JohnFromLisbon

How would I rate myself, you ask? But seriously, probably a 5. 6 on a good day.

Went fishing with a buddy on Friday after a few months without wetting a line. No bass, but we caught one of these I Can't Believe It's Not Walleye ®️ First decent size zander I've seen at 1lb 12oz. And because the Portuguese DNR considers them an invasive species, guess who has no thumbs and is now two decent fillets in the freezer?

I had the Curado E7, I still have a Chronarch E5 (virtually the same reel), and I have few Ks. I love the old ones but the K has much tighter tolerances and more control over the cast. The only reasons I went to the newer MGLs were weight and how they palm, but my Ks can still handle their own.

Top Gun: Maverick was the best movie I saw all year. Saw it on IMAX with a couple of buddies, and it was totally worth it. Growing up I had a few vhs tapes that I watched over and over again: the Star Wars trilogy, Space Jam, Alien, Aliens... and Top Gun. So it's as much a part of my childhood and early teens any of the others. Recently I got Sky Showtime (it basically has some stuff from Showtime, some from Paramount+, some from Peacock... Europe's weird like that because Netflix and Prime still hold the rights to a lot of stuff) and watched Strange New Worlds. @MN Fisher is absolutely right about that show. I remember watching some TNG and Voyager when I was really really young but I never quite got it. Later on in my mid to late teens I saw the original series and that's when it finally clicked. So SNW gives me the TOS warm and fuzzies, and even on the oddest episode (The Elysian Kingdom) you can tell they're having a great time, especially Anson Mount, man... He's just chewing up the scenery. I had stopped watching Discovery for one reason or another and hadn't picked it back up, SNW is exactly what I wanted out of Star Trek. As for Doctor Who... I kinda sorta stopped watching midway through Capaldi's run. I love the man, but I have trouble seeing him as anything other than Malcolm Tucker. Also, I really liked the first season of Jack Ryan on Prime. The second one was meh, the third is better but still can't beat that first season.

The Rage Chunk might just be my favorite jig trailer. And their weedless ned heads are pretty good, too!

@Koz could it be the new "carbon monocoque" butt sections? I felt that in the Zodias when I first got it, and every now and then when I pick it back up, especially after anything with a full cork handle. It's like it takes time again to adjust to the balance.

Well, it just so happens that I'm going bank fishing tomorrow and have 3 rods rigged up and ready to go. 6'8" medium 802S JWR rigged with 15lb 832 to an 8lb fluoro leader for neds, dropshot, little 2.8 Keitechs on a tiny head... Anything finesse, really. 7'1" heavy-ish 854C JWR with straight 17lb fluoro for jigs, spinnerbaits, and medium-sized underspins. Normally I'd take the 844 MBR with 40lb braid to a 12lb leader but I really wanna try out straight fluoro on the next couple of outings. Aside from crankbait fishing I don't really do straight fluoro on any of my setups, especially not for bottom contact. 6'10" medium Zodias with 20lb regular Power Pro to a 10lb leader for jerkbaits, tailspins, smaller blade baits, smaller lipless baits like the TN60, small squarebills, etc. It's moderate enough that it can handle moving baits just fine and if I pick them right saves me the trouble of carrying a dedicated crankbait rod for that. Depending on the season or what I think I'm throwing that day I might switch up slightly, like swap the 802 for the 852, or the 844 for the 854 like I did this time, but it's always a combination of a ML to M power fast action spinning rod, a M power moderate-fast to fast action baitcaster, and the MH to H power fast action baitcaster. That will cover 95% of the stuff I throw from the bank.

Same, Plano Edge 3700 terminal box. And a couple of 3500s with extra retainers for the specialty stuff like drop shot or as bank fishing terminal boxes.

I have 1/8, 3/16, and 1/4 in my little drop shot 3500 box, both tungsten and lead. I almost always use the 3/16oz tungsten cylinder ones if I'm using the 822S DSR or 802S JWR. If I beef up the gear, I'll go up to 1/4 on the 852S. I prefer the clip ones, I'll loop it twice around but because I'm still throwing 6 to 10lb fluoro leader I can still pull it without losing the whole setup and just break off at the weight, like Tom said.

It's 10:40 PM here right now (we're on GMT), I just got home from Christmas dinner at my mom's place, and I'm watching the one movie I've watched every single year since I moved out on my own. A slice of traditional Portuguese king cake, hot mint tea, and my second favorite John McTiernan movie (after The Hunt for Red October)

Update: It's 4:25 PM local time, I got back from the office about 45 minutes ago. Am I going fishing this week? No. Even if I were, was I going anywhere I'd throw this rig? No. Did I have better things to do in between work Zoom calls, like load the dishwasher and get ahead on stuff around the house so I can just relax after dinner? Yes. Did I do those things instead of rigging this thing up with upgraded split rings, CPS springs, and the TB Finesse heads just to see what it looks and feels like? Absolutely not.

Last order of the year and my first A-rigs. Hope I can put them to use next year. I'm going to keep it light (California style 3 jigheads on the bottom and center, 2 dummy baits with centering pin springs on the top) and throw it on the old 875 MossyBack and a Curado K.

Saw this on the FedEx website this morning, so... Here's the Black Friday TW order, finally. In hindsight I should've ordered a couple more things to get me through the winter ?

Owner Mosquito Light and Decoy Shot Rig (Worm 10) in #1 and #2. Started with the Gamakatsu Drop/Split Shot hooks, eventually upgraded to these two and I'm happy with them

Same exact reason I got them as well as a couple of Damiki Vaults ? Watching their videos just before a big sale gets expensive pretty fast. For international orders they hold up the whole thing until every single item is ready to ship, so... Took TW a while. FedEx says my order is already in France so I'll probably get it in a day or two.

First of 3 orders arrived. Amazon (US) had these spools under 35 dollars, or about 33 EUR in metric, couldn't pass it up. Even with local taxes and duties it's still about half of what I'd pay for it here. Planning on running straight fluoro on the 854 this season just to see how I do. And 10 bucks for the little Yeti thingy, which was more of an impulse buy. I never carry bottles on fishing trips, I always go for cans of beer instead. But it looks cool on the hopper, so... Y'know. I still have my TW Black Friday order on the way - they ran out of Deracoups in Dera Shad, so I had to wait - and another Amazon order with a couple of Flash Mob Jr. rigs, split rings, and CPS springs. Now those two will be worth sharing here! ?

Yamamoto Double Tail Grub, 5 and 4" for the standard finesse football jigs, the regular size Flappin' Hog, too, and Finesse TRD and TRD Crawz for the little Keitech football jigs. And the regular size Flappin' Hog, too. Last time I went out I threw the Keitech with a tiny Paca Chunk and the pincers would only move if you swam it fast, so those are out till spring.

This is the way. More than a fireplace, more than anything else my next apartment/house will have to have a box or a garage because one of those things is next on my list. It's the only reason I haven't gotten a kayak just yet. The ol' rental canoe isn't the same and guided trips aren't exactly cheap.

A tiny Japanese hatchback built out of Ford parts. Fun to drive, fits all my rods, a tote, an overnight bag, a 3700 tackle bag, a roadie 24, a fishing buddy and my fun size sheep dog and I don't even have to fold the seats down. Just keep in mind I'm on the other side of the Atlantic.

Listening to it now after my morning meetings!

I don't know what it is, but when I see that style of pistol grip rod it's like I'm watching it on an old vhs tape where a man with mustache in oversized aviator rims and embroidered BASS patches on his vest talks about fishing

The one that got me the most bites was probably my crankbait setup fishing the DT-6. The one that got me my best bites was the NRX+ 844C MBR paired with the Curado 151HG MGL on 40lb Sufix 832 to a 12 lb Sniper FC leader, on a Bass Patrol 1/2oz football jig and a Rage Chunk. Next year I might swap the Curado MGL for a Metanium. I was going to do it this week but the bait monkey (and his more seasonal cousin, the winter and rain gear monkey) got to my wallet first. My favorite local store has the USDM 2020 Metanium for 339 EUR ($347, give or take), so that's next.

I did after contacting them. I got a message saying my ordered shipped and on the very same day a big item dropped to half price, I contacted them and they corrected it right away and I got a refund about two days later (not bad considering I'm not in the US)

Came here to brag about being 5 hours ahead of anyone on the east coast but I guess I wasn't the only one making my order just now ? I had to activate the coupon thingy from the url on the email I got but otherwise everything worked well. At least I got a Simms jacket that had been discounted all week with the extra 20% off, plus a bunch of stuff for winter fishing.

Welp, might as well... Zodias 6'10" M (JDM) Expride A 7'3" XH IMX-PRO 852S JWR IMX-PRO 844C MBR E6X 845C CBR Old "fiber blend" 783C CBR "Green" GLX 785C CBR Mossyback 853C JWR Mossyback 875C CRR NRX 802S JWR NRX+ 822S DSR NRX+ 844C MBR GLX 854C JWR For reels I have Curado Ks, 151 and 71 MGLs, and an old Chronarch E5 that will be replaced with a 6.2:1 151 MGL pretty soon, Stradic and Vanford. I may dip my toes in higher-end reels with a 2020 Met next year, still not sure about that. I'm also trying to convince myself that I do not need a 6'10" Expride B with an Aldebaran and that the Zodias/71 MGL combo works just fine, but I feel like I'm losing that battle.