Stasher1

They're apparently renovating most of the WMs in the area, so the clearance sections are huge and full of absolutely anything you can imagine. The clearance fishing gear has been hit-or-miss, but as the others have already pointed out, different stores stock different gear and the stuff that moves rarely goes on sale. So far I've picked up a pair of Shimano Sonora 2500FBs and a Mitchell 308Xe for $15 each, a couple Abu Garcia Conolon Premiers for $27 each, and two spools of 20# Powerpro for $4 each from my neighborhood WM. I hit one on the other side of town late last night and came away with 4 packs of Bass Magic swimbaits, 5 Stanley 'Wedge Plus' spinnerbaits in Golden Bream, 2 Hawg Caller triple blade spinnerbaits, 2 Norman 'Fat Boys' in Redear, a pack of Kinami Flash in Baby Bass, and a War Eagle spinnerbait for about $25. They had tons of stuff on clearance, but that's all that interested me.

x2 I've been using 20# PowerPro on my travel rod for the past couple weeks, and so far I like it alot. It's a little wiry at first, but that goes away after a couple trips. I like that I can leave it in the car/truck and not worry about the heat weakening it, it's extremely strong, and the lack of stretch helps make up for the St. Croix Triumph's lack of sensitivity, compared to my other rods anyway.

Thanks guys. I've got a bit of cash burning a hole in my pocket and was thinking about buying a new jerkbait rod, but after reading your responses I think I have it covered with the rods I already own but rarely use. Maybe I'll just put the money into the neglected VW project in my garage instead.

I've been using a 7' Kistler M/MF composite cranking rod, and it's been working fine but I'm curious what everybody else is using for their hard jerkbaits.

I've gotten to the point where I'd rather go hungry than eat fast food. I've dropped 40 lbs in the past few months, working out and eating right. I'm not going to throw that away for the convenience of a drive-thru meal. Subway is about as close as I get to fast-food now. Footlong Subway Club with spinach, tomato, and pickle. Toasted with no condiments, and I save half for lunch the next day.

No problem. I got a killer deal on them so I bought two so I'd have an extra set of blocks...but the second one has just been collecting dust down in the basement. Anyway, it's yours when/if you want it. Let me know when you're ready and I'll put it in the mail.

Sqhertz, I've got an extra Pelican kayak carrier setup like I linked to above with the foam blocks and straps, NIB. It's yours if you want it. PM me your address and I'll get it out ASAP.

I know they're not difficult problems to remedy, I was just explaining to sqhertz why I wouldn't recommend that particular paddle.

Mine (being a sit-in) only weighs 50 lbs, so I just pick the whole thing up and set it on the car and adjust it once it's there. I'm not familiar with that paddle, but http://www.paddling.net has a pretty good review section for all manner of kayaks, canoes, paddle, PFD's, etc. That paddle only has 4 reviews on there, but they're all pretty positive... http://www.paddling.net/Reviews/showAcc.html?cat=1

They're closed-cell and some even have a layer of rubber on the bottom to help them stay in place. I don't have a problem with them shifting around at all. Youmay need to adjust them a bit before you strap the yak in place, but that's really no big deal. To be honest, I don't even remember what length paddle I use. It's a Carlisle Magic and I DON"T recommend it. It's a two-piece aluminum shaft model with a graphite ferrule. The shaft and ferrule expand at different rates so once it's together it won't come apart until it cools down. Pretty d**n irritating. Also, the point where the blade attaches to the shaft leaks, so the shaft will hold water and slowly leak it all out onto the floor in your garage/car/shop/apartment etc. Carlisle's fiberglass-shaft models ight be better, but I'll never know. I'll buy something different next time.

Lately I've been using my "travel tackle", which consists mainly of cheapo twirl-tail worms from Luck 'e' Strike and BPS in tequila sunrise, red/black core, pump/chart, watermelon/chart, black/pink and Northland Slurpies Ringworms in their "green sunfish" color. I can't explain it, but I've never been more successful.

x2 The information contained on this site is great, but it's the people that really make this site shine. There are some really great folks here.

It definitely wouldn't be my first choice, but for the price (free) I really can't complain. My in-laws used it as tow vehicle behind their RV, but they sold the RV when the gas prices went thru the roof a couple years ago. They already had a couple nicer cars, so they gave us the little Accent so I wouldn't have to commute in my Suburban. It's tiny, cramped with three kids in the back seat, gutless (especially with the AC on), and kinda homely, but it gets 37 mpg.

If money is tight, I'd be looking for a spinning setup and not a baitcaster. You'll get better performance out of a spinning reel in the $50-$60 range than a similarly priced baitcaster IMHO, which would leave you more money to put into the rod. I've never used either one, but I believe $150 would get you a Pflueger President and a St. Croix Mojo spinning rod. Good looking reliable gear that gets pretty good reviews. Spool it up with the 30# braid of your choice and you'd be ready for just about anything.

My father has the same problem from time to time. He's a truck driver, though, so it puts him out of commission until it clears up completely.

I have a Yakima setup on my Suburban for my kayak and canoe, but I really only use it when we go camping. I typically toss it on the roof of my little Hyundai Accent with a couple precut foam blocks, a strap over the middle and thru the doors, two straps running from the yak's bow carry handle to my tow bar in the front, and another strap running from the stern handle to a point on the frame below the rear bumper. I know it sounds like overkill, but with Atlanta-area drivers being as awful as they are, you never know when you'll have to do a full panic-stop @ 75 mph. These are the blocks I use, but not the straps. The ones that come with the blocks are crap. http://www.amazon.com/Pelican-Kayak-Car-Top-Carrier/dp/B0008DBP4E As far as PFDs go, you'll want something with very little or no flotation in the lower back, mesh would be ideal. Make sure the arm openings are large enough to be comfortable when casting. You'll need to be able to cast in pretty much every direction, so this is very important. What might work fine paddling, could be a royal PITA after 30 minutes of fishing.

What you need is a syringe and a bottle of super glue...

I picked up a couple Shimano Sonora 2500FB's and a Mitchell 308xe for $15 each when they started remodeling my local Wal-Mart last month. Gave the Sonoras to my oldest boys (7 & 10) and kept the Mitchell as part of my trunk gear. Never know when you might stumble on a good fishin' hole. I check the clearance section first whenever I go gear shopping. I can't tell you how many bags of Zoom and Kinami plastics, Strike King spinnerbaits and cranks, Mann's cranks, Bomber cranks, Rat-l-traps, spools of Trilene XL, and Plano 3600 series boxes I've bought for $1 each, sometime even less. I try not to buy all they have, though, unless I'm really going to use it all. I have to leave some for the next guy.

I was wondering when that was gonna happen. ;D

I use a Flambeau 0550 "Big Mouth" for the spares that are out of the packages and a Plano 3503 for the ones I use on a regular basis. I find the Plano box to be the perfect size for the kayak. It fits perfectly behind my seat in an insulated lunch box.

That would probably be the easiest and most economical option. If you decide the iPod/speaker setup isn't loud enough you can build a little portable headphone amplifier in a mint tin for about $30...

Don't knock 'em till you've tried 'em. I've had more luck in the past month using those cheapo Renegade (AKA Luck E Strike) twirl tail worms than anything else in my vast assortment of tackle. It's kind of embarrassing, really. I'd be down for this as well. I've got enough NIB soft plastics, cranks, and spinnerbaits to do this several dozen times at least. Stupid bait monkey. > Clark Stewart, you've got a PM.

Many years ago when I was working part-time in a car stereo shop we built a couple portable stereo systems for boat owners using large coolers. We'd mount a pair of 6x9's in the front of the cooler, build a false floor inside to mount the radio in, and add an antenna and couple gold-plated power/ground distribution blocks to the back of the cooler so it could be hooked to the boat's battery. Simple, inexpensive, portable, and it kept the radio dry.

It's about dang time. He makes us buy all of this crap, the least he can do is show us how to use it.

I would imagine either rod would probably be more likely to break at the tip than the middle of the blank.