wnspain

Grainger must be high as giraffe privates, I made a 10'er from 1" PVC filled with hardwood dowels for less than $25. No way would I pay $89.95

I'd say 656 miles is a long ways to save what, $30 after gas? At the very least, it's a full day trip plus the cost of gas, I'd opt for the closer location and pay a little more.

Greetings and welcome to the forums. I grew up in SLC but was not a bass fishermen back then but sure enjoyed fly fishing the Wasatch Range etc.

Greetings! Enjoy the forums!!

Hey DVT, if have the ability, could you post some pics of the keepers you referenced?? Thanks in advance...

Yeowza!! We can only dream

Agreed, there's nothing wrong with a spinning setup for most finesse applications. I have a few bass fishing friends that are totally baitcaster only types and they struggle with finesse techniques because of it. The spincast is a true beginners tool IMO.

Greeting and welcome to the forums!!

Take it to BPS, a qualified service tech will help you out - at least they have for me with similar situations.

Welcome and enjoy the forums! A crap load of info can be found here, take it slow and enjoy!

Welcome to forums!! I won't comment on your present setup, rather I will try to answer your question. The most versatile setup I know of is a quality m/mh rod with a decent quality spinning "reel". If a baitcaster is what you're set on, a quality setup will run more and provide the ability to throw heavier baits accurately.

Just so the OP doesn't get the wrong idea, I have a good friend that works for the Oklahoma Division of Wildlife Conservation as a biologist and VERY little has to do with fishing.

Welcome to the forums! My son was stationed at F.E. Warren and used to fly fish the Larimie River. That and a lot of other little streams but never for bass in WY. Enjoy the forums!

Nice vid Glenn as always

Greetings Donald. Retired USAF here (Loadmaster) so hope you make an informed choice. Flew in and out of Ramstein AB quite a bit during my 26+ years. Lots of info in these forums...welcome.

I have a low grade Eagle B&W LCD unit that came in the package when I purchased my Bass Raider 10e. Would be willing to part with it for little of nothing if I can locate the base for it. Let me check and I'll get back to you.

Could be totally off base here but it sounds as if your repeating the same non-productive behavior/pattern/technique. First I would invest in some kind technology that would provide insight into bottom structure, then change based on what you presently can't see under the surface of the water. That's my advice, but my not be relevant in your situation...

Holy cow, what a SLAB!!

Never even close by a bass. But....While i was in HS, me and a friend went bowfishing for carp in the duck ponds located on the eastern side of the Great Salt Like. Now before any of you call bull let me assure that there are no fish in the GSL but the waters that feed it (canals) are full of cats and carp, at least they used to be. Land owners would use these canals to form shallow ponds used by the waterfowl so the water supply, although not very good quality, was plenty good for waterfowl, catfish, and monster carp. We have stuck plenty of carp going 20+ lbs and although we never weighed any of them, I can assure that 20+ is not being exaggerated. I don't remember much detail concerning the tackle used but I would assume that I was using a Mitchell 300 spinning reel full of 12 or 15 lb. test mono. While taking a break from bowfishing, we would cast into the canal using spining gear and corn for bait just to see what might pick up the bait and provide us with some excitement for a minute or two. One day, something picked up my bait and began swimming down the canal, not in any hurry, but could definately tell it was alive and big! After about 20 or 30 seconds, I tightened up my drag but that only made my pole (correct vernacular back then) bend more, didn't effect that creature on the end of my line whatsoever. It continued to peel line off at a steady pace until there was no more, then the line snapped and the fight was over. Never know what had picked up that corn but we guessed it was carp, big carp.

I's say that's pretty close...

Weigh. I use a Berkley Digital scale, but only for the fish that I think will push 4# and up. Otherwise I will guess ( I do a lot of guessing )

Sweet!!!

I try not to talk bad about any specific brand on these forums but if I had a choice between 3 Abu Revo SXs or 1 Plueger President, I'd take the President all day long and twice on Sundays. I own both...

Hello and welcome to Bass Resource! Retired USAF myself so glad to see some other airmen here on the board. My daughter lived in Navarre and there's a lake pond just north of there called Buck Pond owned by Eglin. Never fished it but I thought it was worth mentioning since I've heard it can be pretty decent. Enjoy the forums...

As stated above, I agree with the notion that 2" longer will not make much of difference (all other things being equal). Most rods are not created equal so recommend one over another depends on a lot of varibles that you have yet to provide. Without that info, a general recommendation would be to go with a quality medium power rod as a rod of this type will generally be easier to load during the cast, but not all rods are created equal and there is no standard (that I know of) accross manutacturers. Again, it's not the length that will achieve your goal, it's the composition, taper, and total weight of the object being cast that will make a difference in cast length...