Mike twisted my arm and asked me to be moderator on this forum, so here we are.
For those of you who don't know me, my name is Jim Johns and I go by ReelDoc. I know Roadkill, splash & Peanutman from this forum personally, and I enjoyed meeting everybody when we fished Clarks Hill with you in October, 2005. I'm a Computer Systems Analyst for an aerospace company by day and a fishing reel mechanic by night. I currently live in Wichita, KS, with Bobbie, my lovely wife of 24 years. We have 2 grown children, April (23) and Chris (22). Chris has been married to Jacque since June, 2005 and we have 3 grand-dogs, a grand-cat, and a grand-bird so far. We recently purchased a retirement home about 6 minutes from Lake Guntersville, AL. We'll be moving there in 2-4 years, depending on when the $$$$ is right. I'm ready to move right now, as we currently have 6" of snow on the ground!!
I was stationed at Myrtle Beach AFB in 1973-75, so I'm familiar with SC. I didn't bass fish then, but I still miss saltwater fishing from the Pavilion Pier. I've been bass fishing for about 15 years and I fish from a Triton TR-20. I primarily use Shimano Chronarch reels and prefer St. Croix rods. I have built many of my own rods as well as a couple for friends, and I have a VERY close friend who is a professional rod builder. I may have to pick his brain on your more technical rod questions.
I own Heartland Tackle Service and I service apporximately 300 Shimano, Daiwa and Abu Garcia reels per year. I also do lots of research and testing, particularly in the area of making things happen that the factory didn't. A few of my latest discoveries are finding a metal cast control cap, wiffle spool, and a set of 5:1 gears for the Curado CU-100B/101B. The 5:1 gears make the CU-100 into a great crankbait reel. I have several with these modifications and they work great. I also located a metal levelwind pawl to replace the nylon one on the Curado 200B which seems to break at the most inopportune time.
I need your help to make this a great forum. I'll do my best to answer your questions about rods and reels. I don't know everything, and I will tell you when I don't have an answer. But I will attempt to get the information for you. If you know the answer to a posted question, please feel free to sound off. One og my goals is to learn at least one new thing each day. You can help me meet that goal. I have a bunch of tips and will start posting them next week when we have an 11-day break at the salt mine.
Now, it's your turn -- come on and join in!!
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