Florida Cracker2

One of my favorites is a Shakespeare Cant Twist spinning reel from about the mid 80s era that has 2 independent drag systems. The conventional spool drag (rear knob) and a bail rotor drag (star knob on handle). I set the bail rotor drag a little lighter than the spool drag. It works as though you turned off anti-reverse and reeled backwards as fish pulls out line. I'm surprised this design didn't catch on.

I love my oldies. Ambassador 5000, Bantam 200, Zebco Cardinal 3 and 4 on old vintage graphite rods with the stainless steel spiral wire eyes (no inserts), a Mitchell 300 on a bamboo rod. Old greenie penn on fiberglass rod. Also have an Orvis and a DAM quick setup. Diawa 700Cs...seems like all my gear is vintage...like me

Here's most of my spinners. I have a few more in boxes scattered around. These are all ready to fish and I keep them exercised. I'll take some baitcaster and deep sea setup pics and post.

Most of my reels are spooled with Big Game because it performs well and doesn't break the bank (I replace line often). To be honest, after using many brands over the years, I really haven't seen a noticeable difference. I do prefer spiderwire on my super ultralite rigs because it's thinner. I can use 6# test and cast like 4#. I will always have a sweet spot for Trilene XT because It was a big thing to me as a kid.

I like Spinners during the day, Cranks in the evening, and surface early morning.

I learned after the first couple I caught to get them unhooked and back into the water fast or they die. A LM bass, I can walk up to the house with one, get a picture, and walk back and put it back in the water and it will swim away no worse for wear. I never caught a striped or white bass...are they also that delicate, or is this an effect of cross breeding?

Sounds like a great area. Too bad it's a 80 mile drive for me.

Growing up, we took yearly family fishing trips there. Bonefish and barracuda are a blast on the flats there. There is a creek cut that leads to Robbies Marina where you can hand feed tarpon. That creek has an offshoot that has been great for snook and snapper. Offshore fishing spots aren't that far from shore and dolphin are fun to catch. But as a previous post said...this time a year gets pretty windy. You will also want to check the lobster seasons and avoid going during them because traffic will be bad. If you like snorkeling, Lignumvitae Key is awesome on the west side. lot's of deep holes in the rock shorline to see eels and parrot fish.

Not sure what type of metal they were.

I always thought so, but two 30+ year old rods breaking with normal use makes me wonder. Of course here in Florida, temps get in the 90's and my equipment is stored in a detached garage without air conditioning.

I have always wanted to wrap my own rod from scratch. Now I will. Replaced lots of eyes, mainly on large offshore rods I had.

They are the wipers I believe. A hybrid of white and striped bass.

Thanks for reply. I know # of bearings means squat. It depends on build quality. These reels I was looking at had 12 +1. I watched a review...in Chinese that I couldn't understand, but he took the whole reel apart and reassembled it. I was actually surprised at the design. Another review from someone who spoke English, said it was the best reel he had ever owned....smooth as butter. Of course one never knows what someone else considers good.

Penn fierce are nice. I have a spinfisher V and bought a battle ii for my father. Also have some older Penn relics... a 700 something greenie and a 420ss ultralight. $12 is just a ridiculous price for a (supposedly) all-metal reel and hoping to hear from anyone who has purchased one. If it gets used once or twice a year then it's fulfilled it's purposed.

Thanks for the comments. I have many new setups. Just that one was the cat's*ss to me. I need to learn to go gentle on the older equip. Those old rods can't handle 'snap-casts' and need to be babied. I'll be a little more gentle with the other relics I have. About spiral wraps...that was the first one I have ever seen and surprised that design didn't take-off way back then. Such a good design. Line never touches the rod while fighting a fish. I purchased one shortly before that one and was fishing the river bank and jumped down to the edge (4 ft. drop-off) to look for sharks teeth and petrified wood and after a little while heard a snort above me. Looking up there was a cow looking down at me. I stood up and clapped my hands and the first step it took was right down on my rod breaking it. I went back and purchased another one. wished I got several.

I came home from work and took out an old setup I had for over 30 years. A Mitchell radial guide system rod and Bantam 200 reel. This rod had the first eye from the reel on top and gradually staggered them until the last eye was facing down. I was casting from my little 12' jon and heard a snap that sounded like I hung up on a tree branch while casting. I looked and there were no branches to get hung on. When I start reeling in I felt what I thought was a bite and yanked. That's when the upper most 1 1/2 foot of my rod fell into the water. I guess 30 years is about the life span of graphite rod. I had one a little older break while casting three years ago that was about the same age. So there you go...30 years is the lifespan of a graphite rod. Now I have to buy another rod. Maybe I'll wrap one myself...replaced many eyes, but never done an entire rod.

Thanks for you're responses. The ones I was looking at were only 12 bucks with free shipping on the slow boat from China. Almost can't go wrong unless totally trash. Just wanting to hear if anyone else has any experience with this brand to see if they are totally trash. It's not for me, I have Diawa 7000C's that I'm perfectly happy with and have had for 20+ years.

I'm looking to purchase a couple large cheap spinners for a couple extra 8' surf rods I have in case friends or family want to play with tarpon off dock. I ran across a China-cheapo by Lie Yu Wang in a 7000 size. Anyone heard of these?

Every now and then I catch one of these. Always by fishing on bottom with leftover shrimp from the previous saltwater trip. They are very sensitive and die very quickly. You have to get them unhooked and back into the water fast. All of them I have caught have been about the same size. Supposed to also hit lures, but not mine.

Unfortunately I don't have a pic of my PB, but have some recent 4 to 6 lb.pics. All released.

Awesome fish!!!

I had a Daiwa with the mag-force which was the most forgiving on backlashes. I have two Bantams, one centrifugal and one mag and the centrifugal will cast much further, but is very unforgiving on backlashes. My cheapo tourney special with centrifugal works pretty well.

Last one I purchased is 7.3 oz. and I still cain't get over how light it is. But I'm used to my old school bantam 200, 1000, and a Ambassador 5000c.

Nope...neither my son or daughter like to fish. Took my son fishing many times and he caught nice fish, but would rather play vid games. He did however love shooting, so we did alot of shooting. My daughter took after my wife and they tell me how mean it is to catch fish. So my dad and I do alot of fishing together.

Mayan Cichlid. AKA atomic sunfish. They are hard fighters. My area is loaded with them. Supposed to be great eating although I never tried one.