aavery2

Lip Rippin, as you call it, is poor technique when fishing crankbaits, and will cost you lost fish regardless the material your rod. Glass, Composite, Graphite, all work fine, you just have to find the one that suits your needs and style of fishing.

GLooomis NRX 853C JWR - Shimano Core 100MG Falcon Cara CC-5-1610 - Daiwa Fuego - Eakins Jig Model Falcon Cara CC-5-1610M - Daiwa Fuego - Finesse Jig Model Micro Guides Falcon Cara CC-6 -1610M - Gen2 Revo Premier - Head Turner Micro Guides Falcon Cara CC-5-172SJ - Gen2 Revo Premier - Swim Jig Special Falcon Cara CC7 -1611S-T7 Gen2 Revo STX - Jason Christie Frog Rod Falcon Cara CLC-5-176-T7 Gen2 Revo Winch - Composite Cranker II Dobyns Champion 734C Gen2 Revo Premier Dobyns Champion 703C Gen2 Revo Premier St. Croix Avid AVC70MHF Gen2 Revo STX St. Croix Premier H/Mod Gen3 Revo Winch While I have others, these are what I am currently fishing with.

Jackall Iobee, walks fantastic, and is very durable, good hooks and does not take on a lot of water.

I had a good time fishing with the guys at Melvern this spring. If you put something together in the Wichita area count me in, I am sure I could get another boat or two to participate as well.

The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat.

I have two Falcon Cara Eakins Finesse Jig rods, one has the micro guides the other has standard guides. I prefer the micro guides for lighter jigs 1/4 and 5/16 oz and the heavier jigs work well on either. I don't notice any real difference in sensitivity but I do like the micro guide model as it seems to be a little more balanced rod. I think micro guides show their advantage more with baits that are meant to be cast long distance, not sure if there is much difference when pitching and flipping baits other than a little lighter on the tip. Either way micro guides are not going to ruin your fishing, so give them a try.

Drift sock, would not have to be very big for your application. We use them quite a bit here in KS

shakey head jigs + Roboworms = lots of fish

I feel like line with a little stretch is a better choice for crankbaits or any bait that uses a treble hook. Without the stretch you risk tearing a hole that makes the bait much easier to throw. If I were going to use braid, I would set the drag much looser than normal and let it help with the lack of stretch.

Still healing from the spawn, they use their tails to prepare the beds and fan out rocks and gravel that damage their skin.

There are older reels that were just special, and are as good if not better than the some of the new stuff. Sol, Fuego, TD-Z, The real Chronarch's, some of the Curado's the Skeet Reese Revo, all of these reels would stack up against most of the new stuff.

Polk Daniels is a nice lake with camping, not sure about the shower. Butler Co. lake is another good lake with camping but no showers, Melvern lake is as close as anything else and as mentioned is fairly easy to fish.

Seems a little shallow for it to be a thermocline, did your lake have a recent algae bloom? Without knowing much about your lake I would think that the thermocline would be closer to 12-14 ft area.

There are some good used reels that pop up from time to time, be patient and you can get deal.

Good reels and parts are still fairly easy to find

IMO you just defined what the Motoroil color is. Sort of a brownish, golden, amber color out of the water and a chartreuse green type color when in.

I believe it is David Fritts. The BB1 was a Shimano then production of the reel moved to Ryobi and it became the BB1N.

First let me say that I service reels also, I assure you I have the correct tools to do the job, and a bent spool shaft is not what was causing the loss of distance in casting. Two of the reels I had experienced the same issue as mentioned the clicking feature of the drag star broke. while that in itself is not that big of a deal, the real problem was that without the extra tension that the click provided the drag star was very easy to move and even a slight bump would loosen the drag. Lews does not have the parts needed to repair the click listed in their schematics and a call was made to get the necessary parts, good customer service by the way. Sometime when you are cleaning your reel disassemble that area of the reel and you will see why that part is prone to breaking, very poor design. I use only the highest quality lubricants and greases to service my customers and my reels, TSI 301, Tungsten disulfide, Cal's and Rocket Fuel and many others that I use on occasion depending on how and where the reel will be used. I completely disassemble the reels and wash them with safety clean, and rinse them in water, other parts are further cleaned and flushed in one of my ultrasonic cleaners, so I don't believe maintenance or lack of it was the cause either. What I did notice was after about a year the reels started becoming rough during the retrieve, when I serviced the reels, it was easy to see why, there was wear on the main gear that was visible to the naked eye, the pinion did not show the same even when examined with a jewelers loop, it looked to be normal. The loss of casting distance was in my opinion attributed to the spool shaft ends very rough. When examined closely they looked as if a beaver had gnawed them off to the correct length, after continued use they damaged the tension disks and there was a loss of casting distance. I polished the shafts and replaced the tension disks and the reels did cast better but never as well as they did when new. This is not a post to bash Lews reels, I like them, I think they are among the best in their respective price group, but to make them out to be something with exacting tolerances, better bearings and components then their competitors is not what I experienced. The Lews, Abu Garcia and BPS reels and made in Korea by a company named Doyo Engineering, you use to be able to go to their website and check them out.

I hear what your saying, and please don't take this the wrong way but it is all just opinion. Provide some hard data that shows Lews demands tighter tolerances on their reels than ABU or BPS and you have fact, otherwise it is just your informed opinion. I purchased 5 of the Lews Tournament Pro when they were first released, and I felt the same as many, great reel, cast well, smooth on the retrieve all the things you hear often about these reels. After a little over a year of fishing on them and they were rough, lost casting distance, and 2 of them had mechanical failures that I had to contact Lews about. I replaced all of them with Gen 2 Revo Premiers and have never looked back. I truly believe that the Lews Tournament Pro is about the equivalent of a BPS Carbonlite (Gold) good reels for the money but not special. Bottom line is that we all have our opinions about what reels are good or great, but we have to be careful about what we state as fact.

I have heard you repeat this phrase several times, but I have not heard you provide any examples of what it is your speaking of. Can you give some specific examples of what it your talking about, or is this just your opinion?

Two things I have found to be consistent throughout the St. Croix lineup is that they are heavier than that rated power on the rod and they are slightly tip heavy. Make adjustment for these two things and they are a very nice rod.

Lake Wabaunsee?

In the summer I use my sonar and locate the thermocline, I rarely fish deeper than it because of the reduced oxygen below it. This one thing will reduce the amount of water you have to figure out.

Of all the braid that Ihave used Sunline FX2 holds it color the best.

I have fished for a very long time and used any number of rods over the years. I can say without a doubt that the NRX is without a doubt the finest rod I have ever used. I prefer the 853,mine is paired with a Core 100 and 12lb Tatsu.