BrianMDTX

Not a bad start. 2.2 lbs. Gave a good battle in some sunken timber!

Getting ready to head to the pond and try it out. Man, that is a smooth reel.

Got my new Fenwick HMX66M-FS rod and put the new Daiwa Revros LT2500 on it. Spoiled with 20# Sufix 832 and a 7’ 8# copolymer leader. Got a 5” Senko wacky rig all ready to go. This is my first time using braid and tying leaders. Army, not Navy, so I stink at knots lol. But it seems very tight. We’ll see how it goes. Sprayed it well with KVD. First time using that as well.

Last week I caught a 2-3/4 lb. bass on a 40-45 year old plastic worm. Jus’ sayin’!

I think you are dead on about snap swivels. Everybody used them 30-40 years ago. Even to attach Eagle Claw snelled hooks with nightcrawlers!

Yours is older than mine. Your reel has the “boomerang-style” anti-reverse lever. It looks like it’s in new shape! Here’s mine on a early 70s Eagle Claw fiberglass rod. With real Coors ceramic guides!

I believe a 1/4” ID is what is “called for” as far as Senkos, but I’ve been using 5/16” ID with zero issues, no lost baits, no lost fish and they roll on easy (no tool required) and it’s a breeze to slip the hook between the O ring and the Senko.

They have UL, medium, MH and heavy action purses. In multiple colors and actions lol.

My wife is a purse junkie. That’s her “thing”. It’s as stupid as fishing tackle lol. We all have our passions. I don’t get the need for a new $$$ purse every two months, but if it makes her happy, I’m good with it. The next purse will be my fishing kayak lol.

My bail spring is original (knock on wood) and still works flawlessly when required, although I close the bail manually now. That Shakespeare won’t readily allow that, so I still crank the handle to close the bail. Funny. Automatic bail closing was a popular feature “back in the day”. Now everyone closes it manually to prevent line twist.

To be honest, I have probably had line get trapped under a skirted spool on other spinning reels more than I ever have on that Mitchell. Plus...it has that “classic” sound when you reel it lol.

True story. My dad was a letter carrier. He found a Garcia Mitchell 300 and a 304 attached to two broken rods in someone’s trash can. Maybe they got skunked lol. He brought them home, cleaned them up and gave the 304 to my older brother and I got the 300. I’ll be 60 in September. Been catching fish with it ever since. Unless I run it over with my truck, it will likely outlast me lol.

I have a Garcia Mitchell 300 from the 60’s and a mid-70’s Daiwa Millionaire 3H that still work flawlessly and catch fish. Built like tanks!

I use 5/16” ID O-rings on a 5” Senko. 5/16” is 7.9 mm. The 5/16” is not a tight fit, so I’d go with the 7mm size.

Right now I’d say a 4” green or watermelon weightless Senko rigged wacky-style. Flipping or pitching close (10’-15’) to structure and letting it land with little to no splash.

That’s a nice bass! Congrats to her!

Reminds me a lot of hunting. You could carry a .30-06 and kill anything in North America from prairie dogs with 110 grain bullets, to deer-sized game with 150-165 grain bullets, elk and moose with 180 grainers and 200-220 grain bullets for the great bears. Or...you can have a dedicated varmint rifle in .223 or .22-.250, a .243 for deer, .308 for black bear, and on and on and on. I don’t think anyone actually needs 20 rods to be a successful angler. But ones set up for specific methods of fishing likely gives the experienced angler an edge. A newbie should focus on two, maybe three set-ups. Having a dedicating set-up for flipping or punching makes little sense when just getting started.

I usually take 3 rods bank fishing. An UL spinning, a medium-fast spinning for finesse/wacky and a medium heavy-fast for Texas rigs and some crankbaits. At a minimum I’ll take two. I’d rather carry at least two rods vs constantly changing tackle on one.

There are several threads on this subject but all are 3 to 5 years old. It’s now 2020, so I wanted to see if opinions have changed. I have a Daiwa Revros LT2500 spinning reel on a Fenwick HMX 7’ MF rod. My initial plan was to spool on some backing, fill the spool with 20# braid with an 8# copolymer leader. Just wondering if that’s still my best option, or just go with a straight reel filled with 8# copolymer. I’m fishing ponds so the 5” Senkos are not sinking 15’ or more, nor is the bottom rocky. For my scenario, would you go with braid and a leader, straight copolymer or a straight FC?

This one is fifty years old this year. A Shakespeare 2052. Do I have better reels? Likely. Will they last fifty years? Unlikely lol. These are the last two bass I have caught using this reel on a Cabela's Black Lightning UL rod with 8 lb. Stren mono (both in May of 2020). Not the set-up most would recommend, but it did the trick. I love using that reel!

You can use a selfie stick. But I agree- taking a pic with you, the entire fish and the scale will likely result in a unreadable scale in the photo.

I throw a weightless 5” Senko Texas rig on my baitcaster (12 lb hybrid; 7’ MH fast action rod), but I use a spinning rig for weightless wacky rigs (got a new 7’ M fast action rod coming tomorrow to pair with a Daiwa Revros LT2500 with 20# braid and 8# hybrid leader). I tend to cast the Texas rig out 20-40 yards but flip the wacky rig close with minimal splash. I find it much easier to do with spinning gear.

Was fishing with my buddy in a rental wooden rowboat with two trolling motors on a reservoir (no gas motors allowed). It was a beautiful day and we were probably a 1/2 mile from the rental dock fishing when a severe thunderstorm blossomed out of nowhere. We had to head into the wind to get back and could not make headway. Lightning was crashing down everywhere around us and the “seas” starting rising with waves 4’-5’. The boat started to swamp so we turned tail and headed downwind to shore. We beached the boat and rode out the storm in the open. I thought we were either going to get struck by lightning or be crushed by falling trees. Once it passed, we headed back and halfway to the dock the batteries gave out and we had to row the rest of the way. That was probably 45 years ago and I remember it vividly.

Weightless Texas rig 5” Senko Weighless wacky rig 5” Senko Weightless Texas rig yet-to-be-determined 45 year-old plastic worm I had no strikes on a topwater frog, Jitterbug and a 4” floating Rapala, but haven’t fished them much. I’ve been getting so many strikes and catches on the Senkos that I haven’t put a lot of effort into using other lures.

Search for Eagle Claw Rubber Casting Practice Plugs online. Relatively cheap.