Johnbt

I hope it's light grease and not plain old No.2 standard grease. John __________________ NLGI No. (National Lubricating Grease institute) No. Penetration Consistency 6 85 - 115 Block grease 5 130 - 160 Extremely stiff grease 4 175 - 205 Very stiff grease 3 220 - 250 Stiff grease 2 265 - 295 Standard grease (85% of market) 1 310 - 340 Soft grease (for centralized lube systems) 0 355 - 385 Very soft grease 00 400 - 430 Semi-fluid grease 000 445 - 475 Fluid 'slumping' grease

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelanchier And some of the them could be shadbush, aka serviceberry. "A fanciful etymology explains the name 'serviceberry' by noting that the flowers bloom about the time roads in the Appalachian mountains became passable, allowing circuit-riding preachers to resume church services. A similar etymology says that blooming serviceberry indicated the ground had thawed enough to dig graves, so burial services could be held for those who died in the winter when the only way to deal with the bodies was to allow them to freeze and wait for spring. Both of these fanciful etymologies are unlikely to be correct since the term is attested for both English and New World species as early as the 16th century, well before settlement of English North America,[26] and serviceberry is far from unique in blossoming early in the year."

Fwiw, etrailer says to get to zero you buy a mount with a 2" drop and a ball with a 2" rise. www.etrailer.com/p-C40034.html "2" Hitch Ball - 2" Rise - 1" Diameter x 2-1/8" Long Shank - 6,000 lbs"

"Coleman Super Oscar" I was going to suggest the standard Lil Oscar 8 quart/six pack size. I have two that I've regularly used since the early '80s. Fold the handle down and you can sit or stand on them. All you have to do is look at the number that have survived to tell how well built they are. Here's one... www.ebay.com/i/382225441558?chn=ps

"Now was that so hard" Thanks. That site didn't show up on the first 2 pages of my google search yesterday. Heck, most of the first 2 pages were full price ebay listings. Even today that site's listing doesn't mention 'sale' even when I use the word in the search. They even had some of my favorite colors - chrome shiner, chartreuse threadfin & shad sense. I got 3 for me and 3 for my buddy who has a seemingly endless supply of line and 10.5" worms. Of course, if my 3 work really well he may never get all of his. He'd do the same for me, even after 40 years.

"$4.99" Is it a secret?

"I've never once spent less than $50 at TW" This last time I put together an order of things I needed in the shopping cart and the total was $105. A few days went by while I thought about it, celebrated Valentine's Day, etc. When I got back to it to actually make the order the shopping cart was empty. Okay, I took my time and tried to remember precisely what it was that I needed in the way of replacement baits and line. This time the total was $220.

Since it turned really cold I've only bought 2 reels and have one rod on the way. Oh, and $220 of odds and ends, like replacement spinnerbaits, line, a rod protector, a couple of crankbaits, etc. Of course, I did save up a little before I bought the Steez sv tws and Metanium MGL and ordered the Conquest casting rod. I've survived 5 years of retirement, so I'm celebrating a little. I hope I don't like this expensive stuff too much.

It warmed up here for a bit, but it was because of the torrential downpours. This is the James River near Belle Isle in downtown Richmond just west of the I-95 bridge. It's a little over 3 feet above flood stage.

Already checked the site. They have some nice rods in stock right now.

I'm retired. Thanks. My girlfriend says we can make a trip of it and go to Gettysburg and the next day she'll show me around Penn State. Next thing she'll want to do is have me give her a tour of Blacksburg. Might be cheaper and easier to just call them up and order 2 or 3 nice rods and wait on the delivery truck.

I wonder how far I'd have to drive or fly to actually see an NRX, Conquest or any other $400+ rod? I started fishing in the '50s and know what I like when I handle it. We have a Bass Pro and a Cabela's, as well as a large gun and fishing store that's been around since '47 (Green Top even took over the Gander Mountain building next to I-95 when they fled Richmond in 2012.) And lots of smaller shops fwiw. It was frustrating to have to mail order a $270 St. Croix LTB sight unseen... although it was on sale for nearly $50 off. I don't need another fishing pole. But I have a new Metanium and Steez that deserve better than what I have. Right?

True, but my excuse is that my boat is a carpeted 1648 Grizzly with only 9' between the seat posts. I have a 7' Avid MHF that is pretty stiff and I've been looking on line at the NRX, Megabass Destroyer and Conquest rods, but haven't seen one up close. I'm leaning towards a Conquest 783C or 843C. Now you have me looking at the 903C too. I own 10', 11' and 12' surf rods too, so a long heavy rod isn't out of the question. I did get rid of my old 11' spinner that would throw 14 ounces - just too much work anymore. Thanks for the advice and encouragement. John

Thanks. I've never really considered a rod that long, and mostly use 6'6" to 7' rods. I even have a 6' St.Croix Premier MHF that I fish a lot and a G.Loomis SBR 6'3" MXF that sees some use in tight places. I keep looking at the 7' Spinnerbait Sweeper, but it's only 3" longer than the one I have, so maybe I should think about the 7'6". I know I'll like the action. Thanks again.

"Currently I'm using a couple different models from the St Croix line up. " Do you have any favorites to recommend? I took a chance and mail ordered a St.Croix LTB Sniper Spinnerbait, 6'9" & MHMF, earlier this year and it's become my favorite rod. A spinnerbait is just a jig with moving parts, right? Thanks.

Only $19.14 to ship one $6.38 quart to Virginia. What a deal, only $25 and change for one spray bottle.

I go by 3 or 4 in the course of a week, so I'll check. Searching lowes.com gets this... "This item is no longer available on Lowes.com" I even searched the lowes site using a variety of zip codes from around the country and got nothing.

I've had the PC60MHF 6' version for a few years and it's been great for short distance pond and reservoir fishing with medium spinnerbaits with large trailers. I caught my first 9 pounder on it. It's also caught fish on large crankbaits and worms. Right this minute I don't recall if I caught my first 10 on it too. It's still too early. Now that I have a 6'9" LTB Spinnerbait rod the little one doesn't get the workout it once did. Still, it only weighs 3.9 oz. when the sun gets hot overhead and I get to feeling old from hours of tangling with the pads and sticks.

"in Richmond, Virginia as we have BPS, Green Top and Cabela's." We're lucky, but Hopkins in Mechanicsville gets most of my business these days. It's just how it's worked out. Two brothers named Hopkins founded Green Top in 1947 and sold it in '93. Fwiw, it was sold again in 2008 when Charles Thalhimer died. I still like GT better than BP or Cabela's and I used to get hard bound catalogs from Cabela's long before they opened the store here. (My girlfriend buys gifts for me at Cabela's and BP. ) I bought a 1648 Grizzly from BP in '12 and got a 9.9 for $500 off plus 10% off a couple of grand worth of stuff for opening a charge card - got a Maxxum 70, Lowrance Elite 5 whatever it is, and everything I needed to rig the boat except carpet and a spare. It was my first boat and I needed everything. But their stuff is a little high, but that is the price for stocking a lot of stuff. Oh yeah, Bass Pro and Green Top are both easily seen from I-95 and are close to each other. They stay busy. John

Thanks for verifying the Rotunda source. If I could halfway hear on the phone I wouldn't mind calling so much.

Thanks. John

For the 5 largest 9- or 10-pounders, a 3/8ths chartreuse spinnerbait with 3" or 4" chartreuse trailer, usually with sparkles. I fish them on top, on the bottom, in laydowns, in submerged timber, fast, slow, everywhere, especially in the thick pads. I've lost some too or bent them up too much to straighten. In the over-8 range I've had the most luck with 10" black worms and floating crankbaits, some with rattles, mostly gray with chartreuse stripes or marks. John

I just read the 2014 thread on Upgrading Bearings - cleaning bearings vs replacing them- and Perfect Solution cleaner degreaser was suggested. Lowe's doesn't carry it. Amazon doesn't carry it. Google didn't help, unless I want to call a cleaning company in Wisconsin and order some over the phone. www.induscoltd.com will sell me a one quart spray bottle for $6.38, but UPS ground shipping is $19.14, which includes a $5 per order 'handling fee' A gallon is $13 or $14 and shipping is only a dollar or two more if anyone is interested. I don't think I need that much. I have a large case - a free case - of orange cleaner in the garage for the mowers and such. Thanks for any leads, the stuff sounds useful.

"St Croix came out with a bunch of new...but hasn't updated..." Thank you. I thought I was going nuts a little while ago going back and forth between the St. Croix site and TW site looking at a 7' LTB spinnerbait rod and 7' NEW LT with the same MHMF specs that wasn't on the St. Croix site. I hate having to work to spend my money. They should make it easy on the consumer. I have last year's 6'8" LTB spinnerbait MHMF rod and really like it.

Two months ago I mailordered a Steez SV TW and a Metanium MGL, both with 6:1 gearing. Although I haven't had much opportunity to fish them hard except maybe in the yard, I think I'll find a regular use for them. I want more. Of both. But the fishing Expo is this weekend so I'm trying not to order anything online this week. I've had some pretty nice reels over the years - $200-$300 reels - and used a wide variety of my buddy's - even a first generation Steez - but his are righthanded and I cast right and reel left. Have fun. I don't think you can go wrong. John P.S. - The last Daiwa reel I bought was 4 years ago - a Saltist spinning reel for an 11-foot rod. Prior to that it was probably some Silver Series 2600C and 4000C spinning reels around 1980. They're still sort of functional, but I've normally used Shimano with a short freshwater detour to 3 ABU Garcia Premiers and an SX. I still like them and they still catch large bass, but I'm over them.