Jeff H

Ah, you are up by Palisade (and Gun, French and Fleming lakes). I have land north of there too (where I hunt). Anyway, to answer your question, this weekend I'll be on Clearwater (crow wing), Borden (just outside Garrison) and Big Pine. Where are you launching Mille Lacs ? Aaron, I live in Coon Rapids too. maxdal, won't be doing Gull this weekend. I have fished it a bunch of times though and my favorite is the south end (wilsons bay). Gull is a nice body of water, especially on weekdays!

Expect this weekend to be one of the best of the year if you're headed north. Fishin' should be hotter than a 2 peckered billy goat !! If you don't have plans, make them now and get out there. I'm outta here tomorrow night for 3 days of FUN bassin' in Crow Wing and Aitkin county lakes.

Nothing wrong with a Convergence for a spinnerbait rod. Don't need a expensive, hyper-sensitive rod for spinnerbaits. I would prefer MH though. A 6'6" Medium makes for a decent trap rod. You are set up pretty good right now in my opinion.

A couple more you might consider.....Revo S or a Cabela's Prodigy. I really really like my Prodigy (made by Daiwa) and consider it an excellent bargain at $99. It is a better reel than my TD-A HST153. Citica is nice reel too, but bigger than those mentioned above.

Why are you beating yourself up? Send to Reel Mechanic and you won't have to pick up, they'll drop it on your steps for you. I'll tell you why you choose him, or this is why I did anyway.....20+ yrs experience and factory training. If you can find better credentials than that you let me know. 8-)

Either one is going to be a good choice. One is cheaper and more sensitive, the other more expensive and has a nicer handle.

Might screw up the balance, but maybe you don't care about that.

Each time I fish with my Revo's I smile a little more. I couldn't be happier with a fishing reel. How well they cast just blows me away.

I love these rods. I have 3 now and there is the possibility of more in the future. If a person needs a rod that is more sensitive than these are, I think they have a weak sense of feel. These rods feel "hyper-sensitive" to me, almost too sensitive. They remind me of my first experience with braid.

The original head design imparted a bit of "glide" to the bait. The original and snagless heads are shaped to do that. The Spider is not. but yes, you fish them slow. I fish with quick, light pops of the rod tip to get that "glide". There are numerous ways to fish them of course. I'm headed out right now for 3 days of fishing and I'm figuring on lots of Slider action. This is a subject I love, it's such a great system and widely overlooked. If you want more info, just shoot me a PM on Monday night. Your best source though is to read Charlie's book, available on their website. M power spinning rods, light line (6lb test for me) is what I use for fishing sliders.

They are a finesse application and they catch fish. Have you looked at their website by chance? If not, do that. They have different styles of heads that can be fished in various elements. Slider fishing is a killer way to score fish when nothing else is working. People talk about "panic box" or last ditch methods/baits and if I had a panic box it would consist of finesse lures/methods. Slider Fishing is probably my #1 finesse method. Charlie Brewer did it right!! This is also some of the most killer panfish tackle I've fished. The best thing about it all??? It's FUN fishing because it's basically a light tackle presentation. When you get on a good Slider bite you are having SERIOUS fun.

Those Ultra Point hooks are a great jig hook. Very tough point on them. Heck, the rocks sharpen them rather than bend them. ;D Next time I'm buying hooks for worms, tubes etc I'm going to give Mustads a look.

Pretty much same deal for me here. I prefer a local indepedant shop for just the reasons you stated.

6 or 8lb XT on my spinning rigs 10,14 or 17lb XT on casting rigs sometimes I pitch with 12/50 Power Pro but usually can get away with the 17lb XT.

His prices are great. No rattles that I'm aware of but I bet he'd make skirts with rattle collars that hold rattles if you ask him. The Finesse heads are weedless round ball with 60 deg flat eye Mustad round bend hooks....I think.

Oh, I like that Millionaire!!

Oh WOW! I would have had a field day with that waste of skin. That kind of crap really ticks me off. Was that at a Gander in MN?

Hawgchaser.....I am most certain in saying that I believe I would really enjoy sharing a boat with you. Screw image, haul bass and enjoy it all the way.

I agree with you to a point, but it's like this in anything. You oughta see what some guys think they have to spend on a shotgun to qualify themselves as a bona-fide grouse and woodcock uplander. You ever seen a $50,000 shotgun? ;D Seriously, some guys figure you have not arrived until you spend at least $5000 on a SxS shotgun. Weird. Trust me.....even in the upper levels, fishing equipment can seem cheap compared to other pursuits.

Ahhh....the "trawler" is what I call 'em. Clean your lake right out if you ain't careful. GMAN's the best!

LOL....uh, that is kinda pushing the upper limits of "inexpensive", don't you think?

Shimano Convergence $39.95.....perfect for the job. I prefer MH power but most like M power better for jerks. CVC60M 6'0" Medium Fast

I currently favor Shimano Convergence rods as the best "inexpensive" choice. I have an older 6' MH that I still have a lot of confidence in. I also have a slew of Berkley Lightning Rods from many years ago and still feel I could fish well with them if the need arose (but it's not going to ).

Nice review!! Good honest opinion and thanks for taking the time.

Bought my son a Citica last year from local Cabela's Bargain Cave at a killer price. Had some problems with it initially but seems a good cleaning and relube took care of that. It's a decent reel but it is NOT in the same league as a Revo SX and he doesn't like it anymore. My SX is better in all performance aspects than the Citica by a good margin.