buzzed bait

academy has it on sale, but only select lb test

lucky 7's!! can't bait the topwater bite!

had a symetre, didn't care for it. supreme XT would be a nice light reel, but the mgx is a little heavier. another option is pflueger patriarch which is on sale for $150 at some places (cabelas) and very light, love mine.

all pretty solid there! i like me some randy travis... BUT let me throw another great in the mix that's underrated in my opinion - Keith Whitley

aside from lake norman..... there's some parks around mountain island lake that are pretty easy to access, rig up some worms on bobbers and let them have at it. another option is the McGuire nuclear station at Cowan's ford on your way out toward Denver, only open certain hours, but there's some fish around there, especially during the colder months. i lived in Huntersville before moving to Atlanta and unfortunately, most of the ponds in that area are on golf courses or in private communities. and regardless of what anyone tells you, that howell reservoir off hwy 73 headed towards concord IS NOT a public lake.... maybe @lo n slo or @Carolina Bassin can come through and help you out a little bit more than i can!

did you at least win some of the groups you were registered in? i crushed one tournament last year and won a bunch of free stuff from the groups i was signed up in. either way, NICE going man!

i'd second the dobyns fury rod, which should run you about $110, less if you buy during a memorial day sale. then you can take the $150-$200 left in your budget and buy the reel of your choice in that range. lots of great options for around $150 or $200.

where was the NSFW warning? that sucks zach! i had a gen 2 cumara break during transport one time on my kayak and made me sick.... always find that bright side though man, at least it wasn't the boat!!

HAHAHA..... 20, that's conservative for you i'd imagine. you sure that wasn't a typo and you mean 200?

these 2 guys above beat me to it....

not sure that i know what you're talking about.... but the #1 way to "avoid" a scam (i mean have reassurance) is to pay for goods through paypal

numbers and size!! best of both worlds clayton, way to go!!

sorry man, just ripped that picture off the internet for illustration purposes, i don't have an aetos rod.

are you aware that he won an elite event this year? st johns river....

dude that's a pig and half right there, look at that gut!!

nice catch man! congrats on the new PB!

no noticeable difference for me, so i buy whichever are cheaper

black back/chartreuse

you and i both, i killed it last year, but getting killed this year! and kyle, how'd you end up after Sunday?

really nice fish there!

man that's tough to comprehend... wishing your family and sam's family the best.

Have had my Patriarch for a couple years now and love this reel, but my last trip out something was going wrong with the handle and I figured out that the handle stem (carbon fiber piece) is freely rotating around and causing the knob to be at some awkward angles and tough to reel. I called pflueger and they do sell the whole handle assembly as 1 piece, but was like $35 or so. Just wondering if there's any way to fix this myself before biting the bullet and getting a new handle assembly? In the pic below, the lower arrow is where it's turning around inside of that "housing". The upper arrow points to what appears to be a rivet or something, but it's not a nut or anything that can be tightened from what i can tell. My thought was to maybe try and pull it out, put some epoxy or something in there maybe and then slide the carbon fiber piece back into that housing?? any other ideas on how to DIY this or should i just buck up and buy the handle assembly? Thanks!

stained or muddy water i'll say junebug or black