12 Volt Man

Shout out to JB's fishing Depot in Etobicoke for excellent customer service. I had purchased a G. Loomis rod back at the spring fishing show from them (Feb) and I took it out to fish last weekend and realized there was a guide issue. When loaded, some epoxy that was split from above a guide foot would make a very loud 'click' sound which quickly became very annoying as it occurred during every cast. I called them up and they let me exchange it with no hassle at all. I wasn't looking forward to shipping the 7'1" rod back to loomis/shimano as I thought I would have to.. Thanks JB's.

very sorry to hear. kick its ass! your positive attitude is the first step to beating this thing

I went on Sunday and had a good time. picked up a G. Loomis E6X Jig and Worm spinning rod from JB's display for a good price. feels awesome. can't wait to use it. loved playing with all the rods and reels I can't afford lol. Met some nice folks, including Dave Mercer who I had not met before. I do like his show. it was better than last years I think. I know that the good old days are long gone, JB's was one of the largest displays but I guess that's because their retail location is fairly close. With Le Barons gone, there wasn't that many retailers. Fishing World from Hamilton not there, no Sail display. no Gagnon's Sports etc. But then many haven't been there in a while. is it the fees the show is charging for the booth rental space? Whats the main reason for the turnout of vendors now vs. the days of old??

no limits and no license required. you catch a fish in Antigua and its food to the locals. I have been there many times but usually stayed on the other side of the island (jolly harbour area). I have caught lots of fish in Jolly harbour but only landed small ones (small barracuda and jacks mostly on rat L trap type crankbaits). the marina there has huge tarpon and snook that just cruise around at night when the lights on the dock come on. I have seen 20 pound snook and 50 pound tarpon just swimming by like its nothing. but I never had my travel rod with me cause its right by a local restaurant and we were eating lol. Antigua is awesome. great reports and videos.

for what its worth, the St. Croix Mojo's have been redesigned for this year with the SCIII blanks (same as Avid) so that's a big improvement. not sure if the price has been increased?? And the newer Entry level G. Loomis (the E6X's) are amazing. I own the MBR843c E6X and love it. granted, its not a cheap rod (they go for about $230/240 or so), but compared to a Loomis NRX rod it sort of is lol.

I think rods have come a long way in the last 10 years when you are comparing mid to high end stuff of today versus say 10 years ago. rods are generally lighter, better balanced and we have access to all these great technique specific tapers that were only beginning to get noticed 10 years ago.

ps The Nasci looks awesome too. Congrats to the original poster. should be a great reel and last a looong time.

the new Ultegra reels are up on Basspro already. For some reason I can't copy and paste the link. The reel looks amazing, at the price point it should have the direct drive handle which is a big bonus. much more solid cranking than the older key style handles IMO. and no play in the handle itself at all. but I'm pissed that they didn't include the tapered bail wire into the line roller like the old saros had. should have not done away with that.

for their own good the new store better be open Sundays.. Retail business thrive on weekend business. Not being open Sundays just means your customers go to Bass Pro or Sail or whatever for their weekend shopping..

the Mississauga location has never carried St. Croix rods not sure about the others. again, I think they were missing the boat by not carrying one of the most popular brands out there. people like st. Croix and will go elsewhere to get them, be able to shop on sundays etc. a lot of little things add up and the result itsn't good for business. on facebook people were really saying how rude most of the staff were at many of their locations. I didn't find that.

I actually like the St. Catherine's basspro because their staff are actually very helpful and polite. but yes, there is 80% basspro branded products which isn't really good.

I wonder if the whole 'closed on sunday' thing is part of what hurt them. they never moved with the times in that regard. back when I worked retail it was common for almost 50% of our business to be done Saturday and sundays. granted, it wasn't fishing retail, but generally, the store was busy on the weekends and not so much during the week when most people worked. not being open sundays just causes people to go to the competition when they want to shop on that particular day. Basspro and Sail are open Sundays.. Le Barons never was on Sunday. pure speculation on my part, but I think it might not have helped.

these are great reels. my dad had a similar model but they were all black. I believe they were from 1993 or so and sold back then for $150 US. his had the flippin bar too. they came in two gear ratios from what I can recall. 6.3 and 5.3 I think

I get seasick very easily too but I have found that when I am down south I just take a gravol pill an hour before I go out on the ocean and bingo no sea sickness all day. its worth a shot. ocean fishing is awesome. we used to go down to florida a lot and I know live shrimp are a great way to catch anything down there. I also caught redfish (big ones 18 pounders) on rat l trap type crank baits. good luck and have fun

very cool. I have been travelling to Antigua my whole life, love that island. pretty much every march break while growing up, and we have been twice in the last few years as an adult. We stay at Jolly Harbour now, but used to stay at Runaway Bay back in the 80's and 90's. last year we did the stingray swim on the east side of the island near Devil's Bridge. amazing. great video!

nice. they look like lookdown jacks? where are you fishing? looks like Caribbean??

I have had success casting rat l traps using a 3 piece travel rod (I invested in a Loomis Escape rod) with a 4000 size shimano spinning reel in the surf using 12 pound mono. mostly have just caught barracuda and small jacks (this was in Antigua). nothing big ever. but have seen huge tarpon as you did. while I was in the Bahamas (Nassau) I caught bonefish off the beach using bucktail jigs bouncing along the bottom: bonefish are my favorite fish. fight amazing and so pretty.

soon there will be a carbon tax on farting..

don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the show. like I said, I got a new curado 200i PG which I can't wait to use. one thing I loved was being able to play with all kinds of rods and reels that just aren't at any one retail location. I especially loved the feel of the new G. Loomis E6X walleye rods. they are sweet. but it was much smaller than the last time I was out (a few years ago) when Fishing World was there (I know Steve there) and other retailers. JB's had the largest display (as they are very close to the hall) and I ended up buying the curado from them. no one else seemed to have the PG (5.5:1) power version I was looking for. everyone had the faster gear ratio models.

I went with my Dad and his buddy. Compared to a few years ago there was far less retailers there. eg. no le baron, no fishing world, no Sail, no Gagnon sports etc. we still enjoyed it even though it was mostly boating displays and the cottage stuff. I ended up getting a Curado 200i PG from JB's Fishing Depot display for my Loomis E6X 843c Mag Bass that Santa brought me. it wasn't on sale but i was happy none the less. Dad bought a fenwick methods travel rod (no tax) and his buddy bought a fenwick fly rod. so none of us went home empty handed. not a bad way to spend a morning, even if there is less fishing retail displays and less deals to be had.

Gordon Lightfoot would have been a much better choice. and Toronto loves him. Canadian to boot.

the reason that some E6X rods balance out and some don't (with and without the reel) depends on the particular series of E6X rod. loomis talks about this somewhere on their website. the swing weight they call it. eg. the mag bass E6Xs are not tip heavy at all, yet others like the crankbait rods are. this is because it is meant to be fished tip down if I recall. loomis isn't getting sloppy or careless. each rod series in the E6X line has different balance points on purpose depending on the technique. I assume the reason some of the rods like my MBR are well balanced (not tip or butt heavy) is because they are all purpose rods. at least this is what I assume. loomis isn't going to design a sloppy balanced rod on purpose all of a sudden. even if they are the cheapest loomis rods out there. they are still well designed. to corroborate this theory, its worth noting that the new IMX bass rods have the same balance points and I have heard people complain. and they are almost $400 rods here. in their review on tackletour of the new imx rods, they mentioned that they seem tip heavy without a reel, but when you put a reel on (they used the curado) it all works. so there is a method to their madness.

G. Loomis is awesome. Santa brought me a brand new G. Loomis E6X Mag Bass 843c baitcasting rod for xmas this year. feels awesome. light and well balanced. great price from JB's. (Santa shops there too lol). can't wait to get a new Curado 200i to go with it and smash some fish this spring and summer.

I have two travel rods, both 7 foot med power fast action. and both 3 peices. the Loomis Escape 7 foot med spinning rod (amazing rod, worth the investment if you travel often) St. Croix Premier 7 foot med power. also very good. one thing to consider that is good is that the Loomis Escape 7 footer fits in its travel tube that is small enough to fit in a standard 29" large size suit case. the st. croix does not as the rod tube is a bit longer that the broken down rod.

I have never been to cuba but have had good success fishing in the bahamas for bonefish with jigs, and in the caribbean (Antigua) casting 1/2oz saltwater Rat L Traps (order online). I use a 3 peice travel rod and a 4000 size shimano spinning reel spooled with 12 pound test mono. I do use a wire leader as a lot of saltwater fish have teeth. last January in Antigua I hooked something huge on a Rat L trap, took out of ton of line and cut me off in some dock pilings. never saw the fish lol but thats life. bottom bouncing hair jigs works well too. esp for bonefish and in cuba there should be tons! good luck!