ChrisAW

I'm planning on being there on Friday, but I'm still not totally sure of that.

I'm iffy about it, but being legal ill probably make one and throw it a few times to see what happens. I know a guy who's in BASS Federation and he is overly excited to throw an umbrella rig on St. Clair. He's been saying hell be taking me down there come spring since I've never had the pleasure of fishing down there.

Thats the point of the outriggers, to make it more stable so I can stand. I won't be carrying more than 3 rods either, so I have no need to put any in the hull. At the most, I'll be putting some rainwear in there, a small cooler for food or to keep any gills I catch to keep in.

Well, I got a chance at a very good price on a brand new Pelican Castaway 116 DLX that I couldn't pass up. It was a defective item at a clearance event, I talked them down to $50. It had a small split in the seam on the left side, which I've already fixed with some plastic epoxy and a plastic welder. I've been wanting to get a small craft to hit up some of the local small lakes that I've always been told were great fishing, so I'm really excited about this purchase. Anyways, I've been reading about them and it does seem like they have their fair share of problems, so I wanted to see if there were any other people who have one and what they would suggest I do to it. Outriggers are in the plan so I can stand up and beat the banks with jigs, but thats about all I am sure about right now. Where it sits until winters over.

This reminds me, its about that time I start breaking down all my Revo's for cleaning. I need to find out which one I left a couple washer bushings out of last winter

I've never had a problem, its been used on a few different boats. My old aluminum 12' Aerocraft, 12' fiberglass, a chunk of wood with a piece of sheet metal screwed to it hanging off the side of a kayak, up to a 20' inboard Four Winns. Not once have we had it come off or anything.

Suction cup used to stick the transducer to the transom of the boat. I've used this with a friends portable fish finder for years, we've never had it come off when stuck to the transom or anything. Its the easiest way to keep the transducer portable, and they are available for all major brands of fish finders.

The X Factor reel is made by Pfleuger. It's pretty much the same reel as the old Supreme XT's. Which means, its a very nice reel. I'd say definitely jump on that deal.

I did read that, and it was helpful for sure. But I'm more or less going to be "designing" my own baits. My main question was just if clay would work with resin, and that was answered. I may get into two piece molds eventually, but all the soft baits I use the most can be done with a one piece, so thats all I plan on doing for now.

Yeah thats why I was asking, I read that the resin with shrink a little and I figured a hard master would get stuck. So I guess I'll be looking into RTV molds, or I've also read that using sculpy and not firing it would work as well as molding an actual bait, since it will stay soft. So I may try it out either way.

I was going to give pouring baits a shot over the winter, and I feel like coming up with my own baits to mold, vs. throwing a bait I can already buy into some resin and pouring those, or buying one for $50 First I planned on making a blank out of clay, harden it, and using Mod Podge to seal it. Then, gluing it to a pan, and pouring Resin in it to create a one piece mold. I'm going to take my time with the blank, try to make it as smooth and and precise as I can. So hopefully my mold will come out very clean, and I won't have some uneven, weird looking baits. Even if it is a bit more expensive, it seems resin might be a bit easier to work with, as well as I already have a pint of it out in the garage from doing a bit of boat repair this year. From what I've read, I won't have to "seal" the resin, just coat it to allow the bait to release. Whereas plaster will have to be sealed, am I correct? I've been reading up on what to do, but I'm curious if I'm going to wrong way with it. Is resin going to work better than plaster? What about using clay to make the original blank? I know pouring my own isn't much cheaper, but it seems like fun and I think I would enjoy it. I plan on getting a few bottles of Plastisol, and as well melting down some baits I no longer plan on using, or were torn up. I've read all the basics, I just want to make sure my plan to make blanks and the molds will work alright.

Thanks for the reply Mike. I put together a list of everything I would think I needed, plus some. I'm thinking I might try to stretch my budget a bit and get a blank more in the $100+ range, and leave whatevers left of $200 or so for the materials needed. Thanks for your help. I'll probably read up a bit and check out some custom builds to get a real idea of what all is involved, and once I get to it, ressurect this thread if I need help.

Over this winter, I'm planning on building a rod for jigs, since it's generally what I fish the most. I'd like to build something that fits me, and at the same time is better fit for the job than the ones I already have/are available to me at my local shops. So what I was planning on was a 7' Heavy, and I'm planning on keeping it under $150 for everything. I've been looking around, but I'm having a hard time coming up with a real number on the price of the equipment I'll need to build it, like what kind of epoxies I'll need or threads, ect. If anyone could give me an actual list of the things I'll need other than the blank and components, I'd appreciate it greatly. And another question, is what I'd like to do with the guides. I like micro guides. I've had less problems with my microguide rods in terms of the guides getting damaged, and they just feel smoother when pitching/casting. And, I'd also like to spiral them, as I've noticed I have less problems with braid getting wrapped around the tip when fishing smaller jigs on spinning rods. Whats your opinion on this? The only spiral guided rods I've ever seen have always been normal size guides. Would Micro's be a problem?

Its not about spending $150, there are MUCH better rods in the same price range as the Ugly Sticks. Berkleys Lightning rods, or Shock Rods, H20 Ethos, Abu Garcia Vengeance (On sale for 29.99 at my GM store) Shimano Convergence.. Not to mention Bass Pro's, Gander Mountain, and Cabela's house rods. About 25% of the people that I fished the local tournaments with this year were fishing with Gander's rods, including myself (Half of mine are GM's), and I was the only one out there with the ones that were ranging $100+. One of those guys repeatedly won this year using ONLY GM's Guide Series rods, $59.99 and on sale many times throughout the year for even less. I don't see how people keep bringing up $100+ rods when there are better choices for the same price, or less if you're in to buy at the right time.

I don't mean to sound like a jerk or anything, but I and many others can tell you you're very wrong. If you've never used anything besides an Ugly Stick, you really don't know what you're missing.. literally. I had an uglystick at one point, like many others. And after upgrading to a decent graphite rod, I threw it that uglystick into the deepest, darkest part of my barn to never see the light of day again. You don't have to spend much more over the cost of an uglystick to get a rod that is MUCH better. They are old technology, and the only reason I'd ever use one is for heavy duty fishing, or as a childs first combo, so I know it won't get broken.

You just said it right there Flipping switch allows you to engage the thumb bar to pull some line out, and then re-engages the spool without having to touch the handles. But anyways, I have used both for flipping. My first reel that I bought, and used as a dedicated flipping rig was an Abu Garcia C4 5601, and it didn't take me long to replace it with a low profile reel. It was definitely strong, and it worked just fine. But it was heavy, and made the combo feel unbalanced and clumsy. I know there are much better round bodies out there than the C4's, but low profile reels are easier to handle.

I like my Cardinal 400 for ultralight. I have it mounted on a GM Guide Series 7' UL using 4 pound Seaquar. I take it eveywhere, its definitely one of my favorite rods, it just makes fishing more fun and fulfilling.

First off, Hey from store 165! I'm fishing department at the Flint store. And I agree with this. I have 4 of the Elite II's and one Titanium, and I love them. I also have 2 Vendetta's, 2 Verita's, and 2 Skeet Reese rods. I like all of them, but the deals we get on our own rods, they can't be beat. The Elite's aren't as lite as some of the others available, not by much, but they are VERY sensitive, and IMO, more comfortable. The Titanium's are very lightweight and very sensitive, which was well worth the 41 dollars I spent on it when they were on clearance As for the Skeet rods, I'm not sure why I bought the crankbait one in the first place because I almost never throw cranks, so I never take it with me. But I have the Heavy Cover Micro rod, and I do like that rod a lot. Its a perfect rod for punching and throwing frogs, and I would love to have the Micro fluke rod, but being the end of the season, thats money I could use elsewhere.

X2! I was reusing the same three or 4 Swim Senko's as trailers all year, fixing them with Mend-It. I only bought one pack and I still have half that pack left, and I know I caught upwards of 50 fish just from those.

Wish I had a pond nearby that held some decent bass like that. Any I have access too are all stunted, and I'm talking 12" or less kind of stunted. Cool video

Actually it wasn't. The knot Shaw was showing goes up and wraps three times DOWN the line. Bub used three wraps UP the line.

I tried a lot of different soft plastics this year and have definitely narrowed down the ones I'll have stocked in my box for next year.

I snagged about 30 yards of braid one day on a jig. I started to pull as much as I could to the boat and there was half decayed pike on the other end with one of those large Rapala X-raps in its mouth. It was a nice one, 35"+ and I got a nice lure out of it. Too bad that was in my box that got stolen last year. There was a little bit of mono on the other end, I'm betting the guy was running low on his main line and got a hookup on the backing and it broke. I guess I've been lucky so far if thats my worst

Yep, that should qualify. It should have came with a receipt or packing list, you should be able to use that as a receipt for the mail in. Any local retailer that carries even just one of those rods will have that rebate form. If you happen to drive by, you can pick one up. Otherwise, check out their website or give them a call. I know when I did the rebate for the Wiley X's with purchase of a Revo SX, they were more than happy to help me personally and get my glasses to me.

I've been using Skeet Reese's Honeycomb Micro Guide "Heavy Cover" rod all this year, and I haven't had a problem with braid yet, although I doubt thats enough time to tell. Other than that, I was using 65lb for punching, but I don't use that enough so I swapped to 40lb for throwing frogs. It's does mostly casting now, but I will still pitch or skip under overhangs. I'm not sure if its the number of guides or the size, but everything seems smoother. I kind of want to pick up his "fluke" HC rod that has Micro Guides as well for some other techniques, but I'm thinking of building my own rod instead over the winter.