Just purchased my first real conventional reel. Abu 7000 C3. That's the reel that will be on my heaver stick. I haven't laid my hands on it. It's on it's way from Austrailia.

when you get it
; dont try casting to the stars . shorter casts until your thumb and brain work together . understand ! good ! practice practice practice and when you think you have it down practice some more , they take some getting used too . Its a real good thing you got one with a level wind . Steve B will hook you up with anything you need just email him with questions . He will be calling you if he hasnt already . Its just the kinda guy he is , he wants happy customers . oh yeah dont forget to practice did I already mention that good cause I cant emphasize it enough !

so learn that thumbing of the bell ( lip inside of housing before the line . practice practice practice ! also learn ( have your local reel guru show you how to take it apart ( 3 screws on handle side the ones that are above the side plate ) to oil your bearings , making sure the brake blocks dont fall off . they help from backlashing the reel buy keeping the spool speed down when casting ( dont remove or change them till you have been using the reel for some time .

Chris, well I gotta get a rod for it first. If I can't get a blem XRA 1205 to build on, I'll settle for something else. I don't plan on fishing with it just yet. I'll spool it with some 20lb test and just go up to the football field and practice a bunch of times.

Thanks for the advice. I see you have one from some posts I saw before I purchased. Sounds like a good reel.

Does anyone know how long it takes to mail something from Austrailia?

patrick when you cast in a field ( I do in the winter ) use a bank sinker . It will give you plenty of pull on the line and will give you a good opportunity to get some distance . It also will cut through the grass when retrieving . walk to your sinker instead of reeling back to yourself . I cast one way then reel to sinker turn around and cast back . make sure there is no one around you , as a break off will kill someone if they get hit .
as far as how long from ausie aweek is about right . maybe longer due to sept 11 . you may get a package from a dentist in texas . steve ships all his US stuff together . dont worry he is top notch , Ive dealt with steve a couple times . never a problem . He will call you to make sure you got and aree happy with your order .
yes I do have a 7000c3 its on a st croix sc106mh2
im very happy with my abu's ( I have 3 )
enjoy

good points Chris. If I may add, watch for thumb burn :) but going shorter and and nursing the spool with the thumb should prevent from the "burn"

When you get (not IF) get a bird's nest, exercise patience. there is actually a way out most of them (I call it the short cut tug). All you need to do is find it and once you give it a tug the spool becomes free. Hope this helps.

Patrick, another good trick for learning conventional that I picked up from a very smart guy. Is to peel off say, 100-200 yds of line and then put a small piece of tape on the spool. This works great for stopping backlashes and the worst thing that if you really crank one past the point where the tape is, the tape just pops off. This little trick absolutely saved me while I was learning to throw conventional.

Thanks for the replies guys.

Steve the reels come with fibre brake blocks. I'm not too sure how many fit in the reel and if these brake blocks are extra or the reel comes without any and I have to add them.

Right now, I'm casting with an old bakelite Penn Long beach. I don't do too badly with it. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it in no time.

I guess being left handed really comes in handy. I get to hold the rod in my stronger left hand and reel with my weaker right.

ya shoulda bought a penn squidder

I don't understand why you got a 7000 and a heavy stick. For the waters you fish, 9 feet and a 6500 size reel (with improvements :p ) is what you need and that would cover most other fishing scenarios. Unless you run down to Assateauge or Hatteras (not likely) the most you really would need in the Northeast is a 10 but a nine works fine in most situations...


But since you are all wound up on the 1205 (it is a nice rod), if you're nice, I might let you talk to me about buying my XRA1205 Stealth Rod or Maybe SchoolieMonster would be willing to sell you his XRA1205 Blank that he has not built yet...

and a 1204

John, so I'm a little overgunned? It might take a little play out of my fish down here but as I go to other places, I'll still be undergunned. CT does have some big fish in it and as a former boyscout, always be prepared is still my motto.

I can forsee when we get settled and have some more money, taking day trips to places like the race and rhode island is only an hour from me as it is. I'm about 10 minutes from the Port Jeff ferry over to long island. North shore, south shore, and even Montauk isn't out of the question for a day trip. I have a brother that lives in Brooklyn that I can crash with so Staten Island, Brooklyn, also have their places. New Jersey is just a short hop from brooklyn. And there are still oppurtunities to nail some decent fish around here. Spring run offers us times to throw out and alewive, eels are good bait. In the fall, we have bunker sometimes. (hopefully more and more in the coming years). We do have some big fish but they aren't as consistent as you guys have. Remember, just about 10 years ago, a man hooked the current striper record for CT about 100 yards from shore in New Haven Harbor.

And if I ever decide to do the party boat thing, I have a good reel that I can throw on a rod. I heard that dude Crazy Al used either a 7000 or a 7500 to land a good tuna on a boat.

My parents, as soon as my dad can retire, are selling this house and moving to Maryland. They are in love with the bay. As you can ask Tony Hill, there are good fish in the bay (good crabs too :) ). Ocean City is an hour or two away. Good sharks, red drum, blues, stripers all hang out down there. Deleware is just up the coast.

All I need to do is get my brother to settle in hatteras and I'll bust my territory wide open.

Mindi's parents are moving to Florida and I might have a chance at tarpon, permit, big jacks, sharks, and god knows what else when we go to visit.

I'm not saying the allstar 1208/Abu 7000C3 will be my main weapon. I'll always have the lighter rods and until I get my license and a car, I'll just have to plan carefully on what I can expect to catch.

This is going to be my rod when I need a very light heaver down here(A chunk with an oz-4 oz weight), when I want to sling larger lures or some eels. Even down here, I've had times when I couldn't get bit on anything but a very large krocodile. This thing must weigh in at 4 oz. When the fish go deep in the channel. That's my number one producer. The channel isn't too wide but we have sailboats in there that have very large masts. I'm thinking the keel must be at least 8 feet and they don't get stuck really, only at the neep tide if at all. So that's about 9 feet deep at normal low. Plus 6 feet for the tide, that's 15 feet at the shallowest point.

Also, there will be times when there is a hard blow coming in my face and I won't be able to cast the lighter stuff. I've run into it a few times. It'll be handy just to fish a teaser.

I believe that if I limited my options, I could face a scenario of people catching around me and me getting skunked.

Imagine if cops just limited their weapons to the 9mm. No pepperspray, no other non lethals, no shotguns, no HKMP5s, no Colt AR-15s. Well you've seen what happens, look at the N. Hollywood shootout. This isn't life or death but it's fishing. Almost as important ;).

have fun pickin backlashes tossin snakes, spinnin is better........
tossin live herring is good with squidder and a stought rock stick............................................

BM,

I have opted not to use a squidder for a multitude of reasons.

1. The squidder has no real casting control

2. The squidder doesn't have a levelwind.

3. The squidder is very large. My hands are rather small.

4. I plan on using braids at one point and I don't want to cut my finger up.

This is my first real conventional. If I have to lay the line back and forth, I'll probably mess up and make worse backlashes with the squidder.

The abu has a levelwind. There are a lot of upgrades for the abu. It was on sale. And I just plain wanted it.

If I ever feel a need to ditch the levelwind, I'll take it out and buy the kit Tres offers.

the sqidder is easy to toss. you will see when you toss with that other reel, i have one to, it sits in a closet doing nothing.
but then again ,I throww with 40 pound mono...........

You should have just sold me your old one. :D

its a nice reel, i use it. i have 8 squidders and a pile of reels penns650's on down and a few shimano's
i blow them up on big bass toss em in pile fix for spring.
there all fixed. im hard on my gear,due to bein a commercial get em in pig. but its the rocks in spring at the holy grail of bass grounds i hunted out on a recon trip 15 years ago...................
beware if you enter my head . I will leave you twisted and listing to port at low water on a sand bar , a tangled mono creature you will become.......
Diary of a madman........
Im mental, ok i go take meds now............................

Patrick - all I'm saying is that I think you're buying into the big ree/big rod phenomina that we all do at one time of another. BM uses that super stout gear for several reasons:

1ST - he plays with the big gals and because of where he lives and SKILZ - he plays often

2ND - A squidder or and solid lwinderless reel will be an improvement if you're working that soft sand day in and day out - just a necessary evil.

3RD - It's a solid stinking reel...

Reasons why yoiu should have started lighter:

1st - WHEN you learn to cast, you'll be casting over fish

2nd - there is no water within 100 miles of you now that you'll use that gear as it's meant to be used not that you can reach any without a car & license (I'm really not trying to bust your stones)

3rd - $$$$$ - coulda saved a few bucks

4th - most important gear to focus on is the stuff you are most likely to use on the here and now...

... I went and bought my fist BIG GEAR thinking that's what I had to do and the tackle shop musta been snickerin' when I told him what I wanted. I walked out with a 12' Daiwa Eliminator and a Penn8500SS - boy, did I get sucked in on that. All of those parts were sold within 2 years. AND it was biatsch to cast all night long...

I was able to do far more damage ;) with lighter and smaller setups... But hey JMHO

i bought the squidders 20 or more years ago, it was the reel to use as ditch, i fish rocks, when over sand i use it to for tossin live herring , if i was you i would stay with spinning, till ya get wheels and get inta fish.
and what the boss said above the this post.
Believe it or not ,it is easy to toss the squidder. not to mention that you can buy them for 10 bucks at yard sales. and can get parts and put them together for next to nuthing.
i had a blow out sale i sold about 10 or 11 st crox rods and reels from 5500 to 6500 abu
rather use spinning now, cept for tossin large plugs over bars with a newell and a 1322.
see ya, im goin out in this crap fishing.
Hi Bubba, thanks for the translation of my post, Im a fishernut;)

Squidders are a great reel to use on a meat stick. My old canal stick had one loaded with 40# Ande could toss those 2 lb. pogys out and just hold on! I even used to jig and plug with it but love my 7000 now. If you get a big combo use it for bait fishing it will wear you down plugging with it. The newer rods and reels are much lighter and can hold big fish, these are the ones for plugging and eeling. Most of the regulars at the Ditch have gone to braided lines, graphite rods and reels around the 6500 size, they weigh much less and can hold big fish.

Penn also makes (or at least used to make) a Squidder Jr. It's the same reel in terms if the gears, features etc. Just a smaller (narrower) spool and of course overall lighter reel.

Pat, you've gotten some great advise above. There's nothing wrong with conventional casting. Heck, my father taught me to cast conventional with Penn 180's (he loved that reel style, felt it was the most versitile reel ever made) before he bought me my first spinning reel. But it's waaaaaay over kill for you given your experience and locality. By the time you're up to conventional casting regularly theere will be new reels out with better features you'll want just as much then as you do now.

Walk before you try to run.