Russ E

A lot of reels are shipped with the drag backed off. The drag backed all the way off is no drag. You have to turn the drag up to use it. if you can turn the drag up and it works, it is fine. I have received new spinning reels the same way. If I have the drag on my spinning reels backed all the way off the drag slips instead of taking up line. Only difference is most spinners have a clicker in the drag, baitcasters usually don't. not trying to copy your reply. we both replied at the same time.

If there is a Bass Pro or Cabelas nearby. Strike King pro models are on sale for $2.79.

agree. in my opinion most warranty items happen the first 100 hours. My 115 pro XS is 2 years old. It had a couple electrical issues initially. I have put 500 hours on it since then with no other problems. I do change fluids every winter. I will not buy the extended warranty. From my own experience. Making a claim on an extended warranty gets scrutinized a lot more than when on the original manufacturers warranty.

i have been through your metro a few times. Heading up to lake Winnibigoshish and Vermillion. It can test your patience when pulling a boat.

pretty lucky here. within 1/2 hour. there are 3 Academy, 4 Dicks, a Cabelas, a Bass Pro, and a Scheels. Funny thing about Kansas City. Even though there are 2.8 million people in the metro, traffic issues are fairly rare, compared to other cities. I still buy a lot of my equipment online.

@billmac The M, F, or X stands for the action of the rod. It is where most of the bend occurs. below is an illustration of the same power rod with different actions. they could all be medium power rods, but they bend differently. An extra fast only bends in the tip. A slow to moderate, bends across the whole rod

I only know of 2 lakes around here that I could actually see the fish on beds. The number of 18 inch limit lakes surprised me when I moved to Kansas. it may make the average size bass caught a little larger, but I always wondered if the male to female ratio was out of whack. since most keepers are females.

growing up in Eastern Iowa, where otters were reintroduced and common on the rivers and some ponds, I have never heard an otter slap the water as a warning. They do make a lot of noise snorting and chattering when they feel threatened. even if they did slap, there is no way their tail can make a slap anything near a big beaver. A big beaver on the other hand will scare the crap out of you when they slap the water.

I am not sure. Don't know why you would want to. Auto inflate is why I bought them. If I fall in I want it to deploy. They have a bobbin that dissolves in water. That is what makes them auto inflate. If it does fail, you can still pull the manual cord. I have been in heavy rain and it has never falsely inflated.

Yes. I have that one and the bass pro brand. nice and compact. does not interfere with fishing. I actually tried them both out by jumping in the lake. they both worked well. not much difference between the two. Not much fun to get packed back in after deploying and the recharge kit is not cheap. If you ever watched Tommy Boy deploy the life jacket on the plane. That is about how it feels. It is a small price to pay for safety.

the dobyns and speed demon pro are my 2 favorite crankbait rods. I use them both. the dobyns is mainly for divers, the Speed demon pro is mainly squarebills. You can only buy Kastking online. I won the speed demon pro crankbait rod in a drawing. I already owned a speed demon pro Jerkbait rod, shakyhead rod, and worm/jig rod, so I knew what to expect.

congratulations. Out of all the crankbait rods I have tried, over the years. That one is on the top of the list.

I have a Dobyns Fury 705 CB crankbait rod and a KastKing speed demon pro medium squarebill crankbait rod. The actions are pretty similar. from my own experience a medium heavy Dobyns is about the same action as a medium KastKing. I like them both. the Speed demon pro is a little more ergonomic with the winn grips. I would not want to go much lighter with either one for crankbaits. I own 4 speed demon pro rods. No complaints about any of them. On Amazon the fury and Speed Demon Pro both run from$109.00 to $119.00

The gen3 Abu reels were a flop. Gen 4 reels are nice. Gearing toward the ops question it is all a matter of preference. All of the name brands make good high end reels . They all also make entry level, lower quality reels. There is no right answer that suits everyone

It's a toss up. They are real close . I am leaning more toward the speed demon pro. I have only used the speed demon pro on 2 trips , so far. Biggest fish I have caught with it was 3 lbs. It seemed to handle that easily. The speed demon seems to weigh slightly less. And I like the Winn grips. They cost nearly the same on amazon. Can't go wrong with either one.

I own a medium heavy 705 CB. It is an excellent crankbait rod. I won a KastKing speed demon pro medium action crankbait rod in a drawing a month ago. even though the dobyns is medium heavy and the kastking is medium, they have nearly the same action. I have used medium divers, squarebills, and lipless crankbaits on both. I would not want to go a lighter action for crankbaits.

^^^ this. I owned cable steers for 30 years. I can drive a cable steer by feel. I tried a terrova and an ulterra. I had to constantly watch the motor, to see what direction It was pointed. you can use the remote, but in my opinion it is a pain when bass fishing. I bought the Ultrex, because it worked just like my previous cable steer motors, except it takes a lot less pressure to steer at high speeds. Plus it had spot lock which is a game changer in bass fishing. It still has a remote control (I rarely use it). All of the functions you need are on the pedal.

I had 2 warranty issues the first 6 months I owned my Ultrex. I had to buy one as soon as they were released. couldn't wait until they had the bugs worked out. Minn Kota resolved both issues quickly. its worked fine for the last 1.5 years.

growing up in rural Iowa we had an unlimited supply of pork skin. We attempted to make our own pork trailers, but it takes a lot of work. At the time it was easier to buy uncle josh. 30 years ago we caught a lot of fish with jigs and pork trailers. plastic trailers were limited. Even if it was readily available, I would probably not use it. Modern plastics are much easier to use than pork.

warm weather this weekend cleared the ice off the local lake. along with several geese these 2 took advantage of the open water. first time I have seen swans on that lake.

my strong points are soft jerkbaits, bottom bouncing soft palstics and jigs. In the last few years I have forced myself out of the comfort zone to try new techniques. the ned rig is one bait I have added to my arsenal. I still don't use it a lot. Most of the time it is when all other baits fail. My weak point is probably deep diving crankbaits. I use them if necessary, but I personally don't care for chunking and winding the depths. Plus, on most of the lakes I fish, bass don't go all that deep. If they do I would rather pick apart structure with the soft plastics and jigs.

it definitely still has big fish, but they are rarely easy to catch. I have only fished it 3 years and if anything it has gotten better lately. Either that or I have learned the lake better.

just hope that doesn't migrate over to La Cygne.

Thats not good. It has been bouncing around the midwest for around 15 years. here is a KWDP link from 2007.

The only soft plastic mold I did not have to use an injector to fill were hand pour molds. like this one. If you get the plastic to pour into your mold, more than likely it will not fill the claws and legs.