Friggs

Thanks. The waters around me are highly pressured. The River is an hour from me. They say it's the best smallmouth fishing on the east coast. Some say the whole US. People come from far and wide. I have yet to fish it but hope to before the horrible hard water shows up. For numbers there's a small pond near me that I always catch something at. Sometime 5-6. Biggest I got out of there is 3 pounds 3 ounces. I don't tell people how big I have caught there because most people don't fish it because they think nothing is in it. My PB I caught at a local lake that I can have 3 or more trips to that I catch nothing. I got lucky when I got my PB. I also fish from the bank. But I'm even more limited. Because I can't walk very far. In fact I use a powered wheelchair to get around. But I hate fishing sitting down. There are fishing piers for handicap people around me. Most of them suck. They put them where it's easiest to build them. Not at good places to fish. So I'll get my chair as close as I can to spots and walk the rest. But I can't stand to long so I have to go and sit down after a while. So all this to say there's not much around me either. I'd be happy to take you to the lake or pond. But there's no guarantee we would catch fish. There are loads of farm ponds around me. And private waters. But it's nearly impossible to get permission. I did get limited access to a pond at a campground. But it's limited. Not something I could take anyone to. I have gotten mine to be able to cast with the magnetic brakes on 7-8. And the spool where it just barely lowers the lure. If i set it like my other reels it's a major backlash every time. Like you. I wish I had bought another Daiwa Tatula CT instead.

I bought a Dobyns baitcaster. My first one was defective. Sent it back and got the new one. I have only been using a baitcaster for about 2 years. So I'm no expert. At first I hated it. It has so many bearings and is so smooth it backlashed all the time. I quickly realized I needed to add a lot more brakes then I do on my other reels. Which are a Daiwa Tatula CT. And 2 Runcl reels. Now that I have used the Maverick for a couple of weeks I no longer hate it. Even with a lot more brakes on it, it out casts my other reels. I will say this about my Runcl reels. They are a lot better than their $40 pricetag would make you think. I really think they are close to the quality of the Maverick at a fraction of the cost. I'm forcing myself to continue to use the Maverick. It is not close to the build quality of my Daiwa. If I knew what I know now, I would have bought another Tatula CT. I thought of selling the Maverick. But I'm hoping with more use I will grow to love it. Not sure I will. It's a decent reel. But I don't think it's worth the $100 price tag. Not comparing it to my Tatula and Runcls. To be able to get the Tatula for just $30 more, to me that's a no brainer. I doubt this post will be helpful. But I tried to get my thoughts and experience into understandable sentences. I hope I didn't waste your time reading this.

I only have one Dobyns rod right now. Hoping to fix that soon. I have a Fury 705 CB. I absolutely love it. I want a second 705 CB because I throw a lot of topwater baits with that rod. But also use it for a number of other baits. I use PLine Topwater for my topwaters and Seageur Invisex for everything else. I'm always needing to change the reels with the different line and that's a pain. My income is limited so I have thought of getting a 705 CB in either the Colt or Maverick to save money. I would use the new rod for the topwater baits. Not sure I would be happy with one of those rods or if I should just bight the bullet on another Fury. Decisions decisions. LOL

If I can get up the money for another reel I was going to get a 6.3 to use for my this rod. I use it for a lot of things. Chatterbaits. Cranckbaits. whopper ploppers of course. Some small swimbaits with treble hooks like the Baby Bull Shad. Works great for them as well. I have yet to loose a fish I have hooked on that rod. When I use it for non top water lures I use another reel with 100% flouro. I can't afford muptiple rods. so I swaps reels around with the line type I need for said lure. So I have one 705 CB but use 2 different reels on it. Maybe someday I will have more rods. But since I am disabled and fish from the bank, I can only carry so many rods. So not sure that will work as I already bring 4 with me.

I use a Dobynes Fury 705CB MH MF. Since the plopper has treble hooks I think it is best to use a moderate fast rod so you get some give in the rod and it helps keep them hooked when them jump and do what they do to try and get off. I have it paired with a Daiwa Taulla CT 7.1 ratio with Stren 12lb mono. Works great for me. I have caught at least 20 fish on this setup just this year. And one was my PB largemouth at 4 1/4 pounds. Because of where I was when I caught him I had to fight him longer than you normally would want to. He jumped I don't know how many times. And never shook the hooks. I believe part of it was from that awesome rod. I love it.

Wow. That looks like a day I dream about. Congrats. I'm sure you soon forget that day.

I have the Tatula CT. I love it. I don't have a lot of experience with other reels except a Abu Garcia from 25 years ago, which I did not like. But it could have been me not knowing what I was doing. I live in a different world than most people. My funds are limited so as of right now I have 3 baitcasters, and the Tatula is the only big named one of them. I love it and it is my main reel. I have it on a St Croix 7'1" MH Mojo Bass and use it for just about everything. Except for things I use my spinning setup for. The Tatula is a big seller and I did not find a lot of bad reviews on it. And the few where by idiots. Not sure this helps at all. Probably not.

I also have gotten back into fishing after a long time. Some of my stuff is 30+ years old. I have upgraded two reels. But what I wanted to upgrade more was my rods. I think, and I could be way off here and others can correct me, but there has been more advancement in rods than reels. I would like to hear others thoughts on this. Bill

Maybe I am missing something. So you can teach me something. But when I was shopping for a new casting rod. I looked at the Bass X and the Mojo Bass rods. And I went with the Mojo Bass. It was only $20 more. And you upgrade the blank from the SCII to the SCIII. And I think the guides are better too. But I could be wrong on that. But just for the blank upgrade for $20 makes it a no brainer for me. So what don't I know that makes the Bass X more desirable considering how close in price they are? Bill

Hello all, Finally getting around to writing my introduction. I grew up fishing. I remember fishing when I was so small that my dad's 10' row boat felt like a ocean liner to me. I remember my dad buying it. I think I was about 6. The boat place had them standing up. And I thought it was a tall as a building. Amazing how big things seemed when you were small. We lived a 1/4 mile from a private lake. We mostly caught panfish, pickerel and catfish. Though there were big bass in there. I never caught one. But every time I would invite some friends to go fishing with us, they would catch a lot of huge bass. I would fish the same lures the same way and I either caught nothing or just dinks. I fished all the time into my 20's. Then just sometimes. When I turned 40 15 years ago I became disabled and just added it to another thing I could not do anymore. Even though I had done very little of it in the previous 15 years. Over the past 15 years I would think about trying to see how long I could do it. But the cost of a license stopped me. Afraid I would buy it and either not be able to do much or just wouldn't go. But this year I kept thinking about it. So in May I went and bought my license. To shorten this intro, I have gone fishing 2-5 times a week since then. I don't remember my largest bass from before this year. I'm sure it is nothing huge. I take after my dad and catch the cute ones. My largest so far this year was a 15" largemouth. I am limited to where I can fish from. I can walk some. And I do stand to fish . But have to sit down when my pain gets to bad. And I use a power wheelchair to go further than I can walk. But I take it in places people think I can't. I keep looking for places to fish. I wish I lived at the lake I grew up at. But I am now in south central PA. Grew up in Northern NJ. I want to move to Florida. For both of my hobbies and my health. I also do wildlife photography. That's my main hobby. But fishing has put a bight into that. But I am loving fishing. I have a goal of catching a bass over 20" by the end of the year. I'm running out of time. But I am still hopeful. People around here won't share spots to go fishing at. So I use Google earth and try and find places. But so many are private around here. The lake I go to the most is new. well, kinda. A number of years ago they had to drain it to rebuild the dam. It has been filled for about 6 years. It is slowly coming back with quality fish. It is catch and release only right now. Before it was a trophy bass lake. Which means they have to been bigger than normal to keep. But I know there are some big bass in there. I wish I had a boat or kayak. But I am not sure I could launch or load one. But it doesn't matter because I can't afford one. I need to make freidns with boats with comfortable seats. LOL Bill