Pond Boss

george,

I went out and took some measurements yesterday A.M. to try and "help" with this thread. Then I couldn't get back on the forum and the superb answers you received quickly passed my level of knowledge (about 7 seconds after I read your question).

Anyway, this unsophisticated, self-taught spinning reel user currently has 3 spinning rigs, 1) 4.5' ultralight rig with 4 lbs test mono (Bass Pro "Teeny Lite" combo that they put on sale for $15 every year), 2) a 6' medium-light rig with 6 lbs test mono (Daiwa Regal 1500xi reel on a plain jane Ugly Stick), and 3) a 7' medium rig with 8 lbs test mono (Daiwa Procaster 2000 on one of Bass Pro's $18 graphite rods). The mono is all near-bottom-of-the-barrel stuff for maybe $8/1 lb spool when on sale at Bass Pro or Cabela's.

Using the small lures (1/32 - 1/16 oz, IIRC) for which it feels right, ultralight rig #1 maxes out at about 30 yards. Stepping up a size, medium-light #2 will cast 1/8 to 1/4 oz lures 50-60 yards for me, while #3 is heavy enough to handle the heaviest lures I have (up to 1/2 oz, which I don't fish with much) and will sail them 75 yards easy. I picked up rig #2 last Spring and lure-fished almost exclusively with it in 2007 because it will let me cover all of my 0.9 acre pond while shore-fishing. #3 is IMO too much rig for the pond and fish I currently have - with strong wind I end up walking to the opposite side of the pond and pulling (heavy) lures out of the weeds once in a while.

These rigs are below the level of sophistication and, I am sure, performance level of the gear discussed above (My family thinks "Ugly Stick" is funny because of how it sounds; when they joke around with the Bass tourney friends I have who sometimes fish here, my friends seem to think it's funny for another reason.) so I am sure using better rod/reel/line selection from Bruce, et al. you can easily exceed my casting distances.

Sunil and others,

You bait-fish with spinning rigs? I have tried this a couple of times, and found that I didn't like the way slack line behaved on open-faced spinning reels while I was letting bait hang under a bobber. I am interested in hearing how you guys do things differently and, I hope, notably better.