MIbassyaker

I have three Aetos rods, two casting one spinning. My insight is: you will not find a better rod at $88. And if you do, let me know -- I have been trying to sniff out maximum value around that price for awhile now.

Got an email notification from Megastrike about upcoming black Friday sale with coupon codes. -From 11/23-11//26, code BLKFRBONUS for 25% off -From 11/21-12/16, code BLKFR for 20% off FYI, They also give you an anytime 20% off code just by signing up for their mailing list.

I grew up fishing for anything that would bite in the river back home, which were channel cats, bullheads, pike, walleye, sauger, rock bass, drum, suckers, goldeye, and probably a few I forgot. At the occasional lake retreat, I was sometimes able to catch perch, crappie, bluegill, sunfish. Once I caught my first bass, though -- a pound and a halfer smallie that somehow found its way into our stretch of the river (we didn't know there were any in there) -- that was it: I found a fish I really wanted to catch to the exclusion of the others. The good news is, I discovered, fishing for bass is so diverse, you can catch almost anything by targeting bass. So now I can target bass almost exclusively in the new area I live, but still occasionally haul in a pike, walleye, perch, crappie, bluegill, catfish, bowfin here and there as a bonus, which is exactly how I like it.

I have both reels, too. I spent the last summer with the Tournament MB...what a great reel. I got it at Manventureoutpost.com for a little over 100 (comes in and out of stock -- check in regularly). Would be very happy to get another the next time I need a reel. The Tatula I just got a month ago, and haven't fished with it properly (and probably won't until late march/early apr). VERY smooth, easy to dial in, Really good distance (testing in backyard). I have high hopes. I have both reels sitting on elite tech smallmouth rods right now....I'm sure they would be as good or better on an Aetos.

I have a supreme and supreme XT along with a few presidents. Two functional advantages for the supreme and supreme XT I can think of: they are lighter and have a faster retrieve rate (Inches per turn, IPT). To compare at size 30: --the president is 8.3oz with 25.2 IPT --the supreme is 7.5oz with 31.8 IPT --the supreme XT is 6.8oz with 31.8 IPT Are these differences worth the jumps in price, over the president ($60), about +$40 for the supreme ($100) and +$90 for the XT ($150) at full retail? Not to me, but getting them at a discount is another story; And the advantages, plus any others may very well be worth it to you either way; in the end, only you know whether it is or not.

I have presidents in size 25, 30 and 35. I like them all, but I think the 30 is the sweet spot. think you gain too little compared to what you lose going down to the 25 or up to the 35, compared to the 30. That is, going down to the 25, I find the drop in line pick-up, drag and spool capacity not worth the weight reduction of one ounce. By contrast I don't think the gain in line pick up and spool capacity going up to the 35 is worth the weight increase of over an ounce and a half. Of course this is largely a matter of taste, and I wouldn't have known I had these preferences without trying the different sizes in the first place.

State of Michigan DEQ has a nice rough guide to our some of our more common aquatic plants, I would bet you have most of the same principal types in NY, as most of the ones mentioned above are included. There is also a short list of resources at the bottom: https://www.michigan.gov/documents/deq/wrd-anc-CommonPlant_408518_7.pdf Also the In-Fisherman Largemouth Bass and Critical Concepts books have some descriptions of aquatic plant types, and strategies for fishing them.

I thought last year it went from BF through cyber monday, no? Counting the days either way. And the 25 days of Christmas is when you can get gift cards for 10% off, if I remember right.

Lews LFS speed spool retails normally at $100 and has a lefty 6.8:1 and 7.5:1. I use the 6.8 for topwaters, and it's a great reel. Even better is a Tournament MB, which is a noticeable step up and has the same ratios in lefty models. Costs a little more normally, but you can sometime find one for about $100. I got one from Manventure Outpost at about that price; things come in and out of stock frequently there, but it's worth checking in to see if they have any. Another place to look for a good reel is American Legacy Fishing, which has lefty Daiwa tatula ($90) and Tatula Type-Rs ($110), in 6.3:1 and 7.3:1.

We have a support group for exactly this problem. 170 pages of it, in fact: There's no cure, as far anyone knows.

I bet it happens more often than I notice. Here's one I did notice this summer, a month between catches. 3.65lb in june, 3.92lb in july, about 1000 feet apart (notice the markings on the side, almost identical scale to scale):

Sorry, Catt -- I'm just picking on you for answering questions with questions, and not simply saying what you mean. That and I think its funny to hear a Louisiana guy tell everybody their lures should all work equally well year round. I'll stop. ha! I was thinking you could jig a buzzbait through the ice...

I would be very interested in hearing more about potential topwater techniques to use through the ice in January.

Do you guys even have "Fall" down there?

I'm never sure, when people post these sorts of things, whether they actually want an answer or they just want to vent about something...

I was thinking the same thing; nice-looking pair. I believe they were designed to go together. The color is an exact match, and the balance is just about perfect.

Fenwick Aetos 7'0" MF + Pflueger Patriarch 9535:

Recent acquisitions Some Reels: a spinning patriarch on sale from Cabelas, a Tatula 100 on sale from ***, and a third one I can't discuss: Two rods, a 7' Aetos medium spinning, and an older HMX 7'0" Heavy MF. They have that one listed as telescopic, but it's not, as I had suspected after looking up the model number: Aetos+Patriarch, together at last for about $250, shipped (A particularly aesthetically-pleasing combo I have wanted for awhile): And...it's not a new purchase, but Fenwick also sent me this 7'5" MH-F new gen Aetos caster on a warranty claim for a last-gen Aetos that I got in their recent online summer clearance sale, and managed to break by hitting a table after having it only month. Yes, you heard that right: I bought an older model on clearance, broke it, probably my fault, and they replaced it with a new model, just-released and more expensive, free of charge:

I really like this idea. Handle length is my nemesis. The rods have a nice look to them too.

I had to take a few breaths and back away slowly, repeating "I do not need more of these right now and there will be other sales..."

One of the old-school tackle shops in my area (there are still a few left!) sometimes has a donation box for unwanted or spare tackle that I've made contributions to if I've got something I don't want anymore. They then put it to use in sponsored events where they take kids and disabled vets fishing. It's worth asking around at your local establishments and see if there are similar programs in your area.

I like the Stupid Tube heads by Secret Lures (some other companies make similar heads), that make it easy to rig weedless.

Until recently, I was a spinning-only guy. I moved most of my cranking duties over to baitcasters but before then, I used a medium pflueger trion spinning combo ($60 for the combo), which was.... not bad, honestly, for anything up to about 1/2oz that's not a deep-diver. I still use it for balsa crankbaits like rapala minnows, as well as the smaller size x-raps, bombers, bandits, big Os etc.

Any bait that will swing or wobble in some way on the retrieve will tend to do so a little more freely if the line tie is not direct to the eyelet. It's most noticeable on things with subtle action like floating minnow baits. A lot of people use a loop knot or a split ring instead of a direct tie. Although, I probably use the split ring tie for a lot of things that don't strictly need it.

I put oval split rings on every walking bait, popper, crankbait, and jerkbait I own. I get the 6th sense oval rings (size 3 for most) from TW, for every bait that doesn't come with one already.