buzzed bait

clayton, first off nice going, nice catching. but that pic of you and coty with the dog in the middle sticking the head out the window had me rolling laughing man. first time i've seen your dog even look remotely interested in what you had going on, awesome pic bud. also looks like the virb is working well and catching the pig videos for you!

that's a GA stud there, nice catch!

nice work fellas!! That's a chunker of a smallmouth there Jeff!

whacking 3 and 4 lb smallies.... AKA my dream come true! nice going A Jay

well wishes to mike and his wife

that's hilarious! looks like he's done that once or twice before. my dog loves to stare down into the water, but he's never gone full grizzly like that before!

unfortunately sounds like this happens even more than i had imagined!!

i won't let this one deter me from buying any rods in the future. i'll just try to get them to ship in pvc even if i have to pay a little extra...

i assure you john, the difference in your packaging and this guy's packaging were more drastic than night and day. i was confident you were going to pack it to the best of your ability. in fact, looking now the cardboard tube the other guy shipped in had the cheap slide-in end caps and he didn't even take the time to tape them up. it's truly a wonder this rod is in 1 piece! like everyone says, you can only do so good, it's then up to the shipping company as to how it's handled from there on. like i said, the TW tube is pretty stout, i'd estimate it's like 3x or 4x the thickness of the one i received today. here's what kinda chaps my ___ is that he didn't insure the package as he was supposed to.... id' go as far as to say that's a cheap SOB... boy i'd be upset if that's what i received.... a broken rod is pretty sickening, no rod though!!

i like me some lambos!!! hopefully when i die, someone offers to drive my ashes to the lake in a murcielago.... going out in style! and i just can't get comfy with the round reels myself, but there again i've never tried a conquest. i prefer the low profile so i'd go metanium here.

i'd say the tight drag might be a problem. also, are you doing a "hero hookset" so to speak? with that light, exposed hook all you really need is a good sweep and start reeling...

I guess this is a PSA if you want to take it that way.... if or when shipping/buying a used rod it can sometimes be painful and cost some extra money, but insurance and most especially PVC can go a long ways! I much prefer the PVC route as it's nearly bulletproof. Even at that, there are different levels of thickness/quality of cardboard tubes (TW seems to be about the best). All it takes is one careless worker in the shipping process to break a guy's heart! I bought 2 rods over the last week, both Dobyns Champion Extremes, both used. One came in yesterday from @kickerfish1 all nicely packaged, bubblewrapped, butt end taped to avoid any tip issues and shipped in a PVC tube, arrived as good as new via UPS. Today i had one arrive from a guy on another site, shipped in a fairly thin cardboard tube, no wrap, no tape on the butt end via UPS. When i saw the tube, my heart sank a bit (see the NSFW pic below). Clearly broken in the middle and UPS put some tape over it to try and mitigate their damage. I was amazed when i pulled the rod out and found that it was still in 1 piece and seems to be undamaged. Just a friendly reminder to all those who sometimes ask about the best method to ship/most cost effective/etc. sometimes cheap ain't easy! if you need to recoup the money for the PVC or insurance or whatever it may be, add that to the cost of the item you're selling and package it properly so a guy like me doesn't have to have a mild heart attack when the package arrives! thankfully looks like all turned out well today, but it could have been one ugly day at the office!

I was just going to say heaven forbid you ask him about any service after the purchase! Go spend your money elsewhere and it'll make you feel much better when you drive off the lot! i paid what the guy was asking when I bought my kayak. Sure I tried to go a little less, but it was already a good price and he politely told me he was firm. Turned out to be a really nice guy and made me feel better about paying his asking price. Same went for the house my wife and I bought. Crazy market here in ATL and we ended up paying asking price and there were 3 others who offered the same. In the end, the people we bought it from may have been the nicest couple in the world and it made it so much easier for my wife and I given this was our first home. Moral of my stories is that it's ok to pay asking price sometimes, but I like to know my money is going to someone that really deserved it. Good luck on the search for "the one"!

No experience with that kayak buddy, but just getting off the bank is awesome! I was just going to echo you need to budget for the paddle and PFD. Have fun and be careful and find some pigs out there!!

Season? What's this season thing you speak of? Like spring, summer, fall and winter? Fish 365 in the dirty south!

Yes sir. I find them on sale and buy them out... Otherwise it's war eagle for me.

"lackluster" better watch out man, them's fighting words for our friends up North!

i don't disagree with you one bit..... but that said, i ain't eating **** from most of the waters around Atlanta.... i'd have a third eye in no time!

that made me laugh Raul! Truly enough, there's a lot of "transplants" in NC because of the fact that jobs have been booming there for a while. i knew lots of people from ohio when i was in Charlotte. but like hookdup said, it's 365 days of fishing down here man! on the unlikely chance that we get any snow, just the thought of snow, everything shuts down and people freak out. coming from that far north, you'd be out in shorts and t shirt in december! though it's no monster, my PB is from western NC! and before they totally jacked up the lake to make some "dam improvements" i was certain my DD was going to come from that lake..... and no doubt the trout fishing is top notch in some areas.

yes sir. just got a few more this past weekend in some colors that i didn't have, but didn't need very many of either. for what i paid for all of them was still cheaper than just the shipping from anywhere online.

i grew up in western NC and lived in charlotte for about 10 years before i moved down to atlanta 3 years ago. NC is home, i love it and i'd go back tomorrow.... but my wife grew up here in GA and has a stellar job, which is why we moved back down here 3 years ago... i can't speak for a lot of places east of charlotte, but i know there's some good fishing that way. i always fished on lake norman, but it's a big lake with sparse cover and not the numbers you're talking about. but there's high rock lake, lake badin, falls lake, jordan lake and shearon harris all around the raleigh area. all of which are highly regarded bass lakes. then you've got kerr and gaston on the north end/virginia border which are supposedly phenomenal fisheries. so i'd say you can find a good spot with good fishing and north carolina is a FANTASTIC place to live, but i may be slightly bias!!

my cousin's husband fishes a c rig more than any other bait. he does it all on a spinning rig. i believe it's a 7' MH with a similar sized reel as yours, maybe a 3000. and the dude catches fish, all year long on that setup!

well i'm not sure what techniques you're looking at the rod for, but i really like the sensitivity of the recon and how well it casts the lighter baits. i was feeling every subtle little bite on the recon, and it made casting a breeze. i feel like it's true to the ML rating as well. my experience with st croix is that i'd nearly have to have a Light power rod to cast a weightless 4" senko because of their rods just being overpowered, but that's my VERY uneducated opinion though. i honestly don't think you could go wrong with either one. the avid x is a very nice rod, head and shoulders above the regular avid.

welcome young fisherman! you'll get a much better number of responses for your post if you'll start you a new thread over the rods, reels, line and knots subforum. then everybody can see it and give you some good answers to your question.