Choporoz

Cut-R.

Kistler Helium 7' MHF. $319 on sale now.....a little over....but you did say 'range'...:)

I got no dog in your hunt....but I do hope you decide you like it.....because it is certainly hard to avoid.... everywhere

Have you handled Cashions before? I haven't held an Icon. I have an Elite with carbon fiber grips. I will say that the handles are an acquired taste. Icon uses Kevlar, but they look similar. I have gotten used to the grips and don't mind now, but I would choose cork or Wynn, if given the choice.

I don't see signatures on my phone....it has been so long since I used BR on a computer, I didn't even realize signatures still existed

I begin with a Rage Bug or CutR (and a jig). I generally decide between the CutR and Bug by using whichever is still rigged from last trip. If one doesn't work, the other often will. There's times and places for other worms and creatures ... trick worms, big worms, small stuff....but probably half my days I start and end with one of those two.

Water temps here just dropped below 60. Blade bait already working. I will have one tied on from now to Easter.

Caught my first drum yesterday. Bit of an adventure in a kayak on light dropshot rig.

My TourS3 is very noisy. My KVD and other Smokes are not.

I can't say enough good things about Kistler Helium. My favorite jig rods.

20# braid to 10# fluoro leader.

Good price for a good reel. I have one on my jerkbait rod and have been quite happy with it.

Hasn't quite dipped below freezing yet..... but I am ready for spring

I got that deafening CRACK yesterday. It just stuns...leaving you disoriented and flustered and mad/sad. Not proud to admit to six broken rods between wife and I over last 5 or 6 years. Two in doors (car and house), two on fish, and two on snags. Yesterday was a DX744 that I never considered could break. It has been one abused workhorse for quite a few years.

Something about the packaging or graphics reminds me of LTB or maybe another subscription. Is the logo on box bottom, lower right Pradco?

Just yesterday I was thinking it was sad that the coffee scent disappeared around the same time that StikeKing became their first name....I was missing that smell yesterday as I opened a new package of Cut-R's

It may depend partly on how you deploy your Ned rig. DX702SF is extremely sensitive. It is an excellent drop shot rod. It just isn't really built for casting. Distance or accuracy. But if you Ned mostly vertical or relatively short casts, you will like it.

I'd developed the impression that most everyone under 40 changed jobs every 2 to 5 years. Unless you are well into earning a solid retirement package, I think there's no reason not to do something you enjoy. Any reason to think you couldn't land in a more satisfying job environment for comparable pay / benefits?

No

Correct

The most interesting thing for me from this thread is not the answers, but the ongoing, unanswerable argument, itself. Did a search on "pegged unpegged" and found dozens of threads and hundreds of posts, and none of them are definitive enough to me to suggest that there is a right answer. But, I also looked for good underwater footage of them side by side and haven't found it....someone needs to do this for us...TIA. ?

I have used a A-Rig exactly one time. Lost it on 3rd or 4th cast. Vowed never again. But I pulled this rig up a few weeks ago and it is rigged and ready, so, I will probably have to see whether it works.

So... @NickBender. ..I think you are right, that your MHXF will be a decent Trig/jig rod. Try it, if you haven't. You are probably also correct thinking you will want a medium or moderate rod at some point soon. Don't get too hung up on limiting application to any rod....you are going to learn so much more, so much faster by tying something on and fishing it without regard to what rules you have read. Few of my favorite rods ended up being the sweet spot for what I thought I was buying them for. Many of them found their true calling after being rejected as a jig or Trig rod, to be honest...lol

I first heard this over a year ago.....it doesn't make any more sense to me now than it did then. I use braid, no leader. I highly doubt that I am blowing fish mouths open....but if I was......how would I know that?

I use Invisx, Abrasx, and YZH. Temper your expectations. YZH is far from perfect. But stretch and durability are two of the better aspects of YZH that you won't easily match with fluoro. I absolutely think you should experiment with quality fluoro....and mono. But compare similar diameters in in similar conditions. And don't go into it expecting revolutionary upgrades. You will develop your own preferences, but oftentimes the differences are more subtle than we want.