Further North

Help me get my head 'round that...at 25'...they can't see me, or me, them. Why would it matter? I'm asking because I have no idea. I fish lakes that at 100+ feet deep with water so clear you can read the date on a dime on the bottom in 10' of water...and I can sit on top of fish at 25' and catch them all day with jig over the side of the boat, if I'm that bored... I'm not being critical at all, just trying to learn.

I don't know. I'd lean towards M/XF, but that's baitcasting vs. spinning. I get a better feel for my line and rod with bait casting, but YMMV. 6'3" is too short for me, I'm a long rod guy, so there's a lot of subjectivity in the middle here...

Marketing departments love people like you... ??

I'll echo that...if the fish are 25' deep...why would you have to be that far away from them? My experience here, in gin clear water, is that I could be right over them and still catch bunches...but I assume you're dealing with some other variable I'm unfamiliar with? Thanks Scott...that's what I was getting at in an earlier post. That's why God and Shimano made DC reels... But...Lew's are Abu Garcia...

I use a St. Croix Avid-X 6' 8" MXF with a Abu Garcia LTX for T-rigged Senkos. Lime green 30# Suffix 832 to a 7# or 8# hybrid leader about seven or 8 ft long. 1/0 or 2/0 EWG hook. My Wacky rig is a 6' 10" St. Croix Legend Xtreme MLXF with a Quantum EXO 25 reel. 20# braid (usually Power Pro, but can vary depending on what's on sale, it doesn't matter) to the same hybrid leader as above. Whatever wacky hook I have also works. I've acquired a 7' 9" TFO GIS Inshore MLMF that I hung an Aldebaran on it'll get a shot at the T-Rigged spot as soon as the ice gets off the lakes. Initial dry ground practice testing says it's in the ballpark.

I'm going to toss fly fishing out as an example for the 2nd time today. I didn't really understand rod loading until I started chucking big flies for bass, pike and muskies. If you try to "throw: a 13" fly, you'll either hurt yourself, or wear your self down so fast your accuracy and distance will fall off a cliff. You have to let the rod do the work. Learning that lead me to reflect on what I was doing with casting and spinning gear, and I began the process of re-mapping my muscle memory to let the rods do the work there. Loading the rod should have it flexing well down the shaft, with some exceptions (Flipping and pitching don't load the rod much, nor does drop shotting over the side of the boat, or vertical jigging...I'm sure there are other examples).

I fly fish a fair amount (and gear, not a purist). I can consistently throw a 300 grain line with a subsurface fly 70 ft. But I seldom do that while fishing, only for practice. Fly fishing taught me that I don't need distance to catch fish...with one exception: Fan casting over deeper water, with diving cranks being a particularly important subset of that. I need distance to get down to where the fish be...

Depends on what's between where I cast and the boat. If there is structure in the way back, I work through it.

I've no idea what you're getting at...

Thanks all. I'm following up on a couple things, I appreciate all the advice and patience.

Lots of choices there...do you have specific recommendations? I'm bearing illiterate, so bear with me. Happy to take PMs or phone calls...

...I'm still looking for replacement/upgrades for the bearings that are in the LTX now. Any thoughts?

I'll give that a shot, thanks.

Have not looked into flushing...I found a video by Boca Bearings on how to clean them, is that what we're talking about? Did that - it went away for a cast or two, then came back. At this point, I'm thinking I should just install new bearings. Does anyone have a recommendation? Go with OEM? Upgrade?

The vibration is minimal, it's the noise that's really telling me there's a problem...but I suppose it's a possibility. How would a shaft get bent? Just for clarification, the reel was making the sound at the end of last season too - it's not a result of putting it back together incorrectly.

I took it all apart, made sure everything was clean and lubed...still making the same noise. You can feel a slight vibration and the spool slows down some.

I did a clean and lube yesterday, it was still making the noise. I'll check it today, but I'm not optimistic.

I have an Abu Garcia LTX on my Senko rig. It's been in use for about three seasons now and gets a ton of use (It's one of my go-to rigs). Doing my pre-season cleaning/maintenance, I noticed that when I fling a bait out there, the reel starts "buzzing" when the bait is a ways out. It's not immediate, it takes a couple seconds before you hear the sound, then it persists until the bait hits the ground, or I thumb the spool. I've tried making adjustments to clear it up (it's less, but not eliminated, when spool tension is increased), but nothing makes it go away completely. I'm thinking bearings? If so, where do I get new ones, or should I upgrade to something better?

No reason to not use it with trebles.

Beefy girl, there! Nice pike.

I've caught them from a drift boat and a Towee, never a kayak.

That's what I was thinking. Tie it on a bigger hook and that's a pike fly.

@smr913 That bunny fly is a good one - I've seen all kinds of variations, have even tied it in larger sizes for pike. Have you got any pictures of yours?

I've used a black mop fly with about a 1/4" wrap of black Ezatz just behind the bead head...trout think it looks like food...so do smallies, largemouth, panfish...even a walleye or three.

Great advice. Murray's is good, I've bought from them, on-line. Best unrecognized/uncelebrated fly for smallies: Mop fly. It's killer for trout too. The purists get all wrapped 'round the axle about it, which may be what drew me to it to begin with. Takes <5 minutes to tie, and flat out works. It's the TRD of flies...