the reel ess

They could have an identity issue since they've merged with BPS. They have Tracker boats in the Spring catalog that came yesterday.

I have the Crickhopper and the Tiny Craw. I've caught a few small bass and some bream on both in a creek near the house. I'll say the Crickhopper doesn't sit level in the water. It leans one way or the other. I also have the Cicada, but haven't caught a thing on it. They don't seem to get any bites on larger waters. I don't have the ones with single hooks and the trebles are too tiny for fish of any size. I find the inline spinner to be the best smallish bass bait of all time. JMO.

I see. Edited my response. I understand that. The Academy H2O Xpress Tac-40 has a shallow spool. It claims to hold 100 yds of 12 lb mono, but I spooled the whole reel with the 30# braid that was on half of the reel I replaced. I mean that reel had backing with braid on top.

I only use 7.1:1 and faster BC reels anymore. My opinion on reel speed is you can always slow a fast reel down, but there's only so fast you can go with a slow reel. And why crank more times in a day than you have to? Hell, anymore 7.1:1 is about average.

I use a Lews LFS Tournament MB with 7.5:1 retrieve and a Berkley Lightning Rod, 6-6, MH for spinnerbaits and similar single hook reaction baits. I can't say enough about how much I love this reel. I love it so much I own three. I also use it on my frog combo and my big trebles (lipless cranks) combo. It's a lot of reel for $130. As for the rod, well it's a $40 rod. But it's durable (I've had it a decade) and casts well and sensitivity isn't an issue with this type of bait. I'll upgrade the rod one of these days.

All I do is send pics from my phone to my email, then download them to the computer, then drag them over here.

As a rule I check the line. But I'll admit there have been times when the bite was so good I forgot and a bass swam off with my best Spook. It happened last fall and I found the bait floating in the pond a few weeks ago. I changed the hooks and cleaned it and it's good as new.

I bought a few skirted jigs from him in late fall including some swim jigs as well as some other items. I have caught one bass on his skirted jig, but I've caught a bunch on a plain weedless Arky head with a plastic craw. His jigs are hand tied to your order with wire ties. The options are infinite and he'll ask you exactly what you'd like. ie: head color, eye color, different skirt combos, even weedguard color. He also has other tackle and his catalog is a downloadable pdf document. I highly recommend his products. And he's a nice guy to boot. I know you know this, but I'm putting a plug in for him to the rest of the board.

A hand line can be used to catch bass too. A cane pole for that matter. But time passed them by. If all I had was a Zebco I'd still fish.

I don't own a baitcaster slower than 7.1:1 anymore. Well, I own one, but I just retired it. I just see no reason to crank more than necessary. Especially if they cost the same as slower reels.

Don't skimp too much on a BC combo. You may end up regretting it so much that you don't use it. I like to steer clear of graphite framed reels. Machined aluminum will usually give you much longer service. I really would be afraid of reels that cost less than $70 at a bare minimum. As for rods, I can second the Cabela's Tourney ZX. I have the frog model and it's very light, sensitive and durable. It's a killer deal at that sale price. I paid the full $100 and still think it's a deal.

CADMAN's Jigs.

I don't have a BC reel under 7:1 that I use anymore. I think it's easier to slow down than speed up. Why crank more when you could crank less? That's how I see it.And you'll really like a fast reel for the frog.

I kayak fish and have the capacity for 7. I usually take 6 as follows: 7'3" Frog BC rod 7' MH BC for jigs/T rigs 6'6" MH BC for spinnerbaits, etc. 6'6" M BC for topwaters, lipless cranks & all big trebles 7' MH Spin for T rigs. Usually has a weightless Trick Worm tied on. 7' M Spin for smaller treble lures like jerkbaits/Shad Rap or a wacky rig. Then i sometimes carry a light or UL combo if I think panfish might be the ticket. I keep them all in the truck so I can paddle back and swap out lures or get a combo i didn't think I'd need. Usually, I could have taken only 2 combos and caught the same amount of fish. But those 2 combos vary.

They all know what you mean. I have a Trion, which is a big step down. I gave it a favorable review on this site. Someone told me that they have a problem with braid wearing into the line roller (that's what my exploded view drawing calls it) on the bail. I've been using it for 3 seasons, always with 20# braid, so they must have gotten that worked out. Reviews for Pfleuger spinning reels are usually very favorable.

Got ya back

Does anybody use the surgeon's for fluoro to braid? I love it for mono to braid because it's so easy. My near sight is getting bad and I can tie that in the dark. But you can't use it to join two long lines unless you want to feed the new line spool thru the knot. In that case, the double uni is my choice.

It's funny because even though we heve Prime, the wife, whose idea it was to get it, will say "I need to run (40 miles) to get (fill in the blank)" I'll say "Did you look on Amazon?" We live 20 miles min from the nearest WalMart, Lowes or Home Depot. We live 42 miles from a Target. We don't even have a big chain grocery store here in town. The beer selection sux here! We probably spend less paying the Prime fee. Even if we don't, it's better than running the road to shop.

Amazon Prime does charge a yearly fee. But the wife already has it so if I don't use it, I'd be throwing money away on services that charge for delivery. We do most of our Christmas shopping with it. It saves us the hassle of the mall and running around before the holidays. Also, when birthdays roll around, we'll go find something we want and put in the cart. Then the other will order it. That way you get what you want. Also, we watch some streaming TV shows and movies on it. The downside to it is you can't find just any and all fishing equipment on it yet, but it's getting better. You also can't buy the store branded merchandise. When I can't find something there, I can usually come up with a $25 min Academy order.

Spend all the time you can with him. It won't be enough.

My daughter doesn't like to fish. She's 13 and into volleyball, clothes, shopping and makeup...not boys yet. She says they're all stupid. She would go kayaking with me when she was younger but she says I fish too long, which is true. Now she would only go if her other option was staying home and doing nothing. Maybe she'll have a boy that I can turn on to fishing if I live long enough. I went with my dad and I ended up much more the fanatic than he ever was. But he kept going with me until he said he was too old to really enjoy it. We went last fall to his buddy's family's pond and he caught a few. he got tired and went and sat on the tailgate with his bud. I'm glad we had that time because he passed in May rather unexpectedly.

Funny. My dad died in May and I still haven't been able to get all his mail diverted to my house despite visiting the post office twice.

Does that mean stopping the spool with your thumb? (A digit). To stay on topic, I like the ones that aren't worn out. Earlier in my married life, I couldn't afford good BC reels, so I'd buy them secondhand and they'd become worn out quickly. Then I'd need to have them worked on. By the time I had a decent reel, it was almost as expensive as a decent new reel and there were still old parts on it to wear out. I don't have one I'm using that's older than 3 years now. So they all work.

I have a Cabela's 30 miles and almost an hour closer than the nearest BPS due to traffic. And there's an Academy 20 miles closer than the Cabela's. Od course, Academy will ship most orders over $25 for free so they get most of my business. But wait! Amazon Prime ships free and usually quicker. So I usually check there first.

Here it is along with a Remington 514 .22 bolt action single shot that my dad had when he passed away. It's nothing nice, but it belonged to my grandfather, so it's a family heirloom. And it hasn't been produced since 1978. I have no idea how old it is.