The Rooster

I remember when I made the mistake of posting about what size and color Senko to use. Got about 20 replies of people wanting to get in before the door was closed with hardly a single suggestion about what one to use. ;D That's how I found out they had been beaten to death here. Got a friend who made that mistake with the Banjo Minnow recently too. It happens. We all have fun here anyway though.

Carolina rigged plastics....at one time I would fish this every trip. Now it's Texas rigged exclusively. Haven't fish a Carolina in nearly a decade. Zoom Flukes rigged weightless nosehooked on a 1/0 EWG hook. At one time I wouldn't go without using this, now I never do it although I still carry about 6 bags of them with me on the boat. Got out of spinnerbaits and buzzbaits for a few years but the past couple of years I've started using them again. Again, took everyone I owned with me when I went time after time, even bought a separate box just for spinnerbaits and ran out of room in it......never fished a one of them. I'm really bad to get into a lure, even a certain brand of lure, and get 40 kinds of it to use but then only use 3 of them total or eventually quit using them at all. After a while of not using them I'll give them away though, I don't let them build up cause I'm sort of OCD about having them sitting around "incase" I ever need them. If I did that I'd have to take every one I own out everytime I go fishing and it would be overwheming. I get rid of them and then I don't think about it anymore. I've probably given away 100 spinnerbaits at an average of $3 to $4 each. Only have about 30 left now (or should I say "for now"). The bait monkey loves me and my wife hates him. ;D

I never did get into the Terminator. Got two of them on clearance one time at Walmart, the T-1's. Fished them for a while but never had any success on them (not the lure's fault though). Eventually I got tired of them in my box and gave them away. Wasn't much on pulling skirts off and on to change colors anyway. Too much risk of putting a hook through my finger! Instead I prefer to cut and retie for different colors. I'm also funny about the head matching the skirt, it's not enough for the skirt to be white when I want a white bait, the head and skirt both need to be white. Same with any other color I fish. I mostly use Booyah baits cause they're built well and have bright vivid colors. I also am lucky enough to live 5 minutes from a tackle store that sells their "house brand" of spinnerbaits that they make up from premade frames and painted heads that they put their own combination of blades on and offer for sale for less than $4. They have tons of colors and they are a high quality bait with a needle sharp hook. I'm amazed they sell them that cheap so I get those and fish them a lot. They're cheap to replace when lost or torn up. I get colors in them that aren't for sale by the branded spinnerbait companies, even colors that custom match the hatch for around here. The titanium frame on the Terminator is a nice idea though. Breakage on the baits I use though really has never been an issue. Can't think of a single time that's ever happened.

Might even be the line making the noise. I have one reel right now that is in need of new line and it's currently starting to make a frying sizzling noise as I cast it. Line is low on the spool, when I cast out I can see the shadows of the perforations in the spool after the cast is complete. Got fluorocarbon on it, don't know if that would be an issue getting into the core line on the spool like I am now but all the rest of my reels don't make that noise and they have pretty much full spools compared to this one.

Carrot Stix have been a hot topic around here in the past. Seems quality was an issue. I've never used one but they are very light in weight. I've read too much bad stuff about them recently for me to ever try one now.

With that action and power it sounds like the crankbait version with TC-4 construction. Maybe a CPCC66MHB??

Man, nobody likes hot sauce do they?? What's it good for then.........nachos and cheese?? ;D

I picked up a 7.1:1 reel earlier this year too, but just for fishing worms and jigs only. Lures I'd use the rod to fish and use the reel for taking in line only, either for a charging fish or for quick retrieve after fishing through the strikezone. I won't allow myself to fish too fast with it cause of the baits I fish with it and how I fish them. I mostly just wondered why the trend was to make a ton of fast reels and then increase the speeds yet again. I'm seeing now that a lot of reel lines don't include anything below the 6.x range as I flip through the BPS catalog and Cabela's too. A few have a 5.x model, but a lot start at 6.x and go up from there. Hardly any have a model less than a 5 ratio anymore. Not that I really need less than a 5 (although I see a couple of cranking reels in the 4's and 3's) but I don't want the 5's to go away either.

They felt like they'd be a decent budget reel for spinnerbaits and crankbaits but the graphite frame puts me off. I've had issues with reels on graphite frames not casting as well as aluminum framed reels do so for finesse fishing plastics I'd probably look elsewhere. Now if you got a great closeout deal and would like to try them, well then that's a great way to see how they'd be without too much expense.

I can't really talk about the Clarus without talking about the Compre also. I looked long and hard at the Clarus before going with the Compre in the end instead. The medium powered Clarus rods I thought felt very similar to the Compre while standing in the store. However the medium heavy models were noticeably heavier in hand and felt less refined than the Compre medium heavy models did (I hate that I resorted to using the words less refined because the Clarus really is a good rod for it's price). In my case I felt that the $30 that separated them in price ($70 vs. $100) was not enough to prevent me from getting the better rod between the two, especially since they would be my first venture into the "better" rod market and I wanted to get the best I could afford. I was on a budget too and really wanted to stay in the $70 range but I went ahead and went up for the Compre anyway and I have to say I could not be happier. However, if someone were to decide they simply did not want to spend anymore than what the Clarus costs, then I also would have to say there is NO OTHER ROD that I would have BUT a Clarus. The warranty can't be beat, and I do think they are a really good rod in the medium powers. I still feel the medium heavy models are too heavy weight wise, but some may like that. I guess what I'm trying to say is they are good rods for $70, really they're excellent rods. But for $100, there's another level of performance that's not that far away in terms of price. Check out the Compre rods also if you haven't already. They are really light weight and very sensitive with the fluorocarbon line I'm using.

I fish the Compre in a 6'6" length too. What model did you get?? Mine are medium and medium heavy with fast tips, the CPC66MB and CPC66MHB. They are the first rods I've ever owned that are what I consider "high end". Prior to them I've always fished $50 and less rods. All I can say is what a difference and I wish I had back the 12 years I wasted and all the money too that I spent on all those other rods!!! I'm a Shimano fan for life now.

The main reason line spools loosely onto a spinning reel is that the lure doesn't provide enough resistance to pull it tight as you reel it in. Try a spinnerbait or crankbait and it will spool up tighter. Otherwise, after a while of fishing the worm you may have to make what I call a "maintenance" cast where you aren't actively trying to fish on that cast, just cast it out and pinch the line between your fingers and reel it in for a tight wrap on the spool. Then go back to fishing again. I use 10 pound mono on my President (6735 size). It lays on just fine, but normally I do use 8. I only went with 10 to have a little more strength. Next time I respool, it'll be fluorocarbon in an 8 pound size. I've found that fluorocarbon is MUCH stronger than mono this past season. Can't hardly break the stuff so I don't need the extra 2 pounds of pull on the mono now. Now I can go back to 8 pound and get longer casts again.

I was just on Quantum's site and they have a KVD reel with ratios of 6.6:1 and 7.3:1. Seems reels have gotten faster and faster as time goes by. I would think there's such a thing as too fast.

Where I live at I have about 7 Walmarts to choose from and very rarely I'll find a gem hidden amongst what they sell. It ain't no diamond, but it ain't always a lump of coal either. ;D

If you're happy then that's great. So....they might not be the best in the world, but for $35 they're worth that for sure.

I did that a couple of times and hurt my hand some but never budged the motor so I quit before I hurt it to the point that I couldn't fish. Maybe I'm just weak. That motor is the hardest thing to move I've ever seen. I might have been able to put enough power into it to have moved it but the bad thing is the shaft on mine is so long that in order to hold up the hooking mechanism and still hit the head like you say I have to really stretch so I'm unable to hit it with enough force to move it. I think the shaft on mine is about as long as they come (can't remember actual length). When it's in the yard here at home and I have it in the deploy position, the head is equal in height to me and the motor is only off the ground less than a foot. I'm 6'1" tall. It's a long shaft for sure. Got a good deal on it and it was the only length available when I bought it so I took it despite it being so long. It's probably made for a pontoon but I have it on a V-hull boat.

WOW!! Thanks for that advice. I'll look at that immediately. My ring might be way to close too the motor cause I do notice that when I pull it up into stow position that I have to pull on it quite forcefully to make it latch into place. And even though the hook will freely lift off of it, it won't budge when pushing it to deploy it. I was afraid to push down too much on the shaft. I had tried that but it just seemed to bend and not really help to "pry" the motor up any. But thanks for the advice, I'll try it all and see what works.

I have a Minn Kota Power Drive PD55 and it's a wonderful motor when I'm using it, but whenever I have to stow it to run to the next stop and then deploy it again it is nearly impossible to get it out of the cradle and into the water again. Is there anything I can use on the cradle to make it slide easier?? Or file it down some maybe (this motor was expensive, I'd hate to do that)?? Today while on the water, out of pure frustration, I used Berkley Powerbait from a bottle, just poured it right onto the cradle. It made it slick and slimy for a bit but didn't seem to help any at all. My wife suggested wax or soap to make it come out easier. I've never seen anything so hard to get out of the stow position before. I mean outright HEAVING against it to make it budge and then it gives all at once and you nearly go overboard with it!!!

I was recently told that you want your cavitation plate on your motor to be equal to or below (though not too much below) the bottom of the transom, not above it. The cavitation plate is the part where you would mount a hydrofoil if you had one on your motor. Hope that helps. You could take a measurement from the motor's mounting bracket down to the cavitation plate to see if it would be long enough.

Coming from someone who has done this before (twice!), take it from me, that's a big job, but when you're finished it'll be one of the most rewarding things you have ever done. I fished from mine today and recalled how nasty it was for the first 2 summers I owned it until early in 2008 I said to my wife that we have to gut this out and redo the whole thing. Now my boat is like new and it's a pure pleasure to fish from. We had the best time today. Good luck on that project, what a deal that was for what you paid. I didn't get mine that cheap, but it was a lot newer than yours so I didn't expect it to be anyway. By the way, since you are doing wiring, here's a tip.....run at least 6 gauge wire for your trolling motor. That should be good for a variety of sizes in thrust, at least 55 for sure, that's what mine is and it was recommended to use 6 gauge, which I did, and I've had no problems at all with blown fuses or tripped circuit breakers since (I use a 50 amp circuit breaker on mine). Before I redid my boat, I had 10 gauge wire and a 36 pound thrust motor and I blew 30 amp fuses all the time cause the wire would get too hot.

Whoa, now that's a good deal!

The anti reverse keeps the gear from turning backwards when you set the hook and keeps the spool from turning backwards too (really forward I should say). But the spool should be able to slip some before the line breaks so you don't lose a fish. So.....the drag washers are where it slips at. The friction there allows a controlled slippage so it doesn't just fly out on you. That's why you don't want any oil or grease on them cause they would slip way too easily that way.

My Extremes actually do have a bearing underneath the cast control knob, where yours looks like it only has a bushing made out of nylon instead. No matter though. Every reel is made differently.

Yeah, I'd have to go new. Never have been able to purchased used and enjoy it as well. I have a friend who sees nothing wrong with that at all, doesn't understand why everything I own has to be new. And he's gotten some amazing deals over the years but I never could get comfortable with the idea of something being used. Especially with fishing stuff, so many people sell used reels and they are only a few months old but they have boat rash all over them. I can't stand that! None of my reels have a mark on them except the one that I scratched up some the other day cause I thought I was going to lose that fish in my avatar.......and ever since I scratched it up it's been about to kill me, to the point I've considered selling it and replacing it.

I don't expect the E to go down in price, as a matter of fact if I was to go with it then I'd just pay full price and forget it. I don't want to pay full price on a D though since I know it should now be discounted due to the E rolling out and making the D obsolete. The D looks like a great reel that is solid built, but just knowing that it should be less, or that I could have the "improved" version for the same money would keep me from buying it at full price, no matter how much I liked it. And I do like it. What's up with the new E having one less bearing than the D though?? Where are the bearings located in it?? That might be a question for Bantam1 instead.