38 Super Fan

I had a Quantum spinning reel a few years back that was problematic as well, I don't think I'll try another Quantum anytime soon. Anyway, I went ahead and bought a Revo SX, and teamed it up with a Falcon Wendlandt rod, should be here pretty soon. I'm gonna buy a Pflueger Patriarch as well, found a pretty nice price on one, and all my Pfluegers have been good to me. I may look to add a Speed Spool and a Curado down the line somewhere. Thanks again everyone.

Wow, nice!

Great stuff everyone, thanks!

I've been a chuck and reel lure type angler for the better part of the year, and know that's probably held me back a good degree. Here lately I've been trying harder to become proficient with the Texas Rigged worm, and I've done fairly well the last couple days, even landed one nice 4 pounder. But I know I'm missing some fish, have been a bit late on a couple bites, and I'd bet I had a few take the bait without me even realizing it. I did read an article here on the fishing the Texas rigged worm, and it was a great help, but I'm sure you folks have even more you could share with me. Should I look to improve my gear? Today I fished with my Pflueger Templar spinning reel which is mated to a Berkley 6'6 Medium Lightning Rod, and some 8# mono line. I'm sure I could do better, and I've sort of been wanting to pick up a new rod/reel lately anyway. Is the advantage of say a $100-200 rod pretty large? Quite a few of the bass I've caught lately, I didn't feel them pick up the worm at all, I just saw the line move. Thanks in advance.

Thanks so much for all of the replies everyone! I think what I'll do is keep my eyes open for good deals on all the above mentioned reels. I'll probably end up buying two or three different ones before the month is over, and I'll see what I like best, you can never have too many reels anyway right? Thanks for giving me a good list to pick from.

I checked their site, but I didn't see any Caras on sale.

While I'm at it, what kind of rods would you suggest for around $100? I'm probably even more clueless on rods than I am on reels.

Thanks for the suggestions so far everyone, I looked more into them and all of them look good, I may have gotten into more than I expected. I've always thought of bearing count as an important factor, but I notice the Shimano Citica, which folks always speak highly of, actually has fewer bearings than my Pflueger. Is bearing count overrated? Maybe there are more important things to look at when comparing similar reels? I don't have any local stores that carry much in the way of good baitcasters, so I'm out of luck when it comes to handling any of them.

I bought my first BC a few weeks ago, a humble Pflueger Templar, and I've been pleased so far with it, but I'm wanting to step up to a more quality reel. I probably will use this reel mostly for throwing spinners, cranks, occasional swimbaits and maybe a few texas rigged worms as well. I'd like to stay under $150, someone has a Abu Revo SX on E-Bay for $130 shipped, I suppose that's my favorite at the moment, what else should I consider? Thanks in advance!

Well done!

The AR-10 and M14/M1A are both proven designs, either will certainly work for what you're looking to do. I've never been real crazy about the DPMS rifles I've handled, I do think there are better offerings in the same price range, RRA comes to mind. Are you gonna mount a scope? I know good M1A scope mounts are quite expensive, something to consider. If those are the two you're set on, and you can swing the price, the Springer is a better built rifle.

Congrats! Great smallie.

Yes indeed, that was my Premier II which I sold to fund a Baer Heavy Monolith in 9mm. Baer makes a great gun. I guess I should have posted a list of what they are: Springfield Custom Shop TGO-1, Rock River Arms Limited Match 38 Super, 62 Colt National Match, Colt Bright Stainless 38 Super, Baer Premier II, Rock river Basic Limited Match, Kimber CDP II Compact, 52 Colt Lightweight Commander.

Great fish, congrats!

1911s? Oh yeah, love them.

I just hope your 1911 is OK.

Thanks for the kind words everyone! I used to fish a lot as a kid, and for some reason I got away from it for a long time. But I got back into it this year, and I'm glad I did because I've been having a blast. I've been reading up quite a bit on fishing lately, and have learned a lot, much of it here on this forum. I'm still no great angler, but I've gotten a lot better.

Just thought I'd share the story with you folks. I warn you, I didn't really have high expectations, so I didn't bring my camera which turned out to be a decision I'd regret. Anyway my Father and I decided we would try out a local pond that we had never visited before. Around here in SE KY there's a lot of small ponds around the numerous strip mines, I found this one and a few others via Google Earth. Anyway, the pond was pretty heavily stained, it's probably 150 yards long, and 100 yards wide. We weren't even sure if it had any fish, didn't look like anyone fishes there, but I quickly spotted a couple Bluegill within a minute or two of walking down. I had a white rooster tail tied on, caught a Bluegill and three Largemouth all right at 12". It was getting down to about a half hour or so of light left when I tied on an Orange rooster tail. Then it happened, I got a big bite, and this fish was really burning some drag. After a good amount of wearing him down I finally got him in. I don't own a scale, and I didn't measure it, but I'd guess this fish was right around 19-20" and really fat. Dad and I agreed it had to weigh at least 6 pounds, which is probably twice as big as any bass I've ever caught. Hours later, I'm still really excited, that was totally unexpected. I know "Pics or it didn't happen", so next time I'll have a camera and hopefully I can catch some more nice ones and share them here. Pretty awesome first trip to a pond, who knows, maybe there's some even bigger ones out there.

Thanks for the welcomes everyone!

Hello everyone, glad to be aboard. Just your average casual fisherman, I love catching Smallmouths more than anything else, but Bluegill and Largemouth are always fun too of course. Oh, I love shooting as well in case you were wondering about the avatar and screen name.