Friday, January 23, 2009

Cruel and Unusual Punishment


My girlfriend gave me a super baitcast reel – winner of last years Bass Master Classic – and St Croix rod for Christmas/Birthday. I now have it already with 150 yards of Spiderwire and 3/8oz jig. The Virginia Wildlife calendar says fishing today is excellent, my barometer, Anglers Edge, shows 8 out 10 fish probability. She is in Miami for the winter. I am living on a lake -- with 2 inches of ice. I feel like a puppy being trained to balance a kibble on his nose without eating it. A brand new rod and reel and no water. Damn.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Boys Toys – III (Reprise)

Pocket Pen Rod & Reel

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.



It was on sale at CVS for a mere $10 – half the price of the previous one. It looked heftier, had replaced the baitcast reel with a larger spincast one. Out of the box, I had trouble testing/setting the drag and then things went downhill.



I tried a socket wrench to separate the drag wheel from the handle when it fell apart in my hands. Weeks of on-again/off-again trying to fix it, I finally managed to get it together and took it on a trip to Florida. The stupid thing can’t cast. Yes, at least the spool works, but getting the line to hit the water was near impossible. Even tried just a drop line from a pier. The one improvement is the gear ratio must have been turned up a notch, as I could reel it in with no problem – just couldn’t cast the damn thing.



At least it didn’t break like the last one – yet. It’s a $10 mantlepiece conversation starter at best.