FishTank

How about this Swindle , "Don't be that guy, in a dumb commercial."?

As I remember my coach saying ,"Two bad teams practicing together doesn't make one good team."

Because I can't afford a Ferrari.

For whatever reason I prefer the core. I have had mine since it came out and it has been a work horse reel. It is not as smooth as the Steez but it just fits me better.

I purchased a Daiwa Zillion when it first came out. That was about 7 years ago. The breaks on it are sometimes questionable. It has always worked best with heavier lures but it seems the older it gets the more I have to keep increasing the breaks in order to prevent backlashes. When I first purchased it and was fishing a weightless senko, I was setting it to 3 or 4 but now it is more like 5 or 6. Don't get me wrong, it is still a great reel but I do think the effectiveness of the breaks has weakened over time.

My son is 15 and I purchased a Citica G for myself this year. I plan on letting him use it. One other he has tried and did OK with, was my Calcutta 251. Both of these reels are a set it a forget style baitcaster. I set it to two or three brakes on, put on a weighted senko and he is good to go. If it were me and I wanted to get my son a reel that was both an investment he will keep and a teaching tool that won't frustrate the both of you, I would get him a Curado.

I mainly use a Shimano core 101mg for senkos. It has 6.2:1 ratio and works great for all of my soft plastic.

It better last forever at that price.

Daiwa zillion.

Great bait. I have yet to finds its equal. Well worth the money.

I can't believe it. I heard that it might have been a suicide by asphyxiation. One of my favorite actors is gone.

Considering DSG has the regular version for $75, so I would say no.

I have a couple of them and never had an issue. I like them better most but all the buzz baits I have tend to catch fish equally. The Cavitron due seems to hold up better.

I read on another forum that somebody picked up a Penn Conquer for $100. I saw this reel in Florida and it was built like a tank. It came in different sizes and seemed to be set up for braid. Having fished all kinds of reels, I was impressed with the quality of Penn's reels.

I tried to research this set up to see what info I could find and came back up blank. As stated above, it sounds like a department store set up. With that said, depending on how you fish, I would not ask to much of this set up. That does not mean it's not a good combo. But in general, most of these types of set ups are intended for the occasional user. Based on what the rod is, I would say your best bet is Rooster Tails, Mepps spinner baits, weightless soft plastic, small jigs for crappie, and small live bait.

Odd that the drag washers fell apart. If they have turned into what looks like dissolved cardboard, my guess is the reel took a long bath in a lake. If that is the case, there is probably more going on with the reel than just the drag.

I have one rod and reel that use to scare me and now it is my go to set up. I have a Core and G.Loomis 803C GLX Jig and Worm Rod. I have caught tons of fish on this set up. I look at it and go, there's $750+ sitting there. What was I thinking? But truth be told, it does everything I can ask of it. I love it and use it more than anything else. So my two cents, forget how much it costs and fish it for the fun of it. We ain't getting any younger......

In what little info I could find on this, as others have stated it's seems like a rare rod and that you definately scored. It looks like it was one that was made by hand the old school way, with no machining what so ever but I could be wrong (just a guess). I would contact Fenwick directly. They have great service and nice "fishing" people working for them.

I am not a big fan of braid but it has it's place and Power Pro is great line. The price you quoted is a great deal but I would ask the guys working there how much it costs to fill your reels with the house line they keep. My local DSG has 3000 yard spools of PowerPro that they will fill my reels with for (depends on who is working) for free if I bought the reel there, $2.49 or $4.99 (I think this is the price it is supposed to be). If you do the math, at the most it would cost me $10 to fill 2 baitcasters with 30lb test which is a little less than 300 yards. Since very few people take advantage of this at DSG I go to, it may be quite some time before they run out.

Pretty much any where, any time. I Texas rig them with a 1/4 oz bullet weight and slow/pause retrieve. I prefer the Zoom Lizards in any dark color but the bright colors work well in clear water in spring time. I have tried other brands. Some work well while other have gotten me skunked. For instance, I have tried Gambler and they work pretty well. No luck with Strike King Rage Tail Lizards or GYCB Lizards but I like both of their worms. One I like but have not given it a fair chance yet, is from Trigger. I like their colors and quality and they do catch fish. In general lizards are one of my favorite soft plastics to fish.

It's great line. I like the Ultra Soft as well. Just out of curiosity, why are you giving up on Fluorocarbon? I have been using Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon since it came out and never had an issue. On the other hand, I have had issues with other brands but some great luck as well. Sometimes it depends on the set up and what I am using it for.

I have been looking at a Redington Rise 3/4 reel and a Redington Link Rod but I am clueless. I really need to go the local fly shop and check them out. Thanks for info though.

What kind of budget are you looking at? If it were me, I would look at what he likes and build from there. One thing we did for my father, years ago, was have the cork redone on his favorite rod. It stunk and it was falling apart. The guy we took it to did an awesome job and he loved it.

The Shimano Crucial 7' MH Moderate-Fast Crankbait rod is pretty sweet.....

I always use a backing but a recent purchased confirmed my thoughts though....... I recently purchased a Shimano Citica at DSG and the guy there put on some Power Pro 50lb on the reel for free. I was having trouble with the casting distance and I thought the reel was messed up. I took it back in and a guy that has been working the fishing department took one look at the reel and started to pull the line off. When he got to the bottom of the spool, he said ''Look, no backing''. He respoolled it with some backing and some more Power Pro. Problem solved..... With that said, does this hold true for all reels, my gut says no. The only reason I ever put backing on to begin with, was to save a couple of bucks.