22RangerZ520R

It's my favorite lake (within 4.5 hours of Louisville). Both my PB's came from there, a 12lb 8oz largemouth and 6lb 4oz smallie. It's the land of the giants.....

Bass will be in all stages of the spawn during that time. You might be able to find a big girl locked on a bed and sight fish for her. Good luck!

I've got 10 of the Metanium MGL's and love them. I'm a diehard Shimano/Loomis guy and have been for 20 years. As long as you stick with Shimano or Daiwa you'll be fine, can't go wrong with either of those two companies. Handle both in person and see which one you like. Good luck.

Shimano

I've got four Stella FJ 3000's on Conquests and those combos are beyond amazing. Get the best reel you can afford is my only advice. Good luck.

I've watched a lot of his videos. There are awesome slow-mo shots in all his videos!

Nice! Color scheme looks similar to mine

I've never been in a Z185 or Z518, so I can't speak on those models. You might make a different thread asking about those two models, I'm sure there are some owners of those models on here that will chime in...

Yeah, I have seen a bunch of poor paint jobs on replicas. I think Dave did an excellent job on my two mounts, if you look close at my the pics he has a pic in the background on both fish where he made everything black and white besides my fish so that he could get the color and color pattern as close as possible without background colors throwing him off. And yes, the OP had an odd shaped (in a good way) largemouth so it's tougher to find a mold out there with his exact dimensions.

Username... 2018 Z520L

When I worked on reels, we used a small flat punch and light taps with a hammer to remove that pin. And obviously lay it flat on something that has a hole in it for the pin to drop in, so you don't bend the spool shaft. And then lightly tap it back into place, making sure the two parts that are exposed are equal lengths so the pinion gear doesn't get damaged. And yes, the drag washers should be apposing like you mentioned - ().

I agree that if there is a 12lb smallie out there, she's in the TN river system somewhere or up north in the Great Lakes... Thanks! While I was doing all my research on a replica mount it was crazy how many people wanted to get a "bargain" mount verses spending the extra money to get a true work of art. We spend thousands of dollars on our trucks, boats, rods, reels, tackle, lodging and gas chasing these bass! So when you run into a fish of a lifetime, why would you want to "cut corners" on a replica mount of a fish you spent all that money trying to catch?!?! Just my .02

Have fished it in rain and other conditions for almost 6 months now, love it. Not slick or slippery at all when wet.

I'm in the "latest/greatest" category... I'm a gear junkie though, all my rods/reels are less than 1.5 years old.

^^^ This ^^^

Yes sir.

Yeah, there's not a mold out there for a 12lb smallie....

As said above, can't go wrong with either one. Sounds like you prefer the low profile vs round style, if so get the Tranx. Be careful with the Tranx, some of the models have the single paddle handles, I don't like those... I have four Calcutta 400D's for my big bait applications.

And that's your right to do that! I just have too much respect for the trophy sized fish to kill them. I'd rather release the trophies and have them reproduce and spread those genetics for future generation fishermen to hopefully enjoy their offspring or even have another angler catch my same fish again to get their PB's too, rather than them collecting dust on my wall. If they are still alive, my PB smallie is probably in the high 7lb - low 8lb range and my largemouth is probably around the 14lb mark. I have a 7lb skin mount on my wall that I caught back in high school and both of my replica's blow it out of the water as far as looks and long term durability. My replicas will never crack, fade, peel or yellow. I weighed both of my PB's on my IGFA certified Boga Grip scale, took a ton of pics and did a release video of both so I will always have those memories to go along with the replicas. I'll never keep a bass again. CPR for me.

Appreciate it.

I avoid the weekends like the plague, I fish Mon-Thu 99% of the time. The only time I fish the weekend is during my long trips up north or elsewhere that are 7+ days long and I can't avoid it...

No, not really. But I have a 965 IMX Pro SWBR that I'll use for the 10XD's when I throw them. If you throw the 10XD's and other big crankbaits a lot, I'd get the crankbait rod. Otherwise the 5 power swimbait rod will handle it just fine.

Thanks

Welcome. I responded to your PM about LSC. And yeah, Al banned me from that site. Apparently I hurt the feelings of a couple of his 25k+ post buddies and his sponsor buddies on there....