FloridaFishinFool

I always enjoyed the looks and responses to the Roland Martin helicopter lure. One guy actually asked where I got it. I told him 1-800-285-57448. Now I did not give him those actual numbers. I said something more like 1-800-bull...... And those numbers above spell it out on the old touch tone dial pad. Geez that was over 30 years ago. Wish I still had one! I bet the looks and comments would be even better now. I think old Roland Martin ripped the idea off from Doug Hannon and his spinning worm trick he claimed to catch 10 pounders on all the time. I have to wonder now if Doug Hannon was messing with us too!

$610 to $645 plus tax plus $75 shipping. Pretty steep price for sure!

I would like to bring up something I don't ever see mentioned. I learned a long time ago, so long ago I can't recall who taught it to me, but when reassembling spinning reels, I was taught to pack a small amount of grease into the cavity of the main drive gear just behind the gear teeth. Shimano does this at the factory as well. The grease is about as thick as the gears are tall, and maybe a 1/4" wide amount or less equally distributed all the way around the gear 360 degrees. I just use my finger tip to smooth it out and down to an equal distribution all the way around. Surprisingly I could not find any images of a drive gear with grease packed in behind the gear teeth so this one will have to do. On some shimano gears they pack it in the cavity sometimes from the backside of the gear teeth to center axle. The theory is that as the reel is used over a number of years that the centrifugal force of the spinning gear will slowly flow that packed grease feeding it into the gears to keep them lubricated over a longer period of time. If grease is only put on the gear teeth and reel reassembled, how long would that grease last with none to flow in behind it? If the theory is correct it sure does seem like a good idea if it does keep the gears lubricated for a longer time period of use. I was wondering if anyone here does this same thing? I did a little main drive gear grease packing on my son's new/used Penn Battle III 6500LE. It sure does have a pretty gear inside! Much higher quality metal than even some Shimano and Daiwa reels have. All done now. Saltwater pre-treated for corrosion and all lubricants 100% full synthetic and ready for the big reds and snook. Another maintenance tip on spinning reels is when I lubricate the line guide roller bearings, before screwing it together I make sure the screw is aligned to the hole it goes in on the bail. Quite often the bails are bent usually to the outside, but sometimes the inside, and if they are not aligned correctly it can put side pressure on the two bail arms/holder where they are screwed into the rotor. So before I put that screw into the line guide roller I make sure it is aligned straight first. Sometimes you have to bend the bail slightly one way or the other to align it, but the bail will function better with no side pressure on those two parts- the bail arm and bail holder on other side. One issue with this Penn 6500LE I am not liking too much is how Penn did the drag stack. In Shimano reels the center metal key washer locks into the spool. On this Penn reel they reversed it. Now the key plates float freely and the cross weave carbon fiber drag washers are cut in such a way so as to lock into the spool. I prefer the Shimano way. One day I may have to play around with the Penn and make some custom drag washers for it. Or, make some custom keyed washers and use regular drag washers and reverse the Penn to the Shimano way. I am just concerned for how long I will be able to get these Penn drag washers. Thinking ahead. Penn installed the drag washers dry so I left it that way. I just received my Shimano baitrunner parts in the mail, so onto that one next. Will also do a saltwater corrosion pre-treatment on that one as well. I'm dreading the baitrunner.

I checked these out at ICAST. The rep was telling me how they reduced the amount of material in the rods but they were just as strong. I did not say anything, but was thinking.... if I have a steel rod and cut the amount of steel in half, how am I to believe it is just as strong as twice as much steel? I wasn't buying it. They want to hand me less of a rod and tell me it is so much more. Or, in this case just as strong. Still not buying it.

Nice fish! And using paddletails about the same as I would. Bazoo, on way to lunch I stopped off at a local bait and tackle store to look in clearance bins for rubber lures and found some of the shapes I avoid. Both of these lures are shaped vertically extremely thick to me. These would work great how A-Jay fishes them above with exposed hook, but for what I do here in Florida if I had these to use both would be hooked sideways where they are thinnest. Sideways is half the rubber for hook to try and penetrate- I think and believe increases my hookset chances dramatically. ***The discoloration on one lure is the lubricant this brand uses is turning into a gel and yellowing. It wipes right off, but even at $1.00 per pack I was not buying these. Recently I was fishing in a crystal clear spring fed river with a pretty strong current. So I used the current to my advantage with this next setup using a slip sinker about the same way I do in saltwater inlets. Since the river bottoms are swept clean back to pure sandy bottom, I can let this lure hit bottom in front of lily pads or other cover and let the current push the lure along without really moving the weight. I like to believe I can get better lure action this way by disconnecting the weight from the lure freeing it up for more lively action and twitching. I have to confess I got this from Shaw Grigsby a local fisherman who lives not far away. Decades ago he did a video on clear spring water here in Florida and his choice lure was tubes. Since I never use tubes I kind of modified what he was doing with the paddletail swimbaits. Shaw Grigsby - Sight Fishing For Clearwater Bass (1991) https://youtu.be/HLO-8gJJ80Y

There is no such thing as "supposed to do." There is only adapt, adjust and make it work however you can make it work. This is one of my all time favorite lures. My preferred location for bass fishing dictates how I have to use the paddletail. This is my heavy cover lure in shallow waters. Water primarily less than 6 feet deep along the edges of Florida lakes. I have no choice but to rig it weedless because I am dragging it through some heavy cover like lily pads and thick eel grass and other vegetation including trees and bushes. I position my boat about 15 to 20 feet away from edge of lily pads and work the front edges of lily pads first. Then I move in to where my boat is right up against the lily pads or even moving into them. I prefer to use a 7' MH F to a 7'6" MH F rod with a 4000 size reel and about 15 to 20 pound straight braid. I cast it all the way to shore- onto shore- if I can get it that far. The 7'6" rod is my distance rod. I try to fish the edge of shore and that open area behind lily pads, and then slowly move into the lily pads on surface, just under surface and letting it drop into the open spots I can see. I want my lure to stay clean and free from snagging vegetation on the way back to me. Bass absolutely slay this thing! Sometimes I got them jumping out of the water to get at it. Another place I like to use it this way is in very shallow vast expanses of eel grass where the eel grass is either protruding from the water you can see the tips of it barely sticking out of the water, or there is about 1 to 2 feet of open water between tops of eel grass and surface of the water. If there is 6 to 8 feet of open water above eel grass then I may switch to open hook paddletail swimbaits. I will swim it around in there not letting it go deeper than say about 1.5' to 2' down into the eel grass, but keep it up high in the water column swimming it either on the surface or through the very tips of the eel grass. The blowups can be explosive. Often the bass will hang out in the eel grass, where there are holes the bass will layup down in there waiting for something they can eat to come along and so they can be quite aggressive going after this lure. In the areas I prefer to fish there is no such thing as bottom fishing. If a person tries to let a lure sink to bottom where I fish, the fish would never see it, never hit it, and it would be clogged up with muck and vegetation. Gotta make it come alive in mid to upper water column. This lure can drive bass crazy instantly. I almost never use this lure with an open hook. If I am going to use a paddletail as a swimbait then I will switch over to a premade open hook swimbait with lead weight inside of swimbait. My favorites used to be the old Calcutta flashfoil but they are now out of business and so I have to dig into my old stock and try and find those where I can or something similar. I throw these on a 6'6" or 6'8" MH MF to even XF rod with straight braid. And this is where my vintage rod collection really comes alive here. Open water schoolies tear it up in lakes and especially the St. Johns river. If I notice fish are hesitant or short striking I will sometimes add a stinger treble hook to it. I had one already rigged up on my GLoomis GLX BCR803 rod and just added a stinger to show you how I learned to do it. The stinger hook swings back and forth with movement of the tail. Bass do not get off the hook too often on this rig. Getting back to the weedless paddletail setup I prefer, to me the brand is irrelevant. I buy based on size and especially shape of the lure. I prefer a #4 weighted hook, sometimes no weights and just a hook, but what I look for is a thin tail. I do NOT want to use a paddletail that is as thick as a cigar. All that useless extra rubber is just getting in the way of a good hookset. It fills in the gap and makes it much harder for the hook to slide through it and into the fish. So shape is key to me here. If I had to cut off some of the thick end just so I can move the hook back to a thinner part or adjust the lure higher up on the line some how, then so be it. But where that hook goes through my paddletails has got to be the thinnest portion of the lure for far easier hooksets. Another thing I gave up worrying about decades ago is lure orientation in relation to the hook. It does not matter if I turn the lure sideways or upside down. None of those fish are taking the time to swim up to it and examine it and say hey you know he put this on the hook all wrong so I'm not going to hit it. Orientation makes zero bit of difference. And I had no choice but to start doing it this way because of how manufacturers shape their lures. On some paddletails they shape it like a fish. Thicker rubber if orientated as normal, but if turned sideways I have less than half the thickness of rubber for the hook to slide through it and into the fish on a hookset. I am also not a color freak about it. In murky waters the fish can't see it. Can't judge color down there same as we do out of the water. They hit so fast and so hard color is irrelevant. So I focus on 3 shades of contrast- white to light in color, medium shades like shad grey or silver, and dark colors. Makes no difference to me. Others can debate whether it makes a difference to the fish or not. All I know is I still catch fish no matter how I do it. Maybe one way catches more, who knows. I could care less. I am out there to have fun, not win tournaments. Hands down this is one of the best lures ever invented because it can be so versatile and fished in so many different ways. This one is rigged sideways because the shape of the tail is thinner sideways for easier hooksets. With the above hook and slack line this one tends to drop more horizontal. But with the hook shown below it tends to drop more nose first. Both work. Just adjust how to use them a little bit. That said, I am no longer buying the hooks shown below, and will use up what I have; and go with the above hook shown above as my more preferred one now. Others will probably not agree with me on this, but there is such a thing as too much rubber and TOO thick of a lure. Size and shape matter to me. When a lure is the size of a cigar in the upper portion of the lure, all that rubber fills the hook gap void and gets in between the hook and fish for a good hookset. There is quite simply too much rubber filling up that gap for me. And in the tail section I want it to thin down where the hook goes through the lure for easier hooksets- less rubber for hook to slide through. So the following lure is edited in areas I look for size and shape. Brand is irrelevant but on this particular brand I get to talk to the man who makes it and I kidded him once and told him I can cut your lures in half lengthwise and catch twice as many fish because of how much rubber he uses. Too much for me. I had hoped he would create a thinner version but he never has so I go elsewhere to find the shape and size I prefer. A lure of this size and shape is more suited for how A-Jay fishes them above because his hooks are exposed and no rubber to push through for a hookset and no rubber to get in way either, and I just do not fish them that way at all. So this one is rejected and I move on to thinner lures with about half this amount of rubber.

I hope you won't mind a little hidden history in a long post along with my subject for my photo for today. These images show the northeastern watchtower of Castillo De San Marcos Spanish fort built in St. Augustine, Florida. This tower is called the tower of St. Charles in English and San Carlos in Spanish, and has a very interesting history that I have never found inside of any U.S. history books because NO ONE on this side of the Atlantic knew its true and real history because none of the scholars, authors and researchers had access to the original documents until about a decade or so ago when the handwritten log books of Admiral Menendez were found in Spanish archives and finally translated into English and published in north America for the first time. Now we know its true history and story, but it still has not made its way into our history books here. Modern scholars, researchers and historians settled onto an idea they invented while trying to look back on history. Many books will tell you that Admiral Menendez "fell back" to this location after the battle with the French at the mouth of the St. Johns river was blown apart by a hurricane. This perspective is not true. Not even close to what the log books can now tell us. Its a long story, but the log books tell us Admiral Menendez chose this spot first and then went north to fight the French to kick them out of Florida because he did not want any witnesses around for what he was about to do for the Spanish crown. Admiral Menendez even slaughtered some 300 Frenchmen stranded by the hurricane starving and walking north to St. Augustine. Admiral Menendez headed them off and executed them one by one with the sword on the Southern end of Anastasia Island. Archaeologists are still looking for that exact spot where this slaughter took place. But this tower was placed in this specific spot to the inch and angled just so and constructed as a double tiered watchtower. The other 3 watchtowers, one on each corner of this fort are all singled tier towers. Only this one, the tower of St. Charles had a special job for some 272 years. And its secrets existed in only one place- the handwritten log books of Admiral Menendez as written by his on board Jesuit priest. Its an amazing story! And it all revolves around one word- GOLD! This tower was NOT built here to protect the Spanish crown's hold over Florida. That was not the issue. At stake here was all that gold, silver and jewels the Spanish were raiding and looting all across central and South America and the Caribbean Islands. It was taken to Havana, Cuba where it was melted down and weighed and loaded onto Spanish galleons for the voyage home. Ships were loaded with the treasure and sent to St. Augustine as the last stop before trans Atlantic voyage of the gold fleets which Admiral Menendez oversaw for his entire naval career not just working for the crown, but related by blood and in business with the crown of Spain to get as much of the treasure home as was possible so he and his family could take more for themselves. And that is the secret behind this tower. People who come here from all over the world to walk through this fort and see this tower are never told its true history. Its time we Americans corrected our history books! Do you know if a man fell asleep on watch in that upper floor he could be executed on the spot? This tower was very important to Spain for nearly 300 years! 1500's to early 1800's. When you stand next to this historic watchtower, look down over the ramparts and observe the cannon placements below and hot shot oven standing there. From cannon pivot point (center balance of cannon) to rear aiming wheel track, some of those cannon placements have upwards of 18 feet between pivot and rear aiming track. How large would those cannons have been? Admiral Menendez placed cannons here that could shoot red hot cannon balls all the way out into the Atlantic ocean over 2 miles out! He wanted to blow enemy ships out of the water long before any of them could ever get within range of this fort and the gold it protected anchored behind Anastasia Island. This spot was so important to him that this fort was constructed about a half mile from the closest freshwater spring they could drink from known as the Fountain of Youth. It was more important to put the fort on this spot than over top the spring. This was no fallback position. This was specifically chosen but that is another long story from the log books of Admiral Menendez. When you approach this tower those who know get the chills. Goosebumps. The hair stands up. The most important spot in Florida history is this tower and its precise location and angle of construction. Precise in every detail. I always thought the gold ships left St. Augustine and headed north to use the Gulf Stream to power those ships back home. Not so says the log books. Admiral Menendez had other plans. His gold ships left this harbor and headed due east straight into the Atlantic ocean heading for the Azores to re-supply and pick up security ships there to cover the treasure fleet on its last leg home to Spain. The WatchTower of St. Charles in English and WatchTower of San Carlos in Spanish. When the U.S. Army arrived in St. Augustine in early 1800's to begin chasing down the Indians, they used this fort as base of military operations and renamed it Fort Marion. At that time Army engineers drew up detailed blueprints of this fort and this tower is listed on those blueprints as the tower of St. Charles. That one window seen below looks in one direction. The ONLY direction a sentinel was to continuously look. No other way should he look. Only through that one window off and on for 272 years! In the following drone video you can see why Admiral Menendez chose this spot and situated the fort at a precise angle and placed the tower of St. Charles so a sentinel could look out between the northern tip of Anastasia Island and the island to the north of it. That channel is where the ships loaded with gold came and went through. This tower watched that channel to prevent enemy ships from slipping in through that channel. Admiral Menendez chose this spot because that one channel along the entire eastern Florida coast was the only channel deep enough to get ships loaded with gold in and out at low tide. The only channel from Jupiter north to here. Modern historians theorize he was going to place the fort at mouth of St. Johns river but no way to defend it there and that the French forced him to fallback to this position. Not true. He wanted to get his ships loaded with gold behind a barrier island to hide them from pirates, English, French, and other enemy ships sailing up and down the coastline. He did not want his gold ships seen from the ocean. And he wanted a way to protect them loaded with gold. And this was it. This drone captured the same exact view a sentinel in that tower would have seen. A straight line from tower window through center of channel to ocean. This is carefully planned strategic defensiveness at its finest right here! There is NO WAY any fleet of a dozen gold ships loaded down with treasure could be protected at mouth to St. Johns River at anchor preparing for trans Atlantic voyage. Admiral Menendez's engineers did a lot of work measuring every channel along Florida coast before choosing this one. The only channel meeting their requirements of moving fully loaded ships in and out at low tide. Any other location would not have worked. https://www.shutterstock.com/shutterstock/videos/3805694467/preview/stock-footage-st-augustine-florida-old-city-landscape-with-historical-fort-castillo-de-san-marcos-national.webm Take a look at what this tower oversaw below. Look at the humans against the wall and judge the size of those cannon placements and keep in mind that from pivot to rear aiming track is only half the cannon's real size. The tiny little cannon sitting on ground on right side does not fit those larger cannon placements. Admiral Menendez was not playing around here. No one was coming in through that channel when he had a dozen galleons loaded with gold anchored there. Along that northern wall are even more cannon placements. Sometimes this tower is referred to as the "bell" tower because some think a small alarm bell may have been hung in there over the sentinel's head to raise the alarm. Can you imagine 450 years ago a sentinel in that tower ringing the bell and yelling out "Ships! Load the cannons! FIRE!" And then all those cannons turning loose on that narrow channel? What a sight and sound that must have been! There were no ships back then with cannons large enough to reach this fort from the sea, but this fort could reach them before they ever tried to make it through that narrow channel. Suicide channel for any who dared come after Spain's gold hidden behind Anastasia Island. The tower of San Carlos was always watching.

Its definitely not. And it depends on what we are calling "deep." A quick online search pulls this up: "No, bass do not spawn deep; they actually move into shallow waters to spawn and build nests. However, the depth can vary depending on factors like water clarity and the type of bass. In clearer waters, bass will nest in 4–8 feet of water, while in darker waters, they may only nest a foot or two deep. Some bass, particularly larger and spookier fish, may remain in deeper water during the spawn, but they still move shallow to create nests." And that tends to be the case here in Florida for our LGM bass. I can't speak for smallies and other species outside of Florida and what others experience, but my general experience here in Florida is 6 feet or less is what they prefer and I've seen some 10 pounders on nests 3 feet from shore with 6 inches of water over top of her. Real shallow. Take lake Toho for example. Years ago that lake was dying out. Clogged up with vegetation and had decaying organic material on the bottom in some places between 10 to 20 feet deep. Biologists took over that lake and drained it of water and brought in the bulldozers, front end loaders, backhoes, and dump trucks and they scraped the bottom of that lake back to pure sandy bottom. One of the biologists told me the secret to why the fishing exploded on that lake and it became so famous for lots of big bass was because the biologists played a trick in mother nature. I was told when they reshaped the bottom of the lake, they created all new wide shallow sandy flats just to provide the bass with more than twice to 3 times the size areas of previous natural lake spawn areas. After they filled it back up with water bass fishing exploded. If you watch recent tournament fishing in Florida where they fly drones overhead to videotape pro bass fishermen, they followed some of them back up into crystal clear spring runs off the Harris chain of lakes. In that drone footage you can clearly see the bass beds. None of them were in water deeper than 8 feet. All of them in shallow waters with most in 4 feet or less. Bass will not spawn on muck bottom. They can't fan out a bed and its not the right conditions for them. Gotta be clean sandy bottom in mostly shallow water less than 8 feet deep. At least here in Florida this is my experience with LGM bass. I would bet you the reason for shallow also has something to do with heat of sun as well as ability to protect fry, and to give fry a chance at life closest to cover for protection like their parents had to do when they were young fry. The online search I did above says clear water they spawn deeper in 4 to 8 feet of water. But in darker water they spawn in 1 to 2 feet of water. Now why would this be? I am betting it is directly related to sun warmth and necessary light for those fry as well as close to protection and food sources for the fry which is far more plentiful in shallow waters near edges of lakes and rivers. Deeper is more deadly and less likely fry can survive in as great of numbers as they can in shallows near cover for protection and food for them. Here in Florida I'd say 8 feet deep is reaching the limit. Can't say I have ever seen any beds deeper than that here. Most are in 2 to 6 feet of water.

We all hope you suffer no ill effects from your contact with toxic algae. In the above long post (sorry about that) I mentioned some of the science projects going on at Lake Okeechobee. Right now they are constructing the world's largest natural water filter ever made by humans to try and clean up lake O's water. But this does NOT address the increasing pollutants accumulating on the lake bottom. That requires a different approach. Take a look at this! https://www.***.com/future/article/20240815-floridas-everglades-reservoir-will-clean-the-states-water Florida is building the world's largest environmental restoration project 16 August 2024 Lucy Sherriff Florida is embarking on an ambitious ecological restoration project in the Everglades: building a reservoir large enough to secure the state's water supply. In February 2023, a large digger broke ground on a multi-billion dollar project that has been decades in the making: building a reservoir the size of Manhattan Island. The reservoir, which is part of an historic restoration of the Everglades ecosystem, is intended to help bring a secure, long-term supply of clean drinking water to Florida's residents. The Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) reservoir will be located south of Lake Okeechobee, the largest freshwater lake in Florida, and conservationists have dubbed the project "the crown jewel" of the Everglades' restoration. "It is the single most important project to store, clean and send water from Lake Okeechobee to nourish the Everglades and supply clean drinking water to millions in South Florida," Meenakshi Chabba tells *** Future Planet. Chabba is an ecosystem scientist at the Everglades Foundation, one of the non-profit organisations that advocated for the project. As well as protecting the drinking water of South Floridians, the reservoir is also intended to dramatically reduce the algae-causing discharges that have previously shut down beaches and caused mass fish die-offs. (Read more about the pollution causing harmful algal blooms). Bigger than Manhattan and Staten Island combined, the reservoir will stretch over 10,100 acres large (4,090 ha), and, in addition, have a 6,500-acre (2,630-ha) stormwater treatment area. It will be able to store 78 billion gallons (295.2 billion litres) of water – enough to fill 118,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. "The water will help recharge the aquifer that provides drinking water to millions of people in South Florida," says Jason Schultz, a spokesperson for the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD). The reservoir, a joint project between the US Army Corps of Engineers and the SFMD, is a small cog in a large initiative to restore the Everglades. The multi-billion dollar Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan was passed by Congress in 2000, and includes 68 infrastructure projects across Florida. The Everglades Foundation tells the *** the restoration plan is the "largest environmental restoration project" in the world. The infrastructure projects range from rehydrating carbon-sequestering wetlands, to building a complex network of stormwater treatment areas, smaller reservoirs and water control structures – and they're at varying stages of completion. The whole project is due to be completed in 2029. https://www.sfwmd.gov/lowcp Lake Okeechobee Watershed Construction Project (LOWCP) ---------------------------------------------------- It sickens me to read that Lake Okeechobee is the source for drinking water for South Florida! To simplify what they are doing with this project, and it is the same all across Florida... We all know how swimming pools are cleaned and maintained with pump systems pumping out pool water and running it through a filter and back into the pool. Keeps them nice and clean, right? Well they are now doing the exact same process all across Florida with specific lakes. The state acquires land next to the lake and then constructs huge natural filter reservoirs using plants to absorb the nutrients from the water pumped through them. I bet those plants grow like crazy and have to be maintained some how, but the new system is working in other places. A recent successful project like this on a much smaller scale is ongoing on Lake Apopka which also used to be one of Florida's most polluted lakes. It was so bad almost no one fished it for decades. But today Lake Apopka is back to healthy again all thanks to state of Florida biologists and engineers and construction companies. https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/lake-apopka-to-get-new-water-treatment-system Lake Apopka to get new water treatment system Published July 5, 2019 7:46pm EDT News FOX 35 Orlando WINTER GARDEN, Fla. (FOX 35 ORLANDO) - Luis Vazquez has been coming to Lake Apopka for many years. He’s glad to hear the news that the St. Johns River Water Management District is launching a new project to clean the lake up. “It’s about time because I’ve heard the muck under this lake itself is causing issues with wildlife and everything,” said Luis Vazquez. The Water District is spending $1.1 million on a water treatment system for the lake. The new technique will essentially suck up water, filter it and then return it to the lake. “It’s expected to remove somewhere between 6,000 and 12,000 pounds of phosphorus,” said Danielle Spears, Public Communications Coordinator, St. Johns River Water Management District. That’s the chemical killing off plants and fish. Spears says the new system will continue efforts to improve the quality of the water. “The work at Lake Apopka has already turned out positive results as we start to see the return of aquatic vegetation as well as sport fish in the Lake,” said Spears. ----------------------------------------- Today in 2025, 6 years later, and tournament professional bass fishermen are now making their way back into Lake Apopka after avoiding it for decades! One day they may open up the Lake Okeechobee 6500 acre natural filter reservoir to bass fishermen. It will be like Headwaters, Stick Marsh, and Farm 13. Here in Florida we all have biologists and scientists and engineers to thank for cleaning up our waters and for giving us all some incredible new places to bass fish! And, they are also reshaping the land under these natural filter reservoirs to provide both the bass and us fishermen with underwater structures, holes, hills, etc. all designed to help improve bass fishing while at the same time cleaning water! I forgot to mention the 3rd thing biologists are doing this for... birds and wildlife. Since mankind is destroying their natural habitats, theses new manmade filter reservoirs are a way to give back natural habitat to birds and wildlife to help them survive and thrive. Kind of funny all the bass fishermen arriving from all over the country can't wait to go fish in manmade reservoirs designed to clean and filter out raw human sewage from the water. But sssssshhhhhh, its all about bass fishing. Do not look behind the curtain!

If you are not affected by now you are probably fine. Touching and washing off seems to cause little to no harm. Its the inhaling and ingesting part that will get you. Side effects would begin almost immediately. First breathing issues, then headaches, and more is coming depending on length of contact, amount of toxins inhaled or ingested. If it was all around you, then you could have been inhaling some aerosolized toxins. Best to stay away from it all together. This is a story is about a dog named Finn, but humans are no different when it comes to this kind of toxicity damage: https://www.naplesnews.com/story/news/environment/2018/09/17/report-shows-dog-killed-toxic-blue-green-algae-st-lucie-river/1339559002/?gnt-cfr=1&gca-cat=p&gca-uir=true&gca-epti=z114535e002500v114535b0051xxd005165&gca-ft=142&gca-ds=sophi After investigating for possible foul play, the Martin County Sheriff's Office concurred with local veterinarians that at least two dogs got sick and one died from contact with toxic algae in the St. Lucie River. ***(Western outflow from Lake Okeechobee, Florida's most polluted lake with 6 times the normal toxicity levels for humans!) A necropsy showed Finn, a 9-year-old standard poodle owned by Misty and Alex Aydelotte of the Rio community, died from contact with toxic blue-green algae. Fishhead Labs Pathology Consulting Services in Stuart stated in its report samples of Finn's tissue and blood "are supportive of an acute toxicity due to ingestion of blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) toxins." "His insides were pretty much destroyed by it," Misty Aydelotte said." Rest in peace Finn! Lake Okeechobee is so bad right now that scientists and researchers from all over the world are focusing their research on humans who live around Lake Okeechobee to see what the long term effects are from daily contact and or inhalation and ingestion of toxins from that toilet bowl lake! I can't even count the number of PHD's from all over the world currently researching how toxic Lake O is now and its effect on wildlife and us humans! https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/weather/2019/10/13/is-algae-fog-toxic-to-breathe-cdc-looks-to-find-out/2516795007/ “We know that if you ingest it, it can get in your bloodstream and cause liver damage and all sorts of other problems,” said Malcolm McFarland, a research associate at Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute in Fort Pierce. “But we haven’t really known how exposed people are when they are regularly boating and fishing and how being aerosolized is a potential route of exposure to people.” https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/weather/2019/10/07/is-lake-o-toxic-algae-harmful-by-air-cdc-study-aims-to-find-out/2591990007/ But disturbed, churned up by boat propellers or jet ski engines, the single-celled organism, a type of cyanobacteria known as blue-green algae, can hang suspended in the air – aerosolized into a toxin-tainted fog and inhaled. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are targeting Florida for a study on people who unwittingly breathe in the algae vapor, specifically those who live and work near Lake Okeechobee and the northern estuaries. https://floridapolitics.com/archives/695382-fau-study-shows-nitrogen-from-human-waste-significant-driver-of-lake-o-algae-blooms/ FAU study shows nitrogen from human waste significant driver of Lake O algae blooms https://news.ufl.edu/2025/05/algal-blooms/ UF water researchers develop prediction system for harmful algae Dave Schlenker May 20, 2025 The slimy algae topping Florida’s waterways are more than just unsightly. They are often toxic to humans, animals and the environment. To mitigate those risks, University of Florida researchers are collaborating with North Carolina State University and University of South Florida scientists on a next-day prediction model to warn and inform water managers about harmful algal blooms. The research is funded by two U.S. Army Corps of Engineers grants for two phases, totaling $4.4 million. The project is led by David Kaplan, Ph.D., a professor with the Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment in the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering and director of the Howard T. Odum Center for Wetlands, and Mauricio Arias, Ph.D., an associate professor at USF. In a paper published recently in the Journal of Environmental Management, Kaplan, UF assistant professor Elise Morrison, Ph.D., and NCSU’s Maria Menchu Maldonado, Ph.D., chronicled their work with harmful algal blooms in the Caloosahatchee River and Estuary, the environmentally sensitive link between Lake Okeechobee and Florida’s southwestern coast. Maldonado performed the work under the guidance of NCSU collaborator Natalie Nelson. In a collaboration between multiple colleges, organizations, departments and universities, the paper’s other authors are Eric Milbrandt of the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, Edward Phlips of UF and Natalie G. Nelson of NCSU. The project’s facilitators include Darlene Velez, research coordinator with the UF Water Institute, and Lisa Krimsky, Ph.D., a water resources regional specialized agent with IFAS. Using water samples and computer algorithms, the team developed prediction models based on two water sources feeding the river: Lake Okeechobee and the river’s watershed – the water run-off from the surrounding land. The models determine levels of chlorophyll-a, which is a pigment in algae that is indicative of algal bloom conditions. ----------------------------------------------------- I would not go anywhere near that toilet bowl! Even old Roland Martin probably regrets buying land next to it. Early in his career that lake was fantastic. Roland used to catch 8 plus pound bass on every cast there. Not any more. Today Roland Martin makes a lot of his videos on water created by state of Florida biologists elsewhere like Headwaters, Farm 13, and StickMarsh which were created for two purposes 1)To create 100% all natural plant based water filters to clean water naturally- is flowed (pumped) through all three of these manmade filter tanks. And 2) to create new fishing places for us fisher people. They are now attempting to begin filtering Lake O's water as well. One of the largest water projects in Florida and probably USA. Secret science is going on down there including unproven technology called deep wells! Today you are more likely to run into scientists, doctors, and biologists as often as you run into a bass fisherman there. I hope they can fix it. Be nice to catch 8 pounders on every cast again! And stay healthy. -------------------------------------------- A sad Lake Okeechobee fact... The reason why so many PHD's from all over the world including scientists, biologists, professors, engineers and more are focusing on Lake O right now is because that lake has one major problem. And this is a bad fact too. That lake is constantly receiving what is called nutrient loading from multiple sources. CONSTANTLY! 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, year round. That lake is getting more and more polluted by the second. At no time is that lake reducing nutrient loading. Not for one second. And that lake is NOT getting flushed out. The pollutants roll in constantly. They can't stop it. The can't reduce it. Only releasing that filthy water east and west into the ocean or Gulf Of America can they try and reduce the nutrient loading, but keep in mind they are releasing the water. The pollution flows in and gathers on the lake bottom so reducing the water levels really does nothing to get rid of or flush out what is on the bottom. They will one day begin to sectionalize that lake and do the same to Lake O that they did to Lake Toho years ago. And we all know bass fishing exploded there after that work was completed. Lake O is going to get the same treatment at some point down the road. Oh and you know those big bass boats with hundreds of horse power engines on them? Doctors and scientists are now saying that those big bass boats are churning up the pollutants and creating their own toxic algae fog for themselves. Those propellers are creating aerosolized toxins as they fish! So this might mean some form of propeller regulations may be coming soon. I would not be surprised if one day soon Lake Okeechobee is shut down to the public for health concerns. More than 6 times normal toxicity levels for humans! The following news story is from 6 days ago: https://www.gulfcoastnewsnow.com/article/florida-lake-okeechobee-toxic-human-water/65833092 Tests show Lake Okeechobee is six times too toxic for humans So let's see a show of hands! Who among you is willing to go boating and fishing on Lake Okeechobee? I know there are some willing to risk their lives on that lake!

Not just bad, but downright criminal! Here in Florida our county sheriffs often do surveillance on busy lakes LOOKING for those criminal wake boat drivers. I was on Lake Brantley years ago- a now private lake since the rich folks who live there had their HOA purchase the boat ramp and land for parking, and now that lake is locked behind an HOA gate. Public boat ramp is gone but HOA members can use it now. And now there is a marked landing strip in middle of the lake for those rich people to fly in and out as they please in their small planes. But I was fishing with a buddy of mine in his jon boat and we had like 6 inches between surface of water and top of the boat railing. And on that lake are some of those- well on dry land they call them soccer moms, but out on a lake they call them ski moms with her little junior budding superstar on skis she blasts around the lake at full speed. This one ski mom apparently did not like anyone getting in her way on her lake. And we were closer to shore paralleling the shore and minding our own business fishing away in shallow water too shallow for her and her little superstar. We were not in her way at all. So one day we hear this noise behind us and turn around to seeing one of those wake boats heading straight for us at near full speed. As she approaches us broadside straight on, she wheels it to the right as we are throwing down the rods and reaching for the motors- both of them to start moving some how. Primarily to get out of her way or at least turn bow into oncoming 3 to 4 foot tall wall of water she intentionally was sending our way as she wheels hard right that seemed to only increase the size of the wall of water she directed at us. And next thing I know I see 3 cops on jet skiis come blasting out of a canal where they were sitting and just watching the lake. They chased her down and not sure what they did to her, but I know they impounded her boat for awhile. She targeted us. So its not just "bad" drivers. Some of us have to deal with criminal drivers intentionally trying to swamp us. Have not been back to Lake Brantley since. But down here in Florida all lakes belong to the citizens due to riparian rights laws that go back to the very creation of this state. More and more lakes are being closed off to us for some reason and us citizens may one day need to look into some sort of legal action to regain access to what is being taken from us that we already own as citizens. The rich should not be able to shut us out of more and more lakes. But its happening all over Florida. I have a list of them that used to have public boat ramps that are now closed off to us.

I can beat that price! At that place mentioned you are paying for convenience of already having the lights in your neighborhood. But if you order them through the mail, I can get a pair of LED trailer lights for $17. Half of the local convenience price. And that's a set sale price to my door with free shipping. If I were to wait on an auction I could probably even cut that price down some. I'm such a cheapskate!

Nice fish! As I was looking at your photo, the paddle caught my attention. At first I thought 'did she break her paddle?' So I had to go look up the "bent" paddle, and just spent the last 15 minutes reading about its design, reasoning behind it & proposed efficiency increases based on angle of the bend. The following quote is what kick started the interesting "efficiency" debate: ----------------------------- "To add some specifics for the nitpickers, let's say I'm talking about an all-wood 11-degree bent shaft and a comparable (that is, to the extent that they are comparable) all-wood straight shaft. Solo paddler. Average strength and abilities. Mixed paddling conditions and wind -- lakes, rivers, etc. (Alternatively, though, if anybody has insight into bent shaft efficiency for *their own* particular paddling and body characteristics, that could give me a ballpark idea.) I suppose this could be measured/estimated by how much more efficient a bent shaft is *per stroke*, or alternatively, how much more efficient it is over the course of a day or week of paddling. Those two percentages might be the same, might not. Obviously, though, the larger the sample size the more accurate the number will be. Perhaps the best metric to use is paddle times, on a regularly traveled route, over the course of multiple trips, of bent vs straight. Or a GPS logging MPH." ---------------------------- At this point based on that entire debate, I am not sure what is the best angle of bend. I suppose it would also depend not only on the height of the user, but also the width of the canoe can change the desired positioning and angle of bend required. Curious SwampGirl what angle of bend is that paddle? Do you notice any twisting as you use it? According to the debate/arguing I just read, there is a point of diminishing return on a bent paddle. It was an interesting read. From what I could tell or get out of the "debate" was that it was designed for mid-canoe paddling where canoe is widest. And the bend on your paddle is greater than some of the other paddles I saw. I guess 1 degree of angle bend makes a difference between different people and different boats. I learn something everyday. I kind of like the straight paddles down here in Florida. They fit under front deck better and slide out quicker when I need to knock a gator on the head- the straight paddles are more "efficient" for that. 😁

I've been following this thread and just want to point out one thing about liquid nails. LN's has good adhesion properties, but the glue itself is the problem. What I mean is, it is the glue itself that is falling apart. LN's turns brittle and it breaks apart. It crumbles easily. I bought a house the previous owner used LN's in and I am having to repair things like shelving they used LN's to attach to a wall. When it breaks apart the glue remains on both surfaces, but the break is within the glue itself. So on my shelves glue remains firmly attached to the wall and firmly attached to the shelves. No problem with adhesion. The main problem is LN's is not a structurally sound glue for long term. In the OP's photos above I see the same thing. I see glue still firmly attached to the hull and the backside of the carpet. So what gave way? It looks like another case of the glue itself breaking up and falling apart. This is why I will no longer use or purchase any LN products. It works for awhile, but always breaks up down the road. I would use a glue that remains flexible once dry. Not a silicone, but something that does not break apart and remains flexible and pliable. If contact cement does that then fine. But there are other adhesives used in marine applications like E6000 or 3M marine adhesive 5200 or 4000. These adhesives are very strong and very durable. Permanent might be a good word to describe them. So they may not be a best choice. Something that can be removed down the road and replaced may be best in this situation. I no longer glue any carpet down in my boat. I use velcro around the edges and can remove and replace my carpet pieces easily. I do this to prevent mold underneath because my carpet is designed for a putt putt golf course and has 1/4" foam backing for comfortable barefoot standing when fishing. If I glued that type of carpet down it would be the foam backing that is the weak link leading to separation issues. And the velcro is easy to fix too. And if I get water in the boat I can quickly remove all the pieces and hang them over the fence to dry out. That said, all of my carpet pieces lay flat and none climb up the sides of the hull like the photo above shows so I am not sure if velcro is a viable alternative for his situation. Just beware of LN's breaking apart over time and crumbling leading to failure. Just too brittle. I'd use something more flexible and pliable is the point of this comment. And maybe not so permanent.

www.jacksonville.com/story/entertainment/music/2022/01/14/producer-who-worked-journey-skynyrd-helping-jacksonville-band/9090897002/

Bulldog is already on it. There are basically 3 mechanism that can click. The first is the clutch pawl that contacts with the AR ratchet plate under the gear. That ratchet pawl has a spring that makes it move into place and it might click more if grease is worn away. Look at Bulldog's photo on the right. Do you see that thick heavy spring attached to the frame and ratchet pawl? That is a pretty stiff spring right there. When it snaps that ratchet pawl into place it can make some noise. The second click could be a combination of 2 things- one is the yoke engaging might make a slight noise, but the thumb bar can also click into place. That one is external and could be louder than others.

Because of this thread I jumped my NASCI 4000 to the front of the line this morning for a new lube job. I took a photo of the innerds so you can see some of the features it has. My NASCI I believe is one of the earlier models so I don't know if these same features have moved forward into the newer models- which probably has features this older version does not have. The pinion gear is supported by 3 bearings. It has the updated friction ring some say prevents early bail closures. But one thing to note here are all of Shimano's attempts at sealing up this reel from water. I count 5 different seals. The first one is the rubber gasket on the drag control knob. Next is the seal on top of the AR bearing and a rubber O ring seal on the bottom side of AR bearing. And on each side of the main drive gear is another O ring. This older NASCI has some water seal features not found in reels costing $200 and $300. For about $100 its a decent reel. I guess another "positive" feature to this reel is its lack of plastic gears like what is found in newer stradics and others. I consider this a bonus.

Just looked up Boeshield. It said this: "Boeshield T-9® dries to a clean, waxy, waterproof film that won’t wash off in rain, puddles or mud." Is Boeshield military grade with mil specs? I did not see it if it is. I use corrosion X who also makes reelX as well. 9 of their products including the one I use are all military spec'd products. https://www.corrosionx.com/products/corrosionx?variant=45808527704309 I use this on most metals and especially steel bearings going into saltwater environments. I have never had a bearing rust up on me in years of use. And it does not dry out and turn into a waxy coating. The corrosion X stays the same on the items as it is in the can. It does not dry out at all and remains constant viscosity even in temperature changes. Its a 100% full synthetic top notch lubricant. It works really well. Here's the difference from what I can tell: "CorrosionX is the only product readily available to the public that meets the U.S. Navy's tough new corrosion prevention and control performance requirement MIL-PRF-81309H. Due to Polar Bonding, CorrosionX causes common metals and metal alloys such as iron, steel, stainless steel, aluminum, copper, brass, bronze, etc. to chemically behave more like noble metals such as gold and platinum, which are highly resistant to oxidation. CorrosionX also has a dielectric characteristic, so not only is it safe on electronics, CorrosionX shuts down electrolysis between dissimilar metals. Use CorrosionX wherever you want corrosion control without paint or wax coatings. A light spray of CorrosionX on power heads, gensets and engines a couple of times a year will keeping them looking like new – even in saltwater and coastal environments." And that is what is inside of this Penn reel now coating those corroded parts. Corrosion X is now in between that steel AR roller sleeve and the pinion gear. So it should slow or stop the corrosion process from going any further which is my main concern because this reel is going right back into a saltwater environment. I can tell you this from experience here in Florida where corrosion can be pretty bad. When I take a new reel out of the box, knowing it is going into saltwater environment; if I pretreat the internal metals including bearings, that I never have a single bit of corrosion. It is amazing how well this product works at keeping reels working in a corrosive environment- and electronics. And I use this on all my electronics circuit boards and connectors in the boat and spray my outboard motors as well. Best I have ever found. I can see where boeshield has its benefits like external boat parts, but due to the fact corrosion X does not dry out and turn into a waxy coating, that I can use corrosion X for more applications than boeshield. I would not want a product inside a steel bearing that dries out and becomes a solid kind of like old petroleum grease can do. Corrosion X really works well in bearings because of its constant viscosity- even in freezing northern areas bearings will work as well there same as in Florida because the viscosity remains constant.

So I should change acids? Vinegar is too slow for me. I don't want to wait hours on a part. When you say "add" is that only when in contact with the acid? Once rinsed the "addition" is now gone? Can you explain a little more please. Is this HCL addition only in relation to brass or all metals? And when you say passivate the surface metal, not sure what you mean. When the part is rinsed from acid is there something harmful left behind? Should an acid neutralizer be considered? Chemistry was not a subject I paid attention to in class. And I never made it to metallurgy class! What do you recommend for acid besides vinegar?

You are right! That photo was right out of the acid bath and thorough rinse but had not been touched otherwise. I did not sand that part. I just wire brushed it as clean as I could get it trying not to damage it. Its interesting the pink is only where the steel sleeve from AR bearing sat rusting away down inside there. I had to hammer it off. So is that a galvanic corrosion situation of two dissimilar metals? Both corroding at same time helping each other along? I tried cleaning it all the way back to metal after that photo, then treated it with a military grade corrosion inhibitor to hopefully stop the corrosion process. It may not be perfectly done, but I think this old reel could reel in fish for another good 5 years or more. A better alternative than the trash can! I did not want to sand that spot because of the change in size as you noted might make the AR roller sleeve loose. Its never a perfect world once saltwater starts eating away at reels. Do you use a corrosion inhibitor in addition to lubricants? This photo was taken right after I hammered off the AR roller sleeve. And this one was taken right after the rinse from acid bath before any cleanup. It turned pink in the acid. I'm not a scientist. Just an old reel tech trying to make things work again if I can, but its interesting the things we run into inside of reels like this.

I can't help you on how to fish algae bloom waters because I avoid it, so I'd like to point something out about algae blooms. When you come across water that is suffering from algae blooms the first thing to realize is that it is caused by nutrient loading of the water from various sources like septic seepage, run off fertilizers, and other sources. So the first thing to realize is it is caused by pollution in the water. Dirty water. The next thing to consider is your health. Algae blooms create toxins that you can inhale from aerosolized toxins released from the polluted water that are concentrated heaviest in the air directly above the water right where you are at inhaling to breathe. These toxins can land you in the hospital. And that is what I wanted to point out. My recommendation is to avoid polluted waters that are experiencing algae blooms for your own health safety.

Speaking of pawn shops... One of the rods and reels I got in a bundle deal today is a Penn Pursuit rod 7' MH F. I wanted the rod more than the reel, but it is a Penn SV5000. I knew it was a salty dog. The reel was frozen up. Locked up tight. Would not spin. So I spent the day bringing it back to life. One of the hardest things to do is take apart a reel that the parts inside are frozen in place from years of rust and corrosion and do it without damaging any of them. Sometimes the reels are not worth saving. But if I can I will, and try and get some more years of fishing out of them. So today's reel was far more than just a maintenance routine. More like a restoration ordeal. Take a look inside... This AR bearing has seen better days! Like when it was filling up with saltwater and beach sand was probably a good day... I think around a dozen parts received an acid bath today to help remove most of the corrosion. The main drive gear is eaten up but not by the acid. This surface corrosion damage is from years of saltwater contact. I left it in the acid for mere seconds. Not long enough to do anything to the metal. And a brass wire brush did not help much either. I used a dental pick to clear out sand and debris jammed down into the teeth, but no way to fix this surface roughness caused by saltwater. To make reel smooth again, new gears is the only solution. Its good enough to catch fish with as a beater reel. This was the tricky part. This part- the AR bearing retainer- had to be cleaned very carefully so as to not damage the small delicate little plastic springs inside each bearing slot (dental pick is pointing to one of the small springs) that pushes the bearing back into place. If these small delicate springs begin to fail, the anti-reversing of this bearing will begin to fail. ADDED: And BTW, that little tiny plastic spring in each needle bearing slot is the reason grease is NOT used on most AR bearings. Grease literally acts like a glue keeping the needle bearings from moving into correct positions for proper operation. Shimano used to stamp "no grease" right onto their AR bearings. So oil only! And not super heavy viscosity oils. Lightweight machine oils or similar are recommended here. I use full synthetics only. Shimano makes it very clear! NO GREASE in AR bearings! The spinning reel AR bearing shown below has steel springs to move needle bearings back into place, while the bearing cage retainer shown above has even weaker plastic springs which definitely does not get grease. Yet you would be surprised at how many people shove grease into AR bearings. These parts just came out of the acid and thorough rinse. Have not been scrubbed, brushed or sanded yet. There is still some corrosion on the bearings, and AR bearing housing shows pitting inside caused by saltwater contact and where the housing is pitted is where the needle bearing sat for an extended period of time to cause some galvanic corrosion damage like this. But a little sanding smoothed it right out. Some pitting on the needle bearings before sanding smooth again... And the housing was sanded some. Now its back together and working again, if I were to order parts for it I would order up new set of gears, a new AR bearing and that's about it. This reel won't look like new again and make the show and tell thread, but it sure does work good again, not as smooth as it once was, but its a good solid reel with some extra 'nine lives' years added back on. Trash turned into fishing treasure again! I was not going to let this $5 pawn shop reel beat me today! And I did not have to replace a single bearing in this reel, so that was a bonus. Not sure if I am going to buy any parts for this reel. I might just use it as is, and see how far down the road my son can get with it. Another workhorse "beater" reel I never have to worry about. Parts swapping in shiny brand new reels for the show and tell thread is no where near as fun as raising from the dead these old salty dogs! These are a real challenge. I should mention that once I take apart a salty dog old reel, when it goes back together I put a thin coat of grease between the metal parts, outside of bearings and reel frame to prevent seizing. This helps it come apart down the road a lot easier than how I got it today. I had to hammer some of those parts out of there. Tomorrow is looking like a twin curado day... and maybe get to a NASCI reel as well. And I am supposed to be retired! Maybe I'll start sending my salty dogs to DVT so he can have some fun as well!

This is the Palatka boat ramp where all the Elite series professional bass fishermen put their boats into the St. Johns River for the tournaments there.

You guys get all the nice new toys. I can't imagine how expensive all that stuff is coming from Japan. I'm in a different boat. I have a 12 year old son who is getting back into fishing because that is what his buddies are doing. So its saltwater tackle he is after. He wants to go after big reds, snook, black drum, sheephead, trout, mangrove snapper and whatever else he can catch. He wants to eat what he catches. So as a dad wanting to make sure he has what he needs for that I have to take a different approach. I am not going to spend a lot of money on brand new rods and reels he is going to abuse because he's 12 and just won't take care of it like I would, so I want to get him good solid decent stuff, but it is going to be used rods and reels purchased cheaply. Since I can rebuild rods and reels I can turn another man's trash into our treasure. So I hit the pawn shops hard and heavy over last couple of days and spent less than $200 cash on stuff for both of us. I was swinging bundle deals at pawn shops. I got that St. Croix Triumph rod made in Mexico I was looking at a couple weeks ago with a lefty Shimano Curado 201HG still smooth and in great shape. It was $249, but I got him down to $100 on it in a bundle deal with some other rods and reels for my son. So dad and son got some new/used tackle. I picked up a second Curado cheap because it needed work and no one wanted to buy it, but I did because I have another one just like it for parts. So between them both I will get 2 new/used Curados for me and the St. Croix. But for him I picked up: 1 Ugly Stick 7' MH fast and put a brand new Shimano 4000 spinning reel on it I ordered for less than $30. 1 ugly stick 7' H paired with a Shimano BaitRunner 6500 in process of rebuilding right now. 1 Fenwick HMX 7' ML F rod that came with an Ardent Big Water Salt 4000 for like $5. 1 Penn 7' Pursuit rod MH F paired with a Penn Silverado SV5000 spinning reel for saltwater. Larger spool/line capacity. 1 Vexan 7' Inshore baitcast rod retails $159 to $199, and I got it for $5. No reel for it yet. Besides he has never used a baitcast reel, and I think that rod is going to be too big for him right now. Maybe I should start him out on a 6'. For some quick decent tackle he'll be able to keep up with his buddies. He said some of them have some really cheap tackle so their dad's aren't spending big bucks on high end tackle some boys are going to abuse and destroy. I bought those fiberglass Ugly Sticks for him because they are almost indestructible. I bet he will break the Penn graphite rod. He does not know how to care for any of it yet, but he's learning and wanting to learn so that's good. He's watching all the youtube videos so this weekend when he goes to his buddy's house fishing with a friend and his dad on their boat in Mosquito Lagoon, hopefully he will be somewhat prepared. He also got a long sleeve fishing shirt with hoody, gloves, polarized sunglasses and I gave him the brand new Trophy Catch hat I got at ICAST this year from state of Florida biologists as soon as I stepped onto the show floor they were the first booth I ran into. Great people those biologists. They are the ones with the best fishing secrets! Not all the pro's running around. Less than $200 for all that. Now I gotta get to work rebuilding the reels. Can you guys buy this much stuff for $200 from Japan? I'd be broke if I went that route! You know, I went looking for stuff for him, and wound up spending the most on myself with the Curado's and St. Croix rod. And I don't feel guilty one bit because he is taken care of too. I think that Baitrunner will more than make up for it! I bet none of his buddies have a baitrunner! The Ardent 4000 just finished rebuilding it. Now to adjust the line on it or replace. Here are a couple of the reels I did not buy. The prices were too high on the newer Penn reels, but that old one I figured would be too heavy for a 12 year old boy. Passed these up as well, but a buddy of mine may buy one of them.

I own a 4000XG-B made in Malaysia. For a $100 reel its not a bad reel. Smooth. Handles bass flawlessly. Casts well. I like mine. I generally use it on a 7' MF or 7'6" MH. A solid good reel for the money. Looks good too.