Jeff H

Casting, some new and some old...... Shimano Crucial CRCX66M/Revo SC Shimano Crucial CRCX66MH/Revo SX Shimano Compre CV60MHA/Shimano Curado G Loomis GL3 CR724/Team Daiwa Advantage HST 153 St. Croix Premier PC66H/Shimano Castaic Berkley Pulse 6' MH/Revo SC Berkley Series One B50 6'6"H/Team Daiwa TD-1 HI Berkley Series One Flippin Stick 7'6"/Shimano Castaic Team Daiwa 7' IM6 Crankin stick Medium/Shimano Curado Team Daiwa 7'IM6 Crankin stick Medium Heavy/Team Daiwa TD-1 Pi Spinning Shimano Crucial CRS60MH/ Gander Guide Series Tournament GST30F Shimano Compre CPS-X63MB Cabela's Fish Eagle II 6'6" MH/Gander Guide Series GSS35 > St. Croix Premier PS56M/Mitchell 308X indicates in the boat always, the others I just grab when I think I'll need them. > Indicates I hate this fricking POS combo. The rod is not really horrible but there is a long threaded part of the seat between the seat and foregrip that just irritates the absolute crap out of me and paired with this respectably nice reel that happens to be too d**n big and heavy just makes it a big awkward POS. I cannot get rid of it though as it was a gift from my family last Christmas. It is going to get replaced with a Compre CPS-X63MB/Gander Guide Series Tournament GST30 combo before next spring. (It already did, today)

I liked the old Quick Fire trigger and never had any problems with mine. I actually miss it and wish they'd put it on some of their better reels again. I won't trade it for anti-reverse but I'd buy a reel with both in a heartbeat.

No, it doesn't sound right but to play along with the potential encumbering assumptions, I said it. We can't call it that when referencing those early years, but today you'd likely get your butt shot for it, then banned posthumously while being dropped in a shallow grave in a pig pit. We are worlds apart on the rules now, from then. Maybe it wasn't the ethical thing to do back then but he didn't break any rules because they didn't exist at the time.

He's no fake! Maybe some of his "early years" antics were dispicable to some people but the guy has 9 AOY titles on the books. He didn't cheat THAT much. Besides being a good hook, he's obviously a smart businessman and made his career pay off big time.

It's deep cranking for me, without question. I am a total pooch with crankbaits.

Catt, Did you consider the Bass Cat Sabre FTD? The Marty Stone Signature Model? If you want a lot of storage in a 18' boat that one has it!! All I would want is a 18' boat too and that Sabre FTD is EXACTLY what I would want (but I want dual console). Go to their website and have a look at it. It's a freaking GEM! BWB mag has been giving Bass Cat major praise the last couple years regarding all around performance and the guys I know who've had them won't run anything else now unless it is free. The Stone edition does not have the "hand rails" on it, which makes it a bit better looking in my opinion.

Bass Cat Sabre. Because it's much lighter, decently appointed and comes with a stellar reputation of overall performance, quality and customer service/satisfaction. I fish a lot of small lakes that are somewhat protected from the wind. I never have to contend with anything that either of these boats couldn't handle easily so the Champions reputation of rough water handling does not offset it's weight for me. I just don't want that heavy of a boat. The lighter weight is the deciding factor for me among these 3 choices without knowing price differences. I've known guys that have had Bass Cats and they say that Bass Cat customer service is unbeatable. I have a Skeeter dealer very close to me but I'd go out of the way for the Bass Cat. Nothing against the Skeeter at all, very fine boat but I would pick the Sabre first. If I was fishing big reservoirs/lakes and susceptible to really rough running conditions quite often, I'd go Champion without a 2nd thought.

Exactly why I'll never spend that much on a jig. Lots of "gators" where I fish and it isn't uncommon to lose several jigs a day to the scoundrels.

My style is "incredulous". I backreel my spinning reels, I fish mono, I fish stiff rods, my plastics often have mineral oil on them (except my Powerbaits), I use BANG, my rod arsenal is not completely comprised of GLoomis sticks, I fell off the Shimano wagon this year and landed in the Revo tub, I don't get out of bed at the crack of dawn, I have no real strengths but I am weak with cranks, I PREFER ultra clear water, my PB is only 6lb2oz and I did not boat a 5lb'er this year, and I prefer the old style flasher on the bow of my boat. I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing out there but I have fun I guess. Joking aside.... ( I forgot to add this part) I'm all about slow and deep structure during the summer. I am, at times, too patient for my own good. I could fish most of the summer with just jigs and worms. I look for rock around humps, rock/weed transitions and a real gem is a saddle between 2 humps. I'll work that saddle with a C-Rig, or Drop Shot as well as a jig or worm, just depends on how deep it is and whats in it.

If the Pro Max has aluminum frame, it's going to be just as much of a bargain as the SC was....unless you MUST have a 7:1 reel. I'm going to wait until Cabela's has them on hand so I can check one out. I have been in there twice in the last week and have not seen them yet.

I found a 1000 yd spool of 14 lb XT in my garage this spring that is at least 11 yrs old. I spooled some up on my worm rod and had ZERO problems with it all summer. I took at least 100 fish up to 3.5 lbs on that line and no issues at all. Still on one of my reels right now in fact and I'm just going to use it up next year. Big Game is ok line and cheaper but XT is better all around in my opinion.

A few drops of mineral oil goes a LONG way. It is cheap,odorless, tasteless and colorless. I have some plastics that are probably 15 yrs old that are still like new. If you want them "slick" with no other after effects mineral oil will do it. Doesn't take much, be careful.

Nothing worse then running out of some hot bait in the middle of a frenzy. There is nothing wrong with excess as long as it doesn't sink you financially.

I'm taking the Shimano sticker off and putting up a ABU Garcia in it's place. ;D

Catt.... "what is a Golden Shiner"

Lunker City 4" and 5-3/4" Fin S Fish (Rainbow Trout or Silver Pepper Shiner) If I have to choose one size it would be the 5 3/4" GMAN Poison Tail jig 1/2 oz black skirt with emerald green flake w/ Producto 4" craw in Junebug/blue glitter claw Berkley 7" powerworms (Junebug and Blue Fleck) Rapala #12 Husky Jerk in Tennesee Shad

Jig or a Producto 6" Tournament Worm.

I never saw it at the club level until we got to State. Even there it wasn't all that bad and those who were noted ******, well the word was out on them. We had one such guy in our own club and finally asked him to leave. Low entry fee and payback events were not a problem either. It's when you stepped up to the local "elite" level and started fishing for a $5000-$10,000 first place check that things got really ugly. It's always the money. it's been mentioned here in about every post so far. You can either go "charlie bronson"(and probably get arrested) on these guys or you learn to deal with it. The insults were nothing, you just let that crap roll off your back and do your own thing. Who cares what anyone says, concentrate on getting a limit. It's the other crap that is hard to deal with...the following and watching where you fish, the consequent "spot burning" and moving fish, or they find out what you have going and where and tell everyone else what patterns you are fishing etc, thereby crowding your areas. I've seen guys marking beds with white landscaping rock and paying others to sit on their spots until they show up to fish them. In fact, one of the biggest names ever known in this sport did exactly that in his early days of the BASS scene so all this stuff goes back to the root of our sport. The cliques among the "top hooks" are devious and they play games. You gotta learn to beat them at their own game. It's not entirely impossible. Skip the "networking" and concentrate on yourself and your own program and you can sail right through their BS. I didn't compete to make friends, even though I did have a few out there and I did pretty well by just keeping to myself. However, your best friend will sell you out if it means getting himself closer to $10,000 and the prestige among his peers if he can win, and don't doubt that. On event day, there are NO friends and you'd do best to remember that. There will never be an end to this stuff, so you gotta roll with it if you want to compete. It's just one of the sports many hurdles. I am starting to consider coming back but it will be at the club level only. I do miss the big tournaments though too, just not all the crap that went on with them.

I agree totally with DELee. I fished tournaments for years and even though I was never on the recieving end of this kind of crap I heard of and saw plenty of it. There is a lot of other BS and underhanded crap that goes on other than just spoken word. It's pretty sad really but it is something everybody has to deal with in their program. DELee, if I was you, what I would do is find out if those buttmunch bigmouths have any sponsors and let them know how well they (use their names) conduct themselves among the sports future participants. Tell them you would like to hear what THEY think about it.

The more the merrier for me. 6-8 in the boat at all times and 2-4 on deck on any given day or moment. Just kind of depends on what is going on or what I feel like doing.

Just keep working at it. You are doing fine. With a few weeks of solid practice you'll wonder why you ever bothered asking this question.

Ok, you win, I'll switch to braid, and never backreel again! 8-)

I can use "backreeling" in conjuction with drag if I wish to. My reels have drags like everybody elses and all I have to do to activate that on a running fish is hold the handle still.... regardless what type of line is on it. I have never encountered a bass that could peel line faster then I could keep up with. I've had Musky or Northern Pike do it but never a bass.

Does anyone here use the backreeling techique with their spinning reels, or do most of you just depend on the drag. I'm a backreeler myself. Never hear mention of it anymore but Jerry Mckinnis used to preach this and I picked it up from him many many years ago.

Does the Pro Max have aluminum frame?