Jeff H

My local retailer says if I ever bust one, just come in and get another, or if they don't have it in the rack they will get it for me. No hassle guaranteed replacement is nice, especially "on the spot". I'd guess half of my rods, or more, are Shimano Crucials so I do like that.

Ha! After this one most will seem mild. We are 18" over average in snow with our snowiest month ahead of us yet. Lakes will be coming up this spring for sure. Brutal was a good description for up to last month, have gone well past brutal now.

Nice work! Peak performance.

Bold: That is what I'd like to see happen. But, I rarely read any comments on them. It seems to always be the OS7's that I read about as being "the bomb". I thought some kind of objective comparison would satisfy my own mind. I sometimes feel that I have to put extensive effort into my pitches and I wonder if it throws me off a tad. If hybrids ease that even a little, I'm game.

I'd be most interested in hearing from you any differences you notice between the 2 hybrids. I am kind of hoping the Lightnings prove themselves as the smart choice.

I'm not a distance caster. I don't care about gaining any distance. I would like it if I could gain some ease on the cast though, even more so on the pitch. So, some questions..... It seems the general concensus suggests running the hybrids dry, correct? Is this what most guys do? I thought it fair if they were all prepped the same but if it is recommended to run them dry I'll pull them and do it. I've been removing shields to clean them, and just said to heck with putting them back in (not even possible with some). I've thought there was a very small improvement in doing so, but it is hardly worth mentioning. Am I wrong? Nobody commented on "break in". I am quite certain those in my Curado improved after a period of use. Again, slight but was noticeable. Common or am I imposing a placebo effect on myself? Now comments.... Appreciate all the responses from you guys! Enjoying these experienced opinions. I am mostly being pointed right where I wanted to go with this. It seems that all I read about is 7OS. OS this, OS that, gotta have OS. I don't want to go there unless the results are eye popping and what I'm absorbing here says, for the most part, it's not going to be that. I'm going to start out by fishing them for a month or so, then I'll do my objective comparisons after cleaning again. They will all get the same line, fished on identical rods and throwing the same baits. I figure that's fair enough.

I will Mike, but it's going to be awhile yet before I can actually get out and fish. We are having a pretty harsh winter this year and you can see what it does to a guys mind!

Has anyone here done a "head to head" bearing comparison? ABEC 5 vs ABEC 5 Lightning vs ABEC 7 OS? Right now I have 4 identical reels ready to go. The test subjects are my HSTA's... ALL spool bearings have shields and seals removed. They've been cleaned and lubed with one drop of Shimano oil each. 1) Stock factory issue 2) Boca ABEC 5 stainless 3) Boca ABEC 5 Lightning 4) Boca ABEC 7 OS Until I actually get to use them I won't judge. I don't know just what spinning the spools would/should tell me at this point, but I've done it anyway just to do it. It seems the ceramic balls might start up easier but they don't spin much longer, if at all. It's really very close. I have never fished either OS or Lightning but I do have a couple older Shimano's with stainless ABEC 5 in them and I KNOW they "break in" after a bit of use and they are a noticeable improvement over stock. Do the Lightning and OS models do the same? To be honest, the stock bearings are not at all bad once cleaned and relubed but they are not on the same playground until they get cleaned. The ABEC 5 are, in my opinion, definitely worth the upgrade cost and they do get a little better yet after some use. Just based on what I'm seeing now (which really means nothing until I fish them) I don't need to go beyond ABEC 5's. I can't wait to get them out under a load and see what happens in conditions that really matter. How do you guys think this will end up?

On such short distance presentations like this I wouldn't be bothered by using 17-20lb+ mono, and I have in the past many times. Now days I use 50 or 65lb braid.

I use Bass Boat Saver on my rods and guides (reels too). Cleans and shines them right up.

Those Castaic SF are truly "super free". You can get some serious distance from them casting or pitchin'. Seems to me they are just a modified Curado B. I use mine for froggin'.

I use a 6' or 6'3" spinning rod, MH/F.

I use my old Shimano Castaic CA-200's. They all have bearing and drag upgrades and still do the job just fine.

I'll have one (or more) of these Verano spinning reels before season opens here. They look great! I can see these replacing my entire spinning collection. I have one of the old Prodigy spinning reels (by Daiwa) and 5 of the white Tournament ZX spinning reels (by Daiwa) and they have been excellent.in both performance and value.

I was just making a little humor man. We've definitely come far.

Big? Really? You consider it big? Were you bass fishing 10 yrs ago when the Almighty was considered to be a Curado or Citica 200 D? THAT was big, Tatula isn't a big reel (IMO), in fact feels small to me. Big is like 300 or 400 sizes, Musky and Saltwater guys use big, bass guys not so much. I think they should start making 25 size bass reels and charging 300% more for them. Super light weight (like 3 oz tops) , with tiny capacity spools (maybe like 40 yds of 10lb) and every acronym available under the sun plus 150mm custom carbon fiber handles. Microscope needed to work on them would be extra though. I'm sure somebody could find a use for them AFTER upgrades.

Fishing with my 2 boys. This is the BEST of fun times! I did really like the small local money events I used to fish years ago. Those were still fun, nobody had Napoleon syndrome. The bigger Pro-Am semi pro regional stuff was not what I'd call a fun environment. All business, all the time. More stress than fun and very challenging.

Ford. It ain't really that difficult. They pay their bills at least.

I've had both and bassin' life is just better with Minn Kota! I have had no mechanical problems with either brand but I prefer Minn Kota foot control over the Motor Guides. Maximizer has been great, they are more quiet and will go through more junk than Motor Guide. I've got this thing with my little boy, where when we get back into some slop I'll turn around and look where we came from and we both say....."Only with Minn Kota!" He gets a big kick out of that.

Not the only ones but I'd bet they are the vast majority.

I don't know who will win, but I wouldn't put a dime on KVD for this one. Just my gut feeling. He may do well, but I just don't think he's gonna win this one.

I used some of my old Curado CU-200's and Castaic CA-200's last year. Also used my old Daiwa TD-1's last year but not very much. With the exception of the CA-200's I have retired those old war horses and will not use them ever again. I still like the CA-200's for pitchin docks or cover and will continue to use them. Compared to my newer reels, (HSTA's and Gen 1 Revo's) those 20 yr old reels definitely had limitations but nothing major. It's just time they were retired. I'll probably sell them soon, along with my Revo's, as they just no longer hold any appeal to me, nostalgic or otherwise. My oldest rods in use are Team Daiwa Power Mesh Crankin' rods. (mid 90's) They are telescoping 7' rods and they work just fine for little bit of crankin' I do. I have not decided yet if I will continue to use these or not.

I have one spinning reel that I've dunked a few times when wade fishing. Haven't had it apart yet but it's fine, just feels like it needs some grease in the gear teeth.

I don't think so, but that's just my opinion. I have all of the AVS models with XF action and I wouldn't use any of them for skipping docks. If I had to pick one of those for dock duty it would be the AVS63MXF. I choose the 6'3" because I just like a shorter rod for dock duty and I'd go down to 6' before I'd go up to 6'6". To me, these XF actions are finesse sticks and I would rather use something more stout around heavy cover, which I consider docks to be. Give your AVS66MF a try, it might be just what YOU like and it should prove to be pretty versatile.

It'll work for topwaters, and probably be good for spinnerbaits too.