The Rooster

Hit the "edite" button

Notice the straight handle and graphite frame. I've seen that reel before, and others like it wearing the "Pro Qualifier" name with additional wording like "Tournament" tagged onto it also. They are not the PQ most people know.

How about NOT.

I like to fish and enjoy but it isn't as enjoyable for me if I know I can land the fish faster and am purposefully not doing so for the sake of the fight. Seems fake that way. However I don't consider it the same thing to go easy on one instead of just horsing it to the boat if I think it's unnecessarily hard on the fish to do so. Like when I hook a dink, I don't just ski it into the boat like I've seen done before just because I can. I'd say I just do what's necessary to land the fish safely but efficiently.

Back around 2008 or 2009. Not sure of the exact year now. The BPS catalog didn't show one for that year. Prior to this they had a PQ available with the ITB braking like the old Rick Clunn reels had. I also believe it was only available in a 6.4:1 ratio as well. Then they dropped it and there wasn't a PQ for the following year. The year after that they introduced the model they have now, only available as a 6.4:1 and 7.1:1, and a year later the catalog had all 4 ratios available, and in both hand retrieve choices. This is the first year the 4.7:1 has not been available as a left hand model. The writing is on the wall. This reel platform is nearing the end.

I just checked my current BPS catalog and it actually states that the 4.7:1 is not available in left retrieve. This is new, as I do remember seeing it available in the past. Just do a search for model number PQX10SSLD. That's the model number for the left hand 4.7:1 ratio. They have dropped it apparently. The writing is on the wall.....get them while they last. I've been expecting this for some time. Any model, regardless of popularity, has a limited run before it's revamped or replaced.

This isn't true either because there was a year without a Pro Qualifier at all before the current model was released.

Yes, all ratios were available in both left and right. There were 8 models.

Anybody notice the left hand model of the 4.7:1 ratio version is missing? A lower than normal sale and one model not listed. Makes me wonder how much longer the current PQ model will be available.

Absolutely! I had Trout at my uncle's house years ago and still dream about it to this day. My worst isn't anything nasty, but it made me sick anyway. Philly Cheese Steak pizza from Domino's. Gag!

Don't forget the optional trout permit at $10, and you aren't allowed to target them without it, though I do fish trout waters with a Roostertail, however I am aiming for bass. I don't care for trout, around here they just about always die while still on the hook. Very fragile species, being stocked instead of natural. Also we can have all the rods we want with no extra permits needed. When I worked at Walmart in the late 90's and early 2000's they started the electronic licensing system. When started, a SSN was the only way to buy it. When I quit in 2002, at that time a driver's license would work as an alternate ID, and even though a SSN would work also, they told us we weren't allowed to sell one without the state issued ID or driver's license to prove residency. Now in the last few years when I've bought my license I've been asked for my SSN, and even had to enter it into the machine myself (which was not done when I sold them). I've offered my driver's license for ID but have been told it was not needed. Licenses are good from March 1 to the last day of February the following year. No matter when you buy it. If you want to fish in February, you better have last year's license or you'll be buying it just to go for a few days, and then buying it again to fish the rest of the year. I heard more than a few complaints about that. You can buy a license to fish for the current year in February but it's not valid until March 1. I can't tell you the number of times I had people want to buy a license for a Valentine's Day gift and have it be good immediately, and last the whole year. Doesn't happen in KY.

Pizza Tacos Arby's roast beef sandwiches Chinese Those never get old. Any single one will do from now on.

Jail? Well I ain't that bad off but I'm not too happy overall. I'm sure some warmer weather where I could just get outside would help a whole lot. I fished yesterday for two hours. It was the first time since last year. Didn't enjoy it due to 30 mph winds, but I made the best of it. Today we get 6 more inches of snow again. In my whole life I've never seen so many snows in one winter. I've had years with none at all. This year we're buried just one right after another. This really affects my work. Severe lack of work and funds has really dragged me down. And all this dreary weather makes it worse. I'm getting by, and not losing ground, but I'd sure like to try to move ahead instead of worrying and hoping for change. On the upside, family drama has been at an all time low recently. Maybe it's the cold weather keeping us all separated. Anyway, winter is depressing and I hate snow. Sick of it. Ready for this crap to be over.

How deep? Most of my crankbaits are Bandit 100, 200, and 300. I'm fairly sure the 100 and 200 are ok, that's up to 8 feet deep, and I have a separate crank rod so this use would be rare anyway. I'd just like to roughly know its limits though without having to spend a lot of time trying every bait in the box.I'd like to know if standard mono is sensitive enough for bottom plastics and jigs. I guess the only real answer is to spend some time trying it but I thought I'd ask here to see what the general idea is. Years ago it was mono, or mono, for choices. Now you have mono, fluoro, copoly, and braid, and many different versions of all.

I have a older series Shimano Compre 6'6" M/F baitcast rod with an older BPS Extreme 6.4:1 ratio (28 ITP) reel loaded with Berkley Trilene XL 12 pound mono. I'd like to use this rod for lighter spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, chatterbaits, swim jigs, bottom jigs, Texas rigged plastics, and weightless plastics. Also sometimes in a pinch it might see shallow to medium diving crankbaits up to about 12 feet deep, and jerkbaits like X-raps, and possibly even larger inline spinners like Roostertails, or even a topwater bait. It's sort of an all around rod I guess. I believe it will be more useful in some of these uses than others. I'd like to know if there are any of the above baits that this rod would not perform at least adequately with, taking into consideration the line being used and rod specs as main points of contention. I see it working best with the single hook baits as opposed to the trebles, but I'm a little worried about the line being sensitive enough for bottom contact lures. I've gotten it in my head that mono isn't sensitive like fluoro or copolymers, and it probably isn't, but by how much? I might switch to fluoro but would this affect it's use as a topwater rod with a sinking line? At one time this might not have mattered, as I could have just set it up for more limited use and gotten another rod for the other uses. Now I'm trying to cut down on the number of combos I carry so I'm wanting my rods to be even more multi-use than before.

Yes, very cool.

Some people are beyond stupid.

Gene, I should have known you'd know something I could try. Your videos are always so awesome. Thanks for the answer. One question, why a lizard for colder water? That's more action. I always thought you wanted less action in colder water. I also saw where you said you were just going off of current conditions to know what bait to use. How do you learn this? There's so many choices, it's overwhelming to know what to use and when.

How do you guys fish grassy areas when you throw out a bait and it comes back looking like a mop? I've tried spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, lipless cranks, jerkbaits and more, and all seem to have the same results. I've tried swimming a jig through also, though it was not a swim jig with a conical head, which I doubt would be much different in the grass I was in. Is a weightless plastic rigged weedless the only way? Second, can a baitcast reel that has too much line on it contribute to backlashes? I took one out today that I respooled, and it was probably filled to 1/16 or less from the top edge of the spool. It was windy, no doubt, but I feel I was getting more backlash than normal even for this. I finally got a knot in the line that would have left a kink, so I ended up cutting behind the knot and that now leaves line filled on the spool to about 1/8 from the top. After this, casting seemed to get much easier. I've noticed this in the past also, but never thought to ask until now.

The zoom meat head and z drop look like the same worm to me.

Bomber Stealth!

Under $10 is my max, as in $9.99, not $10.00, tax not included.

No it's not. I've personally caught bass that had old hooks in their mouths about to rust out. The top part of the shank was still shiny metal while the part entering into the bass itself was so corroded at the entry point that it just broke off when I attempted to remove it. It's always made me suspect they must secrete an acidic substance that helps this along. I have no idea how long this takes but I know it does happen. All the bass being caught with hooks in them still looking new I would suspect it's been fairly recently since they were caught, and that leads me to think it doesn't take much recovery time for them to start eating again after being hooked. Heck, I don't think it slows them down at all. I once lost the same bass twice from break offs on 4 pound mono so I switched to a rod with 8 pound and hooked it again but didn't lose it that time. The thing had several of my hooks in it at that point, which I removed all of once it was in the boat. This was all within minutes. I was using live night crawlers for bait and it just kept hitting them in spite of adding hooks to its mouth each time.

Escape from daily life is probably number one on my list. I find fishing and being out in nature to be so relaxing it's like nothing else even matters while I'm there, and when a fish takes the line, that feeling you get inside that feels like it can't be contained is overwhelmingly addictive. You just have to have more. It's costed me me a lot of time and money in persute of it. That part there can't really be explained, you just feel it or you don't. Very strangely, I've known people who have caught fish, some quite nice, and claimed to have felt nothing and did not continue in the sport. So weird!

Wormhole! It flew into one and went 40 years into the future. Or maybe the past.