Your gonna love those Mad Katz for those Lavon toads Tim!! Those Rovers and SlimeCat reels are all the same reel with a different stamp on em. I call em throw away reels cuz you use em for a year or 2 and then throw em away. I have a bunch of Swedish Abus and I still run em but I break a few every year and have to send em to Southwest for repair. My Tekotas on the other hand have been doing serious battle for the last 5-6yrs without a single hiccup. I gotta give a huge thanks to Michael Littlejohn for turning me on to them cuz they are the best Catfishing reels I’ve seen. When you get tired of your reels breaking every year then pony up and get you some more Tekotas and your problem is solved. In case your wanting to get rid of the Tekota you bought a few months back I will be glad to take it off your hands Saturday!

I use 4 different rattles Fish Killer. Demon Dragons in High Fin Blue for large baits, WS rattling chubs for medium baits, homemade rattles from Jeff Manning on Facebook for medium baits, and for giant baits with stinger hooks I use big Berthas from whisker seeker and I add a versa rattle. I also run big baits with stingers with the 4” demon dragons. They all put out a different sound than the next. I run all 3 versions every trip but usually the fish prefer 1 over the rest. It’s always different from day to day but they usually prefer 1 over the others.

Y'all, I have been sufficiently chastised about the cheap chinese reels. I ordered another Shimano Tekota 600 HGA last night. That makes 2 and I need 4 more. Chris, I do not like reels that break. I also do not like spending $220 per reel. But given the choice between the two, I know you are right about the Tekotas. You can just feel the quality when it's in your hand.

Now, I am going to say that I don't like the BCF trolling rods. They are too light for me. They feel like a wet noodle when I'm casting. But I am thinking that the Mad Catz MH with the Tekota will be the ultimate Blue Cat Combo!

My son is a fire arms expert and he is always telling me "buy once, cry once" That's his way of telling me to stop looking to try and save money and buy the good stuff. Chris, I think you are saying the same thing. I guess it's time I listened to guys that are obviously smarter than I am.

lesson learned...

After buying those 2 lithium batteries for my TM, The Boss has put me on a budget for fishing stuff. Walmart had Shakespear catfish reels on sale for $35 each. I bought two. When one breaks, I will have a spare in the boat pre loaded with 30lb mono to take its place. The 2 year warranty was cheap, so I bought for the warranty for one reel. I'll just keep replacing them for the next two years. Already had to replace my Catfish Sumo reel, but it had a one year no questions asked warranty. Found out these are just Kast King reels painted green. Tennessee River rocks are hard on reels. Especially when your anchor slips and you don't realize it until you have all 4 rods bent over. I'm ready for TVA to turn the water release down. 10 gates open last weekend. I'm told the reason is the grass is clogging up the generators so all water release is being done with the flood gates. Tomorrow is skipjack day. I'm going to load the cooler with enough to tide me over until next year. The guides are all posting client PB's right now and it will only get better.

Josh sent me a picture of a client with a 73 a couple weeks ago...