Evan K

Bought a bunch of LC Pointers, mostly 100 size, and several Rapala DT crankbaits over black Friday. Pointers were $10-$13 a piece, Rapals $5 or so.

The administrator of this site hates the company that makes my preferred rod, so I can't say what that is. But I would recommend the Medium as opposed to MH for squarebills. Mine is able to throw some really light little cranks.

From a bunch of research it seems like a lot of people like Cal's drag grease for drags and bearings, CorrosionX for most general purpose lubrication, and 80W gear oil for the level wind. Acetone or lighter fluid for cleaning bearings, and Simple Green for cleaning dirt on frames. I'm planning on trying all this stuff for the first time this winter (finally have some reels worth taking care of), so I'm interested in this question as well.

I just bought a bunch of Pointer 100s.

Same here.

Unless money is a serious problem, I think I'd just buy 2 high quality spinnerbaits that will last and not need tuning. I've had cheap spinnerbaits and they are a pain, with the skirts coming off in chunks and the wire bending and the blades getting twisted up with line. Boonah is a decent choice or of course War Eagle or V-M Cyclone.

That's a good idea to mark them, or what I do is take the little paper/cardboard card out of the back of the spinnerbait package and just slide it in under the spinnerbait in the bag/page. Then I can tell the brand, color scheme, and weight.

I have a BPS worm binder, store the spinnerbaits in the plastic zip loc "pages". Works great and doesn't take up much space.

I hope this never goes through. Cabela's has its own style and history and I like the store/company.

BPS Pro Qualifier backpack- very cheap, solidly built and tons of storage without being huge. I like using the thin (3601) Plano boxes, and I can fit almost 10 boxes plus 3 bags of plastics in it. Best tackle bag I've seen/used by far.

Isn't it crocodiles that do the stalking and attacking the shore? Do alligators do it as much?

Sure! I can throw unweighted 3" Stik-Os with my BC setup. about 8 feet.

V&M Cyclone Classic and War Eagle are the best spinnerbaits I've used. Booyah makes decent ones as well.

Lews Speed Spool can be had on eBay for $80. Best buy in a bait casting reel IMO. I have one and love it.

I love the challenge of finding fish (especially big fish), the fun of using good, quality equipment that performs well and that I really like, the quiet time to think and not be bothered with the rest of life, and of course catching fish!

I know next to nothing about Iaconelli but even I picked up on this one. Good one.

Yes; by "cheap" I meant "heavily discounted to an extremely low price for premium hooks". They seem super sharp and well built.

I had to get a few packs of those cheap flipping hooks too.

Got my *** black and Tournament MB. Used it today and love it. I think if I'd do it again though I'd go for the longer rod instead of the 6'10" one.

I'm pretty much only able to fish during lunch breaks these days, so 12:10-13:00. I'd love to get out in the evenings or mornings but those are full.

Houston wearing sunglasses in a store...

A little mean, what? Perhaps not all of us have a ton of experience shopping online? Or become a bit forgetful of fishing tackle when going through tough times? Sure, it seems super obvious to 99% of us, but that doesn't mean we have to be mocking. Your comment does not come across as friendly banter.

You would think there'd have to be specific "spincast" rods, because most are a lot lighter than pistol grip baitcasting rods. The pistol grip baitcasting rods I've seen and handled have all been super heavy.

I agree with A-Jay that if you're using a glass rod low-stretch braid should be just fine. You can tweak your drag as well if you find yourself tearing hooks out (but I doubt you will). Regarding the Palomar using a lot of line, I agree that looping over your lure or hook does take a good bit. The trick is then to pull on that loop until the tag end is very short, then pull the main line to close the loop and it takes no more line than any other knot really.

I don't use backing but may switch someday. Braided line usually lasts longer than mono IMO. Use the Palomar knot to tie on lures- it's ridiculously simple and easy and one of the strongest knots for braid. I use P-Line TCB 8-carrier braid and like it very much so far. You'll be very pleasantly surprised how limp and castable braid is, and the low stretch is a big advantage (for many situations) as well. I don't use braid on my crankbait/treble-hook-lure-rod, I use co-polymer because a little bit of line stretch doesn't hurt in a setup such as that, but I use braid on everything else.