A unique website dedicated to fishing information from Florida's Northern Big Bend. This includes the area from the Econfina River west to the Apalachicola River
Ken,s recent post about bale arm problems with spinning type reels, made me get out my two Mitchell 499 Surf casting reels.
These are just what he needs for offshore.
Has anyone ever seen this line recovery system before ?
It prevents the bale arm accidently closing, halfway through a mighty cast to the horizon, with a 6 oz lead weight.
I can see how not having a bail would be a sure fire solution to premature bail closing.
I'm thinking about ordering a new bail assembly for my reel (depending on what it costs) and removing the bail itself. I need to give up the accounting and go back to work in a machine shop.
They have their drawbacks. I always fish with the wind. However, I can throw a 1/2 oz. bait into the wind, if it's less than 10 kts. I'm thinking a Calcutta 700 might be a bit large for the flats.
I used a Calcutta 50 this past weekend. That's a sweet reel. But it's small. It's fine for trout, reds, and spanish. But Mr. Cobia would spool you in a hurry. The Cardiff 100's that I use do well. The Shimano rep says it's a Calcutta with a die cast frame and stamped side plate. I've been using mine for almost 3 years and they've been trouble free.
The unique handle grip on the CTE700 was designed with two main goals in mind:
comfort and function. The grip is made with a soft rubber compound that does not become slippery when wet, allowing the angler to comfortably maintain his or her grip. The ergonomic contours of this handle not only allow the angler to grip the handle like a typical barrel grip for maximum torque, but also enables the user to utilize a two or three finger grip similar to one on a paddle grip to easily work top water plugs or rapidly gain line.
Cranfield, Had that manual pick up bail on both my Mitchell 302s back in the day when I was a "pier rat" at the Navarre pier All the regulars had that conversions and anybody that had the standard bail system was considered a tourist. But that was back in the late 70's and early 80's. I don't think I have seen one since then.