Josh Smith

For daily carry For when I'm cycling, or for discreet carry. I'm thinking about upgrading to an LCP Max, but I'm not sure I'd want the extra weight of more rounds in the shorts I wear for cycling. I also really like that Hogue grip.

Trying this again. I tried posing an image of the entire article, but it rendered too small to be legible. Pictures are mine, but have the logo watermark pixelated because I don't advertise here. I hope this helps someone, or you at least find it interesting. For various reasons I don't want to glass bed my Savage MkII. I'm not sure I'll stick with this stock, and, in my work with Mosins, I find that minimal receiver to stock contact provides the best repeatability. I'm experimenting to see if that'll carry over to rimfire; I think it should. Self-locking pillars are, from what I can tell, my own invention. They should provide the rigidity of epoxy-secured pillars without the epoxy. They're made of two parts, allowing the pillars to clamp to the wood when the action screws are tightened. Length sizing is critical so as to clamp the wood without crushing it. As critical as securing horizontal movement is securing vertical movement. On centerfire rifles, I do this by shimming the vertical surface of the recoil lug crossbolt to ensure firm contact with the recoil lug. The Savage MkII has no recoil lug, so I used the rearmost nut which happens to secure the trigger housing to the receiver: This little bit of shim stock provides a nice, tight fit. This design has been an evolution, applying lessons I've learned from playing with Mosins and M.95s and modifying them a bit for this application. I think this is its final form, but maybe not. We'll see. Regards, Josh

Edit: Delete please. Attachment won't show large enough.

So couple things: After spooling up, run the spooled line under warm water for and a minute or so. Before you tie anything on, run out about 30 yards of line behind the boat. This'll get rid of any residual twist and let you start fresh.

Absolutely not. Yup. I'm just weird. @all , I was going through my tackle storage this evening and found that I am severely deficient in squarebills. Apparently I neglected buying more since gravitating to jigs and soft plastics. My preferred brand is Sebile. I've had the best results in rivers with those. Plus they always seem to my on sale, so they're cheap to replace when I inevitably destroy them on rocks. The flat sides seem to add to the action, too. But I can't find them. Were that discontinued?? My second favorite are the older crawdad-looking ones with metal bills. Those are nearly indestructible.

I do have access to a couple private ponds, but I feel weird fishing them. Always have on any private pond; dunno why. I've had my best fishing days on them, though.

Didn't get skunked again today when I started making noise. Got dinked, but not skunked 🤣 Funny thing is, I've never been in a situation where fish hit on crankbaits but not jigs, so I just stopped carrying a crankbait rod and relied on knocking jigs around cover. That may have been a mistake. I used to use squarebills in the river, but I kept breaking them on rocks and found jigs just as effective. I still prefer jigs and plastics for the tight cover in which I usually fish, but I think I'll have to explore the world of crankbaits again.

I saw these today in a thrift store tacklebox. I didn't buy it but was inspired: Maybe these thump enough to attract fish. I think maybe I'll order some and see 😁

For those congratulating me on taking my daughter fishing, thank you. She's been fishing with me for most of her life, though she did lose interest for a couple years while her interests were diversifying (but we did take up mountain biking during that time, so she wasn't neglected 😁) First bass. In the couple years she took off, Belle has forgotten how to use the baitcast and has switched to spinning, which is just fine. Her PB bass. We took our mountain bikes to this location. Starting last year, I no longer show her face. She's changed enough that she's unrecognizable from her younger pictures, and so I'm OK putting those up. One of her favorite shows when she was a toddler was when Scott Martin took his little girls fishing for crappie. We must have watched that hundreds of times -- at least daily. I ended up writing Scott and telling him about it, also sending those that pic of Belle with the old 5500c (I think) for him to share with his girls. He wrote back and thought it was so cool. Now we watch Hilary's YouTube channel together. She's never been one for live bait, though I think I've been able to talk her into trying it since she used it at her school's camping trip. We'll get some soon-ish.

One of the main places we've been going is a creek mouth into the Salamonie Reservoir. It has always been an excellent place, even when fishing pressure is on. Now, though... We even have to hike to it because the road is closed due to high water. I'm about ready to make more noise and thump than I ever have. Small and slow isn't working, so I think I'll go slower and louder and see what happens. Do bass ever strike in self-defense?

This is actually my preferred fishing method at all times. It's more like hunting than fishing. One of my favorite methods is to cast over limbs, or on to the opposite bank, and hop a jig into the water; or, at least ram it into as many underwater obstacles as I can. Unfortunately, this approach isn't working. My daughter hates live bait, depending on the day you ask her. She likes artificials, and prefers ones you can just reel in. The couple fish she's caught this year have been on small spinners. Interestingly, folks using live bait don't seem to be doing a whole lot better. These are the days we usually go. On bright days, we go when the shadows are long.

The lightbulb thingy was right where you said it was. Thanks! The screen isn't doing the jumping thing on light mode. Weird.

The forum looks different than it was. I can't find the light theme, and, when I'm typing on the mobile version and a new line starts, the entire screen jumps up. What's going on?

Fishing conditions have been terrible lately. Rolling cold fronts have been hitting most weeks. One will hit, and another will hit two days later. We have high and higher water conditions and the water looks like chocolate milk. My daughter has caught two fish this year: one small striper and one small largemouth. We've been trying for crappie and panfish besides bass, and we're getting nothing on that front. It seemd most times we're out, something's surface feeding on bugs, and so I've been getting well-acquainted with my fly rod, but without success. Besides using noisy lures and fishing slowly, what else should we be trying? I've tried all sorts of colors, even though I've always read that you should try to match the water color. Any tips? Thanks!

It's in pretty good shape and feels good casting, if a little heavy. I'm not too terribly good at fly fishing, hate four-piece rods, and gave my last one that wasn't my grandpa's away (Walmart cheapo to see if I liked it.) This one is a two-piece, is in great condition, still has plastic on the cork, and is very forgiving. The reel I seem to remember seeing in the 1990s, but this rod isn't familiar at all. Seems maybe 1970s? Can anyone tell me about it? Thanks!

It arrived yesterday and the seat is definitely plastic. It doesn't feel any cheaper than a Black Max, though, and the Black Max is one reel I considered. Overall, I'm happy. Mmmm... I'm not sure if I'd be good with carbon fiber. In mountain biking it's known for its light weight, yes, but also for its "compliance," meaning it's more comfortable due to flex. I'll stick with metal frames and seats for my serious setups. Something I carry on my bike is a different story and won't be used as hard as my more expensive setups. I can maybe see carbon fiber plates because of how they're oriented. Frames, not so much.

Thanks for this. I just ordered one. I wasn't looking at reels this cheap, but, if it works and has an aluminum frame, I'll give it a go! In this instance, cheaper is better to a point because I'm known to wreck at times. Thanks, everyone.

That's how the Black Max reel was tagged. Now, it's possible someone put the wrong tag on it, but there were other reels next to it which were similarly priced.

When I was around here a lot, KastKing was just emerging as a brand and had the associated unknowns as a new brand. I still love my Ambassadeurs, but I carry a telescoping rod on my mountain bike and they're a little big for that purpose, so I'm using a U.S. Reels baitcaster I got for cheap some years back. It's OK but I don't really like the wave guide. I was browsing reels on Amazon, came across a KastKing Royale Legend II, and wonder if they ended up being any good. Does this model have a metal seat? Do they hold up well? This could be what I'm looking for. I almost just threw a Black Max onto the rod, but Walmart wants $80(!!) for a Black Max now. Ain't no way 😆 Anyway, how's KastKing these days?

The Bike of Theseus, and one of the places it takes me (with my daughter):

I lost two bass today. One pulled hard. We've not been fishing a lot the past couple years. There's just a lot of other interests we have, and the kids are getting older and are busier with school. My 9-year-old daughter and I finally got the chance to go bank fishing this evening at a place where a creek flows into the reservoir. I chose a chartreuse willow leaf spinner to start. A few casts in and boom, this little bass, 9" or so, hits the spinnerbait. I almost yanked it to shore on the hook set. It came out of the water and flopped off. Dammit. Oh well. So I cast up the creek, and on about the fifth cast up that way, what felt like a huge bass inhaled the bait. I set the hook hard. After fighting for several seconds, this one jumped and spat the bait. I reeled the lure the rest of the way in to sharpen it, and discovered the hook had no barb. Apparently it was one of the spinners I modified for use by my then-young little girl several years ago. Dammit. We had to pack up and leave shortly after. ?

I've never caught a bass out deep. Haven't really put in the time, either. I love casting to cover I can see, and picking it apart. Seeing structure on a sonar screen and dropping a jig or pulling down a deep diving crankbait just doesn't excite me.

Her: "Can you tell I've lost weight?" Me: "You're not as fat as you were at our wedding." Luckily, I'm mildly autistic. It has gotten me out of a lot these past 15+ years we've been together. She's only dumped me once.

My wife works in home health and used to vape. Once, she walked into a client's house -- a sweet, dementia-addled old lady -- and her vape's lithium batteries choose that time to come shooting out of her purse like rockets, landing on the floor and setting the carpet alight. The little old lady got up from her knitting, grabbed a vase with water in it, and doused the fire. She said, "Well, that takes care of that." Then she walked back, sat down, resumed her knitting, and promptly forgot the entire episode. ?

This is what I was after. The reason I didn't want to go with a more powerful trolling motor is because running them at low speeds produces that waste heat. I have no problem running a PWM controller. I just wasn't aware they made them for trolling motors (though I guess it only makes sense that they do,) nor was I aware that PWM messes with sonar, though I suppose that also makes sense. I'll look into the PWM motors. Not after anything real expensive, so we'll see. Thank you!