MIbassyaker

I got a copy of that book this summer. Haven't started going through it in detail, but even just flipping through, you can tell it is a book that deserves to be studied closely, not just read.

Ordered Tuesday, arrived Friday. Man, this thing is lighter than air:

Hyperpigmentation. Not uncommon at all. My understanding is that it's probably natural, doesn't affect the health of the fish, and hasn't been linked to any kind of disease or particular environmental condition.

haha, I understand -- my approach is usually just to locate a target price point, and then find the best discount/markdown deal i can on something better that happens to have dropped to that point.

Ah, the famous "Buridan's Donkey" Paradox: A hungry donkey sits between two bales of hay. The bales are equally delicious and equally close. Yet, the donkey starves to death because he never has a good reason to prefer one over the other, and therefore never chooses one to eat. Those are some pretty nice rods. What are the chances, do you think, that after buying any one of them, you'd really wish you'd gotten one of the other two instead? I'm pretty sure I know what the answer would be for me: Slim to none.

A 6' ML Berkley lightning rod, with a older shakespeare agility reel. 6lb trilene XT. Pretty cheapo, but it does the job.

Fishing in South America over Christmas? That's some weapons-grade *** Fuel, right there...

In general, If I bring just two, I want one rod for heavier stuff (3/8 and over), one for lighter stuff (under 3/8oz). Consider shorter lengths than you might use on a boat (especially if you are short, like me -- I don't fish with anything over 7'), and possibly even softer actions. These can help in landing fish, since you are really limited by space and your own armspan. Rod 1: 6'6"-7' baitcaster Medium-heavy power, fast action -- jigs, t-rigs, carolina, spinnerbaits, frogs, buzzbaits, walking baits, heavier cranks. --I'm a spinning junkie and I actually get by with a 6'6" MH-F spinning combo here, but almost everyone else would recommend a baitcaster. --On treble baits like crankbaits and some topwaters, back off the drag a bit. Rod 2: 6' to 6'9" or so spinning, Medium-light power, fast action -- shakey heads, mojo rigs, weightless plastics, drop shot, finesse jigs, lighter cranks and topwaters, light tubes and grubs.

Clearly, the true purpose of the thread has revealed itself as being for groups of victims to support the Bait Monkey. He always wins.

Lol, with all the fancy crafting stuff my wife has in her own personal nook of the family room, she doesn't have the moral authority to question any of my purchases...we have a truce on that front.

Thanks -- I have been looking at those. I have two Pfleuger spinning reels and love them. I was thinking I should have bought two also, one of each of the 1-piece models they had left.

I don't use a net. i should probably get one. I'm also interested in hearing other people's answers. I almost always just lip the fish (or grab behind the head, if it's a toothy bugger), although the majority of the time I'm fishing with single hooks instead of trebles.

What's the weight? You can sort of guesstimate length from width and vice versa.

Maybe you'll be in luck -- actually, I hadn't looked at those before, but they already seem a decent price, as is. I don't know about you, but when I stumble on upon a great deal on something, and pull the trigger, I walk on a cloud for a day. I just ordered, on FFO Tackle (tipped off on another thread), a discontinued Fenwick Elite Tech Smallmouth Casting rod, 6'9" MH-F. $130 original price with 42% off discount, and an additional -$15 with a current promo code ... so, $60 before tax and shipping. And I don't even use casting gear. I guess I'm going to start. Now I just need a reel...

Can't argue with a spinner or 2" or 3"curly tail grub on a jighead, thrown on an inexpensive spincast.

That's what I think, too -- I'm chucking them into laydowns, bouncing them between rocks...even rigged weedless, you're going to lose a bunch. And if you're attracting fish, they'll get pulled on, mangled, ripped in half no matter what you do....a tube by definition is not a durable bait because it's hollow, with a thin skin, not designed to stand up to abuse compared to other plastics. Some tubes are better quality than others, for sure, but I don't really think quality is necessary in this kind of bait.

Tom's list is great-- all easy and super-effective adaptations of your current gear. I'm similar -- most of my fishing is strongly dominated by finesse presentation with plastics. I get a lot of mileage out of jigworm (any worm + jighead of some kind; shakeyhead is a version of this) and mojo/finesse c-rig (light cylindrical weight sliding freely above a bobber stopper, placed 12"-16" ahead of a t-rigged plastic). But to me, the most obvious categories of things missing from your repertoire are (1) Moving baits and other horizontal presentations (Crankbaits, spinnerbaits, swimbaits) (2) Topwaters (Poppers, frogs, buzzbaits, walking baits) (3) jigs You should be able to get a start working on any of the three with your MH casting combo for heavier versions of these baits, and M spinning for lighter versions.

Overheard at a DSG, not long ago: MY WIFE: "Zooms"? Don't you have enough of those already? ME: No.

TW has done 20% off on most of the stock on black friday, including rods and reels (although maybe not all of them?), and that's on top of individual markdowns, as I understand. I would have my eye on the Kistler Magnesium TS's currently running about 30% off on TW...if you got 20% on top of that, it would be highway robbery. Lots of individual manufacturers will do their own sales around then, including possibly some BR sponsors who may announce it here with a post.

Yeah, that sounds like a fantastic deal for a great rod.

I don't expect I'll ever own a boat and don't want one. Far and away my favorite waters to fish either don't allow motors, or have only carry-down launches, or can only be accessed publicly by paddling in from small streams and creeks.

Well, there's my impulse buy for the week. They have three casting models in stock (none of the spinning from what I can see) -- the 6'9" MHF, 6'10" MHMF, and the 2-piece 6'10" MF. I just got the MHF. 42% off the original $130, with an additional -$15 on the promo code (good through 11/12), brought it to $60, before tax and shipping. Sweet.

That, right there, is the most underrated answer to every possible question about lures.

I have been wondering about these too....but I just really hate colorful rods. Everything should be Black/Silver. Now get off my lawn.

I don't have a lot of experience with shad, but that sounds like time for a moving topwater. Maybe a walking bait (Spook, Sammy, Etc.)