J Francho

The dry bag may still work for you then. I use a 5L size, and there's room for extra cord. I'll get it ready to show you. I have a new laptop, with a better camera this time around.

For years, I used an Alphas ITO AI (5.8:1, 24 IPT) because I liked the way it balanced and palmed.

I don't do anything fancy. I keep mine in a dry bag wedged under the seat. This has worked for almost a decade. I can try to remember to show you in the Zoom call this weekend if you want.

Fished more.

I dig that VIR t-shirt.

Very sad news indeed.

Saint Croix Avid AVC70MM is a sensitive graphite stick with an excellent slower taper that can throw lures from 1/4 to about 5/8 oz. I step up to the AVC70MHM for lures 3/4 and over. Mine are over 15 years old, and I haven't really found anything close.

Now I have to jump on! Is back-reeling on the agenda?

River environments favor smallmouth, and they can compete in shallow water. Lake environments favor largemouth, which often drives smallmouth to deeper water.

Why respoool the FC so frequently? You wouldn't respool braid that much.

They live in completely different environments, where I'm from. If you primarily fish for them, then "beefier" gear you use for largemouth would be as foreign as a stand up tuna rig is to you, which you could use to catch fish as well. All you need here is a relatively light spinning rig with 4-6# line and some basic baits to catch them.

When I first started demoing this rig a little over ten years ago at outdoor shows, this was the #1 misconception about Jika rigs: the bait somehow magically defies physics, and will hover above the bottom. This is one of the myths that easily busted in a casting tank. People are amazed that C- Rigs, split shot, Mojo rigs, as well as Texas rigs all sit on the bottom. The only rig that hovers over the bottom is the drop shot. The point of the free swinging weight is to pull the bait straight down through the cover, pulling both the line and bait with it, instead of draping the line. In certain weeds, it works better.

I've fished all over the east coast and about the only cover I've seen that's thicker than the milfoil mats we have is hydrilla in the south. We have that in a few lakes up here now as well.

Yep, 3/8 will get through what a 3/4 Texas rig will. I use the really heavy ones for punching, where I want it to speed through the cover. Don't want them to get a good look at the bait.

That's exactly how I use them. In fact, I make my own for punching in 1, 1.5, and 2 oz. weights.

I don't even spit on my knots anymore.

Trim off any line that looks worn, and retie.

Fluoro lasts at least 4x as long as any mono I've tried. I even left it on a reel and used it for five seasons. It was fine, but line was getting too low on the spool to keep using it, so I refilled it.

Yeah, I'm fast approaching that half century mark. Kids' birthdays are more fun now.

Happy birthday! Good luck and safe moving!

If you dropped your 11" pike pliers in the lake, do they become cover or structure? Asking for a friend.

My style is mid century modern. It's very hip right now.

Stretch and invisibility are not major selling points for using FC line for me. It sinks, is dense, transmits bites well, knots well, manageability, lasts for YEARS, and is made with precision are. You get all this with Tatsu and Invisx. Seaguar products are the most consistent I've used, and they are the only ones I'll use anymore for FC mainline and leader material.