shorefisher

The master

That was the right thing to do.

Beautiful fish and congrats!

Peace in Mississippi -Hendrix

No problem; I know it may look hard to build but it's not hard at all. The center will be the hardest thing to drill out but you really don't have to make it like that. Start sketching it out and you'll come up with something easier I'm sure. The easiest thing to do is to do what five.bass.limit suggested but you run the risk of snags with actual trees. **edit** here's a photo of a rather simple design for that PVC tree. As someone else suggested, probably should find out if it's legal to use this. Looks like a 5 gallon paint bucket with cement in bottom. Insert PVC at angles while cement is still curing. Couple or three of these and it should simulate a stump field. Good luck either way. Great idea!

The fit and finish is impeccable. Excellent work. I like the loomis sticker too.

My observations: Yamasenkos fall at a faster rate than Yum dingers. I'm not sure if this is better or worse but I have caught 3x more fish on Yum Dingers/Salty Sticks. But then again I've never been able to find senkos in watermelonseed. They are always sold out so I have to resort to Christmastree or watermelon red flake. Also as far as I can tell Yum Dingers are literally the exact same bait as *. Anyone know (and can say) if this is true? -Shore

Nitro you just haven't found the right water yet. Luck has nothing to do with it. Sometimes you'll wish the lil buggers weren't there.

50 4lb+ fish? Dude you have to take me fishing sometime !

I hear you but once you get a few clumps of weeds on one side watch how much time she spends there. I bet you will see what I meant.

Well I got myself the 15lb. Berkley tournament digital scale and tonight I landed a 3lb 8.5oz fish. So now I know you guys were right. My personal best in the pic was a 5.5lb fish or maybe a 6. Its funny, same water and the fish I caught today was relatively pale whereas my PB was dark and beautiful.

Buy Megabass off ebay. IMO the coolest of the japanese manufacturers.

Yeah I PM Bass (or GG Bass) is one of my favorite colors of all time. Also check out GS Biwahigai (below) or GS Moroko. -Shore

What was that middle part again?

Check out this website of Megabass' new bait the XPOD that you can actually transform into different baits. http://www.megabass.co.jp/XPOD/ As always Megabass seems to be off doing their own thing. The XPOD looks interesting and the website is top-notch. In the "Action Mode" section there is actually a place to enter a secret command password which will unlock the final transformation of the bait LOL! From what I gather when you buy the bait there is a password in the packaging to unlock that section. They have the cojones to rock some old school cereal box marketing, you gotta love it. : The bait is pretty pricey but still I'm gonna have to get one or two to check out. -Shore

Shimano Calcutta 300. Nuff said.

Few tidbits?! Anything you'd feel like sharing??? Great pics, it sounded like one of those special days you get once in a blue moon skunked or not.

Avid gave me a great idea (thanks!) and now I want to put outriggers on my canoe. They need to be fairly lightweight with high flotation. I would love to be able to stand and fish! I've found them for as little as $200 online for cheap ones but I know I could build better for I'm guessing $80 but the key is the floats themselves. For the frame I'm thinking heavy aluminum tubing or light galvanized with standard setscrew type joints. My canoe is a 17' heavy gauge aluminum and the outrigger crossbeams would simply bolt to the crossbeams of the canoe to prevent stress on the hull. They need to be easily assembled while already on the water to enable some of those tight reed launches. I have all the tools available (drill press, etc) but am sadly lacking a TIG welder to make it truly professional. Does anyone have any experience with this or any ideas? Especially float ideas.

Beautiful fish! But if I could give a suggestion, I would highly recommend providing a bunch of artificial weeds at one end of the tank so that she can hide and feel secure when she wants to. When fish are completely exposed like that they get stressed and that can lead to many problems. Best of luck! -Shore

Avid that is the coolest canoe I've ever seen. Did you make the outriggers or did you buy them? I didn't lose my tackle because I rolled out at the last second knowing that I wouldn't be able to stop the flip. The biggest bummer was I lost my glasses. $250 I just had to spend to get a new pair...thats could've been a GLX. :'( The new glasses are sweet though

Lol thanks RW they really should sponsor you, you got me using it but as Colombo said just one more thing: Do you use regular Hybrid for casting and reserve ultra-soft for spinning? What color(s) do you prefer? -Shore

Sweet job! It looks great.

The Stradic is made in Malaysia, not Japan. There is no denying that that you pay a premium for the Shimano name. And bearings are cheap. The question ought to be why don't you get a significantly better reel for 3 times the cost. I am playing devil's advocate so that I can learn. Don't mistake what I'm saying as my opinion either way. What I'm interested in is learning from some of you that are far more experienced. That being said, Micro are you saying that a Stradic is not significantly better than a Pflueger President? I frankly had no issues with my President until it's watery grave but I've never owned a Stradic so I'm not in a position to say. Reel mechanic had some great bearing specific information but as someone who works on reels all the time are there dramatic differences in the part quality say between the two listed above? Thanks -Shore

I use Ultra-Soft. Love the line and it does take longer than mono but eventually it will absorb water. I am judging this by the way the line behaves when new vs. 20 times out on the water. It will not float nearly as well as new, but again no where near as bad as mono.

While weightless senko fishing I love watching where my line enters the water closest to the bait. New line will float nicely and you can detect the faintest bite by watching the behavior of the line thats being pulled under on the fall. After time goes on the line floats less and less well making it more difficult to read in this way. This has happened with various hybrids and mono's, I've never fished braid this way. Overtime does the line absorb water? Would line conditioner such as the KVD brand help alleviate this?