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One problem with backlashes and mono is if they are very bad/tight it will damage your line. With experience you will know when it is better to "cut" your losses so to speak. This comes from experience of picking out a nasty nest and then on the next cast feeling my line part and my expensive lure sailing off into the distance! The post above about releasing just a little sooner is probly the best info you received. If casting overhead release your spool when your rod is pointed straight up (12 o'clock). Once you get the hang of it pick up your old spinning reel and make a cast. Your lure will probly go higher than it will go toward your target. Probably a med action rod will help initially too. lp

Generally, the lighter the spool the lighter the bait you can cast.

I think Browning is owned by FN and they are in turn owned by some wierd sounding French Co. like Gat or something. This was discussed a lot on some shooting boards last year when they shut the Winchester plant down. Still in the rumour stage but pretty well known and accepted. lp

Small crawdad colored crankbait and small rapala's or thundersticks in a bass or shiner pattern. Sometimes trout colors are the very best though. I would use a short ultra-light spinning outfit also.

Some of my favorite top waters for OK smallmouths include: an old WalMart run of Boy Howdy's that were bass colored, had 2 or 3 different patterns all worked, a magnum sized (Excalibur) Jimmy Houston model Pop R, Bang O Lures (usually in the black back silver side with black bars). I also fish the two smaller sizes chug bugs and have had the best action with the shad colored ones. I like Zara's and other walking baits but I usually really make them walk small and tight so I wear down pretty quick with them unless the bass are really hitting well. One year my dad came with me and had a blue gill colored Tiny Torpedo and was catching right out from under our baits. You have to try every thing you got some times until you find the right one. Ask the locals what color usually work best but a lot of the time they are stuck on a few favorite lures and are not much help, but I've found they can usually help with predominate colors. In SE OK I don't usually fish topwaters unless the barometer is pretty low. If you can't hardly see the hills for the haze I start gettin excited. It usually takes a few days after a cold front for them to start hittin top again. I have had smallmouths hit deep running crankbaits as soon as the lure hit the water. They had to have seen it coming. Topwater smallmouths are the reason I switched to lefthand retrieve bait casters. I couldn't tell you how many I missed while changing hands after the cast. I spent a summer getting acclimated to left hand retrieve, problem solved. But at other times you had to wait until the boil died down to see if the lure was gone before you could set the hook. Same thing with retrieves, sometimes all you had to do was slow down your retrieve to get hits. It can be the most frustrating but sometimes the most rewarding fishing you can ever do. All my smallmouth fishing has been in rocky hill country streams so use info accordingly. I usually carry two rods, a bass caster and a ultralight spinning. One time I broke my bass rod in a clumsy accident so I worked my way to my "honey hole" with my ultralight action with 6 lb. test line. It was a "top water" day so I snapped my Boy Hoydy on my light rod. I snuck up to my hole and made a cast and immediately hooked with a 2 lb.r. then another tried to take it away from the first and I had 2 on. Before I got my first cast in I had hooked about 5 different bass with some getting off. They had to hook themselves cause I couldn't really tell another one hit until I saw them on. I finally landed 2 that stayed on, both in the 1 3/4 to 2 lb. range. I caught 2 at a time for a couple of casts and then 1 at a time for a few more until the hole was thoroughly spooked. What a day!!! And on ultralight! I'm getting excited again just remembering that trip. Sorry it took me so long to get this told but I get excited about top water smallmouths!!!

I have been looking for some snaps I use for bass fishing. I like to use a snap for crankbait and topwater lure fishing most of the time. The snaps in question look like Breakaway Spinlink sl2's but are about half the size. You don't have to unsnap these to connect to lure. It has a little wire sticking out of the snap and you just hook it in your lure eye on it and snap in place. They are real easy to use and never come loose. They are tough, I guess made out of spring steel or maybe even Ti or something. They are black in color. The ones I have I bought 3 or 4 years ago and I don't remember where I got them for sure but I think it was WalMart. I bought the smallest Breakaway has and they were about 1/2" long. The ones I want are about 1/4" to 3/8" in length. Any clues, has anyone else used these? Where can I find them? I hate split rings and remove them from all my crankbaits and topwaters so I need to use a snap with most. Thanks!

The first thing I allways tell a new "baitcaster" is release the line a little sooner than with spin-cast or spinning. For example on an overhand cast with the reel handles sticking up (right handed, right hand reel) start you overhead cast. With a lot of tension on your spool you can do this in fairly slow motion until you get the right trajectory. Release spool with rod in 12 O'clock position but don't stop, follow through until your rod is pointing at your target. Then practice previous mentioned spool control. It took me nearly all summer to learn by myself. What made the light come on was when I picked my spinning reel after learning baitcasting and made a cast and the lure went straight up. I have taught several men and kids to throw a baitcaster this way and they allways make me mad when I remember how long it took me to learn! > It still takes a lot of practice but this should get you fishing pretty quickly. It's allways a good idea to take an extra reel or enough line to respool. Sometimes, it's easier to trade or respool than to pick the loops out, easier on your nerves and on your line. Also most baitcasters work with a certain weight line better, especially if you're on the lighter side. Most heavy lines cast pretty good if they're limp enough. You need a small light spool for light lines. HTH. I'm not that good but I'm old and made all the mistakes. ;D

I have a Cabelas Megaroyal Plus MRP101 round baitcasting reel that needs some lineguide parts. Does anyone know who made these reels for Cabelas? They look a lot like Calcutta's but a few design differences. (I have 2 Calcuttas) Cabela's were under contract to not divulge this info. I have always loved working on my own reels and don't want to start sending them off now. I tried the search but have checked how many posts are on this site Oh, BTW, I have had several people give me wrong info on this allready so please don't answer unless you are sure. Thanks

I don't know if it pertains to this problem or not but I have received reels where the IAR bearing were not assembled right. The plastic housing was not snapped into place. But mine worked they just reeled rough. A NEW reel should be fixed/replaced postage paid by the seller. New poster here, looking forward to checking the site out.