The $749.99 Dollar Question......

Shimano Stella $749.99
on tacklewarehouse.com

Will a $749.99 reel make me a better angler?  No you're probably right, I need more help than that.  Okay so will a $749.99 reel make you a better angler?

I get email and twitter updates regularly from Tackle Warehouse and when I got the twitter update about the new Shimano Stella spinning reels I was fairly confident I'd need to rant about it.  Actually the Shimano reel only started me down this path of wondering what is an anglers cost threshold for equipment.  It would appear that manufactures believe our pockets are deep, deeper than they have ever been.  Take a look at iCast for example.  In this post recessionary time we see rods coming in well over $400, electronics well over $3000 and bass boats in excess of $60,000.   Obviously I'm not KVD, my middle name isn't Skeet, Ike or Clunn.  I admit to being just an average angler with an above average passion for bass fishing.  But as apparent advances in technology and the price associated with these improvements increases, where does that leave the rest of us not fortunate enough to have sponsors paying our tab?

I should have probably prefaced some of what I've already said with a few facts about myself.  I do own more than one rod and reel set up.  At last count I had 5 casting set ups and 5 spinning set ups at the ready when I head out on the water.  And if you've read one of previous posts you know that I admit to having far to much tackle.  However I do consider myself a bargain hunter.  Much of what I own has been purchased from Ebay, Tackle Warehouse or the bargain bins at Gander Mountain.

But back to my original question, will a reel that costs $749.99 make you a better angler?  For those of you that perhaps own one, what do you perceive the benefits to be over say an Abu Garcia 302i that costs $49 at Gander Mountain?  Sure the Shimano has a reported 14 bearing set up with the Propulsion Line Management System but the Abu Garcia has a 6 bearing set up and a really cool handle not to mention it's 1/15th the cost.  One argument that I'd likely accept is that the drag system on the Stella is probably superior to a less expensive reel.  And we all know that a reliable drag system can be the difference between landing a fish or having it break off.  But here's what really gets me about this specific reel, it only has a 1 year warranty.  1 YEAR?!?!  You spend $750 bucks of your hard earned money and you get 1 lousy year of warranty coverage.  In fairness it does appear that several other major companies also only provide 1 year of coverage on their reels.  Ardent is the industry leader for warranty coverage at 3 years from date of purchase.

Anyway, I'd be curious to get any thoughts on this topic.  What rod and reel combo's do you have that perform well?  What's the cost of the outfit?  What do you like about it?  What would you change?  Do you make any modifications?  I'll start things off.  My favorite casting set up is a 6'10" Fenwick Elite Tech Pitchin Stick matched with an Abu Garcia Revo SX.  I purchased the rod off of Ebay and the reel from Tackle Warehouse for a total investment of $220.  My favorite spinning set up is a 6'6"Gander Mountain Tournament GSX rod matched with an Abu Garcia 302i.  Total cost on this unit was $130.  Both great set ups and great values.

Oh and if anyone from Tackle Warehouse stumbles across this, post feel free to send me a free T-shirt or two........you know, for the effort.  I really do love that place.

The evolution of a young angler

Could it be? The next girl KVD?

Obviously I'm biased but I'd say she looks like a natural!  This fish was cast for, hooked and landed all on her own.  I couldn't have been more proud.

Tickle Me Elmo

One half of our 22+ pound bag

A couple weeks ago Team Patience made a trip to Lake Elmo mid week.  The day had been hot but overcast.  We were anticipating stormy weather at some point during our outing.  As it turned out we ended up getting pounded by rain just as we were arriving at the boat ramp.

We launched the Lund and headed to our favorite spot on the lake.  If any of you have fished Lake Elmo you know there are really only a few great spots to target bass.  Elmo on the whole is a difficult lake to fish, especially this year.  The vegetation on the lake is abnormal this year, water clarity is astonishing and the lake drops off from 15 feet of water to 45+ in a matter of a few yards (deepest spot is 128 feet).  My theory is that all of the lake homes on the eastern shore have sprayed for weeds and it's impacted the lake as a whole.

The water temp that day was just over 80 degrees and water visibility was to 10+ feet.  We started out fishing in 5 foot of water.  I was pitching a 10" berkley power worm in Watermelon Candy using a 3/16th oz. bullet weight.  The area we were fishing had huge clumps of weeds with large gaps in-between the weeds.  I imagined it would be something of a bass super highway from what I think is a spawning area to slightly deeper water about 25-30 yards away.  Sam started out pitching a 3/16oz. shaky head jig with finesse worm.  It was the same set up he had been using on the previous day on a lake in the Blaine area.  It did take long before we had our first fish in the boat.  I had pitched into the front of a large wall of weeds.  It had taken me two good hops to get the power worm to break free of the weed wall but as soon as it came clear a 16" largemouth was all over it.  While it wasn't the size we were ideally after that day I was just as excited because the bite was aggressive.  We moved long in the same depth of water for another 45 minutes or more with little to no success.  So as we typically do we started to move out deeper, on this day we ended up finding the fish in 10-12ft of water.

However I don't think it was just the depth of water that was the key on this day.  On Elmo there is generally a lot of top water activity.  They have a strong population of carp, tiger muskie, northerns and bass.  But on this Wednesday things were very different.  The water was as clear as I've ever seen it on Elmo.  Like I mentioned before you could easily see down 10ft or more pretty clearly.  We found this area with one of the largest concentrations of sunfish I've ever seen in a metro lake.  The primary area couldn't have been any bigger than 15 yards by 20 yards but there where more sunfish and bluegills packed into that one area than on the rest of the lake combined.  It was the strangest thing.  For just a moment I had wished the my son and daughter had been with me on this outing because they would have had a field day hauling in panfish after panfish.  That thought only lasted for about 10 minutes because what came next was the single best outing Team Patience has ever had on this lake.

When we found this area we weren't sure what we should throw.  We were sitting out in 16ft of water but casting up into 8-12ft.  Sam and I had so many ideas going through our heads.  I kept thinking back to all the Bassmaster magazines I have read, all of the blogs reviewed, all of the scenarios memorized.  Do I chunk a crankbait through this mass of panfish?  Bass were coming up an breaking the surface every 5 minutes so do I throw a top water?  Oh the wind is picking up a bit, should I throw a swimbait now?  If I do should it be a soft body or a hard body swimbait?  Sunfish or bluegill pattern?

I digress but the issue really with Sam and I is that we both have about 10 times too much tackle.

Me and My 4.10.....Rex

I decided to stick with the 10" power worm.  It's versatile and with the bullet weight I was able to easily get it down into the weeds.  It turned out to be a decent decision because the next fish I caught was a healthy 17 inch largemouth.  The weight of it was a little surprising at just 2.6 pounds.  We decided to put it in the livewell going with the theory that we didn't want to release it and spook the school we were sure we had found.  That turned out to likely be the right decision.  It didn't take long for Sam to land a really nice 4.4 pound largemouth.  Then just after that I landed a 3.3.  It was at that point that I had a feeling this was going to be a really special night.

Slammin' Sammy with a couple of nice  3+ pounders

We made a few adjustments during the course of the evening.  Our go to presentation ended up being the 3/16th oz. bagley shaky head jig with a 7" berkley power shaky worm in either watermelon candy or camo.  The pattern was to fan cast around, hop, pull or drag the shaky head through the various clumps of weeds and wait for the bass to smash it as it popped free from the weeds.

At the end of the day our biggest 6 fish had us with a bag of just over 23 pounds.  On this night I managed to catch the largest fish at 4.10 pounds on the berkley digital scale (19.5 inches).  Sam's largest fish was the 4.4 (18.75 inches) he caught earlier in the outing.  All in all a very fine day for Team Patience.

As a side note, as I get somewhat caught up with this whole blog thing I'll try putting up pictures from previous outings that we've had.  We have some real nice shots of fat smallies we caught last fall, a few largies out of Wisconsin and other stuff.  I'm not entirely sure what this blog ultimately be or if it will really be of any use to anyone but myself but in the end what does it matter right?!

Lake Fork Recap

7.2lbs caught on Lake Fork, TX

Well I'm disappointed to report that we did not land our 9+ pound bass that we had hoped to land on our trip to Lake Fork.  Our biggest of the trip was this 7.2 pound large mouth that Sam caught.   We fished for three straight days and when I say "fished for three straight days" I literally mean we fished for 12 hours a day for three days straight.  As it turned out we were about 2 weeks early.  Texas had been unseasonably cold and the spawn was pushed back.  Water temps were only in the mid 50's to low 60's which is pretty cold for down there.  Our best day was our last day of fishing.  After having thrown pretty much everything in our tackle bags we ended up dead sticking 5" Yum Dingers in black/blue on spinning gear.  Not exactly how one would envision fishing down in big bass country.  My biggest of the trip was a 5 pound 1 ounce pictured below.  And I've got to say, had we not weighted them on my berkley digital scale I would think my fish was only a pound in comparison to Sammy's.  Wow his is a really great fish.

5.1lbs caught on Lake Fork, TX

While the trip might not have gone as we anticipated we had a blast all the same.  It's a trip that I certainly would recommend to others.  The excitement of each bite, not knowing if this will be the one, the elusive 10+ pounder, is irresistible.  I look forward to returning to Lake Fork soon.