links_man2

Best way to fish them would be to stop by Anglers Lodge for breakfast burrito and ask Carl or JC when and where to fish them.

Sorry Reelmech wasn't trying to cut you out. Was mainly pointing him to Jim's test with the bearings.

I have had mine for over a year and wouldn't be without it. Watch Academy/Wal-mart have the on sale every now and then. They have a new model out that is smaller in size but bigger in price. When you want to spool a Spinning Reel with it, you take the metal arm out and rotate it 90 degrees so it is in the middle and pointing at the reel. That way the line will come off the side of the spool rather than the spool rotating. The reason you may have trouble with the metal arm coming out, is there is a rubber "grommet" that slips over the end of the rod when inserted in the spooling station. Doesn't hold reel good, but better than nothing. For the person that couldn't figure out the line stripper: 1. Be sure bottom cap is screwed on tight so battery is making contact. 2. Insert the line in the smaller of the 2 holes in the top cap. 3. Be sure reel is in free spool if casting, bail is open if spinning. 4. Press the button. 5. When finished, unscrew the bottom battery cap until batteries are not making contact i.e. won't run when button pressed. This will keep it from draining batteries.

Here is a good test Jim at Heartland Tackle did showing how much the bearings help. Primarily the gain wasn't too great after the spool bearings. He also has good selection/prices on bearings. http://heartlandtackleservice.com/ceramictest.stm

Not sure if this was addressed at me, but I was only informing people what happened in my case and that the shipping may not be free. But I will moan and groan about people that tend to jump out a little quick.

Avid---Thanks for the link. Haven't fished it, but tied some Fluoro on braid and was a fairly straight forward know and could be tied even by a fat fingered old man without getting my fingers tied in the knot. Gave it a few pretty good tugs and seems to hold very good. Was looking for something else since I have had some problems with a double uni between braid and fluoro.

Shimano also has a pretty good overview for different types of reels on thgeir website: http://fish.shimano.com/publish/content/fish/sac/us/en/customer_service/reel_maintenance_instractions.html

$300 and you don't even get a spare spool. If it had a spare spool I would probably order a dozen or zero! Plus it weighs nearly as much as a real reel.

???? Standard minimum shipping charge is $4.95. When you look at your cart, it shows the purchase total, then shipping charges, then the bill total. I don't know what the exact scale is, but the more you spend, the higher the shipping charge, until you reach $12.95 in charges. From there, it remains $12.95 shipping, unless there are other charges like $6 for longer rods, or truck charges for heavy items, ect.... Those are seperate charges though, if you bought a $30 7 foot rod, it would have the $6 charge just like a $200 rod. With this lure special, all you have to do is buy the $5 worth of lures, and your whole basic order is shipped free. I'm sure they still tack on the charges for oversized items and over weight items. Sorry, but you will be charged shipping if you order other items with the 5 for $5 baits. It will not show up in you cart at checkout or on the order form you can print at the end of the order. But there is a note at the bottom of the order form printed "Additional funds may be required if additional shipping charges apply. You will be notified if charges exceed $10.". In my case I was paying with Reward Points and when I looked the next day, I saw they had added the additional shipping to the points they withdrew. As always, there ain't no free lunch or free shipping!

Got some Bass Magic 4.5 (longest they had) at our local Academy. Haven't caught anything on them yet but really like the action. Liked it well enough to order a variety of colors in the 6.5" size from BPS. As far as rigging, I like the hooks with the screw/spring attached to the eye. I can find them weighted up to about 1/8 oz locally. For heavier weighting, I take a Torpedo Weight (long round with home through center length wise) and use a hack saw to cut down to the hole/center. I then crimp that around a hook that weighs 1/4 oz. Have also used the longer weights that have the rubber core and remove the rubber and crimp that on the hook. I have tried crimping slit shot and the longer weights with the tabs, but they seem to leave too many rough edges to hang on grass/weeds.

I use a 3/0 Gamakatsu Finesse Wide Gap (red cause that is only color I found locally). But since I use a weight 1/4 to 3/8 and my local lake is heavy with salt cedar brush I tie a loop of cheap 50LB mono for a weedguard. I tried the Gamakasu Finesse Wide Gaps that come with a weedguard, but they pop open so easy the weedguard is a waste. I also use small o-rings I get at Lowes in the Plumbing dept rather than bury the hook in the worm. Doesn't tear the worm up every fish.

Been using the Vicious Fluoro for couple of months and really like it so far. Especially like the price, much better than many of the Fluoro's out there even less than the BPS XPS which I used before this and liked it.

I have been using it a couple of months and so far really like it. I do use the KVD Line & Lure on all my Mono and Fluoro and it really helps tame the memory, much better than my experiences with Reel Magic.

Mid-MO - This is not a rumor/conjecture, after seeing your comment, I emailed Falcon Cust Svc and they sent me a fax of the announcement. Basically, it says Plano entered into an agreement with Falcon Rods to: "...manufacture and market the Falcon FTO line of tackle organizers formerly distributed by Falcon Rods. This agreement does not pertain to any Falcon Rods SKU's or other Falcon branded products that will continue to be fistributed exclusively by Falcon Rods." This was effective 1/1/2008.

I have had the Falcon Terminal tackle box for little over a year and really like it. Only problem is that the small stuff, small hooks, swivels, toothpicks acn change compartments due to the gap between the top of the dividers and the lid. Someone mentioned putting masking tape along the top edge of dividers. I went to Lowes and got some thin foam shelf liner and glued it inside the top of the lid. Just thick enough to seal between lid and top of dividers. Plus if I add/change dividers no need to retape.