OnthePotomac

Just in to our Gander and they had a white Lew's Speed Stick Tournament SK, IM8, Stainless guides and inserts, 6'10", MH fast tip marked down to $50 because it was a combo rod and the reel had been damaged and removed. I do not know squat about Lew's rods, but bought it based on the specs.

I have three Curado I's and love them and also have three Chronarch 150 C14's and if you have that kind of money look at the Chronarchs. They are incredibly smooth.

Bought my Stradic 4000FE in October, 1996 and my three Curado 100B's in summer of 2005. No problems ever with any of them. I maintain them.

I started with Shimano 100B's years ago and have stayed with Curado's (except the G) and Chronarchs. My three 100B reels are as good as the day I bought them with no marks on them and they have hundreds of hours on them.. They were really well designed for longevity, which I found to be the case with my Shimano products with no parts needing to be replaced over the years of use. I maintain my own reels which may help.

But he is talking about the original Fireline from maybe 10+ years ago.

I have the remainder of old Fireline I bought ages ago and do not use it because it is like casting wire compared to the new lines. it is not your reel.

I keep three logs, one has the date and purchase price of each rod and reel. The second log (table) is a record of what reel is on which rod, what line is on each reel (they are numbered with a sticker) , the date the line was installed, the date I cleaned them, and what type bearings and drag washers are in each reel, if other than the original. The third is a table showing me what lure is on which rod. I have 15 baitcaster set ups and 5 spinning reel set ups and I would never be able to keep track of everything if I did not do this.

Pulling snags = 3/4" dia wood dowel 5" long with a grove around the middle. Wrap and pull, even if it is braid. Keep it in my pocket.

I no longer have a reel with a spool shaft mounted bearing, but when I did, I took a Sharpie pen cover, glued it to a metal washer open end up, filled it with lighter fluid and placed the spool shaft with the bearing in the lighter fluid and it fit perfectly allowing me to spin the spool and clean the bearing and nothing touched the line on the spool. The Sharpie cover did not hold gallons of fluid and it did a great job.

We encountered massive bamboo thickets in the central highland in Vietnam so thick you could not walk through them. The bamboo itself was huge in diameter and very, very tall. The Rhada tribe I lived with used it to build their elevated long houses.

I have always done my own reels and picked up a good tip from a guy in the business and that is to use CFC Electric spray cleaner on the bearings. I put them in a tiny strainer my wife gave me, step outdoors and with the red tube in the spray nozzle, spray the bearings until they spin freely. CFC removes grease really fast, dries fast and leaves no residue. The stuff is incredible for a fast degrease. I even use it to clean grease packed pinion bearings. Being as anal as I am I still give the bearings a quick bath in lighter fluid, blow dry with my keyboard blower and oil.

Been using BPS Flouro for 10 years now on the Potomac in 10, 12 and 14lb and love it. I buy each year on the big sale when they mark it down.

Shimanos with bearing problems? I have Shimano baitcasters 15 years old with original parts and bearings. They cast like the day they came out of the box.

Sharp scissors? Works every time.

I have a bulk spool of 20lb BPS Excel mono in hanging on my fishing peg board in our basement I bought in 2000 and it is still good.

Back off on the muscle when throwing a bait with this reel. I have three and they tend to be pretty fast just requiring a flick of the wrist to launch the bait. My 20 year old grandson went through the same problem the first time I let him fish a Senko on one of my reels. His casts sounded like a tornado with a backlash on every throw. Once I got him to slow down the effort with wrist action and not baseball bat action, the backlashes stopped. It is even worse with the Chronarch C14's. They are really fast.

I just watched a state department of resources video on deep hooked bass and it emphasized that today's hook material does not dissolve in fresh water. They are there forever. I agree with crushing down the barbs for easy hook removal. Been doing it for several years now and I do not lose bass because the barb is gone..

I have several Carbonlites in black and one in white. The new one is 7' MH with regular line guides and I do not see a hint of a difference from the black ones. The white rods have titanium line guide inserts, which are pretty light, and which may be why the white rod is .5 oz lighter then my comparable 7' MH black rods. I have a mouth full of titanium dental implants screwed to my jaws. Good stuff, really strong and not cheap.

I have been reading favorable reports on line by users of Gander's flouro made by Sunline. I believe it is 400 yds for $19.95. Going to try it for that price.

I have a jumbo spool of BPS Excel 20lb mono I am still using and it is 15 years old. I keep it in the box hanging on my fishing peg board on our lower level.

I have at least 8 empty line spools from used line, which makes it easy to shift line around if I want to keep it for future use. I put these on a small diameter metal rod in my electric drill and zip. I hold the empty line spool on the metal rod with two spool holders from my spooling station.

Excellent company. When the Curado 50E was phased out they had an incredible deal and I had two 50E's delivered to the door for $97 each. I now wish I had bought more, but they went really fast.

Thank you Delaware. I will never understand anglers who think they need ABC 9 bearings in their reels when the RPM do not even come close to needing a bearing like that. You will never even convince some that ABEC 7 is really overkill. I remember Bantam1 from Shimano stating the same thing you just posted.

I don't own one, but I have read numerous comments on other sites on the BPS crankin stick- all good. The price is right for sure.

Been using a BPS Carbonlite 7' MH for several years on the Potomac for my plastics. I have found it to be incredibly light and tough. On sale for $20 off they don't cost and arm and a leg and give great performance.