islandbass

@AdrianLP: Got it. It’s pretty interesting how certain brand names become synonymous for the thing they make or do. 1) Kleenex => Tissue 2) Xerox => Photocopy 3) Google => Search Engine 4) Dremel => Rotary Tool ?

@AdrianLP: Excellent idea! I am going to do that as a winter project. ? Crimping with pliers is not a 100% deal and if the warden deems it’s not flat or flush enough, you can still get cited. The dremel remedies that completely. Do you use the drum sander or some specialized bit?

@AdrianLP: Good on you for going barbless. I prefer barbless whenever possible. It definitely makes release easier and in my state, barbless hooks are required period, end of sentence. Unfortunately, barbless hooks off the rack in my neck of the woods are hard to find because people buy them up (mostly octopus and circle hooks used for salmon/steelhead fishing) quick. And if I have barbed hooks I flatten barbs with pliers. I believe using the barbless hook also can make you a better fighter because you know if your line goes slack and you have a big enough fish on, you’re going to likely lose it. The barbless hooks keeps you conscious and aware 100% of the time during a fight and for me it really helps me focus on never letting the line go slack during the fight. Barbless hooks easily land steelhead and salmon that are bigger and stronger than bass so bass can definitely but caught with them. I also think when a hook set is needed, it’s actually “easier” because there is no barb to hook set equation. so maybe that barb is a crutch, lol. ?

Albright knot for me. Another plus when needed is that it works in all cases but also in cases when the diameter of the lines are not similar.

@throttleplate: heck yes. But not only that, you can make chicken adobo with the unused thighs, lol. Good wings are a good thing. ?

@TnRiver46 are you sure you didn’t transpose the 3 and 9? Just kidding. ?? @Darth-Baiter nope, no longer a rookie and as much as I’d like to still be a rookie, I am not one either. A parallel for you. There are people who have played golf all their lives and still can’t break 90 or 100. In the words of metallica, “Sad, but true,” and it sux but ding dang nab it, I’m in that fishing boat. I started fishing in 2004 and to be honest I didn’t “break thru” were the fruits of putting in that time on the water, finding nuggets or wisdom from each outing until 2018. I finally got my first spinnerbait and buzzbait caught bass. Yup, it took that long. Granted, in most of that time, I was honing in on shot drop shot and cranks but every time I threw a spinnerbait, it was always a fat zero … until 2018. Then I started catching them left and right. To make things worse or more difficult, I am a shorebound angler and I think that it is practically a separate discipline within bass fishing. As a shorebound angler, you don’t always have the luxury of getting to where the fish are located and that is a sad reality. Also, in western Washington, Our fishing window for bass (from the shore) is small (without a boat ) Therefore, I want to remain a rookie because I usually get rookie results. Maybe we’re just RINOs. “Rookies in name only,” lol ?

I bought the 4 piece kastking travel rod. Only $55 or so. I bought two to use in Cabo where I’m at right now and then afterward I’m giving them both to my brother in law who lives there so he can use them to fish with his kids. There a variety of length and powers to choose from and I can tell you the 7’6” mh feels more like a medium and that is really the power I wanted anyway. And if it broke, I won’t be out much at all and honestly I could care less. I went with the spinning model because many people go the spinning route and when in rome… the plastic case it came in was perfect (for protection) but about 2” too long for my luggage so I used a coping saw to cut off the amount needed and that did the trick. Please double check the rod carrying policy with your airline. You don’t want to be forced to leave it. For example, to Mexico I can bring my normal 2-piece rod as a carry on. However going back to the US, you cannot. I would have had to give up that rod had my sister in law not been there. They wound up losing it over but lesson learned. Good luck and say hello to my place of birth. I have not been there since 1977.

@Bazoo I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. Keep us posted. @Darth-Baiter I believe @MN Fisheris correct. The crest on the dinosaur’s head suggests it is likely a pteranodon. MN is not only a science master but also a karate master in street fighter, lol. Ken was my go to character back in the days of SF 2. Sho Ryu Ken! Ha Do Ken!!

@MN Fisher I’ve been out of the TV loop for awhile so I had not heard of that show. It does seem worth a look from that preview.

@ghost: Ha! I’m old enough to get that address reference, lol. Good one!

That is one of the ugliest reels I have ever seen. Reminds me of battlestar galatica’s cylon raider. No self respecting bass angler should be seen with that ugly reel. Tell you what. Just send it me. It will be tough but I would be more than happy to take that reel off your hands. My address is … ? Truthfully, that is one sick looking reel. My offer still stands.

@Matt Bacola: I believe King Fisher is 100% correct. General rule of thumb. Never leave the US to visit another country without a passport. Call me anal but anytime I receive advice such as what you were told, I’d personally verify such a claim. My state is making mandatory that all residents get the enhanced drivers license and last I heard, they say you can enter Canada and I think Mexico with it and it’s sufficient. I will still bring my passport. @king fisher: not sure how I missed this post. Usually when I go to Mexico I go saltwater fishing. Being married to one for over 20 years, I have picked up the language and ding dang I pass even though I’m a brown Asian, lol. Case in point, I was fishing as the sun was just about to rise and there is this nervous looking Caucasian guy about 30 ft away from me and periodically when I glanced at him he got a little closer. He pulls out a little book and reads from it “buenos Dias. Co—-mo. estas?” What he said was so broken that I knew instantly I was going to have a lot a lot of fun with this. I responded to him in Spanish. And my wife jokes that I sound like a gringo when speaking Spanish but he couldn’t tell, lol. He musters enough courage to roughly say something along the lines if I knew Jesus and boy he was really struggling. He definitely gets an A for effort. However, I couldn’t stand how much he was struggling so I said, “Do you want me to speak to you in English?” He practically jumped back 10’ shocked as he could be. He then asked if I spoke English and I responded all my life. He looked so relieved. After some more chatting we learn that we’re from the same state … and vicinity in King County. Go figure. Even the locals speak to me in Spanish and that’s cool for sure. Just don’t ask me to translate Puerto Ricans and Cubans for you. I have difficulty understanding them, and I shouldn’t. ?

As a shore bound angler who isn’t so sure I want the “hassle” (as it’s not technically a hassle” of responsibilities associated with a boat - hauling, maintenance, fees, restrictions, etc.) that comes with boats, i am as mobile as can be and can hit many lakes in the same day. On the other side of the coin, as a shore-bound angler, I also face that at times, the fish are out of reach and this is where having a boat trumps being shore-bound. On My second outing this season, I caught 7 fish from two different lakes and would have gone a third lake but the fishing liberty time was near expiring, lol. I live within spitting distance of at least 5 lakes and can hit all of them in a day and sadly for these lakes (and a whole bunch more) they’re trolling motor only. If I had a true bass boat, I would be sol. @Darnold335: So just bear with it and go fishing from the bank. Fortunately for you it’s a temporary situation ?

Congrats. I love mine. It’s a 2 piece casting rod and it meets my needs. I’m know you’ll enjoy using yours.

Sorry to hear this @papajoe222, but if a leader is that short, say 2’ left I think it’s so short it practically defeats the purpose of the leader. All the reties, and stretching done to it with every retie and also being that short, it might be going in and out of the guides by then two. That’s “wear and tear” on the line and knot. Perhaps nothing is “wrong” except needing to replace the leader at that point. After all as you said, it was not really an issue beforehand. ? I am in Glenn’s camp and stay away from leaders too. I also don’t use braid as much as I love its traits because bottom line my waters are fairly clear and I have noted the %ages that compared to any of the lines I use and have used, braid catches the least. This is just for me. I don’t hate braid, it just doesn’t suit my needs and I sure wish it did.

If I were new to the site, I very likely check that out first. ?

Welcome and greetings from the pacific nw. Nice to see another fellow west coaster!

That’s what they say about the standard bass jig. I believe what the folks say and don’t doubt one but, and I’ve been bass fishing off and on since 2004-5 and I have NEVER, EVER caught a bass on the standard jig and pig trailer. I’ve come close starting this year and unfortunately I pulled back to soon to set the hook and yanked it out of his mouth. I was so close. You two are not alone, and this is to my shame lol. I’ll also be looking forward to the posts in this thread to to see what I’m missing. It has to be this year I’ll get that monkey off my back.

When possible, I go straight shank vs offset. It just seems to give me not only more bites but a higher percentage on hook ups. This is for most senko type lures. I do make an exception with brush hog type baits. I might use an offset including the ewg. I kind of like how the gap of the hook “guides” the hog like that thing on the bottom of a boat.

@Catt: That is a great arsenal “magic” lures. With that much magic at your disposal we might have to start calling you Gandalf (One of my favorite Tolkien characters of all time), lol. Are they still pulling active duty or retired?

My findings and experience have been along the same lines you described. I’ve learned that lures identical in looks may still vary in productivity and effectiveness. Sucks but as such, this is life. One example is a Rapala husky jerk in rainbow trout I bought. I hooked into what was the biggest bass to back then, easily a 4-5 lb bass. Unfortunately, I lost that battle and that lure eventually. I bought the “exact” ones and none of them can even catch a cold. I still love Rapala but this indeed was interesting and fascinating and worthy of pondering over the winter.

You all are so funny about driving. On the contrary, our country and a few others, are the exception to the world norm that lanes are not always used or followed, lol. Personally, I don’t go 100% full noise cancellation on my buds (meaning only using one at a time) and the greater the potential for crap in a country to go down against me, the more I want to have one ear focused on paying attention to sounds around me. Americans can be deemed as targets. Easy money, so some tend to believe, and they know you don’t/won’t have much recourse. Heck, even now in some cities here, so what do I know, lol. Always be aware of your surroundings.

Nice! Learning to make one of these has always been on my bucket list.

@Drawdown just about, lol. I was in a situation of being forced to use what was in hand. The weight was unpegged.

Well, I need to give you the bait monkey answer. Get both. My motto in life is, “Better to have and not need than to need and not have.” Really! Just this season, I went a local shop to replenish my supply of baby brush hogs but I wasn’t paying attention and unknowingly bought a pack of tiny brush hogs. I know of brush hogs and baby brush hogs but I never heard of a tiny brush hog. Heck, I didn’t even realize until a few weeks later when I was fishing, nothing was working. T-rig and wacky 5” senkos, 3” senkos, drop shotted 3” senkos standard and wacky rigged and nothing. So I went through my bag looking for the baby brush hogs and discovered I had tiny brush hogs. Oh well. I T-rigged it with a 1/4oz weight and tossed it where I threw the other lures and bam. A nice 2.5 -3 lb bass smashed it in seconds. Hmmmm. Tiny brush hogs? You’ve earned a spot in my rotation.