[Uncle Russ]

Oso: Not trying to hijack your thread, but if you don't mind, I will throw in a question to gman:

Is your experience with the Ultra Jigman line? I am considering mortgaging my house. My thoughts are to get 300 yards of it and put 150 each on two reels, backed by 100 pound JB solid, joined with Biminis. Your thoughts? Or do you spool up the whole reel with it?

Does the stuff really have appreciably better breaking strength than American braid of the same diameter, in your judgment?

Thanks,

Russ

 

[Uncle Russ]

Gentlemen: I know what you mean. Hell's Bells. I've put a bunch of money into Accurates and Stellas and Calstars and Smith's--even bought a couple a them $50 poppers from Randy. So why whine about a little Jigman, especially given a few experiences with how Tuffline dug in on my 665 (although that was probably the fault of the machine loading, it sure looked ugley) and some really disappointing break tests I've had on 80 pound power pro.

Age old question: How many turns do you guys use on your Biminis with the PE line?

At this point I have JB 130 hollow on my 50W, 50 pound JB solid on both spools of the Stella 8K, and really only need to figure out what to put on the 665 2-speed, (if Accurate ever sends me a new one to replace the one I broke somehow), and on the Stella 20K and the Twinspin. I won't be able to cough up enough for Jigman on all of them, but I think I'll go with a couple--say PE6 and PE8 on the two Twinspin spools--I'll use them on the Calstar 700XH spinner and rip the lips off 300 pound yellowfin.

MrBill: You are part right--I used to be a lawyer. But I hated it and went back to working with databases for your friendly Federal government--left the millions behind, but never looked back and don't whine about being broke. (Well not too much.) There are some fine folks out there in the practice--but it kind of reminds me of the doctor, the lawyer, and the government employee who were bragging about which of their dogs was smartest. The doctor called his dog: "Stethascope!" The dog ran into the room with a bag of Kibbles and Bits and poured a big pile out on the floor. The lawyer laughed out loud and called out: "Hey, Justice Ginsberg! Come here, Girl!" The dog came running into the room, put her nose down, and divided the food into 3 exactly equal piles--one for each dog. Finally, the government employee whistled: "Come here Coffee Break. Do your thing." The dog walked very slowly into the room, scratched itself all over for about 10 minutes, then, quick as a wink, ate all three piles of dog food, screwed the other two dogs, and took the rest of the day off.

Russ

 

[Uncle Russ]

gman: We humans sure are funny critters. I can tie a Bimini with my eyes closed, but couldn't tie that damned thing if eternity were staring me in the face.
MrBill: That pays me back big time. That may qualify as the funniest photoshopping I've ever seen. As I told gman, I have loads of confidence in my Bimini--just keep hearing horror stories about every possible number of turns. I have tested 50 pound JB and it was fine. Have not tested the 65, although I will get around to it, but 80 kept breaking at under half strength--but get this: it always broke either at the top of the knot (where the main line enters the twist,) as you would expect--OR above that, on the line. So I may have some defective line--but it was never fished.

Anyway, I just ordered 300 meters each of Jigman PE4, PE5, PE6, and PE8. I'm going to line my reels as follows:

ATD 50W/Calstar 7465H: JB 130 Hollow
665 2 Speed/Calstar 760H: 130 Hollow (I know this is overkill--the reel may not hold over 250 yards-- and something really big may spool me, but if he does, he deserves to go free.)
Twinspin 30/Calstar 700H: Spool 1: PE8/Spool 2: 80 pound Tuffline (because I own it and am now broke!)
Stella 20K/Calstar 700H: Spool 1: PE6/Spool 2: 65 pound Power Pro
Stella 8K/Smith Ltd 80P/35: Spool 1: PE5/Spool 1: 50 pound JB solid
Stella 5K/Smith Ltd 70MH: Spool 1: PE4/Spool 2: 40 pound Stren Super Braid

Now I need poppers and jigs from OTI, and after that, if I can't catch 'em now, I don't deserve to go out. The good part is that after a year of buying tackle, I will finally get to go out--Venice in July and the Big E in September.

In the meantime, on the subject of expenditures, I have been listening a lot to Hillary Clinton, Borak Obama, and John Edwards, and I do not any longer believe in personal responsibility. So when they come to take my furniture, I'm going to blame gman and MrBill. Cheers.

Uncle Russ

 

[Uncle Russ]

The embarrassing truth is that I have had it for six months and have never used it. But I knew that going in. I will be retiring in a couple of years and my wife and I will be building a house in Rockport. I decided to do all my tackle research now, and buy the good stuff so I don't have to when I retire on social security and sit out on State Highway 35 with a sign saying "Will work for terminal tackle." I bought it from one of the folks on the board here, through T.J. and it is pristine. Puts out 61 pounds drag at max setting, which is a little low for a 50W, but doesn't bother me one bit, since I am a tottering, frail, little old man. I have no doubt I am going to love the reel. I only wish I had ponied up for the ATD 12 when it was available, but I had grown kind of fond of eating that month. Priorities are a b1tch, aren't they? I have been a bay fisherman all my life and have wandered offshore just enough to be dangerous. However, I have been learning so much from you folks on this board that I will never be able to repay the debt. Now to put the theory into practice.

Speaking of lawyers (and payback being another b1tch) what do you guys think about that trial lawyer (Personal Injury specialty, I understand, although that could be wrong,) who flew all over the known western world with drug-resistant tuberculosis. I can hear the cross-examination even as I type:

"Now is it or is it not true, Mr. XXXXX, that when you boarded the plane in Rome, you knew or had reason to know that you were infected with a rare and difficult to treat form of tuberculosis, and that, in fact, Sir, you had a duty to the passengers on that plane, and that you violated that duty by exposing them to the disease you carried?" (Now all you lawyers will point out that the existence vel non, of the duty, is a question of law and not of fact, but what the hell, you get the picture.) I just love Karma.

Russ

Russ