I tried soaking chicken breast in a can of sardines in oil this year, nothing. Have tried shrimp in the past but nothing. Took a friend out this year and he did get one on one of my shrimp. No luck with chicken liver either. I fish them on a circle hook set up with an egg loop. Works pretty well but no fish on them so far. Gonna try them on bull heads and see what goes!

Been out to much on the John Day this year. Only 5 cats total and skunked a number of times. Never see the river this low before and kind of like wading in the bath tub, warm. Not sure what happened to them but just not doing well on them this year. Got 20 last September and all about 2#+, one 6 1/2#. The 5 I got this year were pretty thin. Found a stretch of nicer deeper water hoped to get some out of, not a thing!

Anybody actually eat those things?

Lived in Colorado for a while and only fished the Platte a couple time's. What I learned is if the sun is hitting the water, find shade to fish in. Sun leave's the water and the fish start hitting much better. Pouder was the same way but in it, pretty much needed wet flys!

Tells you right on the rod what to get!

I look at spinning as an UL deal. Learned to fish on spinning and that's all I did for a long long time. Then discovered level wind with an old Zebco direct drive reel. Now learning to cast one of them is a real challenge! But I also think it made newer bait caster's much easier. The newer one's are so much easier to learn on than the old direct drives. But should be a reason of them. I prefer round baitcaster's to low profile. To me the round reels just look stronger meaning more capable of handling larger fish. May not be true but it's in my head and I stick to it! These days I still have a bunch of spinning rods and reels, mostly UL I'd use for smaller fish like crappie or trout if I were to try for trout again. Also have a couple low profile reel's I'm fooling with set up for UL. Both have 4# line on them and I'm able to cast 1/8oz jigs with them. Just not as far as with UL spinning but I think people over do distance casting in most case's. The rest of my rod and reels are all round reel's and med and med heavy action rods and I use them for bigger fish, catfish mostly. I think probably the single best reason for using round bait caster's is I really like using them, not a lot more than that. I think of it about like this, my round bait caster's and the low profile's with 10# line are the pit's for casting tiny 1/8oz jigs and my 2oz weight's on my catfish rods don't do so well on my UL spinning rods. In past years I'd got to the coast at times to fish and ya really have no idea what you'll hook there, I always took my round reels with 10-15 pound line on them. One exception was fishing for flounder, haven't done it in years! always used spinning reel and rods on them but never UL. have a Mitchell 300 and a good size Daiwa J-25 But no longer have a rod for either. I go somewhere to use them again and I'm getting new rods. Might get new rods anyway to keep on hand as loaners. Bottom line I try to match the rod to what I'm fishing for knowing I just might hook something to big but that is not the target. I have a Sturgeon rod and reel, huge level wind with 80# braid on it and heavy action rod. I am certain that if I put a 4# leader on it and could simply drop it over the side of the boat and jig for crappie, it would work as well as anything. I'm also pretty sure that one of my lighter reels and rod will never compete with it fishing for sturgeon. My reels and rods I choose depending on what I'm gonna target, not necessarily what I might find! Fishing reels are nothing more than a place to store line and retrieve it. But start talking about targeting bigger fish and you need to go from a light come along to maybe a full size crane! Think I could just about mount that sturgeon reel of mine, a level wind, on a crane and make a good living. Everything is in between that reel and my UL reels and rods! End of the day though is I just really like casting reels!

I would but then old habits die hard! Have my catfish rods set up that way sort of. About 2' of leader between the hook and a swivel and sliding sinker above that. What I read tells me braid will get damaged much easier than mono, no clue yet. But as I said, old habit's die hard. With 20# braid I use 10# leader. I'd rather loose a hook and a little leader than a hook, swivel, sinker and who knows how much of that expensive braid line!

I had some line doing that to me and I tried replacing it with braid, worked. I've never been a big braid fan but put 20# braid on it and the line lays right down on the spool and cast's like a dream. Get through all the mono I have a probably go to braid on all my casting reels. But have to warn ya, stuff can be a pain to tie knots with. As for slipping on the spool, I left some mono on the reel and attached it to the mono. Something I don't get is I have a couple really old direct drive reels. One has a hole through the spool to tie on line and the other a small post to tie around. Why don't we see that on the newer reels? Doesn't hurt a thing using mono and let's you put braid right on the spool!

I love my ABU's but don't know if any around that inexpensive anymore. I've got a Kastking Rover 40 that I dearly
love. Years ago I found a Daiwa Millionaire at a going out of business sale for about $30, best money I ever spent! Those are round bait caster's I'm not real big on low profile reels but do have a couple New one is another Kastking but pretty much entry level. Fooling around reel I've only use a bit. have it on a 7' Kokanee Pro rod with 4# line and works fine on small mouth bass and crappie. Cast 1/8oz jigs with it. Also have a Daiwa RG also low Porfile and set up on a 6' ugly stick with 4# line and also cast's 1/8oz jigs well. Only used it on small mouth's so far and not a complaint one.

But in your case I'd suggest going around and looking at reel's revered by fishermen from entry level up. Cuts down quite a bit of looking but those maker's reputation's were hard won! Shimano, Garcia and Daiwa. There are a lot of nice reels out there definitely in the same class as these but these three have the reputation! Or if money is not a problem, look at them all and take a chance on one you just like the looks and feel of. My Kastking's I'd never heard of before getting my Rover 40. Read a guy trashing it on the internet and went and looked it up and figured nothing could be that bad. Cost me about $45 with free shipping and for that I decided to try one. I doubt that guy ever even saw one, mine is one really nice reel and lead to an UL spinning reel from them and my little entry level low profile. So you find one you like inexpensive enough and the price is right, take the chance!

There is no such thing as best. There is more expensive and less expensive! I have a entry lever Kastking low profile reel Royale Legend on a 7' Ocuma Celilo Kokanee Pro rod, maybe $50 in it. Spooled with 4# line and cast's 1/8th oz jigs nicely! also a Daiwa RG on a 6' Ugly Stick with 4# line also and it also does very well with 1/8th oz jigs. Got maybe $75 in it. Neither may last as long as the more expensive stuff but both I strongly suspect will last me till I decide I want to spend more! Nobody buy's a fishing reel and rod and fish's and for 30yrs never buy another rod and reel, just doesn't happen. But lot of guy's do have reels and some rods that they've had that long, hell, I do. Little known fact about $150+ rods. Step on them or slam the car door on them and they break just like $20 rods! Both my rods work well on small mouth bass and crappie!

It is a Royal Legend, the most inexpensive one I could get. Only reason for getting it was to have another casting reel to try out as a UL set up. has 4# line on it also and does fairly well. if it does work out they have another small capacity spool reel I'm thinking about. I'm pretty sure it's their least expensive reel for a reason and if it doesn't work out, won't bother me. have that Daiwa RG at the same time and for a low profile reel, I do like it. Have a Kastking Rover 40 level wind I really love and a Century 3000 spinning reel for crappie and based on those two reels went with the little low profile. For what it is I think it's a nice little reel but if one had to go, between it and the Daiwa, it would go. But I think from the reels I got from Kastking, they make a very very nice reel. That is of course a two specimen decision but I would still get another higher quality low profile Kastking to try out. I'm impressed with the one's I have. I had before the the Daiwa a Quantrum that was a really nice reel but I just couldn't cast well with it and got rid of it for the Daiwa. had I been able to use the Quantrum I'd have been fine, it was a really nicely made reel.

I am not, think I already said it, a big fan of low profile reels but for smaller fish I'm certain they would work fine. My if I was in your situation I would look at reels that have been successful for a good period of time and search there. No guarantee of a better reel but simply follow their success. ABU, Shimano and Daiwa would be hard to beat. First time around I'd get something about middle line from one of them and try it out. You can always go up later. When shimano first came out I got a 100 and that has to be the best low profile reel I ever had. Figured the one that replaced it, the 200 would be even better. Didn't like t all and simply never got another Shimano level wind but I still think they should get consideration, great reputation's don't come easy!

I'm not a low profile fan but do have a couple. Recently got an inexpensive Kastking but haven't tried it out yet. Also Have a Dawia RG that is really nice reed. Put 4# line on it and got an ugly stick 6' med action rod and really like it for a light casting rod. Don't recall what the reel cost but probably around $50 and the rod came from Walmart for $38. I'd recommend it!

I was about 73 before I started fishing for crappie. had caught two by accident before that but not a clue why. Guy from Bend took me with him to Prineville Reservoir and we got 30 we kept. That was about three years ago and now I'm hooked! Only things I actively fish for anymore are crappie and catfish!

For spinning UL is about all I do. But several of my reel are just a bit on the large side except one. Ocuma Ignite reel on a 5' Ocuma Celilo rod. This thing rivals my old Mitchell 308 set up! Have it filled with 2# test SOS line!

How can you possibly doubt the integrity of another fisherman? :-)