Kirtley Howe

I wish Poes' was still in business. Their cedar crankbaits were great. Heavy for their size, but very buoyant. Cast like bullets. Very durable, and very consistent in action. Not cheap, but worth every penny. I lost my last one early this year.

From the feel of it, a max rating of 1 oz lure seems a bit low to me. My new Arid-X is a MHF, and it feels much lighter (both in weight and in action/feel) than the ProFishencey HF. Guess I will need to get it out and see how it handles a 1 + oz lure. It claims to built specifically for deep cranking, heavy carolina rigs, pitching and flipping, and for "bigger" swimbaits. Not sure how it could be made to do all those things, but we shall see........

You got a good price, and the new owner got a good deal. Win-Win.

Lovelywife Melody and I were doing some grocery shopping today at Walmart. We happened to go through the miscellaneous clearance aisle, and there was a ProFISHency 7'6" HF 10lb. to 20lb line rating, 1/4oz. to 1oz lure weight casting rod. List price (on the ProFISHency website) was $99.99, Walmarts' original price was $79.99. The rod had been marked down to $51.00, then to $41.00, and today the last one they had was marked down to $31.00. At that price my wife told me too just "Buy the d!$@ thing already". Which I did. Does anyone have any experience with this rod, and if so, what is your opinion of it? I don't see how I can lose at the price I paid, but how would you rate the rod?

Got out with the new set up today. Arid-X 7' MHF rod, BPS Tourney Special casting reel. 14lb. test Excel mono. I threw 1/4 oz jigheads with a 3" grub tail with no problem and for good distance. Also threw 3/8oz. crankbaits, 1/2oz crankbaits, both weighted and weightless wacky worms, Buzzbaits, spinnerbaits, Whopper Plopper, etc.. The set-up more than exceeded my expectations. For the money, I can't imagine a better value.

The reel came in today. I must say I am impressed with the quality of the reel for the price. I have not fished with it yet, but did some practice casting in the back yard, and the reel performed well. Easy to set up, and cast great. I left it with 2 brakes on as it came from the factory. I will play with it more on the water and see if that is the optimum set-up, but it feels right as is. I like the fact that it is an all aluminum body so it feels very solid without feeling heavy. It is a bit (.03 oz) heavier than some of my other reels, but that is not enough weight to turn me off in any way. Can't wait to get it out on the water.

When I have a boat, I always put some pool noodles in my livewell to cut down on slop and to decrease the chance of fish impacting on the cover. Just cut then to the length of the livewell and put them so they cover the entire top of the livewell. Not sure if it really helps the fish, but I THINK it does and I have done it for years.

Well, I was talking about "friction" drag, not "clothing" drag, so...............

Yeah, getting up close and personal with Poison Ivy, Poison Oak, Nettles, Stick-Tights, Rattlesnakes, Water Moccasins, Ticks,,,,,,JUST KIDDING. I love being close to nature, and bank fishing is a great way to do that. I often see Beaver, Deer, Eagles, Herons, Loons, Ducks of all kinds, and even the occasional Bear. I see raccoon, the occasional fox, and opossum. I once saw a Moose (a young bull) which is very uncommon for the Souther Tier of New York. Not to mention all the trees, flowers, vines, grasses, etc that you don't see or pay attention to in daily life.

I use mono or florocarbon....only one rod has braid and that is my seldom used catfish rod. I replace the line on my reels 3-4 times each season (except the braid), and sometimes more. I fish the Susquehanna River a lot, and it is full of rocks and wood snags, so I lose a lot of line that way. Plus, the water is very silty, and I believe that the silt is very abrasive to the line. Line is relatively cheap, and I see no reason to take a chance on losing a good fish because of worn/abraded line. I also always put new line on the reels at the start of the season. Mono or floro that has been sitting on a reel unused for a few months over the winter tends to get a lot of memory and has coils like all get out. Line conditioner helps prevent that, but I prefer to just change the line out.

I am shocked no one mentioned Sam Peckinpah in the no longer active group. (Deceased)

Michael Bay?

The terrible part is that between 80% and 90% of that money goes to the venue and the ticket agencies (Ticket Master/StubHub, which are the same company) and other things like their agents and record companies and PR/advertising firms.

@throtteplate So, you like to get a laugh out of the movies you watch. Cheesy special effects, terrible over-acting, props that fall over during a scene and are left in the movie, and the whole movie made for about $1.89? His movies are so bad they are almost good. If nothing else, I have to admire his determination to make movies no matter what.

So, I was digging through some boxes of stuff that I had never unpacked when lovelywife and I moved into this house 11 years ago, and I found my circa 1985 Daiwa Millionaire II reel. I did a quick clean and lube on it and found it still works as good as it did back then. It is a bit battle scared, but mechanically it is perfect. I forgot how much I liked that reel. It is going back into my rotation from now on.

As I posted elsewhere, I got an Arid-X on Thursday. Got to try it out last night. As others have said, it performs well above the purchase price. I think it compares favorably with a lot of rods that are in the $100-$150 range.

Ordered the Tourny Special today. Should arrive by the 15th. I will let you all know how it works out.

A short story...I went fishing with a casual acquaintance a few days ago. He has some pretty expensive spinning reels (like in the $250 or higher range). He was very frustrated because the drags on his reels were sticking, and if they did work they were not smooth at all. At first I could not think why that would be, so I asked how he set them. He said he set them by pulling the line off the reel until it felt "right" to him, and after that he never touched them until he replaced the line at the end of the season. I asked how often he went fishing and he said 6 or 7 times a year. The light then dawned on me. I asked him if he remembered to back the drag almost completely off before putting the equipment back in storage between trips. His answer was "Why would I do that?". I told him the drag would bind up from sitting cranked on, and he could relieve a lot of his problems if he would turn the drag off when he was done fishing for a while. I also suggested that he take the drag apart and lightly oil the washers to smooth them out. He scoffed at me....oh well, I suspect he is going to continue to think his expensive reels are "junk", as he put it. I know I can't be the only one on here who loosens the drags on his/her reels when done for the day. Or am I? I was taught to do this by a very experienced professional, so I really believe it is good advice. What do you all think? Am I crazy, or is this a good practice?

@Eric 26 Thanks, but the budget is pretty much set in stone (just ask my wife). Big question still is has anyone here ever actually owned or used the Tourny Special reel. I really would like to hear from someone who has practical experience.

Bass pro only offers the Max X as a combo, for $89...out of my budget Also...as I said above....the only reason I can even consider a new real at this time is that I have Bass Pro gift cards, so the reel pretty much has to be something offered by them.

I am a righty when it comes to baitcasters. And the reason for looking at bass pro shops is I have some gift cards for there. If I didn't have them, I would not even be looking at reels right now. Bass pro only offers the Max X as a combo, for $89...out of my budget

I once had a job that let you take "well" days. You could call in and say "I feel great today, so I am not coming to work." As long as you did not abuse the privilege, there were no questions asked. I would have stayed with that job forever if the pay was better.

Just my opinion, but I would usually rate the fisherman/woman (person?) who can go out and catch bass on a regular basis in an area that most people struggle to catch one or two on a good day as a more skilled angler than someone who can catch a 10lb bass in a lake that is known for big bass. Of course, I may feel that way because I am much closer (please note I said "closer") to the first type than the second type. But really, I think it takes totally different skill sets and mental attitude, so you can't compare the two in any meaningful way.

I am looking for an inexpensive baitcaster to pair with my Avid-X 7' mhf rod. I am on what can only be called an austerity budget at this point. I have looked around a lot for reel that is inexpensive but has decent features and good reviews. So far, the best I have found that is in my price range is this reel. Based on the reviews on the Bass Pro site, it appears to be an excellent value. But I tend to take those reviews with a grain of salt. Does anyone here have any reel world experience with these reels, and if so what do you think of them? Any other suggestions for a reel that is $60.00 or less instead of this one? Please note that the price on this reel is $59.99 with free shipping (plus tax of course) which is already at the top of my price range. I plan to use this as a "carry in the truck" combo, and really can't justify more money. Thanks in advance.

Just picked up an AridX 7' casting rod. I bought it because of all the positive comments about them on this forum. Plus I got a smokin' deal on it. $41.43 out the door. Now if the river will just go back down enough and clear up enough so I can put it to use.......