the reel ess

From my experience, you need to at least look for a BC reel with a solid metal frame. Unless you're only going to fish a few times a year, a composite framed reel will let you down. And it won't fail on a small fish. Some will argue with that advice (but they're wrong ). Lew's is a very good choice. I have the LFS Tournament MB reel and it has NEVER backlashed, even when I try to cast something too light with it. I also agree that the Academy H2O Mettle does seem to be a lot of reel for the money. It's $20 cheaper than the name brands for the same features.

You ever get the feeling people ask a question and never return for the answers?

Yeah, I have a buddy that doesn't think you NEED to spend more than $25 on a rod. And he's right but he catches a lot of fish and some pretty big ones, I might add. We spend a lot on tackle because we want to. However, there are some fish I would have missed had I not bought some good rods. But they're only fish, right?...Right?

Florocarbon is a little stiff for baitcasters. You can use it of course, people do, but you have to put it on with some tension to get it to take the spool's shape. Braid is as limp as you can get. I think that Bama Bass (of the YouTube channel) uses heavy mono for frogs in clearer water. I only use braid for almost all applications that aren't trebles. You'd be better off with 20# mono than 20# floro for 2 reasons. Mono floats and it's less stiff than Floro. You need to learn to walk the frog like a Spook and I can't imagine doing that with florocarbon. Another good reason for the limp quality of braid. On the bright side, if you do spool that rod up with braid, it can double as your jig/T-rig rod, assuming you didn't buy a pool cue (stiff). If you want them to do double duty, get a MH/Fast. I have an dedicated XH/Fast 7'3" Cabela's Frog model now and I'm not sure I like it yet. I liked the tip of the MH better. Being any good at froggin', which I don't claim to be, requires some special hardware. That's just how it is.

Take apart and give a good cleaning and grease those moving parts. It may be that the mechanism that does that function is so dirty it won't engage. If you can't get it, BPS will probably fix it for $19.95 + shipping. They've fixed 2 reels for me for minimal cost. I had the same problem with a BPS Rick Clunn reel that I bought new. It was basically a $100 reel on sale for about $70. I had some buyer's remorse. I took apart and lubed it and it has slowly gotten better over time. Now it's one of my favorites. Kinda like a good 191A1 pistol, it needed some breaking in.

I have a 7' MH with a fast tip. It's an old BPS Viper Combo that I bought for $70 on clearance there about 12 years ago. It just never seems to wear out. Really got my $$$ worth there. I keep it spooled with 20# PowerPro braid. This combo is light enough to cast weightless worms but enough backbone to set a thick EWG hook. The braid helps a lot with that.

Here they are. Notice the cork coming apart. You can tell the one I use the most. Also notice I'm breaking my rule and using the M spinning for a single hook application. But sometimes you gotta use what you brought.

I have two BC Lightning Rods and one spinning. They're good for what they are in that price range. I have a couple $100+ rods that put them to shame but they should for that price. But once upon a time, I would have considered even a $40 rod a needless expense.I still use all these LR's though. I have a MH 6'6" that I use for spinnerbaits, chatterbaits and a backup topwater rod if I want more than one topwater hardbait tied on. It's spooled with 12# mono for use with trebles if I need it. I have a M 6'6" that I use for lipless cranks and topwaters with trebles. It's spooled with 15# mono. This rod action is almost perfect for this application. It casts a mile and has just the right flex to not rip out bigger trebles. But it's short enough to allow me to walk the dog on a topwater and allow the fish to take the bait before setting the hook. The spinning rod is 7' M and I use it for wacky rigs and smaller treble baits like Rapala Minnows. It's spooled with 20# braid. The tip is great for casting lighter lures and good for trebles as well. This could double as a crappie rod in a pinch, but I've caught some big bass on it. None of these presentations require a lot of sensitivity. I use those higher dollar rods for that.I would add that after some years of use, the cork foregrip is coming apart on the BC models. No big deal really. If i had it to do over, I'd probably spend a little more on the Ethos rods from Academy.

You can get away with 30# braid most places. 50# is good for weed-choked places. I'm not sure you EVER need 65. Why? Will 50# break off in the weeds? You'd break your rod in two places first. 30# is the diameter of maybe 10# mono so you'll get the added casting distance of a lower dia. line. I intend top switch to 30 on all my BC reels next time I need braid.

Yesterday I only caught two tiny guys at my local spot from my buddy's back seat. So I loaded up and went to another friend's pond. Caught 4 in about 45 minutes. Then I went up to his shop and had a beer with him.

My Pad Crasher isn't that light and I can cast it a mile. But I have a couple Scum Frogs and Snag Proof original that are way too light for BC equipment. They'd be best on spinning gear with 20# braid. Interestingly, I caught my PB on the Snag Proof Original.

Yeah, I heard a pro say it's better to have the wrong bait in the right place than the opposite. Go to Walmart near where you fish. What they're out of is what you need. Now go get it at Academy, BPS, Cabela's or online to get it. Where I am that's usually bubble gum colored trick Worms.

It's a good color from the piedmont to the low country of SC, where we have stained water almost everywhere. So are the different names for purple. For a long time, purple is the only color I ever bough a worm in. Then I started fishing a local place where I couldn't buy one on purple.

I have a friend who lives near Naples and yes, there are. This is not mine, but my fishin' buddy caught an 8 lb largemouth on a crappie tube jig, trolling. I guess the reason I don't catch bass on tiny baits is because I'm always fishing for bass. A small bait to me is a Hula Grub.

I'd really rather have a MH with a little more tip. I can't glue it back on this time because I can't find it. It could be in the back of my buddy's boat.

When people asked me I always said that when i got that familiar "tap-tap" on the line I forgot all my worries. And when they were really biting, I forgot them all day. But I heard it put succinctly recently. "It's impossible to worry while fishing." I've heard it said that days spent fishing don't count against your life span. And it really does feel like they add to your life. Now I'm really fishing for big ones. I want more PB's. I've gone through most of the phases on the way here: Cane pole and worms, crappie fishing, keeping and cleaning everything, catching white bass and stripers where I find them, bass fishing the local big lake, now kayak fishing at a nearby water hole with trophy bass in it. I even like to watch others catch big fish nowadays. Of course, I still want to feel that familiar tap-tap that empties out my mind.

I have that same boat, Procraft F/S, but mine's red. And I can relate about the fishing partner. My dad's gotten old and doesn't want to fish anymore. Says he's just too old and tired. My fishing buddy's dad has Alzheimer's and he's unable to go. So we're in the same boat, so to speak.

I bought a Tourney ZX Frog model rod back in December and the butt cap has fallen off twice. I glued it on once, but I think I lost it this time. Anybody else had this happen? I've only caught a few fish with it and none on the frog yet. It also was my jig rod. I'll return, but don't want another if the cap will fall off it too.

I once got a treble right through (between strands of) the braid. That took a long time to pick out because I was in the kayak without scissors or clippers. OP: do yourself a favor and buy some scissors or some cutting device made for braid. Clippers usually aren't sharp enough for a clean cut. Then you have a time trying to feed the frayed end through a bullet weight. If you don't know the Palomar knot you need to learn because most mono knots won't work with braid.

Yes. The frog is the reason I started with braid. I spent a long day of not getting any hooksets with 12 lb Trilene mono. So I started reading and got the correct gear. I went and bought a $100 Cabelas Frog rod. But it's too heavy IMO. It won't cast as far or smaller frogs or jigs. The butt cap keeps falling off so i think I will return it for a MH. Anyway, after using the braid for frogs, I started using it for jigs, then T rigs. 50# braid that you know fish can see, but they don't care. If anything, I've caught more on it because there's no stretch for better hooksets. I did learn that you still need some drag though because you can straighten out a normal EWG hook horsing a big fish. And for spinning gear, it's just the best ever. No twist, no line memory and the smaller diameter 20# casts like 6-8 lb mono.

I use braid for single hook applications. And I don't use any leader. Fish don't seem to care about that visible line. But I use mono for treble hook baits, especially topwaters. The buzzbait is the only exception to that. I bought 50# braid for my baitcasters thinking it was the thing to do. I'll probably replace it with 30# next time. The thing is it doesn't wear out. And you can reel it from one reel to another and use the unused end. I use 20# braid on my spinning equipment. It casts like 8# mono.

Try BPS reel repair. They may just have them. http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CFPageC?storeId=10151&catalogId=10051&langId=-1&appID=40&cm_ven=Redirects&cm_cat=catalog&cm_pla=ad&cm_ite=repair They have helped me out in the past. Or have you asked someone at Academy?

Interesting. I may take out all the lures I have and have never used for a photo op. Even better: Next time I'm at a pond with hungry stunted bass, I may tie on on each rod and give it a go.

Uncle Steve X1000!!!

Yes, I've heard that, after they guard them a couple weeks or so, they'll run through them with their mouth open as if to say "You're on your own now."