PhishLI

Beautiful day out on the boat, but the fishing was super tough save for one buzzer beating skinny fella. After a good nap and a nice bowl of mama's Pasta Fazool I had new found energy for a night wade. Got some payback in the form of a few more squirts, an OK one, and turned my frown upside down.

Been noticing a lot of eels in the 8-10 inch range on the move at night. Their eyes glow when my light hits them, and they shoot off in an extreme serpentine motion, so I put these two together: 3/8oz 6th Sense Divine Swim Jig in Black Light and a V&M Wild Thang worm 8.5 in black/blue glitter. We'll see.

Pickerel are always around down here. Oddly, I've only had my line cut through a handful of times, even with lighter mono. But it's usually nicked enough that not re-tying would lead to a break off on the next fish. Got this one several weeks ago on 12lb copoly.

Sometimes when they're really keyed in on an abundance of the real thing during a frenzy you simply have little chance, especially with an artificial.

I see some posters here like the minimalist approach. I just can't do it. I need my stuff. The Magellan Sling pack holds essentials like my phone, hemos, pliers, glasses, scale, line cutter, plus 2 small 9"x5" tackle boxes. A bunch of things. It's great for short hops when I need to go light. Highly recommended. I get a ton of stuff in the Mossy Oak tackle bag. 5 3500 boxes, plus compartments. The Jenko shoulder bag holds a bunch of plastics. I was in a rush today so I didn't wear my backpack full of swimbaits.? Somehow I've gotten conditioned to all of this stuff hanging off me and still manage to wade comfortably 75' out from the shore, but sometimes I leave the Mossy Oak parked there.

It's actually very quiet on the cast though. No zip. Aside from a situation where this "sound" is barely detectable with a near empty spool, it's a quiet reel. The best deal on a TP LFS, which AFAIK is the entry level ACB Lew's reel, was $139 at the place that outfits sportsmen, but that was 2 years ago. The lowest I've seen them since is about $160. Well worth it, IMO. If I were forced to bring only one centrifugal do-everything reel I own on a trip this would be the one. If you're expecting Zillion G tomb-like quiet and smoothness you won't find it here, but it's such a fantastic caster across a range of baits that I really don't care. Whatever it isn't is forgivable. It's hard to beat. Personally speaking, if the shiny brand had this braking system I'd be totally on board. Perhaps they'll fix that one day. In the meantime my next reel with be a Custom Pro SLP.

I believe you've nailed this. Last night I began by just fishing, not doing detective work, but decided to look into this before I quit. While I was just fishing I began with doing short work. Maybe 60 foot casts into a pad field and crawling my baits. By the time I went into detective mode at the end of the night the 30 lb J8 braid I have spooled on was already saturated. Slow reeling with very little line out revealed nothing. However, after I bombed out a 1 oz Dark Sleeper into open water which nearly spooled the reel, and with the reel held near my head and cranked at different speeds I could hear the blocks returning to rest against the nearly empty spool. Without wet line filled to the rim to dampen the spool this is detectable. It's a big "so what" to me. My TP LFS casts fine, works, fine, and is fine. So that's that.

Phil, Breathe in. Breathe out slowly. Nobody is disregarding you outright. K? Think about the parts in play once the clutch is depressed. Other than 2 bearings the only thing left to make any sound is the brake blocks swinging freely. Nothing else is part of the equation. If there aren't issues if/when the OP fishes with it then there are no issues. He won't burst into flames if he gives it a whirl, and as long as he doesn't drop it on concrete he'll be able to return it easily. Hopefully he's happy.

It sounds like a hard plastic brake shoe tapping metal to me.

I'm laughing on the inside?

That's all.

I'll give it 5 minutes if there's hope, but sometimes it's hopeless on the spot. Overhanging branches in my path when I'm casting parallel to a bank are about the only thing that gets me anymore, whether on the back cast or launch. A dental pick is your friend. I keep one in my bag. If I can hook a few loops and rotate them out I can usually make things right. One just like this one came the other night from whipping a Dark Sleeper as hard as I could down a bank while surrounded by trees then clipping a small overhanging branch on the way up. Thwap! Not a chance of getting it out without running the mainline out of multiple loops, and definitely not on the spot in the middle of a Nor'easter.

90mm. Same as the US version.

The neurosis of the "more astute" guys over at Neurotic Tour is somewhat contagious...

Mine's spooled up and mounted, so I'm not doing this test, but I'll guess it's the brake blocks swinging and tapping the friction plate. Adjust the side plate dial and see if the sound changes. Put a drop of oil on the spool and sideplate bearings. Doubtful it's a dry spool bearing, but anything's possible.

Yeesh. And here I am sniveling about going out in 42* with 19mph wind and rain. It certainly sucked, but...you have my sympathies.

My friend has two. I've put several hours on one. It's basically a lighter weight version of the Tournament Pro LFS. Personally I find the ACB braking system to be fantastic and it's a real upgrade from the MBs hybrid brake, so I liked the Lite. The only issue is that the Lite only comes in a 7.5:1 gear ratio with a 34mm spool. If you like a faster reel then you're good. If you like a slower retrieve then the TP LFS offers several retrieve options and performs just as well, but is an ounce heavier. It's still reasonably light at 6.4oz.

Sorry. No they don't, and saying so is overblown and leads new guys and non-mechanically inclined people to believe this. The pulsing felt with mediocre gear meshing, or geary, is far from grinding. "Grinding" sounds like "Scraping' to the average person, and does not accurately describe what's happening at all. I own a ton of reels across manufactures. The least smooth amongst them is geary, but it doesn't "Grind" or "Scrape".

There have been a number, but the "right now" hot bait for me is the 4" Z-Man Diesel Minnow in Mulletron rigged on a Z-Man 1/4oz Texas Eye weed-less jig head in Pearl eye. My two best fish so far this year have come on it, and it's getting a lot of attention. Due to the swinging head, kill the retrieve and the tail stands straight up. Sort of like a fish feeding off the bottom or a dead sticked ned.

Personally I'm done with them. I killed a cluster of bass last year over a short period of time when the trailer hooks went way too deep to be removed. It really turned me off to using them. I threw mine away. The last time I used one was on a buzz bait after I'd been frustrated by short strikes. A prolonged, sickening, bloody mess trying to save the fish. I take bass fishing seriously, but ultimately it's a fun thing for me. Killing a bass is the last thing I want to happen and pretty much wrecks my vibe for the day. This can happen on any given cast with any given lure and I accept that, but a trailer hook increases the odds of it happening, so I won't anymore. YMMV.

We must've been separated at birth.

I think this is often overstated. It's not like it's a hot air balloon.

Friday I was out on a 8ft Sundolphin with my son in law, so I was limited to a few rods. I used a multipurpose setup, a 7'3" composite cranking rod and 6spd reel spooled with 30lb Daiwa J8, to throw cranks, chatterbaits, and spinner baits. Casting distance wasn't an issue whatsoever with deep cranks, and if there's a difference compared to nylon/fluoro, and I don't believe there is in that regard, it's meaningless, IMO. I was bombing everything. However, I believe if I had upsized line to 40lb or greater there definitely would be. The feel with braid and cranks is fantastic. The Lily pad fields are just buds on the bottom right now at this particular lake, and I could easily feel the bill touching off of them. With that I didn't snag once. Same thing on rock and gravel. Excellent feel.

Japan Lure Shop and Digitaka. Digitaka has free shipping for sure.

This is brutal. I'm stressed out just watching this.