and with a slight movement of the thumb (not the entire other arm and hand) Denny could reset the reel instantly. Why would Denny have a reel designed he said on camera he did not like and did not use it BECAUSE of how it was designed? Makes no sense to me. And most reels with a flipping switch are designed like that. I won't use them for the very same reason. But with this reel Denny could have set the hook on the biggest bass in this video all with one hand instantly. No need for 2 hands! He set the hook pretty fast in the video, but this reel would have made it even faster and less work. I wonder why they do not make them like this today? I wonder if I could modify fit something like this into a modern reel? It would be kind of cool if I could use the same lever as this reel to do it too. I think I will take that lever and put it into the auto-cad program and change its shape a little bit and send the new design to a machine shop to make me 3 of these out of solid metal. And I might take a look inside some of my modern reels to see if this lever can be custom installed into any of them? Or, something similar based on each reel's design.

Wow! You might want to reconsider this.... as well as consider placing such batteries into a solid steel containment box in case of: AI Overview Lithium-ion batteries should not be discharged below 2.5 to 3.0 volts per cell to avoid irreversible damage and potential safety hazards like thermal runaway, though the exact limit varies by battery type and manufacturer specifications. Discharging below this range can cause the copper anode to dissolve, form dendrites, and lead to internal shorts during recharging. For a multi-cell lithium battery, divide the total voltage by the number of cells to determine the per-cell voltage. Why Low Voltage is Dangerous Copper Dissolution: If a lithium-ion cell discharges below its safe limits, the copper anode collector can begin to dissolve. Dendrite Formation: When the cell is recharged, this dissolved copper can plate back onto the anode and form sharp, branching structures called dendrites. Internal Shorts: These dendrites can pierce the battery's separator, causing internal shorts. Thermal Runaway: The heat generated by internal shorts can lead to thermal runaway, a violent and potentially fire-inducing process. Batteries do have a low voltage limit! Bass Boat Explosion Likely Linked To Lithium Batteries Angler escapes with minor injuries in freak incident at the boat ramp. Mike Bolton | October 27, 2023 Here’s the aftermath of a boat burnt to a crisp from what was likely caused by lithium batteries. Piloting a powerful boat among a throng of racing bass boats at daylight at the start of a bass tournament is a danger that anglers accept. Rickie Knight, an angler from Selma, Ala., never dreamed that the real danger might come from just backing his boat down the ramp on a practice day. The 40-year veteran of bass tournament fishing was launching his bass boat on Miller’s Ferry on the Alabama River last weekend when it exploded and burst into flames. The fire burned until firefighters arrived, and then the flames intensified as they sprayed water on the fire. The fire was finally put out when they punched holes in the side of the boat and drowned the fire. Knight’s fishing buddy that day, Chris Henry, was in the driver’s seat when the explosion occurred. He dove out of the boat onto the concrete and escaped with only a twisted ankle. Knight’s $67,000 bass boat was a total loss. What caused the explosion and fire? The culprit was traced to the boat’s lithium batteries.

I guess not. I hope I have this forum stumped on the above reel. One of the few reels designed for flipping and pitching and how ironic the world does not seem to even know it exists! This helps me get them dirt cheap with no one to compete against for buying them. The one above I paid $20 for it. Sweet! These next reels are some pawn shop finds. They are workhorse reels for a lot of people across America. To me they are just easy to fix common reels I can flip all day long and make some spending change. $50 to $60 per reel all day long every day of the week. The 4500 on the right was someone's workhorse reel until they broke it. But I'd like to point out that reel comes with an oil port on the main drive shaft. Now I am not sure if this is a good idea or not because the outflow hole for the oil going in from the outside winds up pouring all over the drag washers down inside. I am not so sure this is a good idea because some people seem to think more is better. And this reel was oooozing oil out of it. I guess when more oil does not fix it, its time for selling it to a pawn shop. To access the oil port one has to remove the drive shaft handle nut, and this one was worn out by previous owner. Maybe Abu should reconsider this one? Down inside I found why his AR was no longer working. The spring loaded dog was not grabbing the ratchet plate. A quick bend back into shape took care of that. I wonder how his got bent so far out of shape? I wonder if he had gone inside of this reel? It has to grab in order for it to work. A quick bend of each side so tips meet or almost meet in the center and this part is back in business. But what I wanted to get into with these old Abu round type of reels with soft aluminum side plates is either a design flaw or a materials flaw. Either way, its a deal killer for me for this entire series of reels. Don't get me wrong, I love round reels, but not round reels that come with known problems like these do. And the deal killing problem are those soft aluminum side plates. These reels see a lot of daily use all across America and they wind up getting banged up, dropped, and abused out there. And their soft aluminum side plates bend easily. Too easily. The main problem with this are that the spool bearings are located in the side plates. And when they bend, they can bind up the spool and stop it from spinning or spinning easily. So Abu engineers invented a quick bandaid fixer upper for these reels. Rather than change the materials in the side plates, Abu elected to simply leave the side plates as is and change out the spool bearings to rounded edge bearings that can self adjust in each reel differently according to how its 2 side plates are being bent out of shape. There. Problem solved. Right? Not when your average Joe out there thinks he needs new bearings and replaces them in these reels. When that happens how many of those average Joe's do you think are looking for rounded edge bearings that self adjust in bent reels? Not many. If any at all. So a lot of these reels wind up with flat edged replacement bearings, and the owner wonders why its worse now. They have no clue the critical detail they just missed. I can't tell you how many of these reels I have encountered over the years with this problem. They walk in the front door of the shop and say "It don't work! But I put NEW bearings in it and now its worse!" Gee, I wonder why. Take a look at the Abu quick fix... The 4500's two rounded edge factory bearings are on the outside, and I placed a standard flat edged bearing in the middle just to show the difference a LOT of people miss on these reels and I mean never even notice! Which leads directly to reels binding up with brand new set of bearings installed. I used a dental pick to roll the rounded edge factory bearings around in the side plates to show how far these rounded edge bearings can self adjust: You can't do that with flat edge bearings. They will not budge. Will not move. So when a soft aluminum side plate is bent with flat edge bearings the reel is toast until repaired correctly. If there was ever a reel to possibly change the side plates to a different material, it would be this entire series of Abu round reels. So for my part, these reels are not reels I would ever use in my collection. I do have round reels, but not reels with this built in "problem" Abu won't fix. These reels I like to repair and resell. Make some pocket change, and keep some of them up and running and back out in the world for daily use. Paid less than $10 in a bundle deal. Should resell for easy $50+ and the profits can help pay for my 12 year old son's new rods and reels. Flip 4 or 5 of these a month and all his tackle is basically free.

No takers on this old reel huh? The reason I like this old reel for flipping and pitching is because this is a one-handed reel. I can pitch it with one hand and I can reset this reel instantly without having to bring my other hand around to reset it for instant hooksets. Denny Brauer could have changed history if he had a reel like this one in 1985/86. I think this is a 1990's reel. It is built kind of like an old Shimano Curado in size and shape. It even uses the same AR the curado does. I think whoever made this reel borrowed some ideas from other reels. It also has a ball bearing supported pinion gear. This reel was ahead of the game back then. Curado had to change their reel just do the same thing in the CU200BSF reels which were the first Shimanos I saw with ball bearing supported pinion gear. I am sure others did the same in that era as well, but who did it first I wonder? Another thing about this reel I don't think I have ever seen done this way in any other reel is how the drag mech was done. This reel sports a double sided cut out main drive gear and nearly identical drag washers on top and bottom of the gear. With the way this reel's gear is double cut gives a reel tech an ability to really step up the drag in a few different ways. Some fish stopping brake power done this way. More than a Curado. This one is going to get different drag washers. I may even try a triple stack on one and see how it goes. This is the top side of the gear: And the bottom side of main drive gear: Even the Shimano Curado does not have a brake system like this reel does. This one comes with centrifugal brakes and magnetic brakes, but does it resemble anything you may have seen before? The centrifugal brakes are hidden in back This is a neat old reel. Built every bit as well as any curado of the same time period. And comes with a few extra gizmos the Curado did not have. Shimano had to step up their game back then to create the BSF model. This one was ahead of them or running neck and neck. Shimano created their own version of a reel like this one called the Castaic. But in my opinion, this one is easier to use and works better. The Shimano Castaic was reviewed years ago and the author had this to say about the Castaic's instant reset ability: "If you’re familiar with a standard casting reel, then you should easily identify the difference on this Castaic. Instead of a single directional clutch bar, Shimano designed in a bi-directional one. So rather than stopping the spool with your thumb after completing a cast, you can stop the spool from spinning simply by flipping the clutch bar back to the ‘lock’ position. More accurately, there is a thumb switch that is located above the clutch bar in which you move your thumb forward to engage the spool to the drive gear. Shimano calls this “INSTAGAGE”. With the “instagage” switch, actually stopping the spool instantly is much easier than on a standard casting reel. For me, I thought this feature would be sort of like training-wheels, getting me ready for a “real” casting reel. The details: The first nice and surprising feature of this reel is the ‘flip-open’ thumb rest. I actually didn’t find out about this feature until I had my first major backlash mishap. The thumb rest easily opens up to fully expose the line guide, making it less of a task untangling nasty backlash and looping the line through the guide. This feature is really a necessity though since the “instagage” bar takes up about three eights of an inch over the spool." The reel I have keeps the reset button off to the side and does not obstruct the spool in any way. It could not have been better positioned really. Did any of this help anyone to identify this reel?

I hear ya. I worked this show for 9 years straight. I have a thousand photos of all the cars that arrived there year after year. I bet I took 100 to 200 photos per show. Maybe more. The photo I posted shows only half of the circle of Richard Petty cars, but they were on display right next to the show sponsor booth or tent which was I think Mercedes that year. When I first started working this show Chrysler/Dodge was sponsor but finishing out those 9 years it was Mercedes. And do you know there was only one Mercedes car that drew everyone's attention. It was really weird to watch it. Mercedes had millions of dollars worth of their cars there going back to late 1800's and their newest cars and race cars and every car in between, and yet there was only one Mercedes that had people flocking to it in the droves. They would not look at any other Mercedes except that one... crowds of people around just 1 car. But the one car I always wanted to see was Corvette StingRay #1. The first one ever built. They took a 1950's scrapped chasis to build it. An incredible one of a kind car they shipped into this show in its own semitruck. I asked the guy who took care of it how much that car was worth and he said its anyone's guess. Chevrolet had it insured for like $25 million at the time. And it sits inside the Detroit Chevy museum warehouse most of the time. I was allowed over the years to photograph it in great detail inside and out at these shows. The show Concours D' Elegance was advertised as the billion dollar car show because they had on average $1 billion worth of rare cars on display there. It was a lot of fun to work that show. Got to meet Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, some European drivers I don't even know their names and on our booth we had Carroll Shelby for his last time there on our sponsor booth/tent. Lots of famous people showed up to this show. Very high end show. I could start a thread and simply display the car images if you would like to see them. A lot of one of a kind cars too. I liked the George Jetson UFO looking car looked same as in their cartoons. And it actually drove too complete with clear glass bubble. Another one of a kind car. StinRay #1 is the only car I really cared about seeing at the show. It was only brought a couple of times in those 9 years. The man who babied this car at the show said it got its name from when it was being run on a track in its trial runs right after it was built, that as she rounded the track people said when it glistened in the sunshine coming around the track it resembled a stingray in looks. And so the name stuck to it. This is the car all stingray corvettes came from. This is number 1 stingray as far as I know. The man who cared for it told me they cannot put a price on this car because there is nothing to compare it to. No way to truly value this car. Today it could be $50 million. A hundred million. Can't put a price tag on a piece of history like this one! And he let me sit in it. I photographed this car every which a way. Even underneath it. I kind of forgot all about those Richard Petty cars! But I bet I have photos of all of them https://www.caranddriver.com/photos/g22718144/corvette-stingray-concepts-stunning-history-gallery/ It has been most of a human lifetime since this car made its mark on automotive history. The stunning 1959 Chevrolet Stingray racer/concept seen in this photo gallery was designed by Peter Brock, Larry Shinoda, and Bill Mitchell, who was GM’s director of styling at the time. It was initially a styling exercise; secondarily, it was an exploration of Corvette performance and handling capabilities. Riding on a 92-inch wheelbase and the tube-frame chassis from one of Zora Arkus-Duntov’s 1957 Corvette SS race cars, it weighed just 2200 pounds (about half a ton less than a production Corvette of its era), and its 283-cubic-inch fuel-injected small-block V-8 delivered 315 horsepower (SAE gross) at 6200 rpm.

I just received my 3rd flipping and pitching reel. This is a dedicated reel just for that purpose and no other. And the reason for this is how it is designed to operate is almost one a kind. Only 1 other reel ever made can do what this one does. (That I know of) I am concealing the identity of this one for now just to see if anyone can guess or identify this reel. It is so rare I have seen only 3 or 4 lefties in more than 10 years. You can find more right handed versions, but the lefties are few and far in between. I have to drive across Florida today so I thought I would toss this out there and see if anyone can ID this one while I am traveling. Later on if no one can guess it, I'll identify it and show the insides. It is now probably about 20 years old and was designed by or for one specific professional bass fisherman. And it was only in production for a very short time which is why so few of them exist. I love this reel. It has some nifty bells and whistles you just don't find on other reels. And it was specifically designed for flipping and pitching so I'll leave it at that. And for you Daiwa fans, I think this reel may have "borrowed" something from Daiwa along the way down inside.... Glad to have 3 now with my 12 year old son getting back into fishing maybe its time he tried his hand at flipping and pitching. A reel like this makes the work easier even if the reel is heavier with all aluminum frame. The function of this reel does something 99.9% other reels cannot do. This one will get a new swept handle and new metal drag star and ceramic bearings and maybe some new drag washers before use. Definitely a C&L. Can anyone identify this reel? I'd be surprised if it was identified in a few minutes. This one might take a short while. And I have 300 miles to drive counting those white lines.

All photos in this post are some I took or own. The MidNight Creepers. Not sure who is in back left, but that is Michael Galloway on harmonica and vocals front left. Behind him is Warren "Hurricane" King. Ace Moreland front and center. And Bob Greenlee on bass on right. Ronnie Byrd Foster on drums in back. At the same time I was doing live sound for King Snake Records artists I was also working for legendary hall of famer Jesse Stone who is 3 halls of fame. The songwriters hall of fame. The rhythm and blues hall of fame, and the rock and roll hall of fame. Jesse Stone was a founder of Atlantic Records and former CEO from 1944 until 1964 when he left Atlantic Records and Ahmet Ertegun became CEO until his death. Jesse and his wife Evelyn lived in central Florida and I was their only band employee from when I met them in 1992 up until Jesse died in 1999 and Evelyn and few years later. I did it all for them. Sitting on unreleased audio, video, photos, documents and much more. Jesse Stone wrote some 3000 songs with 180 certified hit songs according to Billboard. And you know some of them. Too many to list now. But I am the one who brought Jesse Stone and Ace Moreland together for an album collaboration. When Ace found out who I was working with he was excited to hear it and eagerly asked me to introduce them and AceMo wanted to do a tribute album to Jesse Stone. Here is a short article about some of it. This photo I took from the walkway above the stage at House Of Blues in Orlando, Florida. Shows Bob Greenlee and Ace Moreland. http://swampland.com/articles/view/title:ace_moreland_a_remembrance Ace Moreland: A Remembrance by Paul Doell February 2003 Ace Moreland’s most recent album (Give It To Get It, released on the King Snake-Icehouse label in 2000) includes a 1998 photo of the lean, lanky guitarist with his friend Jesse Stone, who wrote the mischievous "Mama Don’t Allow No Guitar Playin’ ‘Round Here" for Gene Autry and the raucous "Shake Rattle & Roll" for Big Joe Turner. Ace didn’t look good in this shot: his thin frame barely supported a baggy tank top, his eyes were red at the rims, and the lines of sleepless nights and poor habits creased his face. The sad sense was that Ace Moreland was not to grow old. On February 9, 2003, Ace Moreland died of lung cancer at his home in Miami, Oklahoma. He was 51. I didn’t know Ace personally, but I sure knew his music and his work at King Snake Records, where Moreland was in full-time demand as a songwriter, session player, producer, engineer and troubleshooter. At King Snake, Ace had completed five of his own excellent albums and worked on projects by the late Alex Taylor, Bill "Sauce Boss" Wharton and the Ingredients, Raful Neal, turban-topped Texas lap-steel bluesman Sonny Rhodes, Dru Lombar’s Dr. Hector and the Groove Injectors and Gregg Allman inspiration Floyd Miles (that’s Ace on the skillet-hot slide behind Allman and Miles on "Not Like I’ve Been Hurt By You"). I was also fortunate enough to have caught Ace Moreland in concert when he and the King Snake All-Stars (Warren King on guitar, King Snake owner Bob Greenlee on bass and former Groove Injector Denny Best on drums) held weekend court at a South Florida blues club in December 2000. It was during the Friday night show that I had a Moreland moment still fresh in this middle-aged memory. As the band revved the grim rhythm of Son House’s "Death Letter Blues," Ace struck up the southpaw slide, carving through the crowd and nicking nerves as he tilted toward the microphone. "I got a letter this mornin’," he moaned in that familiar Ozark Mountain devil’s drawl. "How do you reckon it read?" The voice was raw and sweaty and exhausted, and Ace’s face was coiled in anguish. "I got a letter this mornin’" he repeated, this time with even greater urgency. "How do you reckon it read?" Silence swept the room as Moreland let loose with some more slide, sinister and strong, before answering the question. "It said ‘hurry hurry—that gal you love is dead.’" I watched and listened from across the room, rapt as everyone else was by the sheer power unleashed by this gifted man. I thought: "If this is not honest, gut-gripping blues, I don’t know what is." Ace Moreland wasn’t the first bluesman to interpret the tune, and he won’t be the last. But I haven’t heard any other artist invest the song with as much emotion and intensity as Moreland summoned up that night. This was one of those enduring moments when everyone on hand (including those people who hadn’t set out to see Ace, and who had just wandered into the club by chance) understood the therapeutic value of the blues. We were so caught up in Moreland’s overwhelming despair that our own problems seemed petty, and we were able to put them aside for a time. The blues: Ace Moreland was able to articulate the dichotomy of the genre (live it up, then try to live it down) in often bright and funny ways. He enjoyed a good time, but he understood the consequences of excess. "Ain’t Nothing But A Party" and "Let’s Have Some Fun" were Moreland philosophies as well as song titles, but Ace threw everyone a curve with the dark, ironic "I’m A d**n Good Time." The title suggested one thing, but the tone said another: The song was wrapped in the saddest slide guitar you’ve ever heard. The lyrics were bleak, and the delivery was morose: "I’m your mornin’ of blues," Ace sang. "I’m the holes in your shoes. I’m the money that you spent last night, and I’m your hangover too. I’m too far gone, but I’m doin’ just fine. I’m a cool glass of wine. I’m a d**n good time." Great stuff, a stark reminder that pleasure is never without a price. Less subtle, but no less compelling, were these instructive Moreland classics: "Devils In The Head," "Devil In My Soul," "Too Far Gone," "Head In The Bottle," "Gates Of Hell," "Down To The Bottom," and "The Blues Gonna Get Me." Ace once used another artists’s song (Lucky Peterson’s "Don’t Let The Devil Ride") to reinforce a point about weakness and temptation. "Don’t let him ride," Moreland warned. "No no no no don’t let him ride. ‘Cause if you let the devil ride, he’s gonna wanna drive." I’m sure Ace spent more than a few evenings in the passenger seat in his short life. Moreland appeared to be at his most content on Give It To Get It, a collection of earthy Delta blues and meaty amplified funk that also offered two significant departures, two hints of new dimension and new direction from this versatile artist: "Homestead Mill," a celebration of irrepressible human spirit, and "Indian Giver," a haunting meditation on the indignities inflicted upon Native Americans. Moreland himself was of Cherokee heritage. In his last weeks, Moreland was working on a new album. He was also helping his friend Bill Wharton launch a hunger relief project called Planet Gumbo (www.planetgumbo.org) . It is a measure of Moreland’s own humanity that rapidly failing health did not get in the way of a good cause. Like all of us, Ace Moreland had his demons. But, unlike most of us, he was able to turn their torments into songs, which then provided catharsis for the rest of us. In that sense, Ace kept faith with the bluesman’s noble mission, and we will always be grateful for that. ---------------------------------- This one I snapped of AceMo looking for something inside of his tour bus. After this photo was taken I got an emergency phone call later on from AceMo asking me if I saw his biggest gold and diamond ring. Um no I haven't I said. He dropped it in the dirt right here when this photo was taken. We found it later with a metal detector. It was a great privilege and honor to work for these musicians! And to be able to contribute to their careers in music.

One more Florida artist for today. Well, he's not really from Florida but we'll claim him! I worked a lot of concerts with this man. Truly an unknown legend right here. And what an incredible history he has. Mostly unknown history too. Another artist I am sitting on untold number of hours of unreleased live audio and video. Ace and I were brothers to his bitter end when he died of esophageal cancer in his lungs and throat from years of smoking cigarettes. His last words to me just before he died was "I love you brother!" James "Ace" Moreland, Jr. was a full blooded Cherokee Indian from a reservation in Oklahoma. His family had been forced out there by the Army and General Andrew Jackson in the trail of tears. He wrote a song about getting out of the reservation to find his life somewhere else but there. So he traveled to Macon, Georgia and connected up with the Alan and brother Phil Walden music scene there, and their Capricorn Records. But Ace got caught up in that drug bust that went down up there. Ace was not arrested or anything, but the chaos from all that when it went down and Gregg Allman did wind up behind bars. Famous stories there. Ace decided to leave Capricorn Records and relocate to my hometown of Jacksonville Florida where he played with just about anyone and everyone who was someone in music at the time. Ace Moreland even mentored a 9 year old kid named Derek Trucks who would later go on to join the Allman Brothers band because of his famous uncle Butch Trucks who was the drummer for the Allman Brothers band. (Butch was another terrible tragedy in Southern rock history and he was also behind why Dickey Betts was fired from the Allman Brothers band but those stories are best left off this thread) We called Ace Moreland "AceMo" was his common nickname among his peers. After spending some years in north Florida, AceMo made his way down to Bob Greenlee's King Snake Records where Ace moved to and became a house engineer and producer recording numerous album the extent of which is all unknown and may never be fully known. AceMo even recorded I think 5 of his own there at King Snake and I think I am credited on 2 of those albums for various things. AceMo was a left handed blues guitarist and singer. He had a unique style on guitar due to his left handed playing style. He was an incredible songwriter, arranger, guitar player, singer, engineer, producer... you name it. He did it. Here is a young Derek Trucks on guitar... long before joining the Allman Brothers. Here is Derek Trucks backing up Ace Moreland live on stage. And here is all grown up Derek Trucks performing in the Allman Brothers band: You gotta start somewhere! And this is how we do it in Florida. In the South music IS a passed down legacy from one generation to the next. Here is Ace Moreland performing a live concert with a young kid on guitar Derek Trucks and backed up by not one, but TWO members of the original Lynyrd Skynyrd band bassist Leon Wilkeson and drummer Artimus Pyle. Imagine that! Members of Allman Brothers and Skynyrd backing up Ace Moreland! I'll keep this one short for now, and maybe add in more Ace Moreland later on including unreleased live recordings, but for now take a listen to some Ace Moreland and his King Snake Records albums... Rest in peace legend! I'll close this one for now. Lot's to add in for AceMo! Did you know that the legendary album by Lynyrd Skynyrd called STREET SURVIVORS had music on it that Ace Moreland helped to create? Yep! Famous music we all know and love, but very few know Ace Moreland's connection. And I will make it right here... AceMo was from Miami, Oklahoma area. Another man and his sister from the same town was none other than Steve Gaines and his sister Cassie Gaines both of whom were in the original Lynyrd Skynyrd band! More to come on this and the music! The following interview was arranged by myself and a Nashville documentary videographer. Seen hanging on the wall behind AceMo was a photo of mine of Skynyrd guitarist Steve Gaines and I think an album cover was also tossed in for this interview. This takes place inside the mixing console control room of King Snake Records studio. I was sitting right there for this interview of this legend who was nearly brought to tears recalling his memories of Steve and Cassie Gaines. Soon I will get into how myself and other legendary artists I worked for affected the music and albums of Ace Moreland.

Gonna try some of these ideas this weekend.

One of the awesome Florida blues artists I got to work with and know over the years is Floyd Miles. I am also sitting on an untold number of hours of unreleased live recordings of both audio and video of Floyd Miles from our work together over the years. I got to know Floyd through founder and owner and CEO of King Snake Records label out of Sanford, Florida. Bob Greenlee and Floyd grew up together in Daytona Beach and went to school with Gregg and Duane Allman. In fact, all 4 of these men played music together and influenced each other during their school years. Each went their separate ways, but in some ways kept their friendships and musical collaborations going to all of their graves. All 4 are now gone. But let them and their incredible music live on! Floyd Miles - Wikipedia Floyd Miles (April 13, 1943 – January 25, 2018) was an American electric blues and soul blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He released four solo albums from 1992 onwards.[1] Life and career Miles was born and raised in Daytona Beach, Florida, growing up as the youngest of eleven children.[2] He left home at the age of 15.[3] His musical career really started when playing with The Universals, a soul band which were locally popular in the early 1960s.[1] At the time Miles was a singing drummer for the band, and he befriended both Gregg and Duane Allman, who lived nearby and jammed with the band.[4][2] After playing drums and singing with several other local groups, Miles founded his own band, which backed musicians such as Arthur Conley, Erma Franklin, Curtis Mayfield, Eddie Floyd and Percy Sledge. Through his friendship of the Allmans, Miles moved on to supply guitar backing for Clarence Carter.[1][3] He later performed with the London Symphony Orchestra.[3] His debut solo album was Crazy Man (1992), which included musical assistance from Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts.[5] Goin' Back to Daytona was released in 1994. Miles gained greater national prominence when he played on tour with the ensemble Gregg Allman & Friends.[1] His third album, Mountain to Climb (1999), was released by Beloved Records. His last recording, Another Man Will, produced by Roy Roberts, was released in 2002.[1][6] Miles performed at the Boundary Waters Blues Festival and, in 1996 and 2009, at the Sarasota Blues Fest.[7] Death Miles died on January 25, 2018, at the age of 74. -------------------------------------------------------- I'm kind of surprised wikipedia does not mention that most of Floyd's albums were recorded in Sanford, Florida at King Snake Records & studio. So I would like to play for you one of his best songs. A favorite of mine called "Going Back To Daytona!" What makes this song so special to me in so many ways is that above I mention the 4 men who grew up together continued their friendships and music collaborations until their graves and that is what this song represents. Now Duane Allman died in what 1971? So he was no longer around, but the 3 who lived on came back together at King Snake Records late one night to record this incredible song. So you have Bob Greenlee on bass guitar, and Floyd singing it, but sneaking into the studio under cover of darkness was none other than Gregg Allman himself and Dickey Betts who drove to the Sanford, Florida studio to lay down their parts for this song. So first up will be the studio/album version. This is Florida music history right here! Almost unknown incredible music that has slipped through the cracks fading into the dust bins of history. All of King Snake Records albums are now out of print and the record label now out of business since Bob Greenlee died in 2004. So what is out there is all that will ever be. And one by one these out of print albums are disappearing forever. And the music on them as well. This song is a Southern rocking blues masterpiece! On this one you will hear Gregg Allman on vocals with Floyd, and playing the studio's hammond B3 organ. Dickey Betts is playing all the guitars here. So turn it up loud! This one kicks! On the live album recorded off the coast of Florida on a cruise ship, Floyd Miles performed and recorded this song with the label's house band of studio musicians- a band known as the MidNight Creepers. The same band who also recorded the studio version above. So on bass would be Bob Greenlee, and on drums was Ronnie "Byrd" Foster who made a name for himself backing legendary bluesman Roy Buchanan, and on guitar here replacing Dickey Betts is Warren "Hurricane" King. Bob Greenlee, Floyd Miles, Byrd Foster, and were my friends and brothers, and now they are all deceased. Let their music and memories live on! Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts performing in Allman Brothers band. RIP! It was really awesome driving up to the studio with the car windows rolled down and the sound of Bob Greenlee's hunting hound dogs howling in their pens as the music from the studio could be heard through the studio's open windows. It was awesome while it lasted. One thing I remember about Floyd was he had this ability to shake his jowls while singing. He would turn his head fast from side to side and the weight of his cheek flesh would shake and he used this technique as part of his vocal delivery. You can hear some of it on the live version above. One of my photos below of MidNight Creepers- Ace Moreland on left and Bob Greenlee on right.

FFF's Rare Music & Music History & Memorials! The "Southern Fix @ 6" Lives On! This thread has been a long time coming. And now that I am fully retired maybe I can open up a little bit about some of the behind the scenes stories from over 40 years in the music business. In this thread I would like to accomplish 2 things primarily. One, I would like to share with all of you -who might find an interest in this sort of thing- that I would like to share with you some very rare music that most of you have more than likely never heard before, and possibly did not even know existed. Some released music and unreleased music. The second and most important thing to me for the memorial part of this thread is that most of the famous musicians, bands, and rock stars and independent artists and engineers and producers and other I got to work with- and even get to know some very well- over those 40+ years are mostly all dead and gone now. And for many of them being independent artists, you never got to hear any of their music on radio stations across America. Independents got lost between the cracks and forgotten. So it is really important to me to try and keep their memories alive, and their music, and hopefully I can share some of that here in this thread. I carry their burden of music and legacies with me every single day always wondering what to do with it all. So this is one way to keep them alive! Hopefully some of you will discover some new music here to add into your own playlists, and maybe learn about some new musicians, bands, and artists you never heard of before and might want to check out all their music. I want this thread to be informative above all else, but mainly to keep alive their music and their legacies. A point I am trying to get at is that from my perspective, the music will be primarily from Florida and the SouthEastern USA. You won't hear me talking about New York bands, or Los Angeles bands. I specialize in what was closest to me- mostly Southern rock, blues, bluegrass, jazz, and even some big bands and other- including an Orlando boy band I'll probably skip. I mixed audio for live concerts and recorded some of them and even have some published albums out there most of which are now long out of print. So if you will let me, please allow me to keep the memories of some of my brothers and sisters alive for them. And, let me try and keep some of their music alive as well. I plan on posting more artists and music than what I was associated with over the years. There are a ton of great artists out there. Florida has produced some fine music over the years so I would like to bring some of that here. Specialized Florida music. And Georgia, and other Southern states will be included. I have a lot of great music to share. A lot of you may have lived through the 1970's Southern rock wave. And many famous bands came out of that era. But I want you know that those famous bands were just the tip of the iceberg so to speak. Underneath those famous well known bands and artists are even more that never made it. More that you more than likely never heard of. And it is a darn shame the mainstream music system was closed off to many of them because some of them surely had music that could have scored some hit songs if only the world could have heard them. In this thread you will get to hear some of that. The other good stuff that was kept from us because of a closed loop system that worked against us in many ways. The internet has fortunately changed that game for independents and its still tough to make it out there for sure. But at least the independents can control and own their own music as well as now control their own distribution and marketing to some degree. So I would like to start off this thread with some Florida artists I never got to meet or even see perform live. At least one of these artists, Lonesome Bert & The Skinny Lizards, if you listen to the lyrics of his song he says he worked on building the Rodman dam. And he wrote a song about it not too pleased about what he had done, and is now spending the rest of his life singing about it. The other man Frank Thomas is a Florida folk legend who was an incredible songwriter. I will also include Florida's HERO troubadour Gamble Rogers to start this thread off. I hope some of you will enjoy this music- a time traveling trip through the pages of Southern and Florida music history. I find it hard to believe that this incredible song "Spanish Gold" written and performed by Frank & his wife Ann Thomas has only received 732 views in 9 years. Rest in peace Florida folk legend Frank Thomas! We remember you and your songs. Hopefully some of you will enjoy this one as well. I would be remiss if I left out Florida's famous HERO troubadour Gamble Rogers! We have a park named after him. He died a hero! Rest in peace Florida hero Gamble Rogers! Gamble Rogers - Wikipedia James Gamble Rogers IV (January 31, 1937 – October 10, 1991) was an American folk artist musician and storyteller known for the recurring theme in his songs and stories about characters and places in a fictional Florida county. He was a 1998 inductee into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame. "While Rogers was camping at Flagler Beach, a frightened young girl ran to him, begging him to help her father, who was in trouble in rough surf. Compromised by spinal arthritis that had been worsening since childhood, Rogers nevertheless grabbed an air mattress and headed into the ocean in a rescue attempt. Both men died in the surf. In honor of his heroism, the Florida Legislature renamed the state park Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area at Flagler Beach. In St. Augustine, Florida, there is a middle school, Gamble Rogers Middle School, named after him."

Yep. Orange Park close to river.

Oh man you had to go there! You and I both shared the same point of view on that fateful cold morning. I was just a couple of miles from where you stood to watch the same tragedy from Cecil Air Field. My father spent most of his career at NAS JAX from 1956 to 1982 before transferring to Orlando Naval Training Center to finish out his career there in 1988. One of these days I will have to tell you what my father did out there. It was mind blowing! Especially for an 11 year old kid when my father took me to work with him out there back in 1975. A life changing experience for me.

Huh. I've been here living along that river my whole life since 1964 and I never had ice on my reels. Maybe I just never went out when it was THAT cold. The bass always went some place to hide on me! I guess I did too!

Thanks for the great laugh this morning! 🤣 Your Daiwa issue is NOT something us Florida boys have to deal with thankfully! I am still laughing at this one. A good one! I never knew ice could be a determining factor! This is a new one on me! Thanks!

You may be right! I think you are onto something. Maybe that's why they are so popular?

Or, may be... other. When I worked in a rod and reel repair shop years ago we did stopwatch tests on various reel techs when putting together reels from a pile of individual parts. Hands down Daiwa nearly ALWAYS took longer than Shimano and most other brands. More labor. Less profit margin in that alone, especially for the techs paid by the reel on commission.

I gotta reline my weedeater to. I can relate. And then have to use it. Ugh. These are some of the Richard Petty collection of career cars... Concours D'Elegance Amelia Island.

Cool old reel! Looks like you are missing 4 parts there! https://www.reelschematic.com/wp-content/uploads/schematics/Shimano/Bassone/SHIMANO BASS ONE MAG RH(89-59).pdf Photo shows its missing it's cast control cap and other parts: BNT 801 Cast control cap BNT 802 Spool tension spacer (B) BNT 803 Spool tension spacer (A) BNT 804 Spool tension spring Here's a box for it: https://www.ebay.com/itm/388728265250 Original owners manual that may include schematic: https://www.ebay.com/itm/314099774605 cross weave carbon fiber drag washer replacements: https://www.ebay.com/itm/256286061134 And since parts are no longer available for that reel, you may have to purchase a second reel for parts. I found one under $30 to your door: https://www.ebay.com/itm/397011330633 For grandad!

Wow! I disagree. Its NOT the braid. Braid line does not jump out there and DO those things on its own. I use braid exclusively for about 30 years, and I've never seen braid jump out there and bend a hook or lose a fish.

If you want leaders, then knots are part of the game. I am sure some knot expert will say no problem! But if you keep having problems, then change one or the other, or both. To me a leader is a weak link. When people with leaders lose fish, a LOT of the time it is those pesky leaders.

70's and newer means technology based fishing. Those older books cut through all the modern commercialized circus we see in bass fishing today. What you will get in those books is more pure nature. Observations of pure nature. Observable bass behavior. The truth is as I see it those older books might be more relevant today because of that. Books written in modern times tend to lean more into the technology of fishing. In 1895 and 1898 those guys were not concerned about mentioning sponsor lures, sponsor rods and reels, sponsor boats, sponsor sonar and FFS. None of that. What you can do with those old books is learn from the pure natural observations and bring those forward and apply your modern technology to older nature observations. We got a museum curator around here who still fishes with 1895 tackle! And he LOVES it. Probably catches more fish than most of us too. Is bass fishing all about the modern technology? Or, is bass fishing about learning about the fish itself and what its natural behaviors are? Learn those and you can throw whatever you want at them. I'd say bass fishing is nature first, technology second. Not the other way around. Bass fishermen today try and tell us about bass behavior but in relationship to their sponsor products. I'd like to eliminate that and get back to basics- the nature of bass. That's how I see it anyways. It can't hurt to go both ways can it? Modern and old timer too? All I can say is it can't hurt, but who knows, maybe it sure could help.

Are they relevant? I'd say yes. The only difference is the technology. But the stalking of the fish, and details on how and when and things like that don't change. We do! Modern bass fishing came from books like these. Out of curiosity, how far back would you go? I mean how far back do you think is relevant? How modern are you sticking to?