Yuddzy

Do you ever use the particularly old reels? The "knucklebusters," as they say. I saw a mint Pfleuger Skilkast No. 1953 with box, manual, etc come up on eBay for $35 a short while back, but couldn't justify it. It was beautiful though, mirror polish and all. I think it even had oil for some sort of braking system.

I wonder if sealer would help hold it together? Not that you should need to do such things anyway. Best of luck with your future rods. Mine feels okay so far, time will tell I suppose.

I have one that I've only caught pike on so far, despite throwing mostly Texas Rigs. I'll go fishing from shore today, see what happens. There's some decent rocky drop offs I could probably flutter a Senko down.

As someone who just bought a 7' MH Fenwick HMX, this whole thread made me visibly frown, and then I got to this post. Noooooooooo ))): At least it's under warranty for 5 years? I'm really hoping mine just lasts, I don't want to be buying a replacement for a new rod.

Have you been banned from Bikeforums by chance? Speaking of wax, @bulldog1935, you're familiar with how many opt to wax their bicycle chains rather than use some other form of lubricant. Claims generally include mention of "long lasting" and "doesn't collect road debris" or something similar. Would utilizing this wax treatment on the worm gear and pawl of a baitcast reel finally solve the issue of how to lubricate this part? Grease collects too much junk, oil washes away and needs frequent relubing because it's thin. Perhaps waxing is the ticket to keep it well lubricated and clean?

Seems a bit like reinventing the wheel. I'll believe it when I see it.

I reckon some people said similar things about monofilament? The only thing I dislike about braid is that you need to buy heavy poundage to get an equal diameter line, which can be a nuisance to snap off when you need to. Otherwise, I don't see why it would completely lose viability in exactly 10 arbitrary years?

You can use any sort of clear coat you desire for this application, I don't think it matters much. Either spray or wipe on polyurethane will be fine, after taping up areas you don't want clear coated. I don't think it'll make a lot of difference in the fish you catch though? The paint scrapes on lures seem to be cosmetic in my experience, without much impact on actual effectiveness. I have a Rapala Fat Rap with a majority of the paint scraped off the bottom of it, but it still seems to catch fish the same. YMMV as always.

This is clearly a lie, no one would simply give away free Velveeta or Spam. That's 5 star camping trip slop right there fella. Giving away Miracle Whip I could believe. That stuff is wack.

Echoing the other comments, I can say rocky points and dropoffs have proven to be effective as well when fishing for both Smallmouth and Rock Bass, in my experience. I even caught both my PB Smallmouth and Rock Bass along rocky dropoffs near shore.

One thing to consider if you're fishing at night is bird's-nests in your baitcaster, especially if you don't have good eyes and/or lights to assist in clearing them up. My first time ever using a casting reel was at night, fishing from the shoreline. I spent around an hour out there casting, and around 45 minutes of it was fixing blown up spools. I don't recommend the experience. Simply put, fixing backlashes at night can be a pain just due to lower visibility. They're also a bit more likely to happen at night. Bringing a spare rod and a good headlamp alleviates most of the issue. Good luck out there fellas.

I would stick to 12-14# mono until you're totally comfortable with the baitcaster, Berkeley Big Game line works well and can be bought in large spools. There's some debate about whether or not backing is needed due to many spools having holes to tie onto initially. I'd use monofilament backing to fill the spool up until you hit a point where you'd like your mainline to start, since that line won't be used anyway. (Keep your spool full, don't run it empty. Mono backing reminds you to replace your mainline.)

This is what I was looking for. Keep that spool full and your IPT should actually be quite good, which negates a lot of that slower ratio. The paragraph below gives a ball park? I'm fishing a 4600C3 Ambassadeur with a 5.3:1 ratio and I don't find it too slow at all, especially for cranking. I believe the IPT is something like 26" according to the tackle direct listing for it. A 4.7:1 should be around 22" or so based on that?

Phil, as a younger fellow who wasn't around to see older fishing technology, but has an eye for the vintage equipment, I always appreciate your accounts of fishing in the past. You paint a good picture, I can really imagine someone out there with a stiff steel rod making a rather vicious hookset, swinging for the fences to hook a regular bass. Would you say the issue with older hooks was due to sharpness, shape, or something else?

If you've been fishing casting reels for 28 years, why bother with the DC at all? Your thumb is way more than enough by this point with that much practice. If it ain't working, I'd move on from it and put the money towards an upper end reel. (Call back to the thread where you mentioned that mid-range doesn't quite entice you)