Chance_Taker4

Well here in NW Ohio majority of the water is still liquid. Temps over the next 10 days low 50s for high and low 30 for lows. I don't see the waters freezing up anytime soon if ever this winter. So any advice for a northern guy that usually never gets to fish this late...errrrr..... early in the year? Water temps from the river I usually fish is around 41 degrees.

As a fellow Ohioan I can tell you they are a big stickler when it comes to yellow perch and walleye. You cannot clean any fish at the ramp. It must be done at a designated fish cleaning area, a processing facility or at home. When transporting fillets they must remain whole and have skin fully attached so the DNR can quickly ID species. Come to the NW in March/April during the Maumee River Walleye Run and you will learn the regs real quick and see more ODNR than you'll have ever seen. If only that was true here. In my line of work I have seen the county and city financials, they budget "X" amount of money each year from DNR citations to make money.

I also read they are pulling away from anglers (assuming lesser known guys or field staffers). Zona was one of the first to get dropped and go to Daiwa and Dave Mercer announced around ICast he switched to Abu Garcia. All the money and reputation Shimano has they don't need to spend frivolously to get their products in people's hands.

I’m having trouble uploading a pic of my loot. The photo is 1.1mb but won’t upload. I tried to upload to imgur and use a URL to upload and it didn’t work either. Any help? I’m on my iPhone or other options is my MacBook

There are 2 rods I have recently handled a Bass Pro that I really liked and almost purchased. Those being the G Loomis IMX and Fenwick AETOS. Out of those two with no on water experience the AETOS balanced better with my Revo Rocket Spinning reel than the IMX but both felt great and light.

I have never handled a Fuego but I do have a couple Tat Ct and Tat SV. Very nice reels and now that I understand the braking on them I love them. However I do don't see much of a difference between my Tat Ct and Gen 4 Sx. Both are light, cast the same distance, easy to maintain, fits great in my hand. I would go out and replace any Tats with Revos but I also would replace any of my Revos with Tats.

I'm partial to Abu although I have Okuma, Daiwa, Quantum, Ardent, Pflueger, etc (you get the point). But the Gen 4 Revos are the most under rated reel on the market. Everyone is turned off because its a "Cookie Cutter" reel but they are great reels. The gen 3 turned a lot of people away but these gen 4s are outstanding. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another STX especially at $125. I got some flack here when the gen 4s were announced because I was going to buy a Tatula and turned it down to buy a SX for $80.

Package sent directly from TW. Enjoy!!

I've never handled the SLX so I can't tell ya about it. However I used to have a Revo X. The best way I can describe it is that its a Gen 3 Revo S with magnetic brakes. I upgraded it to a Revo SX because I love the dual brakes.

Mixed emotions for me. I fished the Buckeye division and the Michigan (don’t remember name) division as a co. The boaters in the Buckeye all acted as if they were better than KVD it Rick Clunn. The Michigan division was the complete opposite and had a local mentality. I tend to think age played a factor since the average age in Buckeye was mid 30s and Michigan late 50s.

If I see it and like it I buy it. Just kidding........kinda. Rods and reels only last 3 years in my possession then on to another owner. Some reason 3 years is my magic number (new vehicles, new tv, new gear, etc). However I buy during sales and ebay. I also buy a lot from the used forum here. I am probably an outlier as my disposable income is higher than average and I have a bad spending problem. However when it comes to tackle I have quite buying tackle and started selling about 80% of my stockpile.

Thanks guys I think the Mega Jaws will be a pitching reel and my 7:1 STX will be my froggin

I read somewhere, I believe w-2-f that the higher speed reel's internals cannot withstand the abuse of constantly bringing in the fish and the slop that comes with frogging and punching. The lower the ratio the more abuse it can take. I bought the Mega Jaws as a frog reel but was second guessing it after reading this.

What does everyone use their 9:1 reels for? I just purchased a KastKing Mega Jaws but not sure what I'll use it for. I don't think it will have the "Torque" to pull the fish from slop as with frogging and punching. I thought maybe jerkbait and topwater but may be a too fast. Just like to hear what your doing.

That's what makes making a wish list on TW so important.

Still a dumpster fire. LOl JK (not really). GO GATORS!!!

Getting the Kistler Helium 3 for $200 cannot be beaten. If you cannot then I would suggest the Kistler Magnesium 2

That was my original thinking but I have planned on going with a newer Tracker 175 TXW ($12K Budget I'm on) but there is absolutely nothing for sale around. I went to Bass Pro and was going to bite the bullet and go the new route but the salesman told me to hold off till March that's when they start seeing used boats getting traded in. A few other Marinas told me the same thing. Craigslist and Facebook are dried up with nothing privately. You must not watch KVD fish a whole. No matter the conditions or locations that man has a jerkbait in the water.

I would say around 80% of the baits I owned never seen the water and most plastics never seen my tackle box

NW Ohio here and I can usually get a line wet around the beginning of March in the rivers and by late march in the lakes. However my first few trips on the rivers are usually Walleye or Yellow Perch.

Thanks A-Jay I am boat shopping for next season. Being in Ohio it's pointless to buy a boat now. I used the money from selling off my mini tackle store as my wife put it helped fund my endeavor to start painting cranks. I think by painting my owns lures it will help me not overspend on tackle since I have to put the work in to produce what I want.

Over the last few years I was in a pretty big "Buy Now" phase and accumulated way too much tackle. I looked back at everything and decided to simplify. To get an idea what I'm dealing with I have went from 312 total packs of soft plastic bats to 50. and have shrunk my squrebills from 3 over stuffed 3700 boxes to 2 3600 boxes. Everything has been condensed to a total of 9 3600 boxes from 15 3700 boxes. I actually feel better after recouping some of the money spent and condensing plus I am way more organized that in the past. Anyone else just hit the wall and say enough is enough and kill the bait monkey?

I am get into painting my own crank baits. I have airbrush, compressor, etc but its time to buy the paint. For you that have painted for a while what are some of the most used colors in your arsenal? Also do you use more Opaque or Transparent colors? I was going to buy a kit with a bunch of different colors but wasn't sure I would use all the colors in it and figured I would need some colors transparent and some opaque.

I was tempted to buy some to with the sale but I am a big stickler on my braid keeping its color. I hate and get very irritated when I have to color my line because the line is white. So I have been using the Vicious No Fade and haven't had an swap line in three years. If I could get that kind of color durability from Seagaur I may consider it.

Any reel $150 and higher will do what you need.