ww2farmer

This reel is based on another Daiwa, the Procaster, not the ultra cheap graphite framed one BPS sells, but the aluminum frame 100H/ Rojo series of reels. It's decent reel, not as good as the Prodigy/Advantage series, but for $59 it's a decent buy. Never in a million years would I pay $119 for it, but thats just a little trick Dick's plays, the reel is on sale about every other week.

The Booyah jig is a good, with a good hook, skirt, and head. I have 100's of them, and while they are not my favorite jig anymore, I still use them with confidence. The yum chunk is also a decent trailer, you'll do fine with this combo. A 1/2 oz. black/blue jig is a pretty versitile lure, you made a good choice.

I own 3 Shimano casting reels, a Citica 201D, a Curado 101D, and a Cruixis 201. The gods honest truth................the Cruxis is pretty over priced and I don't even use it, I keep it in the house as a backup. Shimano has got to be kidding..$90 MSRP for a reel with a plastic drag star, and plastic spool tension knob. But I have a feeling some how the Shimano "posse" will trip over them selves telling you how great this reel is. even when there are FAR better reels in the $90-$100 range......I should know, I own most all of them.

I own the current version of the Prodigy baitcaster, it's a Team Daiwa Advantage with Cabela's name on it. Very VERY good reel. I beat the tar out of mine in 2008 and it's still as smooth as new. I have several reels built on this Daiwa platform, the TD-A 150HL, and the TD-Tierra 153HL, and the Prodigy is not subpar to either of them in anyway.

What are some things not available (at least in stock form) that you guys would want to see made? Rods or reels, from any mfg. Some of mine are pipe dreams, but, lol, winter is getting old. Reels: Low geared Daiwa (5.x:1) based on the TD-A frame/tooling, available in BOTH LH or RH retreive. (they used to) All Revo's to be made with the 6-pin brake ,insted of that magnetic brake they now have. (funny how the SKT, and winch and higher end JDM Revos have that) How about a 300 size Citica or a new Casitic based on the new Citica. Rods: St Croix to expand the LTB rod's to include: a 6'10" MH/XF casting rod, my "ideal" length/power for a close quarters pitching rod. And maybe a 6' MH/MF casting rod, for pinpoint casting of square billed cranks in tight cover. From Fenwick, add a lower priced "Bass specific" series of rods, on the HMX blank, some what similer to St Croix and the Mojo line.

I only buy Gamakatsu hooks, but baits that come with other hooks don't get changed out if they are decent. Rapala uses VMC I think and they are great hooks, and alot of the jigs I use have a heavy mustad hook and those are good too.

I love the Yum crawbugs, and have tried the chigger craws and didn't really care for them, so for that type of craw I stick with the Paca craws. As for the craw bugs, I fish them alot, and alot of different ways. My favorite use for them is as a trailer on finesse jigs, they are just so natural looking and acting fish gobble them up. My best results have been with the 2.75" one on a 1/4 oz strike king bitsy flip jig. I also like the small baby craw bugs as a drop shot bait. I really didn't use the bigger 3.5" ones with much success till last year. Prior to that I flipped them, used them as a trailer, and really had limited success with them, and lost confidence in them when in the same spots I would go back and fish a tube/beaver/jig w/almost any other trailer and get bit. BUT I finally found a home for them, I had great results rigging them on a 3/8 oz. plain football head and dragging them across rocks or on the deep weed edge. I had a killer day with them in my second to last tournament last fall doing this, while almost every one else was fishing weeds, I got on this pattern with that bait and slayed them. So they will stay in my boat .

I also use different rods for my treble hooked top water baits, and for my frogs. But if having 2 rods for you is not an option I have seen 1 rod used for each work. A good freind of mine whom I fish alot of tournaments with brings a limited selection of rods as he is usually a co-angler. He tosses bigger treble hooked topwaters (spooks, sammys and such) and frogs with the same rod, a 7' Med. Heavy, fast St Croix Premier. He uses 20lb Trilene big game on that set up, and has no trouble fishing both with it. It's not "ideal" in my eyes for either, but works for him.

I carry no less than than 12 in my boat at all times, usually 3-5 on the deck at all times. Do I "need" that many.......no, but It's sure nice to have them rigged up and ready to go. There are times when the rods on my deck are the same for weeks at a time. For instance, in mid summer, when the grass flipping bite is on, it's nice to have a couple of rods rigged up. One with a 3/8 oz weight for pitching into holes, one with a big 1 oz. sinker for crashing the mats, and one for frogs. You can do this all with one rod, but if you can afford it, why not save yourself the time and hassle of retying.

I'll wacky rig a wide varity of baits, Senko's in all sizes, finnesse worms, and trick worms mostly. For 3" and 4" senko's and smaller finesse worms I like the Gamakatsu #1 wide gap weedledd finesse hooks. For trickworms, and 5" senkos the same hook in 2/0. One hook I fell in love with last year was the Falcon Lures K-wacky hook, it's a weedless 3/0 gamakatsu shiner hook with a weight molded to the shank. I like the 1/16 oz size generaly and it covers a wide range of options. It pulls the worm down faster, but not to fast, in deeper situations, and is excellant for pitching a wacky rigged bait into weed pockets. I'll fish the smaller wroms in clear water on a 7' ML spinning rod w/6lb fluorocarbon line around very spares cover or open water. My general purpose wacky rigging rod is a 7' M spinning rod with 8lb fluorocarbon, and when I am fishing the bigger worms or pitching to holes inthe weeds I step up to a 7' MH casting rod, w/ 30 lb braid iffishing in the weeds, or 12 lb Flurocarbon on the weed edge.

I have not owned a spinning reel NOT made by Daiwa or Pflueger in many many years. I was never impressed by anything Quantum or Abu Garcia offerd in spinning, and I have always been happy with my Daiwas and Pfluegers so never felt the need to buy a Shimano, but I would as I have other Shimano products and they make first rate stuff. As for what I have, from Pflueger the President is a hard reel to beat for only $60, I have some that I bought when they were first introduced, and have alotof fishing time onthem with ZERO problems. They only reason I don't have more is the newer Pflueger Supreme is an outstanding reel and is very resonable at only $99. I just can't have one brand of anything it seems, so I occasionly buy Daiwa spinning reels, and have multiple Excelers, an Advantage, and a Capricorn. All are outstanding reels.

Well, do you want 1 rod to do all those things, or are you in the market for multiple rods?

The current crop of Fenwick Eagle GT's are decent $50 or so rods, I owned a few of them but upgraded to the HMX's. I also fish alot of St Croix rods, and own multiple rods from the Triumph, Premier, Mojo, Avid, and Legend Tournament series of rods. I have not fished my Mojo's yet, but in fit,finish, general over all construction they are much better than the Eagle GT, as are the Triumph and Premier, all built on SCII blanks. In the Fenwick line the HMX is really the better comparison, and, also IMHO, are a tad better performance wise than the SCII blank rods. They cost more than the Triumphs, less than the Premiers, and are on par with the Mojo's. By no means am I bashing the GT's they are very good rods, and if your happy with them your not going to gain a whole lot upgrading to a Mojo, a slight increase in sensitvity, a reduction in weight, and the the "hot new rod" factor.

Largemouth 6lb 2 oz. May 11th 2006, weightless Zoom Trickworm, bubble gum color. Twitched down the trunk of a laydown in 4' of water Smallmouth (tie) 6lb even- #1 May 5th 2008 4" roboworm on a dropshot rig dragged past dock post on a spawning flat. #2 Sept 28th 2008, 3" gulp crawler on drop shot rig drifted on the deep weedline in 14' of water.

I have always liked Trilene Sensation, thin and limp like XL, but with better abrasion resistance and less stretch.

I lived in Tampa back in 1991, and then again in 1994 and 1995, not my cup of tea. The traffic was bad in the mid-90's I can't imagine how it's any better now with 15 years of growth. My mother still lives there, but I have not been there since 95. I lived in Brandon, a large suburb to the west of the city, if you like strip mall after strip mall, and a Walmart/Publix/McDonalds on every street corner it's a nice place. People are freindly enough, seemed like every one I met was from some where else.........mostly northeast/midwestern transplants. In Tampa itself I never found much bass fishing I cared for,I always traveled east to the Kissimee area, which is about 90 miles or so away, and you took your life into your own hands on I-4...... Lake Tarpon is close, to the west, but it was tough for me, and I never liked going there. I didn't care for eating my thanksgiving dinner in shorts by the pool. Every day I was there I thought of home. Makes for a tough go of it. Unless your job is so important to you that you HAVE to go and couldn't find another job at home you might hate it. IMHO it's better to have a little less $$$ in the bank and be happy/comfortable where you like to live. Sorry, just my veiw, a some one who's been in your shoes before.

I do not have an answer for that........because prior to me having a rewards point account I didn't get charged for them either, but I also didn't get 4000 catalogs a year then aswell. If you would like PM me and I will give you the contact info for the other guy I know that has been charged as well.

Well ye orb of knowledge.........lets see, in 2007 I was charged $10 worth of "rewards" points for catalogs, same in 2008. As was a buddy of mine, he had no clue about it till I told him either. They have a neat little trick of doing it......they send you all the catalogs first, then at the end of the year poof.........rewards points gone. It's happend... and when I called them on it I got "well you kept the catalogs didn't you, if you didn't want them you could have sent them back" So after 2007 I just accepted the fact that I would get charged for them.

You want heavy? Buy the same rod action/power in the Premier line. I just got the same Mojo rod, and it's lighter then the Premier PC70HF I used to own.........notice I say USED to own, that thing was the classic "broomstick" with guides on it. BTW the BPS Extreme Heavy rod is not even close in power to the St Croix (used to have one of those too). St Croix rods are a bit on the upper end of the power spectrum. That BPS rod was more like a MH...............at best St Croix.

I use my St Croix Avid AS70MF spinning rod, paired with a Pflueger Supreme 8035. 8lb Trilene 100% fluorocarbon on one spool for fishing around rocks, wood, dock posts, 10lb Power Pro for fishing in weeds.

BTW guys these catalogs are not "free" either, they deducted there "value" from your rewards points. Not to mention there outragous shipping costs, I do as little business as I have to with them.

I put the boat away when the lake freezes, and get it out when it thaws. I catch bass year round, even through the ice.

St Croix Avid AS60ULF w/Pflueger Presidant 6725 and Trilene Sensation 4lb test in green

It's my favorite line, on spinning gear I use it in 6lb for dropshotting, 8lb on my small jerkbait rod, and 8lb on my senko/fluke/tube rod. On casting gear I use 10, 12, and 15 for a wide varity of uses.

Your right, when I did mine it was "temporary" till I bought the plug and used the pre-wired plug the boat came with. I had no problems doing it my way, but seems as yours is not the pre wired boat, your set up will be more permanate.