The Rooster

Well did you get the rod or am I gonna be seeing this on the news here in a little while?? "Two men met at a rest stop along the corridor of highway ____ in what appeared to be the sale of a fishing rod when one suddenly started horsewhipping the other one with the "fake" GLX rod in an attempt to get away with the victim's wallet. A nearby tourist caught the whole thing on tape......film at 11:00."

I live right in the tri-state area of Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky. I reside in Kentucky. OH is separated from the other two states by the Ohio river. Then KY is separated from WV by the Big Sandy river. So it's like a big Y shaped body of water, more or less. You can fish from the banks on either side of the Ohio river with either a KY license or an OH license along the stretch of the river that's between those two states, but you cannot fish up any tributaries of the river, only to the mouths of those tributaries along the main body of the river. So no matter which state you live in, KY or OH, get that state's license and you are good on either side of the river from shore, and also in a boat as well. There is a similar agreement between OH and WV, either state's license is good along the river between those two states, but one slight difference is that you can also fish upstream in the tributaries along that stretch of river to the first riffle, unlike the KY/OH agreement where it's just the main body only. Then you have the Big Sandy river between KY and WV. Along this body of water, you cannot fish either side with either state's license. You can fish the river itself from a boat with either state's license but fishing from shore it's only from the banks of the state you are licensed in, either KY or WV, not both sides. So if a KY resident wants to fish on the WV banks, I have to buy a WV license to do that. If they want to come here to fish then they have to buy our nonresident license to do that. I don't know what the beef is between KY and WV, but it seems that OH is the only state that gets along with all of them. ;D Personally I'd like to see a NATIONAL license that could be purchased for a lifetime. I'd be willing to pay a $1000 for that but it probably won't happen in my lifetime.

Sebile Magic Swimmer?? :-? Don't know of any others but I'm getting several of these for Christmas to try out myself. Man they look great!!

Thank you. And I'm glad you like your Shimano reels. They seem to be excellent reels and I have nothing against them at all. If the Curado was more of the Citica's price then I probably would have had those instead. That's one sharp reel!!!

So which Shimano are you comparing it to? Surely not the Symetre or Stradic. No, those are spinning reels. I meant the Extreme baitcasting reel and I was comparing it to the Citica, and actually even the Curado too. Number of bearings wise, the Extreme beats the Citica and ties the Curado. I think the Extreme for $80 regular price, or $60 on sale is a much better buy and performs at the same level. Of course I can only compare it directly to the Curado D's the my brother in law has. We fished a lot together and side by side they were as near equal in ability as they could have been this year.

After your Shimano conversion I think you need to take a look at updating your signature!!! Yeah, I probably do need to put something in there about Shimano. I love their rods. Even the Covergence is a nice rod at it's price compared to a lot of others in the same range. My signature before this reflected my love for Pflueger reels only though. In my opinion Shimano makes some really nice reels but they cost too much for what you get compared to my BPS Extreme (made by Pflueger). And nothing but nothing will ever get me to use any spinning reels besides a Pflueger, better price or not. That is unless Pflueger scraps their current design on them and then I might have to look around for a new love. ;D

Aw wow, I can't believe no one suggested a Shimano Compre for $100 to go with the Shimano Curado you got. My brother in law has 5 of the D series Curados and he has them all on Compre rods. I'm getting 2 of them for Christmas as well. Good sensitive rods from what I've seen, and very light weight from feeling the one I already have here at the house leaning behind the Christmas tree (don't tell the wife I did that ). You got a good rod though, and for a lot less money than the Compre costs. Just for $75 to $100, I would have figured that one would have been mentioned since it's that price, a good rod, and also a Shimano. Oh well, hey, you just coming off of a 25 year hiatus away from bass fishing, you're gonna end up wanting more than one anyway so you can check them out later.

Congratulations!! A new reel always makes me feel giddy too!!

Just remember they are a really super free spool design so they can backlash easily if you don't have them set up right for the weight of bait you are throwing. Also the rod can affect it too if it isn't loading right, like say trying to throw a 1/4 oz. spinnerbait on a rod that's rated for only heavier lures. If it doesn't load right then it's gonna mess up your cast but good. Add that to an out of adjustment reel and you really got a mess!

I guess a person could count it as charitable contributions to their favorite fishing organization.........Y.O.U.R.S.E.L.F.. Think the I.R.S. would let you take that off of your taxes?? ;D

I think I might try one of the new Presidents this coming year Muddy. Watch for my review. I read where some don't like that red color but I kind of do like it. Also even though my blue Prez never torqued out of shape either, I like knowing I have an aluminum frame on the reel. Still though, the one blue one I have never was a problem either.

What are they?? They look like they're built on the new series 10 frame, shaped just like the new Pro Qualifier, handle and all. Incidentally, I have 3 Extremes and all of mine cast very well. At first they seem to be a chore to get dialed in right but once you work with them for a while then they line right out, it's all about the proper adjustments. They have such a free spooling design that it is very easy to backlash one until you get it set up right. Those reels look nice for $39. Are they graphite frames?? Looks like you have them on an Extreme rod.

In that case then my original post was on target. The President spinning reel I got early this year has a graphite frame but the new one has an aluminum frame.

Voided warranty on a Crucial would make both of my personalities mad. I've never owned a rod with a lifetime warranty before. This year coming I will have two since I am getting Compres for Christmas. My brother in law has 7 Compre rods and has broken 2 of them. The warranty came in handy for those. He has such a good relationship with the shop owner that he didn't even have to pay the $15 for each rod to be sent back. He got them replaced for free both times. Good luck in the modifications in the future. They do look sharp. Hope they fish as well as they look now with the new handle shapes.

As far as I can tell the new Prez is just like the old Medalist. Aluminum frame is about the only major difference in the two President models out right now, other than that red color on the new one. Then the crank handle on the new one is the large rubber knob while the old one still has the rosewood knob. I like them both. If I were to get another one I'd probably get the new one just because it has the aluminum frame over the graphite but I have no problems with the old one either. I like mine just fine.

Bass Pro Shops has their Extreme combos on sale right now for $100. That's pretty good for that combo. The reels are excellent, I have 3 of them, and the rod has the power hump you like. I don't have any of those rods now, I liked others better but I got the reels and paired them with others instead. Right now I'm getting into using Shimano Compre rods for my Extreme reels. But they are great reels. Good prices too. Something different than what you already have and yet still familiar if you get the combo with the power hump. They also have 3 different gear ratios for the reels so you get a good choice of what you want. That reel is available in 9 different models. Some with flippin switch, some without, some are smaller finesse models, there's a wide spool version too. Very smooth and very nice, aluminum framed reels with 7 bearings. I can't say enough about them, check them out!

I'm a lot like Catt in that last statement he made there. But as I have learned it, a higher speed reel like a 7.0:1 will help with certain presentations such as high speed buzzbait retrieval, and also can be convenient in fishing a jig or T-rig for when the presentation is done, you will have a quick retrieval to be ready for another cast a bit faster. Also it can be helpful to take up line quickly for when a bass takes the bait and then swims towards the boat before you get to set the hook. Reel in slack fast and then set the hook. Then of course a slower gear ratio such as a 5.4:1 will help with cranking a big crankbait down deeper. Things like that gives us a reason to have more than one ratio of reel in the boat. I like a 6.4:1 reel for most things though, seems to be enough of a speed increase over the slower 5.4:1 to help with the things I said above but also still allow me to slow down some to retrieve a crankbait with ease to get it down deeper. On the longer rods, they are supposed to help with things like casting distance, leverage to pull a fish out of cover, and setting a hook faster with less effort, or setting the hook better when the fish is in deep water. There's probably a few advantages to working some baits with longer rods too, but I simply don't know that much cause I dont' use any longer rods than what you have yourself. I like a 6'6" as about the maximum length for now. That is until I see any further need for extra length. Seems a 7' rod has too long of a handle and it's in my way more than anything. Might help with casting distance or setting the hook on a deep water bite, might even help with leveraging a fish out of heavy cover. But I think if it's in my way then I'm not going to get the benefits of the longer length cause I'm fighting the rod too much. If it's holding me back then I can't see any benefits of having it. So 6'6" is as long as I want for now.

That's great, keep them all. Buy more too, just buy them for ME!!

You did a classy looking job there, but what advantage would something like that be for someone like me who palms the reel while fishing a bait?? I wouldn't really make any contact with the blank of the rod with my hand other than my fingers touching the exposed blank under the reel seat that was there from the factory. Otherwise, it 's just a lot lighter than before. Is that the whole advantage of something like this??

AW WOW, those look great!!

They're on my programming and I watch it all the time. WELCOME!!!

Hi, my name is Duane and I have a problem... ...my problem is that I don't have your problem!!!

Uh.......yeah. Something like that. DAYUM those look sharp!!! Very professional. I'm stunned that someone can do that kind of work with just a brush and some paint. Hope mine come out looking that good. Did you get spinnerbaits that were unfinished and add your own blades or did you take some that were already made and just redo them?? I was thinking of getting some of the ones at Walmart for $1 each and repainting them, replacing the skirts for what I want them to be and just using the blades that are already on them but maybe replace the swivel with a ball bearing type. I already have some swivels here to use so the only money I'll have in them would be for the baits themselves and for the paint and skirt materials. Might be as much in then when finished as what I could pay for some really nice spinnerbaits but then again THESE will be really nice too, and they'll be EXACTLY what I want.

This is EXACTLY what I'm looking for. Thanks a million!! Now it's ON!!! I'm gonna have a boat load of custom spinnerbaits. No more buying baits I'm only half satisfied with. Now all I have to do is learn how to do some custom painting to match the heads to the skirts I'm gonna make!!! Thanks again.

I once had a fish blow up on a spinnerbait the second it hit the water. Fortunately I landed it. Was casting on a spinning rod and when he hit I cranked the bail shut (sinful I know) and hauled back on him and landed him. He was a keeper too at 15" long.