The Maestro

2 rods with jigs 2 with texas rigs 1 senko

What qualifies as "deep cleaning" a reel anyway?

I've been leaning more this way the last few years. There's guys who will completely break a reel down to its component parts. Seems pretty pointless and likely to cause more problems than it solves. Most of those little parts don't even move/wear or get dirty so why go through the trouble of doing all that work?

7'2" MH for up to 7/16 7'4" H for 1/2 and up

Which Cumara? The red or black version? They were quite different. My entire arsenal is black Cumaras and I wouldn't trade them for any other rods past or present.

Been running straight braid for years. The only difference I noticed with flouro is weaker hooksets.

The old green Basspro Extreme rods were decent. I have an Abu Ike delay rod which is good for the ~$100 I paid for it.

Love the raw metal look too.

Inches per turn is going to vary depending on how much line is on the spool. I don't know how they come up with their IPT number but I'm assuming it's based on having a full spool. At the end of a long cast, that number could be significantly less.

I was like this too. I could just never see the day when fishing wouldn't be like that. It's kind of depressing in a way that something I was so passionate about for so long (ever since I was a kid) just doesn't seem to get me pumped like it used to. I was always so sure that I was making the right decision with regards to prioritizing fishing over other things I my life but now I'm not so sure.

Might be the first time it really dawned on him that there actually are more important things in life than fishing.

Good point. I just kind of feel that my obsession with fishing made me a little bit selfish if I'm being totally honest. Like I really put fishing ahead of a lot of other things in my life.

I hear you. Normally this would be the time of year when fishing would really start to dominate my thoughts but this year I'm questioning if I even want to pull my boat out of storage. It's all happened quite suddenly too. I'm realizing the true price I've paid for my one track minded obsession over the last 15 years. It even cost me a good friend. The last friend I had from my childhood.

Interesting that you mention your friend losing interest at about the same time his daughter leaves for school. Sounds a bit like he might be questioning if dedicating all the time and energy to fishing was worth the price in terms of the inevitable sacrifices that come in other aspects of your life. I'm going through something like that myself. My son is now a teenager and it feels like I was just so one track minded with fishing (he doesn't really like fishing that much) that I sort of missed out on father son time when he was a young boy that I can never get back. I turn 50 this year and honestly I'm not sure if questioning my choices with regards to fishing aren't really just part of a mid life crisis and a natural transition phase of life. Then there's the obscene amounts of money I've spent on gear over the years, much of which just gathers dust.

After about 15 years of being pretty hardcore with fishing I'm kind of finding my interest waning. I'm not sure if it's just age starting to catch up with me but I just don't have that fire that would drive me to dedicate so much mental and physical energy to the hobby. Or if maybe I just need to step away from it for a bit. Anybody else go through something like this and have their passion return?

Days when they're going good in the deep milfoil are fun days.

My 6'4" Abu Ike Delay rod works really good for light top water baits especially on the hookset and then keeping them pinned

7'2" mh xf Cumara/8:1 Bantam

I remember hearing Shimano was going to cut way back on sponsorships about 10+ years ago. Dave Mercer and Bob Izumi (Canadian fishing show hosts) were 2 long time Shimano sponsored guys who suddenly switched to repping Pure Fishing brands. Even Al Lindner was a Shimano guy at one time.

Those gen 2 Cumaras look amazing irl

Username checks out

Definitely. They also looked great with a Core which had red accents. Shimano has kept accents of this red/burgundy color on rods and reels even up to their current stuff. Just not as a base/main color.

I remember when Shimano released the second generation of Cumaras. The color was pretty shocking and polarizing, especially compared to the original. I look at them now and think they were really great looking rods. I have 3 of them that I don't even use but I'm reluctant to sell them just because I like how they look.

I don't think this will address your specific issue as I think it has more to do with practice than anything else but I like to dump the spool with a bomb cast and repack it once I'm done fishing an area.