The Rooster

Yeah but you need about 50 miles of extension cord in most cases. This year I'm opting for a propane torch. My electric bill is too high now. Haha. You know, in all seriousness, whether this would work for bass or not, someone could roll a generator right down to the water's edge and hook up a hot water heater element on a long heavy cord and just toss it in. That would heat the water around by a few degrees, literally. After several days, I'd bet there would be fish nearby. As a disclaimer, I am in no way suggesting this. Sounds like a Darwin Award in the making.

We got it here too. I'm in denial.

I don't have one often at all, but when I do, my professional overruns look more like amateur F-ups.

I actually didn't know that weightless plastics are common to come off the hook during flight. Never had that problem in many years of bass fishing. Might keep it in mind, as usually I throw senko type baits on my Citica E. No problems yet though. I'm just using standard EWG Gamakatsu 3/0 hooks and texposing the bait.

Contrary to what a lot say, and regardless of even my own experience, I like more bearings in a reel. I've seen people say they thought extra bearings in reels were wasted and at least one guy wouldn't buy one for that reason but that's ridiculous. Build a reel solidly, preferably with an aluminum frame, solid gears, tight tolerances, and then put bearings in more than just the most required places. That's my take. My Shimano reel is smooth as butter but who can deny that having bearings in places as mundane as just in the handle knob can increase smoothness, or at the very least, prevent wear? My current Shimano reel just has 5 bearings but I would have preferred 10. And as much of a Shimano guy as I am right now, the best built spinning reel design I ever did see was the Abu Garcia Soron STX. Everything on that thing was metal, and it had 11 bearings. They stopped making it, of course.

As far as I'm concerned, spring is here now!

I have a lake where grass carp were introduced years ago and every scrap of grass, lily pads, and vegetation anywhere was annihilated. Water is ultra clear, like new glass, and even 20' depth bottoms are visible like shallow water. In this lake, bass are caught on jigs fishing in lay downs or near stumps or sunken Christmas trees. A few years ago they got the grass carp out and now the grass is returning. I hope the lily pads will too. It might make catching a bass easier. As of now, they're notoriously hard to catch, except on jigs. Last year though, 3 bass where caught on 3 consecutive days that weighed 9, 10, and 11 pounds. My brother in law was present to see one caught, it came on a large swim bait. I think it was the 10 pounder. This lake has huge bass in it. But they won't bite normally. Best I've ever done was about a pound per fish. There are also trout in this lake so it's no wonder they're so big.

I'm in the Shimano camp for spinning reels at the moment because I bought a Symetre 2500 FJ two years ago and since then my line twist problems have virtually disappeared. Granted, I also started using KVD L&L at the same time so it could be a combination of this and the reel design. Regardless, prior to this I've had a lot of others but line twist issues were bad with them. Also, the spool lip design is supposed to help increase cast distance, and in my experience it does. I can see a visible increase in distance. Aside from all that, the smoothness of this reel has exceeded all the others I've owned before. It's just a pleasure to use and feels solid under the weight of a fighting fish, and the drag pays out smoothly as well with no jerky stop/starts to risk losing a fish. Add all this to the history of the reel with many owners being well satisfied with theirs, and you're pretty well assured of quality when you buy one.

Chronarch E only has one as well with no way to add a second, as far as I know, based on it being identical to the old Curado E.

Me too. 8 pound or less on spinning reels. I use a 2500 size Shimano but I do also like the smaller sizes as well. I think a lot of cast distance problems come more from the stripper guide on a rod being too small. My spinning rods all have the first guide large enough for my thumb to fit through. Up to now, I would not buy a rod without this, but it now seems its becoming harder to find so I might have to rethink things. Until now, a thumb sized first guide with a 2500 size reel has been a good combination. Use KVD L&L spray with the line and its even better.

If you mean the Chronarch E, then it's just like the Curado E was, and that reel only had one bearing per handle with no way to add a second due to the way the handle is made. Or, do you mean the Curado G, which I suspect is also made the same. There is no Chronarch G, though. I wish these reels could have bearings added to the handles. If they could, I wouldn't look at any others, but the fact is they can't and therefore some other reels can be made to feel smoother than these because others have them.

Well, even if they mess it up by redoing the originals (bite my tongue), we'll always have the originals recorded just the way they were before. I have them on DVD but mine are the remastered ones. Now if they go and add on to the story, as I've heard they want to do by filming 7,8, and 9, then we'll just have to wait and see how they turn out. If its anything like what the industry did to the Terminator series, I shudder to see what they'll do. THAT movie, as far as I think anyway, had the single greatest potential of any movie. The first was good, and the second was just decent, and every one since has gone downhill steadily, even with that awful TV show, too. The last one was worth seeing but it wasn't great. The third one was so bad, even the makers of the TV show ignored it in their storyline and nothing in the fourth movie even referenced it. But, back to the topic at hand....(hmm, technically, Terminator is a war movie too, haha)

I used to think about that a lot, too. Then one day I realized, for me, I like getting new reels every so often. Sometimes it's just to have the new thing out, or some technology came along and it's obviously better so I want it. Other times it's just because I'm bored with what I have and want a change, or even something so petty as just that a new reel really looks cool and I have the perfect rod for it to match. So, I don't worry so much about them lasting longer than about 5 years or so, or parts being available long term. That mindset isn't for everybody, but it took the worry out of buying reels for me. I try to buy quality when I do so that 5 years is doable, and after that I'll likely have new ones again anyway.

I think the pro qualifier is worth it's price and especially when on sale. Goose52 is doing a 5 year test of one now, it's in its fourth year as we speak. That should give you some indication of its longevity. He's had to repair the test reel a couple of times, but in fairness, what he's doing to it is more than what most anyone else would ever do to one. He's absolutely wearing it out and it seems to be taking it well. I also have a bunch of the prior model Extremes and they've served me well for several years now. I'd say you can trust BPS reels if you find one you're interested in, but like any other company, there are certain reels that shine, and some that don't. There's nothing wrong with sticking to more major named reels either, though.

Just about every baitcaster out there has plastic gears for the level wind on the front, while having metal for the main drive and pinion gears. Even cheap junky reels.

Me too, ceptin I'm in that thar Kentucky.

The newer ones had much better light saber action. You can s t r e t c h your imagination and say that in the earlier films Luke was young and hadn't learned to do as much as they could before and also say he had a ghost and an ancient alien for teachers (ahem, masters) but in reality it was just 70's and early 80's acting and filming technology that made it that way. You could stretch out there again and say the scene where Obi Wan dies from dueling with Vader looked like two old men fighting because one actually WAS, and the other is mostly machine with not as much control as in days gone by. I could make a dozen excuses for poor acting and filming technology and write it into the storyline to be explained away. But the root of the story was good. While I like the fight scenes better in the newer ones, Lucas could have picked ANYBODY ELSE to play Anakin and I'd have like it better. Hayden Christensen was just not good.

Speed knot. Pass the line through the hook eye and pinch the tag end in the middle with one hand while holding the end of the tag with the other hand. The hook or lure should be dangling freely on the loop below if you've left enough line for it (several inches). With the hand pinching the middle of the tag, pull it up along side of the main line so you can now pinch the main line with it, too. Lure is still dangling below and you still have a hold of the end of the tag. Now pull the tag down along side of the loop and swing the lure on its loop around the tag 4 times. This wraps the tag up pretty good and creates a loop at the top where you were pinching it before. Now bring the tag back to the top and through that loop, wet it down with spit, and pull it tight, and then trim the excess tag length left over. I can tie this knot in 4 - 5 seconds. It is similar to the Eugene knot. Works on mono, fluorocarbon, and co-poly lines that I've tried. Don't know about braid.

Bank fishing, I take my whole tackle bag and sweat over what 3 rods to take of the 6 I normally use. Common sense dictates a spinning rod but 90% of my baits are thrown on casting gear and I hate to waste a rod I won't use. Luckily some of my bank fishing spots are right next to parking so I can usually take all my gear. I don't fool with chairs since I don't bait fish. I do take drinks and food though.

Love my X-raps. Husky jerks too.

I would get one if it would help my back but I don't necessarily need one with all the accessories. Do they have a model that won't eat so much and doesn't have to go poop every so often?

I've read here repeatedly about people drinking beer on the boat. In my state, KY, it is illegal to drive the boat or operate water skis or similar devices while under the influence of alcohol. It also says that if you do operate them you've automatically consented to a test for this if officials decide to give one, and can be arrested if you refuse. Is it not like this everywhere?

I've been griping about spinning rod grips for a few years now. I grip mine on the foregrip. I place my little finger behind the reel stem just for the cast and immediately move it in front after the cast most times. So I either have three or four fingers on the foregrip at all times. I won't buy a spinning rod without one. I also don't want threads behind the foregrip either, so I either have to get an up locking reel seat on the rod, or a down locking seat where the foregrip twists down with the hoods to lock the reel on. Check out the new Cabela's Fish Eagle 50. The reel seat there is a down locking style like I described, no threads show at all. If you want a little better rod, the Cabela's XML has the same design. But these rods are no where near the price of the Loomis rods you mentioned so I don't know if you'll be satisfied with them.

Inline spinners. I know a lot of people don't use them much but I do. I've gotten to where I am throwing 1/4 and 3/8 oz Roostertails and they really go for the big ride on casting gear. Way over 100 feet with ease. Being a treble hook lure, this rod would work and you can also use them as search baits to cover water fast, shallow and deep. Just keep one tied on and ready, make a few quick passes by different stumps or in other areas that might hold fish, and then if you get hit you can start picking the cover apart with slower baits.

Yeah, definitely compare the two reels for IPT. I noticed the BPS Pro Qualifier 7.1 has 29 IPT while the BPS Extreme 6.4 (older) is 28 IPT. Not enough difference to make a real difference.