A-Jay

Thanks dudes ~ That silicone mat is 24 x 16 inch https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08LVSB8SL/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1 A-Jay

Yup ~ Scale is one of the few items I would turn my rig right around for if I were not to have it. Won't ever happen though. It's on the check list and there is redundancy involved. #noguessing A-Jay

Good to hear my friend. Sounds like Dee could be back on her feet here soon and maybe even come home to you. Fingers crossed And thank you for thinking of us. Lynn made it through here infusion with only minor complications which is the best we can hope for. Doing a lot of sleeping now. A-Jay

Turkey's here too ~ Sometimes I have to actually get out of the truck and drive them off the road like cattle. A-Jay

Spro Rock Crawler 55 A-Jay

She Just Hammered a walking bait ~ A-Jay

#foodcoma A-Jay

^^^^^ This A-Jay

A-Jay

OK ~ But I'm not looking to hi-jack the OP's thread. And as a disclaimer, I have ZERO experience with Fitzgerald rods. So my thoughts are purely speculation. Either way, the techniques listed (Jerkbaits, Topwater, Finesse Cranking, Chatterbait), first three are usually treble hook baits and the chatterbait obviously is not. At 6'8" it's too short for my taste, most because casting distance will suffer. Line range of 8-15, and 1/4 - 3/4 oz baits - I usually expect the sweet spot to be somewhere in the middle. So 12 lb and perhaps 1/2 oz seems about right. If you're planning on presenting baits in conditions where the above seems right, then I'd say you are good to go. A-Jay

Yes ~ I'll admit to bouncing from graphite to fiberglass & composite intermittently. But I keep going back to the composite, just feels the best to me. And it puts them in the net, which is what it's all about. Always 15 lb FC either Tatsu or InvisX. Here's a decent chatterbait fish from a few weeks ago (I'll apologize for the colorful language in advance, I got a little excited) https://youtu.be/sITpRNLz_04?t=197 A-Jay

Apparently ~ However, sometimes it's the company that really sets it apart. A-Jay

Just about anything served while I'm enjoying this view A-Jay

Aerated the whole property in the rain yesterday. That was fun. Hadn't done it in a couple of years. It needed it . A-Jay

I'm a fairly detail oriented and driven dude. So my 'preparation' is pretty extensive when compare to an angler who mostly does none. I'll put it to you this way, if I can prepare it, I do. That includes Truck, Boat, Motor & Trailer. As a retired guy, I've got that kind of time. May not mean it all happens before every trip, but there's quite a bit that does. I follow the "Failing to Prepare is Preparing to Fail" mantra. Finally, The Prep is fun for me and one of my favorite aspects of the sport. A-Jay

Hello Mike and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ A-Jay

Not really a 'blow the horn' kind of driver, anymore. Couple reasons I guess. One, except for a few weeks in the middle of the summer, most folks 'Up North", are actually courteous drives. So there really isn't many horn blowing opportunities. And two, since selling my GTO, I've adopted a much more defensive driving style. I operate at or below the speed limit, especially towing my rig and I try to abide by most all of the traffic regs. Most importantantly, I will let EVERY Yahoo that wants to, pass me. And I mean Every One. I'll pull right off the road for these special humans. Safest place for them to be - is in front of me. Then I have ALL the Control. Finally, the faster one drives a minivan, the cooler they look. A-Jay

What you see in the mirror is a reflection of your life style. If you don't like it, the Life Style is what you'll need to change. IME, Losing Body fat ALWAYS comes down to eating less. As I've gotten 'older' I need WAY LESS FOOD, PERIOD. And I'm talking surprisingly little. 4 Small balanced meals a day works for me I still can workout, go fishing & live my life. Getting older is hard enough, just no need to carry around an extra 20-30 pound or more while doing it. Good Luck. A-Jay

And I'll be there again Friday ! Don't tell anyone . . . . A-Jay

Five hours into today's chemo. So far so good. A-Jay

I hear ya ~ Agree it's not the same but once the hard cap is on my choices get somewhat limited. Especially since I sort of have no middle ground. I'm either product or destructive. Finally, you're in Great Shape! A-Jay

When I'm checking the wx forecast (Chapter XIII) (something my bass fishing lives by and I do several times a day) I'm always looking for what I like to call (and Hope) are 'good big fish days'. Several factors go into it. Wind speed, direction and duration, sunshine or clouds, air temp trend up, down or stable. However, Pre-frontal opportunities are almost always pretty decent, especially this time of year here. So I'm eyeballing that Thursday, Friday and perhaps even the Saturday morning bites - HARD. Fish Hard A-Jay

For me, it's every open water season. 5 or 6 months of hard water builds some serious anticipating. Especially knowing how good it can be right from the start. On the other end of this spectrum is the approaching of each winter. Does offer me plenty of time to challenge myself in the home gym however. A-Jay

Ever get tired of catching them.. Perhaps there may have been a time where there was a little bit of this going on in my bass fishing. But once I decided to start targeting mostly only plus size bass, that was no longer the case. Just by percentages there are much fewer of them, so I am working harder for much less bites. Easily makes every catch far more meaningful, at least to me. Especially when the time between 'fishing' & 'catching' can often be hours, days and even weeks. It's not for everybody. A-Jay

I've had a few "Big Ones" come unbuttoned over the years. Definitely not a fan. Any gear failure or having my line part seems to make it worse for me. But when I get a clear look at her, and have a fairly decent idea of what I'm dealing with, and THEN she wins the battle, those are the fish that haunt me. This is a clip of my most recent defeat . . . . Super pretty morning with a solid jerkbait bite, hit close to the boat. https://youtu.be/yfnYSE-HjIE?t=886 Sometimes they just get off . . . . A-Jay