ChiCityBasser

Another nice catch and yeah that kitty is huge

Thanks Paul and you are right after checking out the link and yeah he might since no one really fishes the pond. Don't think there are any bass there big enough to make a meal out of it either.

He actually did outfish me that day with him catching 2 Bass and the Bluegill and dad catching 0 for the day. The one time I don't mind being outfished at all

Thanks guys and He caught 3 altogether that day with his second bass being much smaller. He's 9 and had to fish with my 6'6" rod and larger reel than he normally is used to but handled it well. Caught then on a custom painted crank and both fish were released right after the pics.

Nice fish and great post

These pics are from 10/25/09 when me and my son Bryan were out at a small rentention pond. He normally goes fishing with me and I usually cast out and he will wait for a bluegill bit on a worm. So far he has caught plenty of small bluegill that way. Well this day I decided to take him out but didn't have his rod n reel so let him use my rod and reel and a shallow crank with no success because he had the lure running to high. I switched to a 2-5' medium crank and grabbed my rod and walked about 10 ft from him to cast. He call over and says I got one dad and that is the Bass he caught and same thing for the bluegill. All on his own and I know the pic of the bass is not great but it was close to 2lbs. Now he wants another rod and reel lol

Haven't used one myself but thinking of getting one. Cabelas Prodigy PDC705-1 7' MH/MF 1/4-1oz Right at $99.99

After reading an article about Graphite vs Glass Cranking rods and missing several fish on a graphite rod I switched over to an old Daiwa D Shock Graphite rod to use as a crankbait rod. The misses on the graphite may have been my fault do to dull hooks or setting the hook to quickly with braid as well. Now that I'm using the Glass rod I feel my hookups have been better even with the braid. The rod is actually the same orange color as the "carrot stix" and matched with a BPS Viper in the same burnt orange color. The rod is a 6'6" rod and since they don't make it anymore and I'm looking for a 7' rod I guess I will be going with a custom glass/combo rod for next year

At that price its a great reel

I would check out ebay with a couple of sellers having Kistler rods on clearance and some going for less than $100. There was an Alton Jones Crankbait rod there with the bidding starting at $49.95 + $21.95 shipping that didn't get not one bid. Another seller had a couple of the Quantum Energy rods for right around $70 as well with shipping. Hope that helps

Loomis may be the pinnacle of rods as some have said but I have never owned one so I can't say. The pinnacle for me in rods is my Cabelas XML and XMLTi. As far as the reels go Quantum is the pinnacle for me and yes I know they get a bad wrap here but my Quantum Kinetic is every bit as smooth as my Shimano Sahara. I have the New Catalyst PTI-B spinning reel and it was every bit as smooth as the Shimano Saros I was comparing it with. I haven't fished the Catalyst but I have fished both the Sahara and Kinetic for the last year and the Kinetic is every bit as good. No knock on Shimano or any other brand but I like what works for me and works well.

I would go with either the Quantum Catalyst or the Cabelas Prodigy(which I believe is on sale for around $70) it's made by Daiwa for Cabelas. I own the Prodigy and its a pretty good reel for the price point and even better on sale and kinda like the BPS reel the others are talking about.

I have several Quantum reels and haven't had a problem out of any of them after a couple years usage. I have the Accurist PT and it is working just fine and I also have last years Energy and not a problem out it either. On the spinning side I have the older Gray Catalyst PTI-A, a Kinetic PTI-B and Catalyst PTI-B(hasn't seen water yet) but for the reels that have they have performed great. I also have a used Blue Quantum Incyte(don't know what year it was produced)but it also works great. I also have a Shimano Sahara(spinning), a Cabelas Prodigy(BC), a BPS Viper(spinning), Rainbow BM1000(spinning) and Pflueger Trion(Spinning) to compare them against and love the way my Quantums perform. Next up for me is either the Catalyst or Energy (BC) with a Quantum rod.

Great Response

After reading this thread and some of the responses it seems I have gone a bit too far as well. I fish from the bank/shore 95% of the time and have 10 outfits. I have 3 BC either 6'6" or 7' MH rods with one 7' Heavy rod with no reel. I have 7Spinning outfits from ML to MH from 6'6" to 7' with 3 rods with no reels on them. Fishing from the shore I really only carry 2 rods maybe 3 when I go out so some equipment is seldom used. I have a brand New in Box Pflueger reel that has never seen line or a rod. I have a new Catalyst Spinning reel that I feel demands a Custom Crank bait rod and want another Custom BC rod for a reel I have yet to buy and I still want more. Guess the Bait Monkey is alive and well with lots of people, myself included. Yes I have gone too far n guess its time for a sale...LOL ....Nah

I agree and Cabelas has a great return policy if u aren't satisfied

They all can't be gems but my Accurist is working fine after a good year of usage with no problems.

I had the Megaforce and it worked just fine and is 7.x:1 reel but most of the comments I have seen on the reel weren't the greatest. I now have a last years Accurist PT and like it much better than the Megaforce. The New Accurist I'm sure would also be a good step up as well.

I agree with The Natural on 8lb being the max on spinning gear. I use 6lb also on a one of my spinning rigs.

I agree on it being good advice and I still have my Prodigy B/C after getting a very inexpensive Shakespeare B/C as my first one.

6'6" Cabelas Mag Touch Quantum Catalyst PTi-A20 PLine CXX Xtra Strong 8#

After fishing with my 9 yr old this weekend and watching him hook and reel in a nice 2-2.5lbs LM and one of the biggest Bluegill I have ever seen outside of the Cabelas tank, I don't think a hard hookset is necessary all the time either. He hooked both fish using my 6'6" Diawa rod with basically no hookset. He cast out and I told him he needed to reel in the crankbait a little faster to get the right action. As he hit a clump of weeds he said he felt like he had a fish and as I went to help him I noticed the water swirling and told him to just reel it in and lift the rod. He did I saw he hooked a fish and as the fish got closer to the bank fighting I noticed how large it was. He never set the hook and just lifted the rod. He caught a nice 2-2.5lbs LM and caught the Bluegill basically the same way. No hookset and made a very happy day for him and I'll post the pics later.

I think you will be fine with the Sahara 1000 as well. I have one on a 7' ML Cabelas XML rod with Spiderwire 20 = 6 and haven't had a problem with it at all. Great Reel for the money.

Just got a responce on the Kistler site in regards to the rods I was thinking bout and seems the Magnesium MgAPM70S is out of stock and won't be continued in the Kistler lineup for 2010. Trey Kistler recommended the Argon ASWTW69S as the best rod of the 2 for using with shallow and medium diving crankbaits. Since it's on sale at Cabelas I'll be checking it out either tonight or saturday to see what it feels like. Thanks for your input as well Uncle Leo

Only as often as needed after the line has run low on the spool and since most of my reel usage is with spinning reels I never have them completely fill the spool.