Goose52

WOW - I'm late to this party. WAY TO GO Andy !!!!! Those brown beauties certainly made that trip worthwhile and I could sense your "understated" excitement in the video... ALSO - glad to see the PFD on .... but did you also have a poopy suit on under that camo - perhaps left over from the old days ??? 70-75 combined air/water temp...

I typically only use snaps with crankbaits. When doing so, I connect the snap to the split ring. I leave the split ring on the bait since occasionally I might still direct tie to that bait. I normally use a snap on crankbaits as I will often be working different depths as I'm working around the lake and might make only 5 or 10 casts at one depth before exploring another depth. This photo shows the cranks that ended up in my tackle tray one day - depths from 1 ft to 14 foot or so: Some will say that if you DO use a snap that you must remove the split ring - otherwise there is too much hardware on the front of the bait that will impede the action of the bait or will alert the fish. I haven't found that to be the case as this photo shows - that is a snap on the split ring... YMMV

WOW - the outside of the hull looks GREAT

Sounds like a keeper for sure ! Don't let her get away ...

In October 2015, we had a discussion titled: Do You Have To Spend Big Bucks For An Accurate Scale? As part of that discussion, board member @Fisher-O-men recommended an inexpensive scale available on eBay (usually advertised as a "luggage scale") as a candidate. Curious, I ordered two of those scales from an eBay seller for about $4 each shipped (and you can still find them on eBay even cheaper than that). Upon receipt of the scales, I load tested them as I do all of my digital scales and found them to be VERY accurate, and repeatable, and were as good or better than the $15 to $20 Rapala scales that I had in service. That initial load test was documented in this post back in October 2015: Then, later in that thread, I posted this: So, as stated in the above quoted post, I have been using Unit 1 all of this year as my primary bank-fishing scale. This morning, I ran another load test on Unit 1 using the same 9.804 test weight and, still using the original supplied AAA batteries, the result was..............................the exact same 9.80 pound weight as on most previous tests (I did have one earlier load test on Unit 1 that pulled 9.77 - 1/2 ounce light). The batteries tested at 1.47v and 1.48v after nearly one year of service. Replacing the batteries with fresh AAA's testing at 1.62v each, resulted in a measured weight of, wait for it..................................9.80 pounds. Here is Unit 1 under load this morning: So, as promised, here is the one year report. You can see from the above photo that Unit 1 is now a veteran with scratches, smudges, and fish slime as well as some of the original factory lettering starting to wear off. So, far, durability seems good. I'll put another reminder in my computer for December 1, 2017 and we'll see how this unit performs over its second year of service. Since the earlier thread, I purchased 2 more of these scales, and now have a total of 4 of them. The WORST unit (Unit 4) reads 1 ounce heavy on the 9.804 pound test weight - all the rest are within .02 pound (1/3 ounce) of the test weight. I use them for weighing stuff around the house, for weighing packages to determine postage, and for back-up to my other fishing scales. Oh, and I also use them for weighing luggage ! FOUR of these scales cost about what ONE of my Rapala scales cost. Value delivered so far... Given the accuracy, low cost, and apparent durability of these scales, there is NO EXCUSE for anyone NOT having an accurate scale. No more of those "look at this picture - how much do you think she weighs" threads - BUY a scale !

It's like folks with other sports or interests - it's hard to buy for them if you don't know what they already have, what they might want, or what they use a lot of and could be resupplied with (in our case consumables like terminal tackle, plastic baits, line, etc.). Some of the wives coming in to the store might have an idea of a rod or a reel that the husband has been lusting over so that would be good. Or, perhaps they might know what baits the husband uses (or could reconnoiter the man-cave to find out) and then go from there. Without that kind of intel, however, perhaps the best gift (although not as personal) would be a gift card...

Will have soft water for sure, so will be fishing on December 25th, so all I want for Christmas is to hook up with a nice bass...

I saved the one you sent me before for a rainy day - let me know if you need it back...

I resemble that remark...

296 days fished this year as of today AND still married. BUT, I'm (mostly) retired and have 13 lakes/ponds within a few minutes drive making it possible to fish every day...

Hah - I can't compete with Rain Man...I need an Excel spreadsheet to keep track...

Easy question. I don't keep track of how many days I fish, I keep track of how many days I don't fish. This calendar year, I had hard water for (only) 5 days, and was on personal or business travel for 33 days. Today is the 333 day of 2016. 333 minus 38 = 295. So, 2016 to date, I fished on 295 days. As you say, 33 days left in this calendar year. I have travel scheduled for 7 days - leaving 26 days available for fishing. I expect to fish all 26 of those days since I don't think there is even a REMOTE possibility of any hard water for the rest of this year...

I've heard of folks using mod-fast rods (with braid) for jigs...hadn't heard of anyone using moderate... Regarding the Black Widow handle, I actually have mine wrapped with WinnGrip - the handle felt a bit slick to me and I was afraid that I'd cast the rod into the lake...

Interesting - hadn't heard about this series and they are not on the Edge web site (but that doesn't surprise me...). Moderate action with those weight ratings - cranking rods. I have an Edge Black Widow 705-1 - it's a very nice rod. So yes, some good rods can come out of Edge. However, I'd wait to get some buyer feedback on this new series before considering a purchase. Regarding my 705-1, and commentary about Edge in general, here's one of my earlier posts:

I always answer this question the same way: My favorite is the one with a big honkin' bass on the end of the line...

I caught my first largemouth bass in 1959 using this Ted Williams-branded (Sears) reel. The bass in 1959 was probably about the same size as this reel brought in just a few years ago... To more correctly answer the question of "how long have you been bass fishing" expressed as a cumulative total number of years specifically fishing for bass (not when you caught your first bass) - I guess it would be about 20 years total considering I had long "fishing hiatuses" over the years and fished only salt water for some time as well.

Welcome to BR ! There have been many threads on digital scales - you might want to review some of these threads and then post any specific questions that you might have ! http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/search/?&q=scale&search_in=titles

www.digitaka.com

Jun at Japan Tackle gives excellent customer service...but his prices are somewhat higher than other JDM sources. You might want to check out Japan Lure Shop and Digitaka and compare prices...

Yeah - I remember when you were buying all the green NRXs left on the planet...so I put in that bit about perhaps you don't need the versatility of the MBR series since you are reasonably well-equipped with technique-specific rods...

I have both the 2013 Met and the 2016 Met MGL. While there may be some improvements to the Met MGL that could result in some theoretical advantages...they fish the same for me on the water. The $299 price at BPS is a very good price for a Met, close to what I paid for my JDM Mets back when the dollar/yen exchange rate was really favorable.

Sad to hear about these type of incidents.... I wear a PFD 100% of the time that I'm on the water. BUT, hardly anyone else on my water does....especially recreational kayakers, usually in SINKS, that never wear them (and probably don't know what "PFD" even means)....

I don't have the NRX MBR 842C, but I do have the NRX MBR 843C as well as a (2 generations ago) GLX MBR 842C. The thing about the MBRs is the tip and taper. The Mag Bass blank has a fairly soft tip, but a lot of power lower in the blank. These characteristics make the rods VERY versatile in that they can be used for bottom contact, top water, and most presentations in-between - only limited by their power rating. For a long time, my GLX MBR 842C was ALWAYS in the boat - usually rigged for lighter t-rigs, but ready to take on lighter spinnerbaits, weightless or weighted flukes, topwater, occasional cranking, etc. When the NRX MBRs came out, I got the 843C to up the game one power-level and then THAT rod was ALWAYS in the boat. (And now, a Gary Loomis/Edge MBR 705-1 has that role.) So, you have a very versatile rod in the MBR 842C in that it can be very good at a number of presentations and has the sensitivity for bottom contact as well. Are there "technique-optimized" NRXs that could do any ONE of those presentations better? Sure. BUT, then you have a lot of rods in the boat or carrying along the bank. NOW, I also have the NRX JWR 852C which I use exclusively for light t-rigs. Would I pick the JWR 852C for that SINGLE application over the MBR 842C? Sure, but then I wouldn't have the versatility of the MBR rod. OTOH, if you have a lot of technique-specific rods, and the room for them in the boat, then perhaps you don't NEED the versatility of the MBR series and might not end up using it as much... THEN, regarding the JWR 894C - if you fish jigs, you MUST have the 894 so keep looking for/saving for one of those !! You pays your money and you takes your choice....

WOW - an INCREDIBLE deal !!! You will REALLY like that rod. I was fishing mine this afternoon up until about 30 minutes ago...just got home from the lake. GREAT rod...

And this is a 5 lb 11 oz LMB from two days ago. Same 1/2 oz Dredge football in the ubiquitous black/blue color with matching color craw trailer. You make good jigs...and I REALLY like that Owner deep throat hook...