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I think the way you fish has alot to do with the choice you make in line too. Guys in a bass boat that have a dozen+ rods at their feet can have each outfit matched to a technique. I fish from a kayak or the shore and limit myself to one rarely two outfits. I need each outfit to be more all purpose and mono fits the bill.

Mono's it for me. I try to keep 10lb braid on my new spinning outfit, but I hate it. There are a lot of negatives to using braid too. Rough on equipment, especially reels, just ask any serious reel repairman. You have to have special equipment to cut it and it has to always be sharp. Visability and needing a leader. More knots, less simple. K.I.S.S.

I have and enjoy using the crucial crankbait rod. Its definitely lighter than an s-glass rod. It seems to me that if your using a newer reel nice and light as they are these days, its a shame to put it on a heavier rod. The crucial crankbait and premier crankbait rods seem a more logical choice.

I might agree with a spook but the one knocker is awful big. I think a super spook jr. would be better all round. Black would be the color if I picked a worm and I'd pick an Uncle Charlies ribbon tail 10"er

Watching it get so commercialized and realizing no one is realizing the dangers of that.

Im surprise nobody suggested the 4600C3 Abu. A basic, workhorse reel that will last forever.

That or if you have a D series Curado, I'll swap you my E7 for it. I dont like the E series one bit.

Its fine other than the shaft of one grip? Why not get a replacement handle? If the price from Shimano is too high you could check on those fancy carbon JDM handle upgrades or a generic Hawg Handle from BPS.

That had to be Matt Straw, he seems to only use a coffee grinder. Cant imagine anyone else who ever would try that.

True about the mercury. Too many golf courses using fertilizer and pesticide. I have at least 12 courses in my town alone. Its CPR for all fish, too many yankees keep everything. If somebody didnt release them there would be nothing left!

Fish slow slow and slower. The rains we got yesterday and today probably made the water even colder. I found Snook belly up this afternoon. Jigs, worms and tubes dragged along the bottom are the best bet I think. Probably not till Wednesday or Thursday from what the weather channel predicts.

I put them on all my Snook lures and they work great. Snook fight a whole lot harder than bass, especially after landed. Never had a problem with them and they give the better hook ratio on super spook jr.s than any other hook I found. Only mustad hook I'll use.

I didnt mean to infer that good casting makes a good reel. Actually I feel the Ardent is poor quality. But after the new Curado, I dont feel so warm and cuddly to Shimano anymore either.

I fishing buddy of mine had to have the Ardent when he learned it was USA made. He got the lower model and was amazed at the incredible distance he got. I looked at it and thought it looked at least 10 years old tech. wise. It did cast though. Drag nothing special. He fell down a rip rap wall while fishing from shore and the handle and both side plates took a beating. He sent it back for repair and they told him they would fix it for free but they had no parts for it. He had to wait 3 months for the new model. He was thrilled to get a new reel for free. Within the 1st week the line guides eyelet fell out and the palming plate had an adverse reaction to what he thinks was sun screen residue on his hand. All the paint melted. Again Ardent sent him a new reel. Lots of problems if you ask me but he swears by them.

I think it depends on the characteristics of the lure you are using. I have a Sol on a Crucial crankbait rod that will launch a 3/16 topwater or crank great, a 1/8 spoon like a missle. But a weightless trick worm on a 3/0 hook only so so. Especially with the finicky mag brakes. I feel safer doing it with ,my curado 100d and loosing a little distance. Better yet it was a great excuse for getting a Stradic CI4 and cumara. It all has to do with wind resistance.

I think KVD uses stock reels along with stock rods and strike king lures. He's just afforded cases and cases of all of them and uses them like we use disposable razors. Probably the same with his nitro boat, he must have a storage yard at his mansion with extras ready to go.

I have stored a big quality of Slug-go's in tackle logic binders for coming on to 18 years. They are kept in the dark in a storage shed that gets darn hot in the south florida summer when Im not using them. They are still as good as the day I bought them.

I have a love/hate thing going with the Mayan Cichlad. In summer its hard to catch anything but them and this year they ran huge pushing 3lbs. I feel they fight better than a comparable sized bass. Its a shame the tarpon and snook dont seem to be putting a dent in their population.

I picked one up yesterday. I think its better made than I expected. I'll put it to use tomorrow.

Geez I didnt realize I wasnt a serious salt angler since I only use bass sized tackle. Only been doing it for near 50 years. I remember a time not to far ago when if you drove into Choko. with a spinning reel the good old boys would have laughed you out of town. Nothing but a red Abu would have been allowed in a real mans boat. Theres a whole lot more to Fl. salt than throwing giant plugs and cut bait on a huge coffee grinder. I went out yesterday and every angler with a spinning reel was a tourist using a huge walmart surf rod hunting trout. Only real anglers out there were holding baitcasters.

I felt last years catalog was more clothes and nic nacs than fishing stuff. This years seems just the same. I went to BPS today and the shelves were just about empty. 2 isles were completely devoid of rods. It was hard to spend the gift cards I got for xmas. But there were isle after isle of under armor clothes for stick people and tommy bahama clothes you'd never fish in.

On my side of Fl. 'real' saltwater anglers use the same tackle as bass anglers. Its the tourists that use 'saltwater gear', big cheap wal-mart surf outfits with steel leaders. In Miami some of the best places your gonna find for saltwater fish, is in freshwater anyway.

I would imagine you spool a modern Daiwa or Shimano spinning reel just as you do a baitcaster, since both factories recommend not doing their reels in the old standard way, but as you do a caster except with the line coming from the bottom of the spool.

My home made contraption is wearing out and I thought I'd use up a BPS gift card on one of these. Anybody have and use one? Will it handle bigger spools of mono say larger than 300 yards?

Cultiva Zip-n-Ziggy