Fishingmickey

Mike, Question, are you snelling the 80# braid or #80 braid to a say a 25# mono leader then snell to hook? Make that two questions. FM

Looks like you have a fishing partner for life Dad! Savory those moments! FM

The Elaztec lasts forever but a snag is a snag and then it is gone. FM

Get the net! Beautiful bass Green!

It's that the Daiwa 103Sv is a really good small reel, good for smaller baits. If your talking 4.5 - 5" Keitech's your grand. If your talking bigger swim baits then that is a different story. The loads that are experienced when throwing the large swim baits that is what I'm talking about. Baits that weigh in excess of four ounces easily and that is on the light side. As a for instance a well known productive swim bait is a 10" Huddleston trout. It weighs in at 7.4 ROF 5 to 8.5 for ounces the ROF 12. You could load up your SV with braid to have line enough to cast it more then 30 yards. And then put it on a big heavy rod. But braid has no forgiveness. You'd birdnest that Hudd eventually on a cast and your braid will snap. You'll see your 70-80$ Hudd go flying off a long ways. WRB is a true big bass expert on here and he recommends no less then 20+ if not 25# mono for serious large swim baiting. The mono has the ability to stretch/shock absorb and handle the loads generated by casting large swim baits. The Tranx or the Conquest in the 300-400 sizes is the "right" tool for the job. The Daiwa Lexa or Abu Garcia Ambassadeur reels would be another couple of good one's for less dollars. WRB will be along sooner or later. Take his recommendation to heart it's good advice. Mine maybe not so much. Good luck and good fishing, Fishingmickey

I was very pleased with how the Bantam performed. I set it up with two brakes on, brake control #4 and cast control pretty light, and she is super smooth and pretty touchy. Kinda dang near don't you dare let your thumb off the spool touchy. The freshly filled spool of line might have had something to do with it too. Fishing in the deeper water I liked it that way. I will probably end up turning on all four brakes next time out and backing off on the cast & brake controls a touch more. FM

I got a chance to test drive it this weekend. Spooled up with 15# tatsu and fishing with 1/4 oz football head EWG hook jig with a 7" power worm. I was very pleased with the performance of the combo! I was fishing in 14-20' FOW. FM

X2 FM

Huummmm is right Harold! FM

Paul, If your good with your thumb and not trying to throw dinner plate sized spinner baits long distances into the wind or skipping under docks. You probably don't need the forgiveness of the SLX DC reel. Also the DC reel will probably not cast quite as far as a non-DC reel. I'd suspect (I have a lot of experience with Shimano reels) that the JDM SLX MGL with the 70 size spool will be a heck of a lot nicer reel then the SLX XT model. Because of it's smaller size spool and frame it will palm better, it will use less line to fill and cast lighter lures better. With the MGL gearing it should smoother and give you better feel on your bottom contact baits. IMHO the JDM SLX MGL will be overall a much more pleasurable reel to use. FM

I've had a Lawn boy lawn mower for about 6 yrs now and I was always having problems with getting it to run consistently after about 4.5-5 yrs. I quit using ethanol added gas and tried the Tru-fuel they sell at Home Depot and Lowe's. It has been first pull starts ever since even after the mower has sat for a couple of months. But dang they are proud of it at $5 a quart. But it sure eliminated the headaches and since it is less then a quart every two weeks it's worth it to me. FM

Speaking of random acts of kindness/help. Three fisherman on a bay/flats style Ranger were along my kayak return travel path. I had observed where they were fishing and said "Hihowsitgoinghavinganyluck" as I went around them out on the water. We exchanged similar info. Fishing was tough under bluebird skies etc, etc. Back at the boat ramp about a hour or so later. I was pulling out my kayak. This was Saturday evening at the local lake. They were having problems with the bunks on their trailer and had backed their boat off and tied up to the dock. I noticed that they were using a multitool-plierthingy trying to tighten bunk position bolts. The three of them were standing together at the end of the trailer. It appeared it wasn't going well. I spoke up and asked do you need any tools? (My vehicle is known to my sweetie as a Swiss army vehicle because I have everything in it). They replied do you have a phillips screwdriver? I asked what size. They said medium. I brought over a #2 & #3. It was the three that was needed for the replacement locknut & 1/4-20 machine screw. I saw the multitool/hammerhead & pliers thingy they were trying to hold and run the locknut down 2" of exposed threads in a very tight location and said I'll be right back. I grabbed my socket set and boxed end wrench set proceeded to get them fixed up. Then I checked the other three angle positioning bolts and got them tightened up. Two of the other three were very loose. It felt good to reach out and them fixed up. FM Don't forget about having to move the antenna around too.

You might want to check out the Kistler S2 feel and reel rods. It is a graphite rod with a glass tip that has been spliced on. Kistler often runs sales and you can usually get this rod much cheaper then TW's price. FM https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/catpage-KISTLRRODS.html?from=basres

I have a tendency to "bite" down my worms an inch or two when threading on a new worm. Berkley power worms in particular. The 7" becomes a 5.5-6" and the 10" becomes a 8-9". I use a straight shank round bend gammy worm hook for them. Another thought is I find when I'm using a tex-posed hook it's detrimental to my hook up & hang up percentage when the hook point spot becomes torn up and I try to bury in deeper to keep it "tex-posed". I find myself telling myself don't cheap the plastics in a tournament. FM

I think it is like this, Some bass are glutinous pigs and will eat anything that even resembles food. Heck they think they can spit it out if they don't like it. Other Bass are like picky or finicky eaters. They take the time to look the meal over. observe it from a couple of angles, follow it for a bit and then maybe bite and spit it out once or twice before deciding it is food. FM

I got my first one about two months ago. I now have three. Outstanding reels. I like them much better then the K. It is also head and shoulders above the SLX. FM

Yes! I use these with great success. one up close to tips and one down lower. Just wrap them around your bundle of rods. Five seems to be the maximum number I like to bundle. Just do spiral wrapping around your rods and it works great to keep them together and tight. FM Available at Home Depot and probably other locations.

I've got the 93SV plus and love it. Great clarity and definition. Pretty much the same unit as the 73SV but bigger screen. I got mine through the GPS store for 600 on a black Friday special.

I'll be looking forward to seeing your posts, pic's and videos AJ! FM

Dunno what to advise ya on specification wise for a rod build without more info on what lures you want to fish. Middle of the road would be 7' - 7'4" MH/F. Not sure about hardwood handles. I just haven't seen many rods built with them (like zero).

Oooohh yaah, I do bite the heads off of my worms. I like to shorten up my worms sometimes to place the hook further back into the worm. This was before tungsten and I was using strictly 7" and 10" Berkley power worms, 3/0 & 5/0 Gamakatsu straight shank worm hooks and from 1/8 -1/4oz bullet weights. Also the after a few bites or hook sets I'll shorten'em up a 1/4" or so to get into new plastic. Fishingmickey

Quick question for the Illini here. How's the fishing in Beck and Big bend forest preserve lakes? Do they still exist? FM

Does the interference go away when you turn off the trolling motor? Does the trolling motor come with a built in transducer? How close is the motor barrel to your transducer? Maybe try un-wiring the trolling motor and see if it goes away. Good luck! FM

I currently have a PA14. If I were to do it again I'd look hard at the Hobie Compass. highly modifiable and reasonably priced for the Hobie Mirage drive at 1900. JFranco runs one and can probably add his experience about the Compass. FM

Just my opinion here and maybe a few others. A 3/4 oz weight on ( a true) 10 lb line is asking for break-offs unless your using something like Trilene big game, Yozuri hybrid or another brand that has a much higher breaking strength then the package rating. FM