islandbass

Truth! We just added another dog to the family and he’s so loveable.

Congrats. I need some of that bass jig magic myself, lol. ??

I still do, lol. Definitely agree on the floating Rapala minnow. My first bass was caught with the size 5. I don’t know about spotted bass as they’re not in my area as far as I know, but other “forgotten” lures: In-line Spinners shap raps skitter pops

Welcome back home!

Well, you’re one ahead of me, lol. I recall the one and only time I ever got a reaction from pitching a jig. A 4-5lb. came out of the cover and inspected it for what seemed like an eternity, then swam away like a stuck up snob. That was at least 8 years ago but that memory bad been burned into the archives.?

Jigs, jigs, jigs, jigs and more jigs. How pathetic ?

I have no biases, even though I’m biased toward being unbiased. ? I can relate to many of things already mentioned. Don’t even get me started on red hooks. Theoretically, hook color shouldn’t matter, right? So why in the heck when I’m drop shotting with chrome or black colored hooks and they don’t work, I slap on a red one and bam!? Talk about a disconnect. I slap the red when chrome and black fail, lol. I am curious though if what we sat we are biased toward might be preferences instead. ??

Jig Chatterbait tried and true bass baits and I can’t get jack, ??

So sorry to hear. She and her family and you are added to my prayer list.

Dang. I felt disturbance in the force from here. Sorry about that. indeed that is a cringy sound. ?

Okay, I’ll say never say never, but I ain’t gonna bend over, lol ?

Boat monkey....Bend over If I were drinking something I would have spot it out laughing so hard. I don’t have a boat monkey and never will, lol. One scene from pulp fiction came to mind. ?

I certainly don’t mind fishing with others, but the reality of my situation is that 99.9999999% of the time, I’m flying Han Solo. That’s just how it is. Many of the pluses of fishing alone have already been mentioned so I don’t need to reiterate but indeed, islandbass is fishing alone just about every time he goes fishing.

I don’t know if your the tinkerer/crafty type,but I’d trace the shapes of those lips and cut it out of Lexan or other material and replace the lips if they break off. To me Rapala lips seem more durable than others and if they break they’re rare or my fault. Given that you said they’re approaching 10 years in age, maybe those lips have reached they’re effective use life? I have two examples from two other sports. My Italian SIDI cycling shoes. These things rock. I got them around 1998 or so. I stopped cycling around 2004. I got back into cycling around 2016 and there they were, my awesome shoes. I put them on and they still felt great. However, the material that made up the traction (rubber type of material) and some other parts literally crumbled in my hands. At first I was upset, all of 5 seconds, until I realized that my shoes were about 18 years old, and kept in my garage subject to the change of temperature of hot and cold in that time. I can’t blame the shoe. But heck, the leather itself is in remarkable shape. I’m probably going to make some type of plaque out of those shoes. The exact same thing happened with my Nike golf shoes over nearly the same amount of time and subjected to the same conditions. This pair suffered a worse fate. They looked good visually until I picked them up. The sole remained on the shelf as I picked up the shoes, lol. And I was going golfing for the first time in over 10 years in winter conditions — No freaking way. The cold and wet are bad enough and waterproof shoes are practically a must in the Pac NW. Luckily, DSG was still open and I found a decent pair of Foot Joys, lol. BTW, I love DT6s. Enough that I’d try to refurbish them. Heck, I’d even consider writing to Rapala and sharing this with them and tell them that I plan to get them back in working order. Who knows… They might give the lips for those or even send you a few for your troubles. My first bass ever was caught on a Rapala floating minnow so Rapala has a special place in my heart when it comes to lures.

Very interesting. I guess it really depends on where you live and that the coverage from the various companies can really vary by area. Come on T-Mobile! You gotta step it up in Seattle, lol.

I loved AT and T when I had it and loved it. I too have sprint/T-Mobile and it’s shocking that in the Seattle area, T-Mobile just sucks — at least in places I need it. So many dead spots in my area. I was initially with sprint but the merger did not improve coverage. I visit my sister in freaking small Tucson arizona, and I can’t believe how good the coverage is for T-Mobile compared to Seattle. ?? In my own house, it’s barely one freaking bar and I don’t live in the boondocks, lol. You can’t even get BR’s webpage to download, lol. @Koz I just hope T-Mobile’s coverage is better in your area.

That has never happened to me when casting a 2-piece rod. Never ? The first rod I bought was a two piece spinning rod. I was an absolute newbie and after I assembled the rod, I made the lotion to cast without any line. The rod top flew off and landed in the tall grass in my yard tip first close to the ground and broke. First ever cast and not a good sign, lol. I was able to exchange it and I called the new rod (which was pretty much the same rod but different color my “Walmart Special”. Fortunately, it is a surprisingly easy fix that I’ve done myself and if I can do it, anyone can. Repair it if the rod means enough to you to fix. Mine was.

Jigs for me too. Going on 18 years now. In my defense, I hardly ever tied one on in that time so it’s like the lottery. You can’t win if you don’t play. If I decide to fish this season, it will be the lure I will invest my time with.

Thanks. I’ll look that up.

Absolutely and indeed, especially from the shore. The nugget or lesson is two fold. Nugget 1 - Live with it and deal with it — removing the guck that sticks to the trebles. Accept it as part of the game. My first bass ever was on a crankbait so they have a small place in my heart. I still hate the guck that trebles can collect but that is part of the game. Nugget 2 - As Eddie Murphy said about haunted houses, it’s a “hint and a half for your butt” that’s telling you the crankbait might not be the ideal weapon in the scenarios you face. I have have often pondered switching those trebles to single hooks, but that’s a lot of work,lol.

Funny you should ask that. I was just about to ask the same question. No love for the Albright is not alright, lol. The Albright is easy to tie and if I’m not mistaken it also works well for lines of varying diameters too. This is my go to knot for joining lines.

Personally, I think you’re good to go. Unless you find the coils unsightly, there is nothing wrong with the line with regard to function. There are two scenarios where I would change it without question: 1) If I fished really silty or brackish water. My personal experience show that silt on the line could even be hard to see but noticeable in the loss of casting distance. I consider myself blessed that the look of memory on a line doesn’t bother me. 2) The line, if mono, and for you that is not the case, was exposed for periods at a time in sunlight.

I think the main reason Shimano does this is because they know that some people don’t or won’t care to ever use a reel with the DC system. If they exclusively made say their curado as an exclusive DC reel, they’d probably lose a lot of people who don’t want or care for the dc version. They would have lost me if curados were dc only. They lost me on their spinning reel, lacking the AR, lol. You reach a point in your reel acquisitions where there is a certain level/class of reel that once you’re there, it is nearly impossible to go “backward” for most cases. From this point forward this is all me… my personal problem, lol. For example, I started with the curado bsf and as result, I could never get myself to buy a Citica or other Shimano reel “below” the curado. For spinning reels, I started with the symmetry which is now discontinued. And for me $99-$100 is my cap for spinning reels,basically what I want to spend. That would mean I’d be looking at a nasci. However, it does not have the AR and neither do reels above it. It is so irksome, lol. I forgot what lower than a nasci Shimano reel has the AR, but I cannot “go that low” due to mental block, disconnect and sheer foolishness on my part, lol. Therefore, they’ve lost me for spinning reels now and I refuse to go up to the Stradic or ci4 whatever reel or whatever is higher up. The name, Vanford? Kiss my… lol. Why? Because every time I see myself fishing with one, I know full well that the theme song from Sanford and Son will be playing in my head like a broken record over and over again. Seriously! I do like the theme song but too much of anything, you get the point. $100 buys a heck of a lot for a spinning reel and I see absolutely no need or reason to spend more than that even though I can. So it makes sense to me why they offer both regular and DC versions. I don’t see the need for the DC option for myself and I am glad Shimano offers it — or else they would have lost me on the workhorse of a reel, the curado. things Shimano has lost IB on: 1) Spinning reels 2) Road bike shifters - Never, Shimano! I love you but Campagnolo shifters suit me better, lol.

Come on, fellas. Who wear the pants? You or her? Don’t be weak, limp, dish towels. Man up. If I want to go fishing, play golf, ride my bike, I tell my wife straight up — that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Period. Done deal. Take it to the bank…. ?‍♂️ Then I ask for permission, lol. Hot dog. 26 years next month. Unbelievable. She has no interest in any of my hobbies but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. She shocked me when she told me she wanted to start kayaking last year so that’s one outdoor thing we’re going to do together. And I don’t plan to fish on a kayak and ironically, I don’t want to. She likes to hike, but I walk too slow… Seriously, so forget about that, lol.

First thing I’d recommend is take off the braid and choose at least a 10-12# mono immediately. Newbies should not learn to use casting reels with braid. Line dig is an issue that wil slow a newbie’s learning. As for your backlashes, we’re they true backlashes or did your reel looked like it was about to back lash but didn't? I started chuckling as I read your post. Why? Because I did the same thing as you, putting on braid my first time and know exactly what you just experienced. You also need to be aware that your mechanics must be sound. By this I mean that you must allow the lure's weight to load the rod when you cast. Unfortunately, you can get away without doing this with a spinning rod. The last point I’ll bring to your attention is that just because two things weigh the same, does not mean you that you won’t need to make a brake adjustment. You still might have to. A 3/8oz casting plug will cast superbly because it will cut through the air like a knife through soft butter. One cannot expect a 3/8oz spinnerbait to cast the same. The blades could get caught up in the wind and may cause a backlash if your thumb isn’t there to make the necessary adjustment to change the spool’s speed. Congrats and keep at it. You’ll get it down in no time.