jeb2

Good point on the durability. They do get ugly kind of fast, even just catching bass. And I broke a hook off of one the other day, no idea how. I also had the tail end of one bust off. The local bait shop has a guy that replaces the lip on them for like $5. They say that's a common problem with them, although it has not happened to me (yet).

I hear you there. We don't have any of those toothy critters here in NW Ark, but I spent 2 months fishing in Wisc last summer, and lived in MN for 35 years. I lost more lures to those d**n pike last summer than I do in a year of fishing here. I wouldn't tie on a $25 lure up there w/o a steel leader, that's for sure. The 110's do work well, though. I finally broke down and bought "one" a month or so ago. Now I have 8 or so. I hate that they work, but it's hard to argue with success.

+1. I have a pair of those for my Skeeter. They've been great. No issues with them at all. I bought Springfield brand telescoping posts for them from Cabela's, too.

Cabela's usually has some in their Bargain Cave area in their stores. Not sure if they'd have them online, though. The rub is that it's usually stores in the south that would have north chips in the bargain cave, and stores up north would have the south ones.

The Caldia is not a normally stocked item at BPS. It was one of those deals where they bought out the JDM inventory of them from Diawa as Diawa was coming out with a new model. That was the same deal on the Certate I also got from BPS. So a deal that doesn't come around often, at least from BPS.

I feel for you guys. I was in the corporate grind for 32 years. But the best revenge is to retire early so you can fish all you want.

I agree, very good reel. I bought one last June at a BPS in Iowa and it's been a very good reel. Has bearings in all the right places, good drag, durable finish, etc. Since them, I've also purchased a Diawa Certate and a Shimano Stella. I know those are better reels, at least in specs. But the reality is they don't fish any better for me than the Caldia. The Stella is slightly lighter, but I really don't notice it. I'm glad I own all these nice reels and all, but I just don't see where the money is in the high end spinning reels. With my high end baitcasters, I get. Very light, digital controls, etc are noticeable differences.

That's not going to get any better either. Arkansas just passed a law that says any online company doing more than $10k a year in business with Ark residents has to charge sales tax now, regardless if they have a brick and mortar store in the state or not. I hear some online retailers are saying that is illegal, but I doubt that it is. We all got a break on that for a long time with online sales. But I think that gravy train is coming to an end.

I think that depends on exactly what you're comparing. My BCR803 GLX's have been my gold standard for bottom contact baits for a while now. Rigs and jigs, they are just d**n hard to beat. And I've tried with other BCR GLX's, MBR GLX's, Dobyn's DX's, etc. Those are all excellent rods, but none can match the 803's for feeling a bait down 20-40', in my experience. My NRX803 does seem to be a match for them, but no more, as far as sensitivity and overall rod action. The NRX is for sure noticeably lighter, which alone may be worth the extra price to many. And it's certainly no insult to the NRX803 to be "just" a match to the 803 GLX's I own. That's some great company to be in.

I've tried a bunch, but the good old Zoom Finesse worm still has the most catches for me on a shakey head.

I had a lot of trouble spending $200 on my first high end stick. I was in the store for hours comparing rods, talking to sales folks, etc. I finally talked myself into it (Loomis Shakey Head spinning rod). My fishing success immediately took a big step up. I was fishing the same water, with the same baits, with the same partner in the back of the boat. Before buying that rod, we were about even in fish count at the end of the day. But I started to steadily blow him away with the new rod. Like 4 to 1 or more advantage. It was really that dramatic. I realized I was setting the hook on fish he was never even feeling, or feeling too late. I had no problems at all spending more on higher end rods after that. I fish a lot of deeper, bottom contact baits. Shakey heads, jigs, rigs, etc. Usually in 20-40'. I personally think the added sensitivity is well worth it.

The black plastic part has to little legs on it. Those fit into detents on the reel to keep it from turning.

Wifi for sure uses battery faster on my Evo.

I agree the free google nav app works well. But it has serious limitations. If you're roaming, none of them will work. And it's hard to input waypoints, or footprints as Google calls them. I'd like to import all my waypoints from my Garmin devices to footprints on my phone, but have not found a way to do it easily. I need to search for an independent GPS program, like Garmin's Mobile XT. I had that on my WinMo phone. You have to load maps to the SD card, but it worked if you were roaming or had no signal at all. The Zagg shield is very nice. I have used a bunch on my older smartphones, on the Garmin's, on the wife's Evo, on the Humminbirds, etc. And I actually have one for my Evo sitting unused. I planned to use it, but the Otterbox came with a shield so I figured I might as well try it. It's been as good as the Zagg so far, and I have 3+ months on it. No complaints about it.

Try searching on some of the good smartphone sites like http://forum.xda-developers.com and ppcgeeks.com for ways to improve your battery life. I have an Evo and find the battery life to be very good, but only after shutting a lot of stuff off when it's not needed. I like the Otterbox. I have the Commuter and it comes with a screen cover. I had a Body Glove at first, but didn't like it. I like the combination hard and soft cover this commuter has much better.

I have several 6.4's and 7's. I really don't notice much, if any difference, between them. The only time I pay attention to it all is if I'm wanting to burn a crankbait to trigger bites, then I'll go for one of the 7's. But that is not very often at all for me.

I've been kind of disappointed in my BCR852 GLX. A lot softer than I thought it would be, and far less bottom sensitive than my other BCR GLX rods. I hope you like yours better. It's kind of become my small crankbait rod at this point, and swimming smaller grubs. It hated my Core 50MG7, but it improved with one of my 2010 Premiers. Just still not what I'd hoped for.

Almost every pit bull mauling story starts with "He never attacked anyone before. He's a sweet dog.". The problem with pit bull breeds, IMO, is that when they snap, they maul. Most dogs just nip or bite once and they're done. A pit will usually keep going until it's forcefully pulled off or the victim is dead.

I've watched 3 of Zona's shows now. Not a fan at this point. I think he's a funny guy and all, but I watch a fishing show to learn something. Sorry, but I don't care about building Kriet's ego back up, or watching Zona doubt he should be a show host because he has one bad day. If it works for you, that's awesome. But I want to hear about the bait they're using, the lake they're on, the time of year, the water temp/depth/clarity, techniques, etc. You get very little of that on his shows.

I've used the Fluke, Houdini Shad and SK Caffiene Shad a fair amount. The Caffiene Shad has the best horizontal fall, IMO, although the Houdini is not far behind. I've become less and less a Zoom Fluke fan since starting to use the other two. BTW, is sure seems like all of Bill's shows these days are filmed on private pond/lakes. He's always pulling up nice fish after nice fish, no matter what bait he's using. No other boat traffic, scenery is all similar, never says where he's fishing, etc. I appreciate that he takes time to explain what he's doing and all, but I'd watch him more if he were on public waters/different lakes every show.

You are correct. I own one, and that is exactly right. I guess fish chris must be talking about the citrus stick?

And I'm glad they still have foregrips. I guess they can't please everyone.

I just picked up an NRX803 casting model a few days ago. It was more or less free, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Only fished one day with it so far and it was very windy. So not sure if it's better than my 2 BCR803 GLX Loomis sticks or not yet. It did seem very sensitive at times, though. Like you guys, I was not too overwhelmed by them on the 'net. But once my dealer got some in and I picked one up, I have to admit I was impressed with how light it felt. And the color is much better in person, although that does not matter to me one way or the other. It'd have to be solid pink before looks would factor into it. ;D Good luck resisting the bait monkee on this one.

There seems to be 3 or 4 different Knots Guide apps on the droid market. Which one is it you're using?

The 09 he's talking about is the older model I was talking about above. The new style, 10 bearings ones came out as 2010 models.