the white whale

[BASSTRACKER]

fishing was tough yesterday, for some of us anyway. was fishing across from kunia point and a shore fisherman was pretty much reeling in a tuc every few minutes in the half hour it took us to cover the area and get one bass. the bites that did come were so light you didnt feel the fish till it was nearly too late. no schooling action and slick and smooth everywhere all day.water temp was 71 and warmed to 74 by afternoon. lake is so low that i stuck my lower leg in the mud backing the boat into the water, may have to start backing in slightly at an angle. anyways i started dead sticking a senco late in the day and was near kemo'o pub when i got a real good hit near a branch in 12ft of water. really have to watch the line jump and just let it fall. any line movement set the hook. kinda a long process but it seemed to be one of the only things working for us. flipped back to the tree and the 3rd cast after the hit we hooked up to a brown missile! screamed drag and jumped straight up. knew right away when it jumped it was a smallmouth, a good one too. for so long i have been hunting one in the main basin and its a very very rare feat. was jealous when everyone was getting them a few years ago. he wrapped a tree and there were a few intense moments seeing as i had 8lb flouro on but he unwrapped and i was able to get him to the boat. a real nice 16in 2lb smallie made our trip! if i had only tried harder for a tuc would of had a great triple crown!

[marcusn]

nice smallie!! quite the beauty.

[roadwarriorsvt]

Good job landing the smallie. They are quite the fighters! I've yet to catch a smallie other than "Area X". I wonder if the low water has forced them down towards the main basin?

[skunked]

Nice smallie and don't you love that Daiwa Fuego! I own some more expensive reels, but it is my favorite spinning reel. Better than all my Shimanos. Too bad they discontinued it. I hope you catch more SMBs like that one!

[djverve05]

Skunked you should check out the Fluegger Trion series spinning reals. Very inexpensive, but also very reliable as well as sturdy.

[Ahnkochee]

Ah the ever illusive Mobius ricardus.
Congratulations on your achievement!

[skunked]

Skunked you should check out the Fluegger Trion series spinning reals. Very inexpensive, but also very reliable as well as sturdy.

I have several Pfluegers, from cheap(president) to semi-expensive (Supreme and Patriarch) and none of them are as good as the Fuego. I will say that Pflueger makes the best bail trip mechanism in the world though.

[BASSTRACKER]

The fuego is nice no doubt, got a great deal on it last Christmas when tacklewharehouse was discounting em. Keep an eye out cause the always have sweet deals at this time if year. I have the president and trion too and both have served me well no complaints and for the price they can't be beat.

[Ca_Bass]

Nice fish BASSTRACKER!

I own a fuego and i do love it. I also own a shimano sustain which is even better! Silky smooth but way more costly. Not really worth the price difference IMO. Plus it's undersized for the spinning rod i primarily use nowadays so i actually use the fuego way more often.

Skunked, got my loomis NRX last week! Blows my steez out of the water which is saying something! Now that i can get them for $200 below retail i will slowly be adding more to my arsenal as i break/wear out older rods and find excuses to get really specific for techniques. I am bad...i have 5 different crankbait rods 3 swimbait rods 3 jig rods, 2 spinnerbait rods 2 dropshot rods, 1 topwater rod 2 jerkbait rods a softjerk bait rod, a weightless worm rod for senkos and fat ikas im sure im leaving a few out...oh yeah like my 2 flippin sticks, my alabama rig rod..well probably some more. Im finding it's not so much thedifference in the rods as it is having different sizes and types of line that seem to work better for certain presentations. I need to go ahead and start insuring them! Im thinking i may have over taken you in the tackleho department

Also of note i can now get Revo MGX's for $225!

[skunked]

Me=jealous. I have slowed wayyy down in buying fishing stuff lately. Money problems. I WILL own an NRX 803C one day! It's my goal for 2013.
My fanciest rods are my GLX and my Dobyns Champion Extremes, but they don't compare to the NRX line.
I am interested in the Sustain also, but don't wanna get burned again like when I got the over-hyped Stradic cI4. If you say it's good, I believe you. I may look into getting a 1000 size model. Happy Holidays!

[Ca_Bass]

Skunked when you are ready for the NRX 803C I can get it for $250 plus however much it would cost to ship it to hawaii, not sure how much that is but either way it would save you probably somewhere between $175 and $190 off of retail. The 803C is more readily available than the 802C so I can get than one pretty quickly. I had to wait a few weeks for the 802 but that was the one i wanted.

As far as the sustain goes...well it's nice. I got mine a Roy's and the nice lady over there gave me a really good deal on it. I dont think it's worth the extra money though. A reel is just a winch, and on a spinning reel i find them even less important. Im perfectly content with the shimano symetery. I may never buy another spinning reel other than a symetery unless i come across some new in the box Fuegos at a discounted rate.