Doper Anglers, what's your favorite fishing tackle setup?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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I’ve finally found my perfect tackle setup…

A simple, basic front-drag spinning reel, in this case, a Shimano Sedona 4000FB modded with the handles from my old Shimano Spirex 4000, I get a wonderfly balanced, buttery smooth retrieving reel with absolutely no handle backplay, for instant, powerful hook-setting, a Shakespeare Ugly Stik Lite graphite/glass/graphite rod, it has the sensitivity of a high-end graphite rod (it's just as sensitive, if not more sensitive than my Daiwa Procaster PowerMesh or Gaylans HMG) and the legendary durability of an Ugly Stik, snap on an Acme Kastmaster and you have an unbeatable, simple fishing system

I think that pretty much sums up my philosophy on fishing, simplicity, I’ve gone through all the stages of fishing, starting off with the low-end Zebco 202 and cheap fiberglass rod as a child, upgrading to a cheapo spinning outfit that was so primitive it had no fishing line guide roller on the reel’s bail, just a “V” bend in the bail wire

Then going full-hog into the fancy high-end SuperGraphite rods and the latest high-tech spinning reels with ultrafast retrieves (6.2:1) and adjusable “Fightin’ Star/Fightin’ Drag” rear drag systems, tacklebox full of the latest high-tech soft plastic lures and multibladed spinnerbaits/buzzbaits/Überlures that probably caused the fish to collapse in paroxysms of laughter rather than hit the lure…

It took a while before I came back to the simple, proven systems, a good, basic front-drag spinning reel and Shakespeare Ugly-Stik series rod, and good, basic, time-proven lures like the Kastmaster, the Daredevil, the Mepps Aglia, Argobast Jitterbug, Heddon CrazyCrawler and the standard, basic, no-frills Mann’s Jelly Worm, heck, if I had to limit myself to one lure, it’d probably be the good ol’ Kastmaster

I had a long, rambly post on this subject, but i decided not to post it in the OP, as it IS long and rambly, if anyone’s interested, i can post it later in a spoilerbox…

So, my fellow anglers, what’s your favorite fishing rig?

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May dad was a rod builder, and I have at least ten rods that he built (every thing from ultralite ice fishing to 9-foot surf casting), a few I’ve bought, almost as many reels, and in my bedroom alone I have five full tackle boxes.

My favorite? A 6.5 foot Shakespeare medium action rod, an Abu Garcia spincast reel, and some spinners, jigs and Shad Raps.

In fact, I’m heading out to Lake Mille Lacs tomorrow for a couple days of walleye fishing. I hear the bite’s been good.

(I’ll probably only bring two tackle boxes.)

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My three primary rigs for freshwater are;

Shakespeare Ugly-Stik Lite 7’ Medium action, Shimano Sedona 4000FB spinning reel, one spool of 6lb mono, one spool of 8lb mono, the Sedona was given a “Handle-ectomy” from my old Spirex 4000 series, the Spirex handles really smoothed out the already buttery smooth retrieve feel

Shimano BassOne Mag LH retrieve Baitcaster on a 5’6" Medium action Berkley Lightning Rod Pro (the BassOne LH retrieve was a very hard reel to find…) i think i have 12 pound line on this one

Daiwa 500H Ultralight spinning reel on a 6’ Fenwick Eagle GLC Ultralight action (4lb mono)

backup/loaner rigs;
Daiwa Procaster PowerMesh (needs guides either re-wrapped or replaced as they’re drifting out of alignment, the tip guide is twisted a good 10 degrees off-axis, other guides are starting to drift as well, but the rod blank is strong) Medium action with Shimano Spirex spinning reel (8lb mono)

Shimano Sonora 2500FA spinning reel (one 8lb spool, one 6lb spool, 6lb is currently mounted) on Gaylans 6’6" Medium action HMG Graphite rod

my two saltwater rigs are;
Shakespeare 8’ Ugly-Stik Bigwater rod and Shakespeare Prius spinning reel (the basic entry-level Ugly Stik saltwater rig), 20lb mono

Shakespeare 6’6" Ugly-Stik classic medium action rod, Shakespeare 3-bearing reel with One Way Clutch infinite anti-reverse, 12lb mono

Spare Rods;
Zebco ProStaff Ultralight (replaced tip) 5’6"
Shimano BullWhip 7’ Medium, tip broke off, lost 3", put new rod tip on, rearmost guide broke, replaced with generic rear guide, this one’s a beater/loaner for sure, just needs to be paired with a basic, cheap reel

Project reel;
Shimano MLZ-10 Ultralight, was the smallest ultralight spinning reel in the world, until the Daiwa 500 came out… my MLZ has a broken bail spring, and there are no repair parts available from Shimano, so i’m trying to rig something up using some JB Weld and some small, thin Neodymium magnets i’ve been scrounging up from Apple PowerBook G4’s (TiBooks), i also want to find a way to silence the clicker when the anti-reverse switch is active

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Freshwater - Shakespear medium action Ugly Stick - With a Quantum baitcaster reel with Berkley 12-lb green mono.

Rigs, I love the old fashioned Carolina Rig. Net’s the biggest Bass in these parts.

Saltwater - Shakespear Surfmonster - Penn-international Reel on it. Riged with a sinker and an Eel. No striper can resist!

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I use a Shimano GTL 2000 Biotech spinning reel, on an eight foot Fenwick Legacy rod with Maxima six pound test line.

Terminal tackle is a small sliding sinker, with a snelled number 14 Gamakatsku bait holder hook. I cover the top end of the swivel with a small piece of rubber tubing, so that the eye of the swivel will not get caught in the end of the sinker.

Cover hook with rainbow Power Bait, and wait for rod tip to dip.

I used to make my own lures, mainly spinners, with a kit made by a company called Pentac.

I also used to carry a huge Plano double-flip-out lidded tackle box, that took 2 men and a small boy to pick up, but now just use my Granfather’s small tackle box instead.