Jeff H

That's last years model he is talking about, the white one. It is not a Daiwa engineered product. I never could figure out who made those. The reel will work ok. It is a tiny reel (and very light) and has some flaws but also has some potential. Instead of tossing mine, I've decided to play with it a little bit and see what I can do to improve it. It does not have a very strong drag but if you clean it up and run it dry it picks up enough power to be useable. For $23 you got a reel that will work decently. I recommend taking it apart, cleaning and relubing it if you can do that yourself. I would not use this reel in any heavy duty applications. TorqueConverter, the new Tournament ZX (Daiwa product) does not have Magforce Z.

That's a new one! Just opened up didn't it?

I've been on that same bus. Hence my mention of backorders in my first post. In my case it was for some lead bullet weights years ago.

Berkley XT clear for me. 6,8 or 10 on spinning. 10,14 or 17 on casting. Have XT on most of my rigs. I use it for everything but frogs. I do have braid on a couple heavy cover rigs... 50 or 65lb Power Pro and there are certain situations I like to use Fireline too, but no fluorocarbon for me. Been there done that too fragile and honestly did not find one thing I really liked about it so I stuck to XT.

BPS nailed me for $10.95 shipping on a box that weighed less than 1lb (bought a dozen reel covers), billed as 2 lb and then....drum roll.....shipped Smart Post. Had any experience with Smart Post? The reel covers in that box likely weighed less than your 6-Xcalibur XR50's. It's ok though, I am stocked on reel covers now, didn't mind making that final payment to BPS. Took 4 or 5 days to arrive I think, which is not bad considering Smart Post. Could have it in 2 days if it had come USPS First Class/Priority or UPS ground. Didn't care though, wasn't in dire need of them. Have not had a lot of orders shipped from Cabela's. A few, but they all got here much quicker than I expected. I usually have the stuff I need to order "sent to store" for no charge as I drive within 300 yds of them every day. Kinda nice! Here's what I think.....lots of companies are taking advantage of consumers where shipping charges are concerned. I have been burnt FAR worse by some on very small items I needed and couldn't find anywhere else. Thing is, we always KNOW what our charges are BEFORE we click "send order" and therefore have agreed to it. Doesn't really make it right but in the end we own it. I know these companies pay for these services and that charge + is going to get rolled into our laps and I can accept that, but we could do without the serious gouging some hit us with.

The Bill Dance Dancin' Eel or whatever he called it. That's an old one but I never caught a d**n thing on it....ever.

This kind of thing happens all the time. Rapala used to produce the #5 Fat Rap in a shallow version, which was/is a big producer for me. Gone. No warning or nothing. Here one year gone the next. I have 2 left. Happens all across the board. Even entire companies come and go or management changes and specific lures right along with it. PITA but life goes on. I also deeply lament the loss of the Luck-E-Strike Guido G4 tubes.

Rogers or Woodbury? I'm lucky, haven't had to return anything I've bought from them yet. I love that place! We don't have a BPS here in MN. But they sicken me with their backorders and shipping so even if one does ever pop up here, to Cabela's I will go....always. The one thing I always buy from BPS is their low profile casting reel covers. These I like, but I made my final order on them this spring and got screwed by their ridiculous shipping again one final time.

Top Brass "Peg It" for me.

I did! Only paid $300 BNIB for my Uplander 16.

I bought a 16 ga Uplander years ago. I think it's a little better gun than it looks. Finish quality looks a little rough but it locks up tight and has stayed that way. You do need to tear it apart and clean out the packing grease for consistent performance. I had some inconsistent light primer strikes in my left barrel at first and cleaning seems to have solved that. But the gun points and shoots very good to point of aim. I like the gun but it is not my favorite grouse gun to carry. I have seen some of the Uplanders come with some incredibly surprising nice wood too. It is not the worst gun I've had and for now I can render it as dependable at least.

You're talking about taste without mentioning those perch? That's some fine dining right there!

Yeah, sorry. I meant 36 gauge. It is known here by it's bore size but in Europe I think it's known as 36 gauge.

I was out there a few days ago (Sunday).

Cabela's Guidewear for cooler temps (spring & Fall) and Guidewear Bass Angler in the summer.

They are out there, keep after it and it'll happen!

It's 8.6 oz. It's not that bad. Balances really nice on a Crucial 6'10" H/XF

No harm. My wife grew up on Coon, I've fished it a bunch, including club tournaments. Busy, busy lake! Fish the docks early in the morning and evening and relax during the day! Them bass like a black jitterbug run down the sides of the docks in the evening. Swap the hooks to #2 gamakatsu doubles and you won't snag all the floating weeds, they'll fold up against the body when you pull it over anything. They get bigger than 3 lb's out there, caught many over 4 myself.

I don't have the choice, but I wouldn't while fishing if I did.

.410 is bore diameter, it's actually a 36 caliber.

I've tried a bunch of colors and they bang them all. Now, I just buy whatever is on sale. The last purchase was watermelon candy and I know they'll hit them too. MY favorites are Junebug and Red Shad. Whitebear is fairly clear, Bald Eagle would qualify as stained most of the time and dirty the rest. I don't know how it looks right now though, but probably more clear than I've seen it. Most of the lakes are staying more clear later into the season this year. Hasn't gotten hot enough yet to bloom and all the rain is helping too.

I just sold 2 CA-200SF's, but still have one. Also have 6 of the original CA-200's. Love the insta-gage on the older ones, not so much on the SF's. I use my SF for froggin' and still do most of my pitching with the older CA-200. I use 17lb XT and 50 or 65lb Power Pro for pitchin' and the SF frogger gets 65lb Power Pro.

It looks pretty nice! I don't know what it's going to cost but it is definitely sweet!

1/0-5/0 (depending on worm) Offset shank round bends for me in Gamakatsu, Owner, or VMC. I don't care much which brand I use but have biggest stock in Gamakatsu right now. I have turned more than one point on the Gamakatsu though. I consider them more fragile in that than others I've used but they penetrate awesome when new.

Nope. First time I've ever seen pricing the likes of these Tatula's. Surprised the heck out of me these places were selling them so cheap. Maybe somebody else has seen it happen before but I never have. By the time they were done with the HSTA, the price had gone UP 20.00 after 5 years on the market. Same with the Zillion if I remember right, big price jump. Never seen Daiwa's sell for so much under their MSRP as these Tatula's.