Preytorien

Very kind. This is great and it's why Bass Resource has some of the best members on the internet! Thanks tatertester!

Wow.....I'm looking your way with a fair bit of ***. That's a sweet rig....enjoy!

I think the Rocky Jr is the one....thanks guys! This thing catches the daylights out of bluegills, crappie, and spawning bass. If you get ahold of one, use an ultralight and have fun, you'll catch em' all day.

.....no one knows?

A friend of mine has this lure. It's pretty small, only about 2 inches long. If you can't tell from the picture, it's a minnow type lure. Greenish back and underside with silver "scales" on the side. On the lip is printed "Japan" Whatever it is, it seems to really catch fish, especially shallow holding fish. Any idea the make/model of this lure? Thanks!

Welcome to the forums Matt, glad to have you along!

That's really cool. I love old lures, and you've got an amazing collection. Thanks for sharing!

I like Megastrike, Netbait, and Siebert Outdoors probably the best. Great results with them and they make high quality products.

I took my Shimano Sahara 2500 FD apart last fall, cleaned and relubed it. I was careful to put it back together just the way the schematic showed. But I'm still having a problem. I am a firm believer in manually closing the bail, almost never turning the handle to close it, but lately I've noticed a couple times where even when I close the bail manually I still have to turn the handle and "trip" something (which sounds a lot like the bail closing action) in order to actually reel the line in - like turning the handle to close the bail, but the arm's already closed. I took it apart, and I don't see anything out of place, but then again I'm not a reel expert of any kind, I just dabble enough to apparently get myself in trouble Any ideas what I might look at as the problem?

I myself like a more "solid" feel than "finesse." I even like to use a little more grease on the gears to give it a firm/syrup feeling when I'm reeling. I've tried it with minimal grease and just didn't personally care for it as much. Sure it requires a bit more frequency in cleaning, but I love the feeling of my solid Curado G with nice solid Crucial, it just feels good, and when I feel good about it, I fish more confidently and have more fun....ain't that what it's all about. Give your G some time, let it do some work.....it'll feel great I promise

Yep....this. I run "two shoes" as JFrancho calls it.....two brakes on my Curado since the line's more limp and doesn't overrun as easily. When I do this I get comparable distances to mono/flouro casting distance.

Hey! I was going by Geist last week and was wondering.....how'd your tournament go there? I think you said it was in March?

UPDATE.... Took my rod into my local Dick's Sporting Goods, which had the exact same model, and they traded it out without much hassle. I should say there wasn't any more hassle than a normal return at anyplace else (see Kohls, their return process is often faster than the purchase process, insanely quick). In the meantime I had a nice conversation with the lady helping me about the differences in fishing rods since she wasn't as knowledgeable as she would've liked. I think being kind to a salesperson goes a long way, because she certainly helped facilitate a smooth transaction, with even a couple of laughs thrown in during the process. Overall it was painless and they got me a new rod in-hand in about 5 minutes and on my way. Glad that's taken care of! Thanks for the help.

I got a Shimano Crucial Worm/Jig rod this year for Christmas. Today I was out fishing, nothing heavy, caught a few decent 3-4lbs I get home tonight and I'm getting everything put away, and I normally wipe the rod and guides down, and I notice the last section, closest to the tip is missing. I didn't even hear a break or anything, I don't know when I would've done it other than on a hookset. I must've lost the dangling piece when I was tying a new jig on. Unless you knew there was a last section you wouldn't even know it broke off because it broke almost exactly underneath the second guide. It looks like the 2nd guide is actually the tip.....but no, it's broken. I hear Shimano has a good over-the-counter warranty. The closest 2 Shimano retailers to me are Dick's Sporting Goods and Gander Mountain. Is this going to be a hassle to take it in an get a replacement? I have all receipts and such, I just hope I can get a rod back in my hands soon. What do you guys suggest? Which retailer would you go to?

Excellent, I was hoping you'd say that. Thanks! I'll be getting one with my new motor!

I've seen these before online, I wondered what they did, and if they were any good, but a lot of people seem to give them high accolades. I may get one, they're not that expensive and address one part of the solution. ************************************** One question though, does the foot switch cause a continuous high amperage draw that would drain the battery faster? I ask because I'm getting a Minn Kota Endura Max, which claims to help give you a bit more battery life, will this pretty much negate any additional battery life the technology of the motor would give me? Basically, will this make the battery draw down faster?

Ha, Mark....I was writing my post as you posted yours. Sorry to re-post what you already said.

His site says he's currently experiencing 8-10 days build time, but if I know anything from past orders from Mike, he usually beats that time by a few days. Additionally, he uses faster shipping than most online shops, so you'll get them pretty quick. But I understand.....I always get antsy until my stuff from him shows up. You're going to be pleasantly surprised. His workmanship is above and beyond, add to that his excellent customer service......you won't be disappointed.

x2 I've used both as well....KVD seems to be a better conditioner. But I have found Reel Magic to be a great cleaner for the guides of my rods, seems to bring them back to nice shiny black.

Great info. Thanks so much for sharing!

I have an inflatable Sea Eagle SE-8 boat, which I'm in the process of buying a trolling motor for it. I was wondering if the more experienced kayak/inflatable/pond prowler had any tips on effectively steering while you're fishing? In my setup I'll be able to stand up, even move around a bit, but I didn't opt for a version that had foot control (I think Motorguide Bulldog is the only foot-control transom unit), so it'll all be hand steer. Any tips or advice?

Yea, I used it for 2 trips, had so many problems it ended my experiment. I switched back to braid, but I did put a 4ft leader on to see how I like that. I think my problem was twofold.... One, I was using Red Label. From what I hear it's a decent line, but not the softest, and soft = manageability Secondly, I was using a higher test than I should. I intended on this being my line for jigs, so I figured 20lb test would be the way to go since I fish in nasty stuff sometimes. However, it's like fishing with guitar strings. It's got insane memory that just doesn't come out since it's so thick. Maybe one day I'll try a better quality flouro in 12lb test? One last question.....I'm using 50lb Sufix 832, with this Red Label 20lb, their diameters are only .02in in difference. I used an Alberto knot. It seems very strong, but I have yet to stick a decent fish with it. All the dinks I've caught don't cause any problem. You think the Alberto is the way to go?

I use 4lb flouro on my crappie/ultralight rig, and it's pretty manageable with KVD L&L, but I just recently tried it on my baitcaster. Two trips out and I'm back to braid, but I added a 4ft flouro leader. I'll see how I like that. The reason it's exploding off of your spool is because the memory of the line remembers the diameter of the packaging spool (3inches or so), so when you put it on a smaller spool, its like a spring and pops off since it's returning to it's memorized diameter. Gene posted a video about spooling a spinning reel a few weeks back. He mentioned taking a filled spool and soaking it in hot water. It causes the line to shape to the diameter of the spool, not the spool it was packaged on. I tried it with my ultralight I just respooled with Abrazx and it worked like a dream. I applied KVD L&L and I haven't had a single tangle or pop off and I noticed the line itself had much less pronounced coils on a slack line and casts like a rocket, even with a little 1/16 crappie jig on it. You might try both of those tricks. Just a quick couple of thoughts though..... 1. Don't use boiling water, I don't know the facts, but I could see it changing the consistency and makeup of the line, effectively ruining it 2. Don't tape the tag end to the spool while you're soaking it. You'll get the tape glue on the line. Use the little line keeper on the spool of your reel 3. When you soak the spool, make sure you take as many non-spool pieces off as you can - this includes the drags, washers, clips, etc. Essentially you want JUST the line and spool itself Good luck, and if all else fails, use PowerPro Super 8 Slick - casts far better than any flour I've used

Well I cleaned off all but the most trace amounts of grease and ensured the assembly was correct...... Night and day difference. The drag is much better now, I didn't get to snag a keeper, but the ones I did catch didn't cause any issues, and I tested it in the garage, it took a significantly greater amount of pull to engage the drag. I think my problem was too much grease. I could see where it had seeped onto the drag assembly from the gear teeth. Thanks for all the input, problem solved!

Looks like I'm going to be breaking this down tonight and checking a couple things.... Make sure I didn't over-grease the drags Make sure I re-assembled everything in correct order Ensure I have the drag star nut in the proper place Check the pressure washers' placement I'll do this, and do a quick check in my garage to see how it ends up. Thanks guys for the input, I really appreciate it.