JD96

Yes thank you

I was given one by a friend, really nice rod, small guides, casts weightless baits well, but the butt weight is missing, any ideas where to get a new one?

Spool play could come from the spool tension knob being loose, handle play could be a loose screw. My dad, and his dad, are lewsers, but they fished lews when it was the real company. I bought a Lews reel and it crapped out after a month, so I went shimano.

I like fishing fluorocarbon. I think 12 or 14 lb fluoro has the same diameter as 10lb mono. But I don't want to stress the reel if I decide to make a long cast. I'm 90% set on the 50, because of the size and line capacity being more practical, I always palm my reels, the 50 is more comfortable, and I have never made a 100 yard cast so I don't see why I'd need 140 yards of 12lb fluoro. Another appealing thing is the fact that I could throw my little Rapala's easier. Being stuck on the bank a lot, I don't use many big cranks, but my little crankbaits catch a good bit of fish when they aren't hiding from the GA heat under brush and sitting deep.

If you don't like spinning reels for finesse applications, a Shimano 50 size reel would fit the bill pretty well, small jigs to shaky heads to weightless flukes, even those little crankbaits that seem to catch fish all the time. I am not a huge fan of spinning gear, I am nowhere near as accurate with them and baitcasters feel better in the palm of my hand. However a spinning reel set up for a drop shot is a pretty useful tool.

I might be in the minority, but I like the bass pro shops XPS hooks, as long as you keep them sharp, the price is hard to beat, and the fish don't seem to notice that it's not a gamigatzu or however you spell it that pulled them in.

Whippy rods lack the hook setting power that a good MH or even a nice M rod will have. Trust me, I recently made the switch from cheap Shakespeare rods and used to lose a bunch of fish, not anymore, if I can feel that thump I'm setting the hook and it's usually cake as I winch it in with my 7.1:1 geared reel. Just give a nice rod a try, if you still like the Shakespeare, get it. Also you pick up huge casting distance with a longer rod.

I handload for .308 and .223 but a .300WSM is on the list. I love the .30 cals though, can't justify a .338 yet.

I fish here in GA, and I haven't had a ton of luck fishing my craw daddy looking jigs recently, I mainly fish a small private manmade lake, but can get to Oconee or Jackson pretty easily. I like the smaller 1/4 oz jigs, but am not confident on how to imitate a crawdaddy with them as much as the big 1/2 or 3/4 oz football head jigs do. Any suggestions on jig / trailer would be appreciated.

Ya'll act like you can't drop shot on a certain rod just because it's not designed for it. I would take a Chronarch 200E7, 7ft MH rod with a fast tip. I could do 90% of my fishing that I'd normally do with that setup. For me, the biggest advantage of having multiple rods would be the fact that you don't have to change lures nearly as much.

I caught my first bass on this lure texas rigged after I got off work tonight, was fishing from the bank, 1/8th oz pegged weight 4/0 EWG hook. Pretty slow but hopping retrieve rising and falling until a 1 1/2 pounder knocked the hell out of it and destroyed the bait, knocked the pegged weight up the line and tore the bait, pretty fun, had another fish that I guess I set the hook to hard on get off, but it was dark and I decided to head home. Exited to have found such a versatile bait, I will definitely continue to buy these, and I like the looks of the devil spear need to get a few packs of those.

Looks like the worker who assembled that was ready to go home that Friday afternoon.

A good reason to have a second rod with you, if you get a mean backlash (happens to all of us) or have a reel issue, you can set it aside to fix at home, I would send the reel to abu to be serviced, or another reputable reel servicer, in the mean time, go get you a low profile baitcaster for those light lures.

It lights up and beeps when the line is tugged a certain way I have read. Took a little googling. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVOCZt8ddoc There is a link to a video talking about the bite alert system.

I would personally grab a Chronarch 50e for worms and jigging, on the Shimano worm and jig rod, the 100 dollar model whatever it's called. And a Chronarch 200e5 on the shimano cranking rod of the same model And another Chronarch that you set up for "feel fishing" and your favorite baits. For me that setup is on a 7ft Med heavy rod with a fast tip, I like to feel the hit, but I also like the pulling power I have setting the hook through thick plastic baits. Take the rest and buy a bunch of line, lures, and terminal tackle and have everything you could ever want, obviously you're gonna have money left over, and with that, I would save it and continue to work until you can get your own boat whether that be an 8 ft plastic boat or a 19 foot skeeter. Coming from a 16 year old in a similar situation, building my rod arsenal and saving for a boat.

I'm not saying that I would make the switch, but it would be worth a thought, a frogging rod works really hard reeling and reeling all its life so a product called super duty gets my attention, maybe it's just their advertising though, I do some frogging with my 200e7 with no issues, reels 'em in like nothing. But I don't know if it'd be the reel I'd subject to that sort of use all the time.

I'm an avid golfer, and fishing nuts and golfing nuts alike, we seem to speculate things. in the golf world, it took a good while for graphite shafts to become trusted and an industry standard, that being said Tiger Woods, and I, play X100 steel shafts in our irons, an extra stiff low flex shaft for fast swings, but I'm 16 and have the perfect build for a hard fast swing, that being said; Tiger and I both play graphite in our drivers and fairway woods for the weight reduction, and added distance. But some older gentlemen and a few professionals have made a switch to all graphite shafts, because they save weight and are easier on the joints. How does this relate to fishing? One might ask. And my reply to that would be. Weight is everything, in every sport, and fishing seems to be on the verge of going lighter, Bass fishing that is. I'm not saying I trust the composite or graphite frame as much as aluminum, because I will not buy the Ci4, I'm getting another aluminum frame Shimano, but once they work out all the kinks a composite frame might be the industry standard. If it proves to be as strong as aluminum, and lighter, why not trust it? And to say a composite isn't strong enough is unfair, I swing a driver at a clubhead speed of 118 miles an hour, and Tiger Woods swings at 125+ so graphite isn't the weak flimsy material you would think if a 60-70 gram shaft can hold up to that force. Not really sure why I posted that because I question the reel itself, but there it is, my speculation.

I'm a Shimano lover, but with that being said, if I was going to set up a frogging rod, I would look hard at the lews super duty, shimano doesn't have the drag lews does, and with the constant reeling and torqueing a frog reel will do, it seems like a fitting reel. "super duty" Other than that, a used Curado 200E7 is solid, or a new G7 which isn't as good as the E series.

When buying reels I look at several of the same model and select the smoothest one.

I am messing around some with baits and bought several bags of the Havoc Pit Boss, I haven't been able to fish it yet due to the fact it started pouring the second I got it tied on so I ran for the truck and went home, but I have some 1/8th bullet weights that I think would pair well with the pit boss, so I rigged one up with a 4/0 hook and it looks like a pretty mean skipping flipping and pitching bait with a pegged weight, it can even be fished topwater like a frog I've been told. Who fishes the PB and how do you do it?

Looks like it's gonna be a 50, my Curado is an E7 so I have the 7.1 covered for now. I'm gonna buy it from academy so if I don't like it I can return it for the 200 no questions asked. thanks guys. tight lines

Good for you! Shimano Citica is a good reel for entry level baitcasting, I have a Caenan with graphite frame that I actually like, reeled in some nice fish on it with no issues, just not as smooth as other Shimano reels are. If you look you can find a lightly used Curado 200E which will be the best for the money.

I really like Pline, but I've fished bass pro XPS a good bit and have absolutely no complaints about it, just not as "slick feeling" on my thumb when I'm feathering a bait into a soft landing or skipping docks.

I can't imagine fishing lures that light with an Ambassadeur. I agree 50 size shimano and a rod that'll load enough to throw them.

I am probably going to end up with 3-4 Chronarchs but I don't want a reel that's gonna stress over jigs, biggest jigs I fish are 3/4 plus trailer and that's rare, I like 1/4 and 1/2 oz jigs way better for skipping and pitching. Softer entry slower sinking.