deep

Maybe the fish want something different? Something faster, or something with a little more action? Try lizards or jigs for sight fishing. Bedding bass in my lake have been killing them, while they are turning their noses up at wacky senkos. But wacky senkos skipped under brush been catching a lot of fish for me from the same lake... Weird? That's fishing. I love senkos. But they do have a have a time and place. BTW, I use GY senkos almost always.

Thank you! I'll give Shimano a call for the parts.

That's it then. Thank you. Couple of quick questions, how do I access the washer on the palming side? And is there a way I can upgrade the cast control knob, or just get a "rubber" backer like the one you speak of?

It's not grease. The liquid (and there was quite a lot of it before I took the photo) had a watery consistency. Maybe the reel was like this when I bought it. I always set the spool tension pretty loose, and compensate with my thumb. I just noticed it a few days ago, and thought it was weird..

http://www.bassresource.com/fish_biology/skinny-fish.html

Bassthumb, I don't think so. This is how it looks. It's about a year old, and seen pretty good use I would say. EDIT: I just tightened down the knob as far as it would go, and the spool does not move horizontally at all.. Does that mean anything? EDIT2: I also found the washer to be quite wet. So I took out the knob, and am air-drying the inside of the knob and the spring..

I'm having trouble with the spool tension knob on my Citica. I tightened the knob down as far as it would go, and even then a 5/8 oz lure would fall down pretty fast. I don't really know what other info to give, except that I took out the knob, cleaned the spring and the washer with an ear bud and put everything back, but that didn't change anything. I don't even recall if this has always been like this with this reel. Can other Citica owners chime in? Thanks.

Sam, you got a point. Among the several lakes I fish, there's one predominantly panfishing lake, and one put-and-take trout fishery. The number of empty beer bottles and discarded live bait containers (little cubic earthworm boxes I guess), not to speak of bobbers, discarded line, empty packs of hooks or inline spinners and so on, on the shore of any one of these are 10 times that of all the other primarily bass lakes put together.

Thanks guys. I was just at the right place at the right time, that's all.

I'd give almost anything to catch ONE fish like that every month, or even every two months. Keep catching them!

Ah. I see now. I didn't think about the Citica. my mistake.

This seems to be the first entry from VA! We need to fish harder than this. 7 lbs 11 ozs on an LC Gunfish. State record: 16 lbs 4 ozs. Percentage = 47.31.

Usually one rod, four or five lures (one tied on, the rest in my pockets), a pair of scissors. Plus wallet with the fishing license in it, phone and keys.

Set-up: 7' MH/F Shimano Compre, Shimano Citica 201E, 12 lb Sufix Siege, Lucky Craft Gunfish Date: today, Time: sunrise (06.00 am) Weather: 60F, Cloudy, No breeze Water visibility: stained/ around 3 feet This morning I went to my favorite lake for a spot of fishing and reached there just before sunrise. I had two set-ups with me, the all-purpose baitcaster and a swimbait set-up. The water was mirror-like, and since it was dawn anyway, I started with the topwater near the dam. The first spot yielded nothing. Although it's spawn time in this lake, there's a particular hard-to-reach spot right next to the dam (around 20 feet of water) which is a good summer-time haunt for decent-sized bass. I tried that next. The first cast was just perfect, it landed right next to the vertical concrete wall. I was admiring my cast - it required a good deal of hand-eye co-ordination to not snag a lure, and not make a hopelessly inaccurate cast- while waiting for the splash to settle down. Anyway, that cast was pretty good, as subsequent events would prove. I twitched the Gunfish, and sure enough, it got sucked down, and a fish was on. So far, for all the decent bass that ever took my topwaters, more often than not, the strikes resembled little explosions. As for this one, well, it just got sucked down without any violence. And a good fish it was too. After a short fight, during which I managed to keep her away from a couple of underwater stumps, I got her to come up on the surface. She was so fat that she didn't even try to jump. And then the real problem arose. I was standing about 5 feet above the water surface (as will be apparent from the next photo), and there was no way I could reach down into the water to lip her. And the fish, in the meantime, still pretty green (I play all my fish real hard), was trying to make run after run, which I was fending off by dipping the rod tip into water, and doing figure-eights while pondering how to land her. The nearest shore where I could actually reach down to the water was pretty far away, and the way (for the bass) lay through submerged brush and stumps. Too risky. I made up my mind. I didn't want to break the rod by swinging her in, so I was going to lift her up by the line. This was still pretty risky, I didn't know if the soft mono got abraded by the underwater stumps. More importantly, I didn't want to hurt the fish. But handlining in it would have to be. It wasn't half as easy as I thought it would be. The wet line was slippery, and for a precarious few seconds, the fish dangled a couple of feet above the water until I got a better grip on the line. And the fish was darned heavy too. But then, after a couple more attempts, history was made.. I weighed her on my Berkley handheld digital, which I have found is quite accurate. The reading shot up to 8-4, then went down to 7-9, and finally steadied at 7 lbs 11 ozs. What a hog! And I'm sure that fish looks young. I hope she still has years of growth in her, and hopefully another day when the stars line up perfectly again, she'll honor me by biting my lure once more. In my excitement, I forgot to measure her; my scale didn't come with a tape measure. And I feared she has been out of the water for too long. So off she went, back into the abyss, to guard her nest or hunt for bluegills or trouts. I wonder what she was doing in 20 feet of water, when the other big fish are all spawning. I saw one 5+ class fish, and a few 3+ on beds; though I couldn't catch any of them. Now for the photos. I only wish I had someone else with me to take the photos. I got a pretty cool video of the fish swimming away too... (At least I think it's cool; it's not everyday I get to see a 7+ bass up close.) P.S. A special thanks to bluebasser86. I got the Gunfish from him as part of a trade.

I'm not so sure of that. The only LH Curado E is the E7. But if it does work that way, I'd love to get a LH Curado E5... The older Curado 201Bs fit the bill of the OP though.

Agree with what the other guys said. If you want to spend around a hundred dollars, get yourself a Shimano Citica E. You won't regret it. Both the PQ and the Citica are really easy reels to learn on. These were the first two baitcasters I owned. I love the Citica more than the PQ, but you have a winner either way. Some folks really like dual-braking (the PQ or 2010 revos) over just centrifugal brakes (like Shimano reels). Personally, I didn't care for the mag braking on the PQ, and set it to zero, with one or two centri brakes on. I never had any problems fishing the Citica, or my Curado (same braking system), even in heavy wind. I just use three brakes, instead of one or two, under "less than ideal" conditions. I did buy a Revo, an STX, once; I couldn't get rid of it fast enough. I guess it was user-error though, rather than the reel. But I'm never purchasing another Revo with mag brakes again, ever. As for the gear ratio, I don't think it's a big deal. 6.x:1 reels are thought to be better all-around though. Good luck.

You're looking for a medium power fast action rod, rated for upto about 1/2 oz lures. I like to have a specialized set-up for jigs and plastics though, with Daiwa Samurai as the mainline, but that's just me.

My experience with the Triumph (and St Croix) is limited to the one I have, but I'd say it fishes pretty much like a true medium powered rod. Can you fish a deep-diving crank with it? I don't know; I didn't try. All it matters to me is that it can cast 1/4 oz poppers and 4" wacky senkos just fine, and the tip is soft enough to feel what the lure is doing. BTW, I love shimano, and I'm not batting for St Croix. Just giving credit where it's due.

My 2 cents: for deep-diving cranks, longer is better.

Shallow and finesse! I love my plastics and little jigs.

I broke my All Star spinning a few days back, and was looking to get a Compre 7' M/F. Much as I love Shimano, finally I got a Trimuph 7' ML/F from Dick's for a general purpose spinning rod. So far, it's been so good, although I haven't stuck a fish on it. Sensitivity is good enough for a $70 rod, I should say. What amazed me was the balance though; with my Shimano Sonora on it, the balance point was an inch or an inch and a half in front of the reel seat. I got a 50$ sweatshirt free with the rod, which I'll probably sell on Ebay. So a decent rod for $35 or $40? I'm not complaining! The only issue you should be careful of is that from what I read (on the forum) the St Croix rods are under-rated for power. A Shimano medium power spinning rod is rated for upto 1/2 oz lures. The St Croix medium lights have the higher lure rating as 1/2 oz. Good luck. EDIT: I have had the Compre 7' MH/F baitcaster for about a year. It's so amazing. Very light and very strong. It's my go-to rod for almost any moving lure between 1/2 oz to 3/4 oz. I even threw jigs and deep cranks with it occasionally when I didn't have my specific rods for those lures with me, and it more than held it's own.

#1. weightless T-rigged GY senko (don't hate on me lol) #2. finesse jigs #3. rattle-traps in that order.

I lost my trusty-old Excalibur one knocker 'trap today. It was kind of a sexy shad pattern. Bought it about a year ago. It lost an eye to a rock ages back, and there was very little of the paintjob left. But boy did it catch fish. Landed a good 2+ fish on the second cast today as well. I'll miss it. So I went to Dick's to pick up another one-knocker. They only had them in one flashy red-yellow bleeding pattern, which I didn't really dig. Plus they were like $7 each. That's pricier than a red-eye shad! And then I saw these Kinami rattle-traps. I think they had three colors of rattle-traps. Two were flashy and the one I bought was called (I think) White Ayu. They are still the normal rattle-traps (not one-knockers). But I never seen a Kinami hardbait, let alone buy one. I thought; "Well, if Gary Yamamoto has had something to do with a bait, it'll catch fish." I love it how it's a bit fatter than most rattle-traps, and there's a little circular indentation on the top near the line-tie. Also, the belly treble is a size larger than the one on the tail. That's pretty neat.

Might seem crazy, but I never caught a thing on a zoom fluke! And it's not for lack of trying either. The same goes for the ton of Yum and Strike King (except the Rage series) plastics I have. I keep telling myself to save some money and stick to my good old Yamamotos, but I never seem to learn.

If you fish texas-rigged plastics a lot, you've got a good starting point. At least that's how I got started with casting jigs. I suggest reading this thread first. P.S. My favorite trailer for 1/4 or 3/8 oz jigs are Strike King Rage baby craws.