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The problem with this forum is that there are four or five guys who continually try to shove Shimano down everyone's throat while knowing that there are a number of other options available, equally as good, or better.

For the last several years I have organized the Xmas exchange and it's that time of year again. We are going to start earlier this year to allow more people to see it and and extra week to ship your gifts. Here is how it works. There are some new rules this year because of previous problems. If you don't like the rules, tough. I do the work = my rules, period. You MUST be over 18 to play. You MUST have over 200 meaningful posts and be reasonably active on the forum. (I decide what is meaningful and reasonable) You MUST proclaim your intent to participate in this thread prior to Thanksgiving Day. You MUST send me a PM with your Name and Address prior to Thanksgiving Day. Minimum gift amount is $25. Maximum is up to you but don't expect to get more than $25. You may or may not get the name of the person sending your gift. You will get a return PM from me before Dec 1 with the name and address of the person you are buying for. You MUST send the gift prior to Dec 10. You may open the package when you get it or wait to Xmas. I will periodically post a list of official participants on this thread. It is up to you to check back after you send your PM to make sure you are on the list. A separate thread will be started to post pictures of the loot you received. Let the fun begin.

There's no such thing as too small or too big a lure IMO. If the bass are feeding on 2" baitfish, I won't try to catch them with a 10" bait; and viceversa,

Had Ardent done a better job on their baitcasters from the start, their spinning reels would've had a much better chance at success. Unfortunately, Ardent chose to market a line of mediocre baitcasters with less than stellar reliability, at prices comparable to some of the higher-end import reels with proven reliability. Let's face it, we'd all love to get our hands on a quality America-made reel for the same price we've been paying for the Chinese-made stuff...but the quality has to be there. A "Made in America" label will only take you so far. If you want to succeed in a market dominated by imports, it's not enough to be almost as good or as inexpensive as the next guy, you have to be better, cheaper, or both.

It was my birthday Tuesday so I took a day off from work and went out to Black Hills. Got out there later than expected at around 8:45 and fished until 1:00. Not one of my best days, but far from the worse. Also, fished the area of the lake over at Wynnfield from 4:00-5:00pm with nothing to show for my efforts. On my third cast which was a long one with a Fat Ika I hooked into a nice fish, it jumped twice and I could see it definitely had some size to it even from a distance. Unfortunately, it became unbuttoned close to shore and I never got a closer look. A few casts later another hit, but couldn't set the hook. Finally, got a hit and set the hook, but I waited too long and gut hooked the fish. I was unable to get the hook out and started to panic after several minutes so I cut the line and left the hook in. Well, that was a mistake because a few minutes later the fish was splashing around in the shallow water about to die. Well, the fish gods stopped smiling after that because I didn't get a bite for the rest of the day, outside of some bluegills pecking away. I defintely had a problem this year with gut hooking fish, particularly with Fat Ikas. I've used the site's guide on guthooked fish though and almost all the fish seemed to swim away okay. Hoping the weather will hold up and I will go back out during the weekend of 11/3, sooner if I'm lucky. Good luck to all!

It is something like if you buy a $40-$80 rod/reel you get $10 off. $80-$120, $20 off...etc. The thing is, you can trade in a combo that was $15 bucks from Wally world or wherever and get a discount on anything your choice. I traded in rods/reels from when I was a kid, they were old and plastic but worked. They give them to youth programs to give to kids.

Ummm, use wood?

I know what a hassle jon-boat fishing can be...I've been renting 12ft jons and fishing out of them for about 12 years now. I can suggest buying a good seat and getting the Cuda seat clamp that Cabela's sells...it's heavy duty and holds like a vise. Put the motor on the back of the boat. Then get an extended trolling motor handle and you can stand in the middle section to fish, and circle your body around as the wind moves the boat. The trick is to have the wind at your back, preferably coming straight at your back. I know they say throw into the wind and go with the current but they will bite both ways. You can't always position perfectly on spots, but it does take a lot of the hassle out of it. Hope this helps.

I have one of these reels as well. You are aware that this has dual brake system right? The internal centrifigul system supplies the best portion of the braking on this reel in my experience. I don't even think I have the magnetics set as I didn't notice any big difference by having them on or off to be perfectly honest. They probably could have done without the magnetics on this reel. It's not a bad little reel, I'm just curious to know how long it will last me. I treat my stuff great so I think it will do good for a long time. Like the others have stated, centrifigul brakes and the cast control knob is really all you need. Any reels I've owned with Magnetics are either set to free or 3 and have never needed to have them on more than half or full.

I managed to resist the urge to buy a few more. I feel pretty good about that. NGahB

If you're looking for external mag brake reels around the same price, look at the Daiwa Lexa. I know the price is similar and the few people I have talked to who have them like them alot. Its supposedly capable of casting out the light stuff too. Im not sure if they're widely available yet, but check them out at TW.

What DVT said. I had a very good customer order a swimbait rod. before I was was finished with it, he ordered a A-rig rod also. He was shocked when I handed him only one rod when he ordered two. I saw no reason to build him another rod when the one I was building would handle both tasks just fine. He was pleasantly surprised after he fished it.

For the life of me, I can't understand why they cost more. All I can think is that they are the latest thing on the market (as far as production rods go), therefore they feel people will pay more to have it. The cost of a #4 Alconite is the same as a #6. They are no more difficult to work with, in fact, I prefer wrapping micros to larger guides.

How cool is that, wonder if the wife will let me put one in the loo

Been very happy with the Z man's. Grizzin...see your are upstate NY. I started fishing as a kid in Sullivan County may moons ago (Fallsburg area). Now living in Florida

The global economy is here to stay. All we can do is keep in mind that with each purchase made here we are supporting US workers that market, ship, sell and support the products. I could go on but that would just result in the thread being locked.

I'm not friends with anyone from high school. My best, lifelong friends I met after high school. In high school, you have to be friends with your classmates because you have to be around them everyday. Afterwards, you can pick whomever you actually want to be friends with.