Champ188

Math skeers me. I'm a words guy.

Alex, Kelly Power could tell you everything you'd want to know about the Z9 --- setup, his personal experiences, etc. I believe he had one of the first ones off the production line and he knows his stuff about boats.

For comparison purposes, my single-console Ranger Z119c with a 225 Pro XS and 25p Tempest Plus will GPS at 70 mph on the nose (GPS) at 5950 RPM in perfect conditions (water temps of 50 degrees or below and a light chop). That's with an average load of gear/fuel and a well-above average human load (shut up Babler and denjac). That's also figuring in a pretty light load in the livewell.

I used to have one of the old 2500C reels. I'm talking back in the mid-80s when they were a platinum color. It was a jewel and the reel I learned to pitch with. I spent no telling how many hours on my back porch with that old reel and a 3/8-ounce jig with the hook cut off pitching at various targets I would set up in the yard. Then one day I was fishing with George Cochran down in southeast Arkansas for an article in the old Arkansas Gazette and we were pitching plastic worms back up under overhanging cypress trees and he said, "Dang, you're pretty good at that!" He was still a couple of years away from winning his first Bassmasters Classic championship in 1987 but nevertheless, that compliment was one I never forgot.

Takes a special kind of character and courage to do what these folks do every day to keep everyone safe and sound. Just makes my blood boil anytime I hear of one of them being injured/killed. There's more evil than ever out there and these officers sure aren't getting rich while fighting it. We have several on this board who are either retired or active-duty police officers. Thank you, fellows. Mean it.

Johnny's apparent philosophy: If you can't beat em, buy em and copy em.

We've got sonar units with GPS, 2D imaging, sidescan, downscan and 360-degree scan. We've got remote-controlled and GPS-guided trolling motors. We've got high-quality digital cameras that will record our entire fishing trip and cost less than $300. But we can't come up with anything better than the line-twisting, knuckle-knocking, antiquated piece of crap that is the current state of the SPINNING REEL?

Me too, QB. And I've pretty well got all 3 of my friends trained not to call or text me the darn score of any Razorbacks or Cowboys game.

Here's a deal that Mark Davis showed me many years ago --- back when he was still guiding on Lake Ouachita and maybe before he even fished his first professional derby. When line twist starts giving you problems on a spinning reel, cut off your lure and troll your empty line behind the boat. Open the bail and spool off nearly all of it --- or down close to your knot if you use backing. Be sure and have a good grip on your rod when you first close the bail. It's surprising how much drag/pull that empty line has. Pull it for about 5 minutes, then stop and reel it in. Tie your lure back on and you're ready to go fishing. Your line should perform like you just spooled it on.

Don't trust that abk, Alex. Don't trust him one dang bit. He'll tell you anything you want to hear but he's only after your fishin' holes.

What did I do Friday and Saturday? Played golf. I'm an idiot. Great job getting on some quality fish and thanks for the report. Mind sharing the water temp? --- and yeah, it's gonna drop this week for sure.

East can't be THAT weak if five teams were bowl eligible, not to mention that all five won.

I wish they weren't allowed in tournaments because I think it raises the chances of lesser-skilled anglers winning money. But that's just my personal feelings and certainly not a compelling reason to ban them.

I rarely agree with every word of anything (except the Bible) but by gosh I don't think there's a single word in this post that I don't hold to be absolute truth. Very, very well said, gitnby.

I don't know if Evers has enough gas left in his tank. I keep hearing he's talking about hanging it up and chasing cows around his ranch in Oklahoma. That was backed up by a co-angler I had recently who is related to Terry Butcher, a brother-in-law to Evers and former Elite Series pro.

I'm rooting like a starving aardvark for Mark Davis and Mike McClelland and I think both of them have solid chances. But they'll have to deal with some tough competition, including Hackney, Christie, Martens, Casey Ashley and Cliff Pace.

Not soon enough, for two reasons ... 1. There is no bad football, even spring practice. High schools in Alabama-Florida-Georgia will fill 20,000-seat stadiiums for a spring jamboree. I saw it several times in person during my 3 years in Pensacola. And people up here wonder why very few of our local recruits can compete with the Deep South kids. 2. When the pads start popping in the spring, the fish are biting.

No one wants to watch a bunch of white guys with a big-nosed Pollock for a coach.

Bwwhhhaaaaa!! You guys are right ... there's likely no connection to today's rods and the ones of back in the 70s and 80s. I did get to meet the Childre sons (Casey and Craig) back in the late 1980s when I was outdoor editor of the Pensacola News Journal. Got invited to a dove shoot over at their place in Foley, Ala. Very fun day and lots and lots of birds. Always gotta mess with abk when the opportunity avails itself. I'll try to go easy on you about the upcoming basketball game, though. By gosh, I believe that's Wednesday night.

Your youth is showing. Lew Childre started making rods in 1949. The old Lew's Speed Stick was one of the most innovative rods of the 1970s.

I would offer a couple of suggestions. As for the rod, the American Hero series should be fine. I'd suggest the 6-6 MH (AH66MHC) as a good all-around stick for bass. The fast action will let you throw just about anything you want on it. For your reel, you would do yourself a big favor in considering stepping up to the TS1H model in a 6:4:1 gear ratio. I believe our favorite store (Tackle Warehouse) has them for $139. I also think this particular reel may be going out of production, so you may want to hurry. The REASON that I recommend this step up is because you gain centrifugal braking, which will help you immensely in casting without backlashing. The lower-priced reels have only magnetic brakes, which I personally find pretty useless. I think you would be more than happy you stepped up to the better reel. One final suggestion ... once you get your reel spooled, pull off the amount of line you would make with your longest cast, plus about 5-10 yards, then put a strip of black electrical tape longways across the spool. Reel in your line and you're ready to go. This creates a sort of insurance policy against your spool overspinning and causing a backlash. After you become proficient with the reel, you may want to take off the tape. It's kind of like training wheels on a bicycle. Hope you enjoy your new gear. Get out in the yard and practice with it before the good fishing season gets here and then you'll be ready to catch em.

Love those SLAM days! The meanies are always a hoot to catch.

Thanks for that great post, tpierce. That's the real stuff. Tell you what, Tristan is the kind of young man that high school coaches are groveling for these days. That kind of heart, grit and determination are getting rarer by the day. But instead of football, you might want to teach him to play golf. More money, less injuries. LOL

With jimalert3 being 90 years old, he was indeed around in the days that Walmart sold only U.S.-made products. I've seen some pretty discouraging things in my 54 years. Can't imagine what it's like to be 86 like my dad or 90 like jimalert3 and have to ponder the degradation they've seen in their lifetimes.

96 CHAMP, You're on the right track but I'd be a little cautious about the medium power. That's a heavy bait and it can overpower a rod that is too whippy. At that point, you lose both accuracy and distance. I throw mine on a Duckett Micro Magic 7-0 Med Hvy/Fast Action (NOT extra fast, too stiff in the tip). I'd highly recommend it and it won't break the bank ($159 at Tackle Warehouse). Model number is DFMP70MH–C. Disclaimer: I am NOT sponsored by Duckett Fishing or any rod/reel manufacturer, for that matter.