Capt.Bob

That'll do it on the finest reels!!

sent you a PM

I would try downsizing my tackle, lure and tackle size, when this happens as you describe, could be all short fish, or even other smaller species, being on a small stream really makes me think this was the scenario.

Great day, nice fish,,,,,and a good friend, way to go Jeff, your is commin, as they say what goes around comes around, that mojo "L" be back!!!

Nice fish!!! ALL OF THEM!

You have to learn what is right for you, with Fluorocarbon there is very little stretch and with braid there is no stretch, I use about 4 to 5 pounds drag on a straight pull, I know this by feel after years of using my drags. This is compounded when you you add bend to the rod, it all matters and all take time to learn. I asure you that is plenty for most fishing in open water to bury any hook in any Bass, if you set it to tight it is even easier to loose more fish with hooks tearing loose, just don't over tighten it now and let that start happening!! It's another reason they call it fish'n and not catch'n!! Like anything else you will learn much more and much quicker by experience than word of mouth (unfortunately), some things you just have to learn by been there done that!!

"If your ebrake is good enough back the trailer in, let it in reverse, pull the ebrake, shut the ignition off." ????? ONLY ON A STICK SHIFT!!! I don't believe I would head this advice, with an automatic. I have never, in over 40 years of putting boats in and out of the water had this happen, I will always put my vehicle in Park if it is an automatic with the E-brake on, engine off, and the transmission in reverse or first gear if it's a stick with the engine off E-brake on!! There is an old saying that goes like this,,,,one ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure!!!! Never question good enough.

Send it back it's not right, mine is smoother than my Calcutta's and I use it for 16 to 20 foot diving 11" 7.5 oz Musky cranks on 50lbs 832! They will fix or send you one that's not grundy!! No better CS out there!

The Minn-Kota connector is my preference, but they are a standard 12V connector available from many electrical houses at a much better price, they are very durable and corrosion resistant, I have them in grey red and black the only difference in any of them was the brand name on the package, very good marine connector. I have one mounted front aqnd one rear in the Metal Miss Fit, then I have all sorts of accessories wired to plug into them, night lights to replace my lantern, side lights for fishing out the side of the boat, crappie lights and 2 trolling motors.

The Lightning rod or a couple bucks more and get a BPS Bionic Blade, excellent rod for the money and almost indestructible ethier one in a MH,, !! Top it with a Sedona reel and you will have a nice outfit at a very reasonable price!! This will be much better than an inexpensive combo and very little more. If you can spend a little more you can buy a little better, so it goes.

You'll like it, but right now I can't find them anywhere for the price I got mine for,,,,,patience!! I think you will find, there is no more NYLON or DELRIN used in the Lew's reels than the other name brands,,,,,keeping with the spirit of the thread,,,,

I guess Frankentackle?? but there all a perfect match for me,, St Croix Rods!! Shimano Spinners, and Lew's Casters! I did settle for one G. Loomis,,,,price was right!!

1) 7'2" MHM Casting, cranks and fast moving baits 2) 6'10" MXF Casting Spinner, Baits and medium weight single hook rig's 3) 6'3" MXF Spinning weightless rig's and light finesse rigs, This covers most of my needs for most Bass fishing in lakes.

If not distance, definitely smoothness, and to much will increase wear.

To satisfy the fanboy's i'll just say two years ago I sold all the low profile reels I had used for years after trying the Tournament, (not the MG) when they started selling I started buying Lew's, the Tournament Pro was next, when I started using it I liked it even better than the Tournament, and they were the first reels I had ever used with dual braking, I loved em so much the next 4 I bought were 1 Team and 3 Team Gold, I could not believe the quality. Then I bought a BB1, I just wanted my own hands on opinion of the reel. I was so happy I decided to try a Super Duty for one of my pike rods,,,,,, a month later I sold the 400B Calcutta that I had on that rod. If the Super Duty had a bait clicker on it I would sell the other 400B and replace it with the Super Duty, it is on the 7'6" Extreme Musky rod I also use it for flipping heavy cover, it is sooooo ssmmmooooooothhh and small with as much drag as the 400B, it just has so much power with it's 5.4:1 gears and so smooth it's unbelievable. Regardless what model, DON'T BUY ONE,,,,,, or be prepared to buy more, the more expensive reels do bring bigger smiles!!! Been there done that, and aint look'n back!! As for the rods, I can only state what I have heard, and that is they are good rod's but not the performance the top end Loomis and Croix rods are. But as for the spinning reels I will say they are better than the bubble pack Shakespeare at wally world, probably about the same quality as the bubble pack Cardinals and Quantum's form there, there are better choices!

You'll never get to use that warranty by using braid, it is harmless, your just going to have to do something silly to cash in on those warranties!!

I have had several reels over the years that I liked best with only one break on at times, from Chronarch's Calcutta's and Curado's to the present, Lew's Tournament, Tournament Pro, Team Gold's, and BB1's, they all performed admirably. I have never seen anything but positive results! once you have your spool tension set to free fall it as free as it will get, by backing the tension knob off enough to allow the spool to have side to side movement can cause damage, and is less than optimum under any circumstances!!

As others have noted, it's all dependent on how well the thumb is tuned, most try and and cast it as far as they can and realize the reel is now much smoother and faster than they are! I like mine super tuned because they are much more accurate smoother to cast than before, but gain very little noticeable distance, I am still working on super tuning techniques for my thumb!! once I refine that I am going to be rich rich rich!!!!

They have always very good to deal with, and very accommodating!! As you have testified!!

On that budget I would buy me a BPS Bionic Blade rod, and a Shimano Sedona reel, for that price it would be hard to beat!

I have a few older 5500's reels that are around 30 years old, they were the top of the line back then, and I still think there one of the most durable reel's made. They still work fine but I have put mine up in favor of smaller reels, you will do fine, and I think the 5500 series cast a little farther with the same weight lures as the narrower models. If you wait till it's wore out to buy another reel,,,,,well,,, your probably done buying reels!!_____ENJOY!!

I have a 5' and a 6' Ultra Light's, and both are St. Croix Avid's, I use the 5' most of the time.

BPS PQ or Lew's SS, in that price range, the used Curado or Citica are get options and would be my choice if you get a good one.

Yes the Competition never ends between them, it doesn't matter if it's baseball football or basketball, It's all good though and makes them both better at whatever and more dedicated to it in the long run. I try and let run it's course on it's own, but encourage the brotherly part of family and together being, and making them better. This ended up with, your little brother caught more big cats and maybe the biggest, but you caught one almost as big and topped him with a couple lot bigger sheaphead in tougher conditions, than what he caught his. Gramp's psychology worked, with them both acknowledging each other as having caught better fish of different species. That make this summers sport's break with grampa a success, family together and no arguments over your's or mine. Next year with each being a year older will bring more challenges for me, but I have a whole year to find away to keep their interest in something besides video games. Hopefully the older who will turn 14 then, I will find a way to keep this as much of an interest as ,,,,,well, girl's. That is going to be a chore. but like I said, I got a whole year to work on it, and right now it's still fun!!!! Like I said before,,,,,, "HOW SWEET IT IS" you gotta love it! I DO!

Well this the last week the grand sons get to fish for a while as football starts Monday. So the oldest who couldn't get out of bed last week and watched little brother slay the cat fish 2 days, decided now he wants to go this week and his main purpose is to catch a bigger catfish than his little brother???? Kids! So with rain a couple days over the weekend and a cold front his work was cut out for him. But the rain allowed us to get back up the river to where we needed to find some bigger fish. The nice thing about this desolate area is you sometime see some great wildlife. We were blessed with this view of two nice buck's trying to escape us, the bigger one got over the hill before I could get the little Elf out for a quick pic. l will be looking for this guy in a few months!! We were pretty close to where we were headed when these Bucks showed themselves , we had seen several does in this area last week but this is the first we seen the buck's. But we were after fish, and the weather change put a damper on the fishing. The Drum were bigger than they were for the younger grandson, and they do put up a good fight for youngsters. He was ready to conseed to the fact his brother's catfish was bigger than his, but wanted to make sure his brother new he caught bigger Drum than li'l Bro,,,, Then after about a 1/2 dozen 2 to 3 pounder's, all morning all he talked about was, how he had to catch a catfish as big has brothers big one. Finally he got what he was so worried about, one that was almost as big as his brothers biggest last week, It would sure be nice to have so much to worry about! A decent Flat Head and he was content. Kid's,,,,,how sweet it is!! We have one more outing this week and then I get a break. These 5am to 6pm days are getting hard on me,,, but I wouldn't miss it for million buck's!!! Gotta love it!