Goose52

From Grunt to Helos. Musta got tired of being left at the LZ - better to drop the Grunts at the LZ and then get to leave right away...

Most of the people on the board have never heard of that reel. The FEW that might know about that reel and can share some experience might not have come by yet. THEN, there might be a few people that DO know about that reel but want nothing more to do with it and are hiding... Me, I own 20 Ambassadeur round reels and I know nothing about the Eons...

A common threat in my era (even in the Marines) was "pack your trash, you're going to Adak"...

Marine - 8 years 2 months active, 2 years reserves 1970 - 1981

I think the key word here is "cheaper line". As I mentioned above, I start with a full spool of flouro or braid but eventually, due to trimbacks or whatever, I will be adding backing. I'm not going to throw away $10 or $15 dollars worth of mainline after some trimbacks. The key is to of course use a good knot, but also "good enough" backing in the event that you think you have a chance to connect with a fish much larger/heavier/stronger than your targeted species. OTOH, some folks fish places where it's unlikely to catch anything very large so the quality of the backing is of less importance - it's just basically a filler, or perhaps you could call it an "arbor" to keep your adequate (for purpose) amount of mainline at the top of the reel spool. For me, I occasionally connect with something larger than LMB so I do give thought to my backing. Nowadays, I tend to use 15lb Big Game under whatever mainline I have (or, as I mentioned above, I might have braid as the backing). I have found that in my, mostly open, water that 15 BG is adequate for those unexpected "collateral catches". In the past, I even used lighter backing...but it was relatively good line. These were caught the same day on 10 lb mainline with 12 lb backing - seemed to work ...

I've been watching this "eagle cam" for a while now, since it first went on-line back in November (or so). At first, you'd see the pair of bald eagles come and go, improving the nest. Some days they'd be gone all day (fishing I expect...and probably catching more fish than me ). Just recently, one eagle has always been on the nest - never being gone for more than a few minutes. I'm no expert on "eagle affairs" but I'm thinking there might be a couple eggs down in the nest now. I check out this live feed a couple times a day and it's pretty cool, Should be even more interesting in the coming months when there are one or two little ones in the nest. Anyway - just thought I'd share the link.

Good strategies all... Me, I gave up on trying to calculate cast lengths or otherwise figure out how to apportion out a filler spool. I have my "brands" selected for braid and flouro and I buy bulk spools. I fill the reel completely full with the braid or flouro and then due to trimbacks or whatever I'll get to the point where I'll add backing to bring the reel spool back up to full. Eventually, after adding enough backing, on a long cast you will hit your backing knot. At that time, I pull the remaining line off the reel; the remnant of flouro goes in the trash, the remnant of braid is used as backing.

Hi Manuel - I don't know what cranking rods you have available for sale in Spain or whether you are ordering from the United State. Anyway, most of my cranking rods are from three series: (1) Bass Pro Shops Crankin' Stick, (2) St. Croix Rage, and (3) St. Croix Legend Extreme. The BPS Crankin' Stick is still being made but the St. Croix Rage and Legend Extreme models that I have are discontinued. So, since I do not have any personal experience with any other CURRENT models that are around $150 I can't give a recommendation. You might want to start a new thread about options for cranking rods. ALSO, you might want to think about whether you want a graphite, fiberglass ("glass"), or composite cranking rod. If you start a new thread you will get lots of recommendations !

Uh - I'm not sure that there are "tons of mods" for the Eon series as I don't think there is much interchangeability between the Eons and the "Classic" Ambassadeurs. Could be though - I don't pay much attention to the Eon series. Also - there was a USDM Eon that was sorta inexpensive...and a JDM Eon Pro that was a whole 'nother animal and much more spendy. Do you know which Eon is for sale? Anyway, here's a thread from last year on the (standard) Eon 3600:

Si / yes. The GLX MBR843C has a soft enough tip to work with small to medium crankbaits. Before buying a special cranking rod, try your 843C first. The rod is not optimized for crankbaits, but it will work well enough. If you start using crankbaits often, then perhaps at some time you will want to buy a special rod.

A good, serviceable rod and I've caught a lot of fish on mine (including a lot of bottom-contact). I bought a total of 9 Extremes over the years - 7 of them were of the generation shown in the below photo with the attractive (to me) green basketweave pattern. I also have 2 travel rods from the generation after that. I broke my trusty and much-used 7' mf casting rod but I still have and occasionally use the other 8. I bought all of them on sale for prices ranging from $40 to $70. BUT, when the Carbonlite rods were introduced at the same list price as the Extreme ($100) - it was "game over" for the Extreme as far as I was concerned. Spinning 6'6" 3 M 4 – 12 1/8 - 1/2 BPS Extreme - Travel $66s 6'8" 1 M 4 – 12 1/8 - 1/2 BPS Extreme $40 7’ 2 MH 6 – 17 1/4 - 5/8 BPS Extreme $70 7'6" 1 M 8 – 17 1/4 - 5/8 BPS Extreme $60 Casting 6’ 1 ML 6 – 14 1/16 - 1/2 BPS Extreme $70 6'6" 3 MH 10 – 20 3/8 - 3/4 BPS Extreme - Travel $66s 7’ ext 1 MH 10 – 20 3/8 - 1 BPS Extreme $60 7'6" 1 H 10 – 30 3/8 - 2 BPS Extreme $60 As John said above, the Bionic Blade is not a bad rod (I have 4 of them) and is a good candidate in the BPS line-up if you're looking at a price-point below the Carbonlites. AND, as always with BPS stuff, WAIT for the sale...

Hola, bienvenidos a Bass Resource! The MBR 843C is a VERY versatile rod. The MBR-series rods have a lot of power lower in the blank, but have a fairly soft tip. So, they can be used for MANY techniques. They can be used for bottom-contact (worms, craws, small jigs, etc.), for single-hook baits like spinnerbaits, bladed swim jigs (chatterbaits), buzzbaits, etc., and can even be used for shallow to mid-depth crankbaits. The MBR-843 may not be the best, most optimized, rod for all of those techniques, but it is unique in that it performs all of those techniques very well. I always have at least one MBR-type rod with me in the boat because they are so versatile. Que te diviertas !

I had one site bookmarked that was pretty good and when I just launched the link my AV program identified it as containing malware so I bailed out. (It was Mitchellreelmuseum.com). Don't have anything else bookmarked so you might want to Google it...

Some earlier threads on this "boat"... http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/search/?&q=ultraskiff&type=forums_topic&nodes=10 As I mentioned in one of those earlier threads: "I'll have to admit that I haven't read the "advertising copy" on that boat to learn what the claimed benefits are...but from the photos it just looks like an "answer to a question that no one asked"..."

To each his own...ya gotta use the gear that you're comfortable with (for whatever reason)... I still occasionally fish a made-in-France Mitchell 408 that I've now owned for 50 years. It works, is smooth, and gets the job done. BUT, the aggravating thing about using these early Mitchells (for those of us accustomed to using modern spinning reels) is the lack of manual bail close. Unless you want to try to pry out the little bolt that holds the bail open...the only way to close the bail is to crank the handle. This induces some additional unnecessary line twist and is a general pain in the butt. My muscle memory is to reach up and manually close the bait at the end of the cast and that doesn't work for the old Mitchells. Otherwise, they are nifty reels...

No doubt that the Met MGL is a top-notch, light, smooth, all-around reel (I have one on an NRX 893C). It probably is hard to go much better for a general purpose reel that suits most needs. BUT, there are other high-end reels that that would be competitive in their own niches. Just sticking to Shimano - the Met DC gives you all the advantages of the standard Met with the addition of DC braking. Then there's the Antares and Antares DC that give what some feel is the ultimate in long-distance casting. There are the Conquests for the round reel fans. I'm not much of a high-end Daiwa guy (although I have a Ryoga 1016 and a PX Type R) so I can't speak to what's at the top of that pyramid. Anyway, lots of neat stuff out there to play with if you want to go in that direction. OR, for just all-around fishing performance, just keep building up the fleet of Met MGLs. Me, I like variety and a couple years ago I made a decision to try to limit high-end reel purchases to a single example of a reel model. There is always something "new and improved" around the corner and I like to try them out and not have to worry about selling off a squadron of earlier model reels to make room for the latest gear. You pays your money and you takes your choice...

The Pflueger Presidents are made in China so scratch that. You might visit a shop that has Shimano Sahara spinning reels and check out the box for the country of origin. It's a good reel in the right price range. If you are bound and determined to blast back to the 80s, take a look at the Shakespeare Sigma 2200ck models. They were a top-notch reel back then and were made in Japan. I fished with them from the 80s up through about 5 years ago or so before I moved over to mostly Pfluegers. One down-side of the Sigmas is that they don't have instant anti-reverse - instead having the old ratchet and dog mechanism. Another down-side is that they are starting to fetch "collector" prices instead of "fishing" prices - which means it would probably be better to find a current production reel... I bought a few Sigmas over the years...

This has come up before - can't recall if it was here or over on Tackle Tour. In any event, the feedback was that there were no re-gearing options for the Calcutta 50B. NOW, there are still some presentations that go well with that 16IPT - slow-rolling spinnerbaits deep, chatterbaits, cranking in cold water, etc. I have two JDM 50XTs with that IPT and I use them quite a bit for those slower presentations. 50-size round reels are fun - I have the two 50XTs, a CTE-50GT, and two Conquest 50s - very nifty reels...

Japan Tackle had the kit for the 7.7:1 conversion but presently out of stock...

I might offer $75 for a BNIB Carbonlite. BUT, I wouldn't offer over $65 or so for one in excellent condition with little to no wear to the brake drum and brake shoes. If the drum or shoes are worn, I wouldn't make an offer at all. See this post and the following posts in this thread:

I never ordered a new spool and kept running the old spool with the worn brakes. I have a feeling that they quoted something like $30 or so and I decided to pass.

Just a follow-up of this thread... I scored a fairly good deal on some laboratory calibration weights on eBay - a set of eight 500 gram weights (~1.1 pounds each). I haven't a clue as to what tolerance "class" these weights would be in but I imagine they are accurate to something less than a gram. These weights allow for load testing my digital scales in 1.1 pound increments up to approximately 8.8 pounds (4 kilograms). I tested Unit number 1 at every increment from 500 grams to 4000 grams. The scale read dead-on at each increment. I then added my 9.804 lb test weight to the stack for a calculated weight (in pounds) of 18.618 - the scale read 18.63 pounds (0.2 ounce heavy). I then tested my other three units (at 1000 gram increments) and the biggest deviation was unit number 4 at 4000 grams where it read 4020 grams (0.7 ounces heavy) Unit 1 at 4 kilograms: Unit 1 at 18.618 pounds: Documented results: FOUR bucks each. Scary accurate. Good enough for me...

Sorry for the delayed response - I assumed that some of the folks that had DIY'd some outriggers would chime in. As you know, my outriggers are "store-bought" and you are looking for a DIY solution. About all I can contribute is that my floats are closed-cell foam, 25" long, and 6" in diameter. So, to get the same flotation as my rig, it looks like you would need TWO of those buoys per side (roughly...). Another thing, unless the outriggers are somewhat hydrodynamically optimized like these, the floats will add quite a bit of drag if they touch the water while you are motoring - something to think about as you are designing your rig. In my case, my rig provides for vertical adjustment of the floats and I keep them a couple inches above the water when the boat is trimmed laterally, so I have no drag when motoring (or paddling). This photo shows the floats above the water while I'm under power:

The "key" (driveshaft slot) on the sleeve should be outboard (handle side).

I've tinkered with PQs quite a bit but never had a squeak after assembly. On the AR bearing, all I use for lube is to put some oil on a q-tip and run it lightly over the rollers just before assembly. I also usually run the same q-tip around the sleeve washer as well. However, I'll defer to the real reel experts on the proper way to service the AR bearing...