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CaddmannQ said:
All my fishing gear has been bumping around in the boat all over the place for years so it's pretty scratched up by now.

I have a local fishing store that sells high-end Yuppy fishing gear, but I'm looking for stuff that is a a better value.

I do like the Diawa reels and I own three or four plus a Penn 10 which I am not giving up.

I have Eagle Claw rods and Shakespeare graphite rods, which have served me well. The one I snapped a tip off was some new one called ROX, and I believe this is only the second time that I've had it out.

But I'm kind of old school I guess, because I like Shakespeare and Eagle Claw and Fenwick. I would probably still fish with my old Mitchell Garcia 330, but I have literally worn the thing out and none of the pins will stay in place.

I used to go out with some guys for big carp fishing, but I don't enjoy catching fish that I can't eat as much.

I have been promising to take my granddaughters fishing but now it looks like I will have to make good on that.
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I owned a warranty service center for all the rods and reels out there back in the early 80s to the mid 90s. I loved fixing and using all the cool gear I got from factories and that I bought. My favorite was always Zebco. I also was hooked on the Ambassadeur casting reels. I built all my rods but owned several before I learned the craft. Fenwick, Ugly Stick and oddballs that were on some shelf at a tackle and bait shop were how I started. I did catch more fish with the ones I built because I used them every day and showed them off, and I caught BIG carp and small catfish. (Big to me carp that is...20lb)

In case you had never seen this bit of trivia about Zeco,,, it originally was a bomb and explosive manufacturer. Then at the end of the war someone got the idea to build reels...it is on the Zebco.com website.
 
John A. said:
I still like fishing with my old zebco 33 and ultralite Berkley lightning rod.

I have a really old Diawa bullet reel that will cast a bare hook about 15 feet even without a sinker on it. You put a sinker and bobber on it, and you don't have any problems getting it out to about 50 or 60 feet from the bank if you need to.

There's a lot to be said for those old reels.

And the funny thing about it, I found the old Diawa bullet reel and the rod in an illegal garbage dump. Looked like someone had a $5 yard sale sticker on it and didn't sell and they got tired of tripping over it so I was more than happy to pick it up and put it in the back of my truck. I got 5 more rods and reels that day too. I felt like I had won the lottery.

I'm not above picking up good junk I find like that.

I also recently got a shiny newer "craftsman" 3/8 ratchet out of the road about 5 months ago. Seriously, I don't have a problem pulling onto the shoulder and walking back and waiting on traffic to clear to pick it up.

Finders keepers.
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Me too...
 
I never thought I could build a better fishing rod than the factory could so I never bothered to try.

I've owned a couple of modern Zebco reels and frankly I don't think they're any good anymore.
 
CaddmannQ said:
I never thought I could build a better fishing rod than the factory could so I never bothered to try.

I've owned a couple of modern Zebco reels and frankly I don't think they're any good anymore.
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No where the quality Zebco or anyone else for that matter used to build into their stuff. But they work if you can find parts. I think most Zebco reels are throwaways unless you get into the hi end. As far as rods, If you know how to pick a good blank rod and know to set the spine and the eyes, counterbalance the rod by adding split shot into the handle and epoxying them in so they don't rattle, and, how to wrap and finish em properly...actually it is expensive to start making them, but easy to learn...you can make any type of rod you want. You can make a fiberglass rod as sensitive as a lightweight graphite rod just by using the light weight components and counterbalancing the rod. I sold hundreds of rods. No complaints and only one broken rod came back and I had to order the top section. Car doors are murder on rod tips. There is no money in the craft but it sure is something to admire.
 
I'm taking Judy to a trophy lake Thursday. You cannot take a bass under 21" .

We've caught many there from 14" to 18" but not one legal bass from that lake.

This was Judy's first IIRC . . .

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She's screaming because I told her to let it go or pay $250 and give it to the warden.

You can see my boat's previous incarnation, with the 40hp Evinrude. It's a lot different now.
So long Evinrude. You were stinky and noisy and very fast, but rarely reliable.
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The black hood was smashed and I replaced it with a white one.
 
This is the 3rd Sunday in a row that Haskell Lake here in NE Oklahoma has provided me with a little ultralight fun, I caught a couple of little Bass and a couple of nice Bluegills.....(Rebel Yellow Crickhopper)

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Elbert Garrett said:
My ultralight go bag....

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I have found that I need to be more organized. I was always a cat and carp guy...simple...hooks, line and sinkers. No clutter. Now I have decided to just become a guy who goes for what's biting...and all my stuff is mixed up. What a mess. I am separating it all and putting panfish stuff in one box and cat/carp stuff in another. Now I will be organizing fly stuff. My problem is I like to keep it all close, so that is going to be the hard part...separating myself from all the stuff I don't need for the day.
 
I'm not really much for lures myself unless I'm trolling with triple teasers on Ford fenders or a herring Dodger.

Most of my fishing is done with worms on a Carolina rig.
 
I got about an hour or so in before the front edge of that storm pulled a sneak on me (NE Oklahoma).....I had several bumps (dinks) and a bad hook set on a couple and lost a decent one in the weeds. I tried using soft baits for the 1st time I think since the early 80`s, the first taker was a little Crappie and then a this nice little Bass which was a lot of fun on an ultralight!

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I bought a new rig yesterday, a Pflueger Trion 120 on a `5 Uglystik Lite Pro. I took it out this morning and it worked flawlessly. I caught two and lost two, one to a bad knot and another to a bad hook set. I have it strung with 6lb Trilene and I was throwing a 2.5" Mudbug with a #2 Mustad hook.

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Slipped away for a little fishing this morning, considering all the doom and gloom here in the Indian Nations it was a real beauty of a morning! Fishing was a little slow but I managed to catch a few decent Bluegills and one Redear...ultralight fun!

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