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Yep. That happens long before anything else that would be a problem.

Something for your inner bait monkey to grind on . . . . It could very well be redundant to some extent. With that said, depending on your style and habits, that's not necessarily a bad thing. I have some rods that are fairly similar, but they are for techniques where I might want to be rigged and ready for that would utilize similar rigs. That saves me from either frequently changing baits, or not fishing one of them because I don't want to keep switching back and forth.

10' to 30', with 12' to 25' being where I do the best. I could jig deeper, but I don't choose to. 1/4 oz slabs are my vertical jig of choice, hammered gold if I had to choose one. They will catch all different sizes of fish, vertical to semi-vertical. I can fish them around timber too if I have a light touch and if I don't bury the treble, I can usually just shake it loose.

My top 3 Keitech colors in exact order of preference (for literally every bait I have tried from them): 1) Electric Shad 2) Electric Shad 3) Electric Shad I have done OK with other colors from them, but IME and where I fish, Electric Shad outproduces them all. . . . every time. Other Keitech Colors I have used: Bluegill Flash Pro Blue Red Pearl Sight Flash Alewife Rainbow Shad June Bug Green Pumpkin Shad Smallmouth Magic Tennessee Shad Baits from them that I have used: Swing Impact Fat Swing Impact Easy Shiner Sexy Impact Shad Impact These have all produced well. I use them mostly for Carolina Rig, and with Flashy Swimmers, and occasionally with a dropshot.

On some baitcasters there is a square nut that the drag star has to get all the way over and it can be a little finicky if you don't know the tricks of getting it all the way on. It won't turn the spool until the star is all the way onto the nut. I have had it pop into place by tightening the nut, but only because it was almost ready to go down over it. I don't recommend giving it extra ugga-duggas to force it into place. Instead, screw the square nut down as far as you can with your fingers and then it's easier to get the star to slip into place. Then hold it against it while you get the handle and nut attached and it should stay in place. No ugga-duggas required.

About 200 lbs if taken in quarters. I had a prop shaft snap off at the seal doing 70+ mph @ 6,000 rpm on my Merc 200. Just revved to sky and I shut it off ASAP and coasted to a stop. I started the motor and put it into gear and it just revved without moving forward. Took a look and no prop or shaft. I think what happened was that the prop I had was worked pretty thin, and had a few cracks welded on it and I think one of the ears flew off and caused a massive imbalance at 6,000 rpm which then caused the shaft to shear off. Of all things, for some reason, my homeowners insurance covered it IIRC.

I have had a few reel seats fail on me over the years. In my sample size of one, I find that the proprietary reel seats have been the ones most prone to failure. To be more specific, I can only remember proprietary reel seats being the ones that have failed on me. If I were to offer an opinion of what I think is the cause, I would say that IMHO, they were poorly designed and not subjected to: rigorous field testing for performance within the design intent before being released to the public being designed for and then tested with a wide variety of reel feet that they might be used with I often say that fancy, complicated things come with fancy, complicated problems. Proprietary reel seats are not immune to this maxim. I will admit to being drawn to 'fancy' designs that look like they would let my hand/fingers contact the blank (thus potentially increasing my ability to receive feedback through the rod), let the reel sit lower so as to make palming the reel more comfortable, or otherwise be more ergonomically comfortable. Some, I just disposed of, others, I have replaced the seat and butt cork if needed, and one I was able to get the replacement part for, and it broke a second time. I was able to get ahold of the part a final time, and now I always use a tie-wrap or two as additional security to make sure it doesn't fail again. I still use that rod occasionally and it is over 30 years old.

I have an offset long needle nose pliers made by Booms (with the blue/gray handles). It actually has two offsets (hard to tell from their internet pics) that are nothing short of amazing for removing hooks. The first thing I do though is to pull any plastics out of the way to see exactly what is going on, and to make it easier to grab onto the hook. I can reach in through the gills and grab and rotate to free most hooks, even when I have to pull a little on the line to get the top of the hook out of the gullet. Long hooks swallowed deep are the hardest to get out because there may not be enough room to rotate them. The right pliers go a long ways to aid in removing hooks.

I put a section of 'X-Tube' type shrink tube on the an older Fenwick Hooksetter over the original EVA foam grip material. Looks good enough and works great.

You might find someone you know has a borescope inspection camera. I have one made by Milwaukee that even has a light in the tip so I can turn that on if it's dark inside whatever cavity I am peering into. You can find them for as little as $30 on the jungle site or hobo freight has some cheaper ones than what you'll pay at Home Depot for a Milwaukee or other brand name item. You could probably siphon most of the gas out before taking a look.

He really does have some cool, and well thought out gear. And, if he told me he had commissioned a Swiss watch maker to produce a custom Geneva striped drive gear and mirror polished inconel lanolin impregnated worm gear that would yield perfect line lay for braid on that reel, I would 110% believe it.

For all of my spinning rods that have a roster spot in my primary quiver, which are (with one exception) either ML or M power. I have three M/F spinning rods (6'10", 7' and 7'1") all fast action. The ML rods I have are a 7' ML/F and a 7'6" ML/XF. Then, I have one 7' Shimano Expride that is an L/F. All six rods have 10 lb braid, and then 6-8 lb fluorocarbon leader. Braid (Hi-Vis green or chartreuse): Daiwa J-Braid Grand Seaguar Smackdown Power Pro Leader (I start with 10-15 foot length): Daiwa Samurai Fluorocarbon Mid-tier garden variety 6 lb monofilament I make no claims that my choices are superior. I think of it being a variable that I can make more consistent and it's a devil I know. They are simply something that works for me at a price that doesn't hurt my feelings as much as line that doesn't perform at least decently or line that makes me cringe at the thought of losing a few feet of it on the regular. We all have our own limits in that regard, and even mine might be all over the map at times.

I haven't had any Curado 150 K reels, but my Curado 200 K has been an excellent reel. Mounted to my Tatula Elite TAEL741MHRB, filled with 15 lb Big Game, it's money for big hardbaits, buzzbaits, and underspins for bass and stripers.

Thank you to those that that with responded with thoughtful affirmations. Sorry for throwing a wet blanket on the thread.

When I'm not thinking about fishing, I spend considerable time contemplating my mortality. Even when I am fishing, I still think about it. More and more each passing day. I'll turn 65 this weekend. I'm not sure how I feel about that, other than it beats the alternative. My father woke up with a cough when he was 63 and never made it to 64. The world around me has become a strange place, and realizing this, I think I understand at least partly why we aren't meant to live forever. I'm trying to formulate a plan to be able to spend my retirement years fishing like it was my job. I have lost 65 lbs since August of 2022 and feel better than I have in years, but that could just be the setup for Father Time and Mother Nature's ultimate sucker punch. I am blessed and thankful for the chance to make my evil plan a reality. I'm betting on me. The chips will fall wherever they may. And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking, Racing around to come up behind you again. The sun is the same in a relative way, but you're older, Shorter of breath, and one day closer to death.

The first thing I would say is that for me personally, spinning rods (especially ones in the budget category) often become a little . . . unbalanced once you go above a medium action and depending on the reel you're using. My sample size of one feels that for 'budget' spinning rods Daiwa is hard to equal, let alone beat. The Daiwa Tatula XT 7'3" MH/F (TXT731MHFS) is great if you like a little longer rod and it goes for $99.99. If you want cork grips and maybe fancy an extra fast action, then the 7' MH/XF Procyon (PCYN701MHXS) is a very nice rod for only $79.99 Honestly though, the best bang for the buck budget spinning rod award goes to the Daiwa Aird-X 7' MH/F spinning rod (AIR701MHFS) is hard to beat for that type of action within that budget range, and it's only $54.99. The Shimano SLX rods are very hit-n-miss for me. I have found to be very nice and I even own one, but others I don't care for at all. You do have other choices to consider in the $80 to $100 range, but for $55, nothing comes close to the Aird-X. If you're looking for rods on sale in that category (and why wouldn't you?), you can currently find a St. Croix Bass X 7'1" MH/F rod (among others) on sale for under $100 if you channel your Google foo in that general direction. I find the Triumph rods (that have an MSRP closer to that $100 price point, but still a little over it) to be kind of 'basic' in their approach and personally appreciate the more refined style of the Bass X more than that of the Triumph. My choice would be for a max budget of $100: 1) St. Croix Bass X (on sale) 2) Daiwa Tatula XT 3) Daiwa Procyon - if you couldn't get the St. Croix Bass X on sale and like cork 4) Daiwa Aird X

If I wanted to, my presentations would be vertical or close to it, and use those associated techniques (jigging spoons, slabs, ice jigs, dropshotting are examples and those will work at shallower depths too). I know 'deep' is a relative term. For me, that's 35' or more. However, I don't care to fish for bass deeper than 35'. I don't need to catch a 1 pound bass so badly that I don't care if their air bladder pops out of their mouth, even if I am able to successfully fizz them. I have never caught a bass that weighed more than three pounds in more than 35', and I have been able to catch plenty in 30' or less all year by super slow (3 to 5 minutes per cast/retrieve) dragging a Carolina rig at 20-30 feet and I am able to release those bass unharmed. It's quite common at the lake I fish, to have winter bass as deep as 60-65 feet deep (in a lake that is only 2,200 acres but is as deep as 300'), but I find they're smaller in size and I don't see the point when I have other options.

Mend-It for the win, as well as a cautery pen to make repairs. If the repair is successful, I was them in the garage utility sink by hand with a few drops of Dawn dish soap. Set them on a paper towel to dry, and then back in the bag where they can regain their slime coat and see action once again. The cost of soft plastics I use are not cheap (Senkos, Keitech, Jackall among others). When the bite is hot and/or you are losing them, the cost starts to add up quick.

I found "Swimbait" rods and their ratings are . . . . not as accurately rated as one would hope, generally speaking. The S-Waver 120 is not really quite into the real swimbait category IMHO with regard to needing a true swimbait rod to throw them. For example I would use my Phenix X13 or X14, or my Daiwa TAEL741MHRB before using my lightest action swimbait rod (Dobyns Fury FR806HSB). Honestly even though the FR806HSB is rated for 2-8 ounce baits and supposedly has a fast action, in actual use, I would say it's useful bait weight range is more like 1-4 ounces. It's line rating is 20-40 lbs line and I would say it's true sweet spot would be 17-25 lbs mono or fluoro. Furthermore, it supposedly a heavy/fast rod and while it would be considered a heavy power rod for general bass fishing, it is nowhere near what I would describe as a heavy power 'swimbait' rod. And to characterize the action as being in any way 'fast' is IMHO . . . laughable quite honestly. I think it's action (moderate or mod/fast at most) is far better suited to treble hook swimbaits or relatively light single hook baits. I would throw the bigger S-Wavers (168 and above) with it, but use a little lighter rods for the 120 S-Waver. I also have a Daiwa Kage 'Swimbait' rod that is rated as heavy/regular that is a complete stud stick compared to the Dobyns with significantly more power and I would also describe it as fast action-wise, and not even close to a 'regular' action. I am going to somewhat self-censor here and keep it brief, LOL There is a big difference between a 1.5 ounce swimbait and a 4 ounce swimbait. If you want to dabble in the swimbait world, I suggest picking a seemingly narrow-ish range of weights to throw and if you only want one rod, decide on either a rod that's best suited for treble hooks or bigger single hooks. Since you mentioned 120 S-Wavers, that's a treble hook bait that weighs very close to 1 ounce. The Daiwa Elite I mentioned earlier, the Phenix X13 or X14, the iRod mentioned earlier by another poster are a good choices to huck 1 ounce treble hook baits. The St. Croix Legend Glass LGC711HM is another very nice rod for that niche, but goes up in price. Those are the ones that have 'caught' my attention and I am sure there are several others. I suggest you definitely put hands on any rod you're considering for swimbaits though as the ratings are anything but consistent/accurate in my experience. As for reels, I thinkthe smallest I would opt for would be a Curado 200, next up in size would be a Tatula 200, and then a Curado 300. Those would be the reels I suggest for 1 ounce treble hook baits. The Tatula 300 is bigger that needed for those baits IMHO. Watch out for the bait monkey, he can be rough on swimbait anglers. Don't ask how I know that.