Team9nine

As a teenager, I remember all those Bomber boxes lined up on the shelves in the hardware store we always shopped at, and buying many myself. These came after the solid orange boxes, so I’d guess late 1970s as a starting point.

The branding tactic obviously works. Back in the 70s and 80s, Daiwa’s top of the line baitcaster was a ‘millionaire.’ Now, in a world of billionaires and terabytes, a “million” isn’t so impressive any more, so Daiwa had to rebrand and come out with a “zillion,” which obviously worked by the number of guys willing to shell out $300-$400 to buy such a big numbered reel - it must be that much greater! ?

Answered your own question. TFO has an entire lineup in their Tactical Elite Bass series of rods, and St. Croix has one in their Victory series, all of which have military-style or themed names. ‘Tactical’ is defined as, “relating to or constituting actions carefully planned to gain a specific military end,” so they are just taking a spin on technique specific rods via marketing and using a word that creates some mental image of specialized superiority (all IMHO).

looks like the TFF guys have you covered. I don’t know much about the individual Garmin units myself as I’m similar to you, an old school Lowrance guy that transitioned to H’bird, and more recently Garmin. I simply wanted in at the lowest price point just to be able to play. My basic thought is that if it’s LS compatible, it’s advanced enough to be a strong unit. Beyond that, the more expensive, the better the unit (in terms of options, screen size and capabilities) - lol.

just my opinion - you could probably get by with it, but I personally like something a little heavier, M or even MH depending on build, for fishing shaky heads.

The common advise is the bigger, the better. Don’t forget you’ll need to drop another $1500 on the box and LS transducer. You can search for a bundle that might be discounted, or buy used as guys are always upsizing screens. That would save some money. The other question is how good is your eyesight - lol. You can go as small as 7” and still get LS compatibility. Also, how big (or small) is your budget? All the LS compatible units are nice from what I’ve seen.

A good ML is a lot more versatile than many realize. Neds, small swimbaits, hair jigs, tubes, wacky and weightless, inlines, small cranks and jerkbaits, split shot/drop shot - and I’m sure I’m forgetting a few - lol

When it comes to commercial versions, I go with the Accent Wheeler, too - but I'm a little biased Does give you the option of using a skirt or toad or some other plastic as the skirt is included but not attached in the package.

I don’t have 360 to compare to, just what I’ve seen and researched, but I do have FFS and it is simply great for multi-species fishing, especially panfish (crappie, bluegill, white bass, yellow bass, etc.). If I could only pick one of the two for all around fishing, I’d stick with FFS personally for the way I fish - just seems more versatile to me.

Junebug - if I could only pick one though 'Bama Bug' is starting to become a little more common (a GP/Junebug mix - best of both worlds).

I would be remiss as a Spoonplugger if I didn't throw out the mention that this was another Buck Perry "guideline" that you can find in his 1973 book, "Spoonplugging," as well as many of his articles; "Each situation and each structure will determine the amount of time to be spent. The main thing is to spend enough time to be confident you know it thoroughly and that no movement has occurred. The things I have just said, concerning the time spent on a particular structure, and especially the part about which structure to concentrate upon; reads fairly easy. BUT, when you get on the water, you may find you don't have a ready answer. I have solved any doubt that might occur, by going back to the 'basic movement', and recall — "when the movement period occurs, ALL the fish move. Some may move to a greater degree than others, but they all move." What this means to you, if the fish are not moving on the structure you're working, they are not likely to be moving on another. So — you pick out the best one, and stick with it." - Buck Perry, "Spoonplugging" - 1973

This is just one giant circular semantic argument. Do what I do and carry one of these in your tackle box, using it before your first cast each trip, and you’ll be in good shape…better than KVD Line and Lure for removing “memory.”

I’ll take a stab, in order: - They are heavy metal and compact, so they stay deep and on the bottom where many winter bass are, and move faster than a typical rattle bait triggering bites. - Yes, to a large degree, but more cover structure, and the bottom of the lake quickly and efficiently. - I fish them from the bank all the time, late fall through early spring. - bass and walleye - Depends on depth and location, but anything from 3/16 in ponds up to 1/2 oz in larger lakes and reservoirs get the most use. Some guys will go upwards of 3/4 oz at times though. Lots of good brands available on the market these days. Do a search of this site for previous threads on the subject. One of my favorites are Damiki Vaults. - …like a rock. Probably some of the farthest casting baits you’ll throw because of their weight and compact size. Not much air resistance to slow them down; but sometimes shorter casts are better.

My first choice in nearly every pond I fish is either Ned or wacky finesse worm. Especially at first, I just want to get bit or see fish. These two baits will do that for me, then I can adjust from there. Next approach from the look of it would be finesse jig (Bitsy, Boo or Mango).

It's mostly an "old school" modification that I just adopted on that reel because the bail arm wire snapped on me a month or so back, so I simply removed it entirely. 'Back in the day,' it was done either because certain spinning reels didn't allow for manual closing, or because bail springs broke so frequently from use, and using the reel without the bail arm eliminated that from every happening. Basically a work-around. Takes some getting used to.

Ned continuing to do work in the cold waters of the Midwest this week, along with the occasional blade bait thrown for active fish. Picked off about 20 fish over a series of trips this past week. Still using the bail-less Lew's reel, but just ordered a replacement (Daiwa). Looking forward to getting it out and on the water next week after another series of rain showers passes through today and tomorrow.

Credit card info of 1.8 million people stolen from sports gear sites December 17, 2021 Four affiliated online sports gear sites have disclosed a cyberattack where threat actors stole credit cards for 1,813,224 customers. While not much is known about the attack, a law firm representing the four websites stated that personal information and credit card information, including full CVV, were stolen on October 1st, 2021. The affected websites are the following: Tackle Warehouse LLC (tacklewarehouse.com) – Fishing gear Running Warehouse LLC (runningwarehouse.com) – Running apparel Tennis Warehouse LCC (tennis-warehouse.com) – Tennis apparel Skate Warehouse LLC (skatewarehouse.com) – Skateboards and skating apparel The sites first learned of the breach on October 15th, and after an investigation, confirmed on November 29th the customers that had their payment information stolen. The details that have been compromised as a result of this incident are the following: Full name Financial account number Credit card number (with CVV) Debit card number (with CVV) Website account password After the conclusion of the investigation, the websites sent notices to the affected individuals on December 16th, 2021. None of the published notices to impacted customers provide any details on the nature of the incident, so the actual means of obtaining the data remains unknown. However, as the description states, "External system breach (hacking)," this appears close to be a database breach rather than the implantation of card skimmers on the websites, although both scenarios are likely. Whatever the case is, if you have purchased anything from these four websites, you should treat incoming communications with vigilance, monitor your bank account and credit card statements, and report any suspicious transactions immediately. "Upon becoming aware of the incident, Tackle Warehouse took the measures referenced above. We also reported the incident to the payment card brands in an attempt to prevent fraudulent activity on the affected accounts," reads Tackle's notification letter to customers. "We also reported the incident to law enforcement and have worked closely with the digital forensics firm to enhance the security of our sites to facilitate safe and secure transactions." Unfortunately, the affected customers have not been offered an identity protection service this time, even though the compromised data is extremely sensitive information.

Great trolling line with better than average knot and overall strength vs other braids from the data I've seen (from what I recall), but I've never been happy with it as a casting line. It just never softens up enough for the type of fishing I do most often. Might be OK as a moving bait line though. I eventually eliminated it from my setups after trying it.

I love it and I hate it. Not happy seeing how technology, in general, has taken over professional fishing. Kind of ruined it for me. Reminds me of what Formula 1 has gone through in a way.

Both of the "Grumpy/Grumpier" movies, and, of course, "A River Runs Through It" are the first ones that come to mind. Does "Jaws" count?

Turns out to be a pretty old term, even way before even you heard it mentioned. I did some quick searching and found it used in a 1914 "Outdoor World & Recreation" issue, though it was in a duck hunting story. Also in a 1913 story pertaining to baseball. The first fishing account reference I could find was in a 1927 newspaper letter about fishing on Reelfoot Lake in TN. Buck used it quite frequently in his book and articles. Just one you don't hear much anymore it seems. No telling how much older than those dates it might have appeared. Always fun tracking this stuff down though and learning a little about the history. Thanks for the comment.

Speaking of history, it's always difficult, if not impossible to figure out where and when things originated, but that quote ("You just can't catch fish where they ain't") might have been started by Buck Perry as it appears 5 times, either directly or paraphrased similarly, in his 1973 book, "Spoonplugging."

Here's how I store my Z-man baits for all my shore fishing trips. They stay all mixed together all year long. Actually have about 4 of these bags stuffed just like this one, and I just add baits to them as needed regardless of color. Can't say I've ever had an issue with bleeding I can remember. You could always just try to keep darks with darks, and lights with lights or something similar.

I kept records for a while of various kinds, but in hind sight, never really found a big benefit from doing so outside of just being a data nerd. Still do to some degree, but now it's on a seasonal basis and everything is pretty much one-off. Here's an old Pareto chart I did for all the keeper bass I caught during half a dozen tournament seasons on a local lake by lure type - guess we threw a lot of jigs back then

Same baits I throw every winter - hair jigs, Ned, suspending jerks, and blade baits. Some larger reservoirs I will throw the A-rig. Designer braces for this guy and a couple of his buddies yesterday