jimmyjoe

When spinning reels were made of nothing but metals, we did exactly that all the time. Kerosene is a great cleaner. It's not a lube, though. We cleaned it out with nail polish remover (acetone). Then we lubed with the old Penn grease and put Ambassadeur oil on the line roller ... if it had a line roller, that is. Once plastic crept into the picture, those tactics disappeared quickly. jj

So true, so true. Some people can't believe the bass I pull out of the rivers around here. They think that bass are, literally, not there. El wrongo. jj

And vice-versa. jj

I understand. I was there for many years. I still caught fish, and I still had fun. Life's great, ain't it? jj

Exactly. That describes half my stuff. The Quantum rod for $25, and the Quantum reel for $15. The Fenwick Eagles on sale. The clearance Daiwa reels. The Cabela's rod on Christmas sale for $29.99. But I have more expensive stuff, too. I didn't get it to show off. I didn't get it to brag. I didn't get it just because it was expensive. And I didn't get it because the cheaper stuff wasn't any good. Sure it's good. I got the expensive stuff because it did a certain thing that I wanted to do, and the other stuff didn't. I'm retired, and spending a lot of money hurts. But I'm sure not gonna enjoy fishing after I'm dead. Wherever I go, I meet some people who think no one should have or use expensive stuff. That's wrong. And I meet people who think no one should use cheap stuff. That's wrong, too. Get what works, and satisfy yourself, no matter what the equipment happens to be. Like I said in the post above, I'm there to catch fish. I apologize if I seem rude, but this subject really hits a sore spot with me. jj

I've got rods from $35 to $200, and reels from $15 to $250. I had other stuff that got me to this point, but I've resold it. I have what I have now because it does what I want and it does it the way I want it to do it. Some people look down on me because of the expensive stuff. Some people look down on me because of the cheap stuff. I really don't give a rat's ass. I'm there to catch fish and satisfy myself. What they think is their problem. jj

Ooooooh yeaaaaaah! jj

Nope. I've found, I think, just the opposite. My 10" Rage Tail Anaconda catches me bigger fish than any shorter plastic lure. There's one exception, though. In or at the edge of weeds, the big fatties and creatures are better. I only fish weeds in 2 lakes, though. As for the spinnerbaits, I've definitely noticed that a single Colorado blade, a real THUMPER of a blade, catches the biggest fish. And that's in lakes and rivers, both. jj

True, true. But I never said I was perfect. ? jj

I'm not going to say what I think of ANY line conditioner, but I'll tell you what I do. 1) I put one drop of dishwashing liquid in a cup of hot water, and I spray my line b4 I go fishing. Or: I soak a rag in hot, soapy water and then cast a heavy lure out and run the line through the rag on the retrieve. Or: 2) If I fish in a place that has a parking lot, I attach the end of my line to the car and walk off a distance equal to my longest cast. Then I pull like heck, hold for 10-15 seconds, and wrap the line on the reel. 3) Hot weather is a killer. In July and August, I watch my line like a hawk, and I re-string at the first sign of surface brittleness. I can do this economically because I use Big Game, and I buy it once a year on sale. Yeah, I know. I'm cheap. No matter what I do or what I see other fishermen do, it all seems to make a much bigger difference in hot, sunny weather. Nothing I have ever found nor anything I see other people using seems to work in cold weather. Since I fish from ice out to ice up, this is by comparison a lesser percentage of my problems. jj

True. Still .... they're effective. Clumsy, but effective. They curl up, catch everything, pull it out and throw it overboard, catch your elbow, and generally make a nuisance of themselves. Still .... they're effective. jj

Lanyards. Lanyards. Lanyards. jj

If you're going to do kayak tournaments, then I assume you're familiar with the one most important characteristic of any rod for your use: it must be comfortable and usable from a kayak. With the extremely limited experience I have had with kayaks (extremely uncomfortable for me) I quickly saw that a relatively short, MH/MOD action was what I wanted. The 6 1/2 foot Premier cranking rod(s) from St. Croix would approximate what I'd like. Keep in mind that this is the opinion of a fat, tired old man who's as flexible as cast iron pipe, so YMMV. jj

I can't explain it as well as you can, but I can definitely agree that it's therapeutic. jj

In still waters, it's the spinnerbait. The only "tip" I can give is pulse it. But in the rivers, I'm a spoon fanatic. From 1/4 oz up to 1 oz, they all produce. But you have to know the action, the speed of retrieve and the depth. Go to a school swimming pool in the off-hours and check what the lure is really doing. You'd be surprised what you need to do to make a spoon dance. And that "dance" - the erratic baitfish action - is what pulls'em in. Failure to know what the lure is doing and how to make it do what you want is the main reason fishermen don't really like spoons. Of course, I'm up north. No weeds in my rivers. jj

I heard the same thing, but I heard it a little different. I heard that they weren't going to SELL BLANKS anymore. I guess the volume was too low. The way I heard it, it had nothing to do with finished rods at all. Of course, the guys who told me that might be wrong, too. But I visited their site. You know how they used to have a link to their catalog of blanks? That's gone, or at least I couldn't find it. A woman at St. Croix earlier this year told me that the Mojo rods are US-made blanks that are shipped to Fresnillo and finished up there. She might have been blowing smoke up my you-know-what, but if you can't trust someone at the actual factory, who CAN you trust? That's why I say, "I heard ...". That's because that's all it is so far. RUMOR. jj

Oh. Yeah. One of those. I've seen them. I didn't know they could be used that way. Now I do. You realize, of course, that you made me oxidize 2 ounces of sazerac for no reason at all, don't you? Thank you for that. ? jj

Okay .... now I'm REALLY confused! I think I'll have a sazerac and turn in. jj

Well, I learned something today! I guess you can figure out how often I've trolled, or even been around other people who have trolled. But I see what you mean, and it makes sense. Thnx. jj

Spinning can do anything. Spinning gear catches marlin and tuna. It depends what you want, what you like, and what you expect. 1) Heavy-duty spinning gear is usually physically heavier than the same casting gear. The recently-introduced long fiber carbon spinning reels may change this, though. 2) With weightless presentations, spinning gear lets the bait sink vertically. Big advantage in my book. 3) Spinning gear is used by your strong side. This is a big advantage in high-torque presentations, like twitching, snapping and jerking. 4) Casting gear puts its weight closer to the fulcrum point of your hold, so it causes less fatigue with a high-resistance retrieve. Spinning gear can partially overcome this simply by aiming the rod at the lure and retrieving straight-line. You sacrifice the rod's shock absorption abilities, though. 5) Into the wind. This is the big one for me. Spinnerbaits, crankbaits, soft plastic .... it makes no difference. You never have to worry about a backlash with spinning gear. You may have to worry about wind knots, but that's another matter. 6) It's easier to design drag capacity into a spinner than a caster. For higher priced reels, there's not any appreciable difference. But on the cheap end, spinner drag is usually smoother. I don't know about you, but I appreciate a smooth drag that's low poundage much more than a strong drag that's erratic. 7) The one huge advantage casting gear has over spinning gear is handling large diameter mono/copolymer line. There are people on this site who religiously use braided line. They more or less have the opinion that mono is outmoded. For better or for worse, I'm not one of those people. I love monofilament line for situations that need "give". I also hate the abrasion characteristics of braid. So for heavier line, I use baitcasters only, and they're spooled with mono. You can use spinning gear for large-diameter mono, but see #1, above. Lots of people will tell you to give it a try, and they're right. Try it. But your original question was, "Am I missing out by just using these?" If you're talking about limiting yourself to 1/2 oz. lures, then YES. If you're talking about using spinning gear, then NO. jj

Me, too. I fail miserably, too. I told my wife I'd only spend $20/wk on fishing stuff. I figure I'm somewhere in the middle of the year 3767. jj

I used to follow solunar tables religiously. Didn't take long to figure out that flipping a coin was more reliable. jj

What's glaringly obvious from reading through this thread is that every lure that's a total disaster for one fisherman is a great producer for another (or many others), maybe even in the same locality. I used to have lures like that. Then I put my stubbornness aside (no small task; brick walls cringe when I walk past), asked a few people who loved that particular lure HOW to fish it. Then I caught fish. Just buying a lure and throwing it in the water wasn't enough. I had to learn the little details that made the lure a success. (Thanks, L.C.!) It's kinda like shifting a 4 speed. Some people refuse to do it. Other people do it, but not well. Some do it real well, like second nature. And they're all on the same road in the same place at the same time. Details, details, details. The devil's in the details. jj

Absolutely true. jj

If you're NOT going outside the US, then by all means do it this way. Much less hassle. My advice is send it USPS, not UPS. Talk to some snowbirds where you live. They'll give you good practical advice on which way to go. jj