Couple Questions

[chathamhill]

I was thinking about purchasing a new spinning reel and have heard some good stuff on the Shimano Symetre. Anybody on this site have experience with these reels? If so post a review and let me know your opinions.

Second and more importantly, for those of you who fish Jordan frequently, what species of shad are most common in Jordan?

[pete]

had a symetre for several years and had to retire it because of corrosion (all my fault) loved the reel, but ive started going to cheaper options in spinning reels for what i use them for. If you have extra $$ to spend, you wont be disapointed at all in the stradic!

not a Jordan native, but after these last few cold winters, by far your Gizzard shad is going to be your main species.

[chief]

Jordan has both gizzard and threadfin shad. I have foul hooked both this winter trying to seduce a crappie from theior midst.

[jiggshooter]

go to bass pro shop .com and check out the tiny lite rod and reel combo

[skeeterguy]

For trolling or night fishing value, you cant beat the Shimano 1000 or 2000 series reels in my opinion. Rear drag & will handle anything from crappie to a 20lb. catfish. Definitely not high end, but plenty tough enough to do the job. Check em out at Monkscrappie.com, less than 15 bucks ! I have more than a dozen, just pick out a nice ultralight rod & your ready to go.

[chathamhill]

Thanks for the input fellers. I was at Dicks Sporting Goods in Apex about a week ago and they had some great sales on a bunch of fishing stuff, huge markdowns (mostly bass lures). Long story short, I found a St Croix Premiere 6ft Lite Action rod regularly $100. There were 2 of them marked down to $80 plus 50% off that. I got one and it wrung up at the register for 34.97!! I don't know why because Bass Pro, Cabelas, and Gander have all theirs at regular price. Anywho I took the deal and went back a few days later for the other one but it was already gone. I do a lot of casting jigs and vertical jigging and this rod is perfect for tying on 1 or 2 1/32 or 1/16 oz jigs and getting after the slabs. On top of that, I have $150 in gift cards to bass pro shops from christmas and a birthday coming up so I am planning a trip down to Charlotte in a few weeks and wanted to get a nice reel to put with this rod. I usually stay away from the real expensive stuff seeing that I am a college student and the money is pretty scarce for me (but isn't it for everyone these days), but I figured since I got a good deal on this rod and have the gift cards I might as well spoil myself a little bit :-)
Thanks for answering the shad questions too. I don't do much crappie fishing with a crankbait unless it is real hot in the middle of summer but I am looking at getting a few crankbaits to match up with the shad at Jordan. I don't own a boat but go out with my youth minister as much as I can when I am home. The lake is right in my backyard, so if any of you old guys ever need a young fishing partner and maybe share some secrets on Jordan I would love to go out with you. Thanks for posting and good luck fishing.
-Brock

[stratosguy]

Skeeterguy The Shimano 1000 and 2000 reels work great for me too I have got one on a 11 foot jigging rod so I can sneak up on em real quiet like.
Chathamhill if your looking for some great crankbaits I have two for you to look at. The first one is a small Luckycraft I catch plenty of big crappie,bass and white perch on and the other lure is great for early spring bass.

Luckycraft copper perch color in 1/4 and 1/2 ounce I use year round with medium to light tackle.

http://www.basspro.com/Lucky-Craft-R...90416/-1755802

The live target lures look great too and I especially love the crawdad lures for digging in brush in early spring neither one are cheap but they work.
The LIVETARGET® Crawfish Life-Like Lure, by Koppers Fishing

[chathamhill]

Thanks for the input stratosguy. I don't do much bass fishing except for in farm ponds, so for my experience and how much I bass fish those lures are little pricey for me. Great looking baits though. That crawdad especially looks like a fish catcher.

[youngin]

I think the shimano 1000 or 2000 are the best crappie fishing reels. possibly the best catfish/striper/bass reels. caught everything from 30 pound cats to 15 pound stripers to 8 pound largemouths. they can do some work on a 2lb slab also! Havent had one fail yet and we've been using them for prolly 5 years now. not to mention they are only like $12 at basspro.