21farms

i was just looking at all of my rods. i noticed that the cork handles on my most expensive rods (lamiglas and g.loomis) have lots of pits on them whereas the cork on my cheaper rods have cork with much finer grain in them. so, from this, i assume that the 'better' cork is the one with more "grain" (for lack of a better term)? how does premium cork handle or wear compared to standard or cheap cork? is there even a difference? thanks.

back in the day, you couldn't mix different colored plastic worms together because the colors would come off onto each other. you also had to be careful to only let your plastic lures touch "worm proof" tackle boxes or they'd "melt" the plastic. is this still the case or are modern plastics used in lures different now? i always keep my plastic lures separated and stored in worm-proof boxes and bags so i don't know. thanks.

i have one. the other poster is correct...they can cast a mile. however, it's not particularly smooth on the retrieve. my black max and my pro max have already gotten a little noisy. still, for the price, a good value.

i have several new bags of stanley ribbit frogs. the packages say, "THE BEAD IN THIS BAG IMPROVES THE PERFORMANCE OF THE RIBBIT. rig it in-line above the nose of the frog. if you lose the bead, any glass bead from a carolina rig will do." my questions are: 1) bead...what bead? none of my bags of ribbit came with a bead inside them. did yours? 2) what does that bead do exactly? in other words, how does it improve the performance?

that's a misconception...you will actually feel MORE bites on a stiffer rod. that's because a whippy rod will absorb vibrations rather than sending them along the length of the blank. go stiffer. good luck.

berkley lightning rods! i have some pretty expensive rods now but i still love my lightning rods, one in particular. i have a 6' medium action trigger grip lightining rod paired with an inexpensive abu garcia black max and that combo casts amazingly far. i am not exaggerating: i can literally spool my reel on a cast (and i'm even using 30lb. braid). i've found that i actually prefer that rod for working ripbaits (e.g., lucky craft staysees) to my lamiglas XCF705R!

here's an update on my revo S: well, well, well! since my revo S was only a couple of months old and i've only used it a handful of times, i never thought to clean it. last night, upon close inspection, i found there was some sort of black, oily gunk on the raceway for the centrifigal brakes. it was being scraped up by the two brakes that were in the ON position. i cleaned everything up as best i could and, for safe measure, switched the brakes to a different pair, added a drop of reel oil on each end and closed 'er up. man, what a difference! i haven't been able to cast with it yet but just spinning the handle with my hand, it'll spin very freely...something it didn't do before so i'm pretty confident it'll cast well now. my other garcias all casted fine but my S is the only one that uses only centrifigal brakes so i thought that was the culprit. thanks to everyone to help me solve this. and, yes, i take back what i said about the S

loosen the largish screw on the top right of the reel, then rotate the left plate down and then pull out

i currently have 4 shimanos, 4 garcias, 6 daiwas, 2 quantums, and 1 BPS (by pflueger). i like 'em all but i'd peg my fav as the shimanos.

i haven't changed a thing with them...whatever number of brakes they had from the factory are still intact. i typically don't like messin' with the innards other than cleaning and lubing.

i don't have denatured alchohol but i did have a mr. clean magic eraser...works great! i meant to do only a couple of them but, once i got started, i couldn't stop...i did all 17 of them.

I'll have to tell my Revo Ss to stop handling light baits well. They cast 1/4 baits as well as my SCs, SXs and STXs. They must not have known they weren't suposed to do that. x2 i'm actually pretty perplexed by this. i can completely loosen the cast control knob on my revo S and press the spool release knob and try spinning the spool by hand and it won't go more than 4-5 revolutions before stopping whereas my other reels will spin so fast, i can't even count them. i've tried lubing it with quantum hot sauce but it hasn't helped. it's too late to return...i've had it for months. i guess my next step is to play with the display one at the local store and see if it spins more freely. if so, it looks like i'll have to send it in for a warranty repair. trust me, i want to like the S but it's been thoroughly underwhelming so far in terms of castability. if it turns out that i just have a lemon, i'll happily take back what i said.

just got back from sports chalet...you've actually got this wrong. the deal is: buy a citica for $120 and you get a shimano rod up to $70 for free. i can see how you thought that though because the ad only shows a big "$70" so it is confusing. still, a good deal.

hi all, any tips or advice on how to clean up the cork handles on my fishing rods? i know it's only cosmetic but some of mine are starting to look pretty ratty. thanks.

the only pflueger i have is one made by them for bass pro shops which BPS sells as the 'prolite finesse'. lemme tell ya, i love that little reel...it has a very different feel to it than all my other reels and really smooth and casts very well. i don't know anything about the echelon but pflueger does make quality products. abu garcia, like any company, has hits and misses...it's not the brand so much as the design and construction of the individual reel that matters.

definitely not the S...it doesn't handle lighter lures well. go you go with a revo, go STX.

river smallies? nah, that rod stinks at that...you better send it to me here in california seriously, it's very versatile. i've caught trout using it throwing a 1/4 oz. kastmaster. i've caught largemouth from 9" to 5.5 lbs. on it throwing a variety of plastics. you'll love it.

hey, did you just win that auction on ebay? if so, congrats! i was going to bid against you but my bid was too low. in answer to your question, i have the exact same rod and love it. have 17 rods and reels and, each time i go out, i pick 5-6 combinations to take with me depending on where i'm going and how i'll be fishing. this BPS finesse rod makes it each time because it is perfect for throwing the light lures when the bass are finicky. it can cast light lures very well and has a surprising amount of backbone.

the curado D series will be replaced by the curado E series. why the short life for the D series? for one, the 200-size was just plain too heavy. secondly, ABU garcia's new revos have 3-4x the drag power and were smaller and lighter and bit into the curado's market share. i think the new E curados will address all these things.

spinning: when casting 1/8 oz. or lighter lures when casting 1/4 oz. or lighter lures into the wind when you need a straight vertical drop (i.e., when darterheading) when you need extreme distance in your casts casting: all other times

i just won an ebay auction for the crucial rod i've been eyeing, so NOW it is safe for me to chime in ;D i LOVE, LOVE, LOVE crucial rods! i have gloomis, lamiglas, daiwas, BPS, other shimanos, etc. but the crucials are my fave. i can't put my finger on what it is about them either. fish with one and see for yourself.

this was just asked not too long ago...see: http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1209483961

the 100 is a good choice. the idea of a drilled spool is sexy but i don't know that it makes much (if any) difference in terms of how far you can cast. just look at the BPS david fritts baitcasters...the marketing lingo says that the "slightly heavier spool...generates incredible inertia on the cast" so they claim a heavier spool is a Good Thing ;D fwiw, my 100DSV will handily outcast my revo S. something i don't like about drilled spools is how it kinks the first 20-30 yards of line wrapped around the arbor. as for bearing count, that is more of a marketing-thing than anything else and, ultimately, not that important. if the number of bearings weren't emblazoned on the reels themselves, you'd never be able to tell by using them. btw, most websites list the 100DSV as 7.4 ounces...that is incorrect. it is really 7.9 oz. if you go to shimano.com, you'll see the correct specs. i weighed mine on a postal scale and it comes in right at 7.9 oz.

here ya go

the 200's drilled spool isn't that drilled! ;D the 100 is significantly lighter and castability is excellent. i bought both and haven't even spooled line on my 200 yet because i like the 100 so much. go ahead and buy the 100 and if you feel it is too small, i trade you straight up for my 200.