Spankey

I’ve been in heavy industrial equipment repair my whole life (retired 1 year). Everyday (working day) the mini mag light and the leather-man on my side since 1979. Now that mag light and leather-man set on my dresser top since my last day of work untouched. But I have lights for fishing, hunting and around the house that I use regularly. If I could give a suggestion or a shout out for a light I highly recommend for all around use. LED Flashlight. Made in American. SENSIBLE PRODUCTS HRF-1 I did not carry this all day long, but you could, not huge, I kept it with my tools. Has a high and low beam.

I say go for it because it’s like a gift card. Only good at that place anyway. If it were someone handing me two $20.00 bills and I really didn’t need anything I’d put it in the bank.

Where is Mann’s Baits these days? They are down to nothing. How can such a big name settle for that.

I have my favorite confidence baits. I find myself starting out with them. There was a time (for a long time) I’d throw them exclusively. Would buy some and never got used. But for quite a few years now I’ll throw in the 6th Sense, SPRO, Googan, Z-Man stuff I have. I’m a long time Rapala, Bomber and Bandit Junkie, swear by them. I have only limited numbers of cranks from these other manufactures but one I chose catch fish. Switch it up. Give them something different to look at.

My wife does the brunt of my line spooling work. I also keep one of those type you clamp onto the rod blank on the boat incase I need to do anything while I’m on the water. The biggest POS I ever bought (actually a Christmas present) was one of those table top spool station. A BPS or Berkley one, that got sent back in no time after trying it. I want my wife to out live me and I hope she does. But if something were to happen to her unexpectedly, she know I’m going to buy one of the electric STREN spooling stations just like the one at the bait shop. I tried to find one used on line back some time ago but, couldn’t find one. Hope the wife is around to help me do many many spools.

Good luck with the rod. Admittedly no nothing about it, or that series of rod but I fish a few of the Nascis and love them. They hold up great to taking a dunking. Good fishing.

Quality and options is what will take a big nose dive. It happened to Bomber, Rebel, Heddon and Bandit and more. Long time favorites. But 6th Sense, SPRO, Googan and the rest jump on the opportunity.

I’m thinking the flash floods are going to stay east of you guys. Right on top of my area. That’s why I made a push to get out as early as I could today. But Yesterday was a beaut but I committed to helping someone. I’ll hit the lake midweek. River will be messed up for a week. Have a few Crankbaits I want to put (paint) an orange hot tail on them before I get to the river next time. I’ve alway done that stuff with a small brush. Gonna see if I can buy a small cheap spray gun. I’m not a lure maker. Just like to modify sometimes. I have a couple of Baker Crankbaits, purple color. Crawfish imitation. They catch fish but I’ve been wanting to hot tip them with some orange. Might make them a bit more productive.

This morning was a matter of taking advantage of a short window of time before major rain was to set in. I don’t mind getting wet but it was gonna be a crack the sky kind of start to todays rain. Was able to have a line hit the water at 5:30 AM. Caught a smallie on the first cast on a Pop-R, sounds great but a lot of times when you catch a fish on the first cast the rest of the day can be a real struggle. Not a struggle to land some smallies this morning. They hit almost everything I threw. Was great to have a topwater bite on PopR’s, Whopper Plop-per and spooks. Managed a few on DT’s and OG Slims. My largest two came on a pumpkin seed Power Worm and a black Yammy cut tail. I caught between 20-25 Smallies with my largest two only being 13”. I know that is nothing to brag about. But pulling out of the water at 9:30, having the boat tarp’d and setting on the front porch drinking an ice tea watching it teem down rain is a great day of fishing for me. As an FYI the OG Slim has been working out well on the river for me. I never thrown it exclusively while be out but I fish it the same as a DT or Shad Rap. All season and not as a cold water baits only.

I’ve broken two Avid St. Croix Rods over the years. Clearly stupidity on my part. My first one was by high sticking a fish that was nice but no state record by a long shot. Was trying to show off in front of my dad. I broke a rod for being stupid. My second rod I broke was by doing something dumb also. I should have just boat flipped a fish in. Really should have just lip grabbed him or netted him but without even thinking about what I was doing I reached and grabbed the rod blank about 2 1/2 from the tip, other hand at the reel seat and lifted the fish aboard. Rod snapped. Both times they snapped like a fire cracker going off. Both times I managed to not loose the fish and St. Croix replaced my rods.

Like many of you I was surprised to see mink, otters and beavers while being out, birds that are common but you hardly ever see are neat to see also. But though deer and squirrels are not uncommon, seeing albino’s of these animals is really cool to see.

I’m pretty sure I’m fishing a river much different than yours. But I would be throwing what I typically throw everywhere on the river. Many ways to fish a spot and not be wrong. Most likely no way is a wrong way. Hit it with all your favorite/confidence baits.

Hope you feel better soon. You will. Just don’t let it get infected. Do your best to keep it from infection. These things happen so fast. My last good sticking and gash was in the fall of ‘21. Mishandled a greenie, should have been using a fish gripper. Not like I don’t have one and it’s easy accessible. Fish was pretty calm for the most part, good thumb grip on it. It went to thrashing and the crap show started. Had a heck of a mess with my favorite 6th Sense Curve 55 tearing two fingers up. Those stock hooks are deadly. It took 9 months or more for fingers to get back to normal. I just kept it from getting infected and kept the finger nail nerve pain to a minimum. You learn to reel a bit differently for a few months. Get better soon, try to use your gripper.

Don’t see where the problem is. They are young and starting out. Age has nothing to do with it. When starting my grandsons out it was a lot of Baby crawlers, minnows, crickets and wax worms. They fished I didn’t. Now a few years later they fish all artificial lures having a PB bass they are trying to break. In the beginning working with kids I feel it is more important that they catch fish. Whatever kind they may be. With whatever it takes. Everything will come together in time.

Never heard of manufactures doing that. Shimano and Daiwa do not. My last baitcaster purchase was a BPS Pro Qualifer 2 @ 50% off and it was complete with manual. I’m not gonna dis TW. My experiences have been great. But I don’t think I would have been all warm and fuzzy with opening the box and seeing that. Can’t see printing costs in China or some 3rd world country driving the costs up on anything.

I fish with that reel also. I grabbed my box it came in. Took a pic. I can shoot you a pic if you want it. Reel was not wrapped in plastic bag, Owners manual is in plastic bag, cardboard box insert To keep reel lock in place is intact to box. You are probably gonna be fine. But if you feel you need to make a point about packaging I can shoot you a pic.

A brand new reel, clearance or not should have been in plastic with manual. There is generally a cardboard insert in the box that keeps the reel from moving around. Low price or not a new reel does not come like this. I use TW almost exclusively, seems a bit odd. Never received any reel like that. Spool it, try it. You should be ok. Just a dang head game to play on someone. Just seem out of the ordinary.

I’m an older guy sort of set in my ways nowadays. Fluoro has come a long way by now. But was a bad experience back when I tried it. There are a lot of decent monos out there but over the last handful of years I’ve taken an extreme liking to the SunLine Super Natural Mono. 6# and 8# for my spinning setups. There are so many lines and opinions out there you can spin yourself into the ground. I’m sure you’ll settle on something. I could be wrong in my thinking but I sort of see it like this. I feel I’m finesse fishing with decent rods, the most part with St. Croix ML and M rods that are Xfast and fast action. Just fell the stretch of the mono acts as a slight shock absorber. Don’t fell that decent mono is less sensitive.

Same here.

Sorry thread got a bit off topic. I know a lot of you guys through the south have gotten hammered real bad. Unreal hail to go along with it. Stay safe. A lot of times what I see through these storms here is nothing compared to the magnitude you all have to go through. Straight line wind damage is a fear here. We have had a couple tornadoes close the last few years. Took awhile for those folks to pull it together. Fishing is great and fun but can’t be much fun if your life is in shambles.

By the end of this coming week I’ll be installing a lift at my buddies place on the Lower Chesapeake Bay. Will be trying for some tidal bass. Last fall when I was down, water was in good shape and caught everything going in that brackish. On artificials. Not all in the same spot but close proximity. Largemouths, white perch, croakers, weakfish, and flounder. Lost a few with a heavy hit, may have been catfish or drum. Not sure. Was surprised catching those saltwater fish. The salinity at my buddies place in not that high.

I’ll start to get into some type of a rhythm. Soon I hope. I never use to think bass fishing was much of a mental game. But I can be.

I’m pulling off some back to back to back mornings. Been a struggle. Catching, but not like I thought it would be. Had my mind made up that higher lake water would have pushed some nice fish up into shore line brush and into Lilly Pads along with Bluegill. Not seeing a lot of baitfish activity. Lake conditions are nice, slight stain and level is up. Was able to crank up two yesterday 1 1/2 - 2 lb. fish. This morning was a bust. Major disappointment. I didn’t throw a dang thing that wasn’t a proven fish catcher. I guess that why this game is called fishing and not catching. I think tomorrow I’ll concentrate on only a few baits. Cover area but cover it show. Jigs, Grubs and tubes. Real slow. And deeper.

Can’t say that I’ve ever seen a smallie do that. I’d like to think that I’m very cautious when handling smallies. I get them back in the water pretty quick and don’t over handle them. I have a functional livewell if I want to put one in there for a short time. But what I have happen similar to what you’ve seen, I’ve put smallies back into the water, let go of his lip or belly, than for a short second or so he sort of rocks sideway than takes off like he was shot out of a cannon or just gingerly swims away. Don’t believe they were harmed in any way. I believe they have to get their bearings straight and re-accumulated. I believe many many smallies I've caught locally have never been hooked before. I could be wrong. I don’t know how/what a smallie feels, no idea how they think but the process of getting hooked and released must be like getting slapped hard in the face and things take a minute or so to get back to normal.