Hi Folks,
Thought some of you might enjoy this:
Those are my rods.
Left to right:
I wanted the smallest reel I could find for my Ultralight. It ended up being a Pflueger. The rod is an older Berkely Limited Edition I bought back in the '90s sometime when I broke the tip on my previous ultralight.
Next is an Abu Garcia 4-screw Ambassadeur 5000. I bought this one and fixed and cleaned it. The rod is a Daiwa Spinnerbait rod I bought as a teenager, again in the 1990s. I remember I was attracted to it because it has "Bill Dance" on it. Heh. It's a good rod, though, and the only thing I hate about it is that the guides are slightly canted counter-clockwise.
To the right of it is an Ambassadeur 5600Mag on a 7' Lightning Rod. Dad didn't like it and gavie it to me. (I in turn bought him a Silver Max and put it on a Lightning Rod; he prefers the reel handles be on the left side so he can work the rod right-handed.)
The Black Max on the Saturn Rod is a medium weight rig. It's an experiment I just set up this year, and I'm not sure how much I like it. I don't like longer rods with the longer handles. The way I hold them, the handles get in my way when working a lure.
Next up is my dad's Ambassadeur 5000 from the '70s. It's the first reel I remember him using and sat for the longest time on the Lew's Speed stick next to it. I rebuilt it and put it on an Ugly Stick I had laying around. I need to get a heavier rod and reinstall the fast gears he had in it (they went in the one on the left because his needed a new frame.) I also need to find a new reel handle as that small one isn't really usable for me.
Next is Dad's old Quantum. It replaced his Ambassadeur 5000 and he since replaced it with a newer Quantum with the reel handle on the side he prefers, so he let me have the old one. I rebuilt it and put it on Dad's old fiberglass "Lew's Speed Stick". I heard tell some folks prefer fiberglass for cranking, and that's what this one is aimed towards. We'll see if I like it.
Finally, that's a graphite Fenwick rod. I had to repair the tip; it was Dad's as well. The reel was Grandpa's. I still fish it now and again. Currently the line is stripped and I'll probably be finding some Dacron braid for it. Believe it or not, it casts almost right along with the free-spooling baitcasters, but the gear noise is hard on the ears when it's thrown out that far.
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Of these, the three on the left have been used most, though this year the 5600 was out of action until recently. It somehow suffered a blow to the left side that took out the sideplate, magnet holder, and axle; I had to order parts and rebuilt it.
This year the ultralight and the four-screw 5000 have seen the most use, with the Black Max trailing as I get used to it.
The Ultralight has accounted for the most bass this year,, followed by the Ambassadeur 5000 three-screw mounted on the Daiwa Spinnerbait Rod. Those combos are the two I've had longest.
Josh
Edited: That's a 5600. That's what I get for posting sleepy.
