fishballer06

My vote goes to the Fury. My father and I purchased 5 HMG's about four or five years ago and only 1 is still in service. I do think it's a decent blank, and I like the hybrid cork they use, and the reel seats seem great. However, 4 of those 5 rods have bent/broken guides on them in the middle of the blank (some of them multiple guides are broken). The foot of the guides they use on these rods are very weak and are not durable by any means. Maybe Fenwick has switched guide manufactuers since that time, but I know for a fact that the Dobyns does not have this issue.

I bought one because I'm a sucker for trying out new baits and I love chatterbaits. Just need the ice to thaw to test it out.

The water you're fishing is too shallow for the squarebill you're fishing. Try using a Mann's Baby 1-. They only run about 6-12" deep and they're a killer crankbait.

First off, welcome to BR from another fellow yinzer! The setup you are looking at is a great first setup for a beginner. Being a spinning reel, I would recommend a 7' Medium power, fast action rod. This will do so much for you just starting out and you'll be able to learn numerous techniques with this one setup. Eventually, you'll get more experience, and the bait monkey will infect you, and you will want another setup or 7. At that point, come back to us and we'll gladly help you spend more of your hard earned cash.

Good find @MN Fisher. I was going to say that from the reading I've done online, approximately 9-12 years. So I wasn't far off. Something good to keep in mind whenever you release those smaller fish, or to think about how many times that fish has likely been caught by the time it finally reaches that size.

I've seen that thread, and I've also seen a YouTube video directly comparing the too. I'm always a sucker for JDM reels with a few little extra bells and whistles.

I'd likely be getting a 25 or 30 size. I've also come across the Exsence ci4+ from Japan since starting my research. This reel looks to be the USDM Stradic ci4+, painted up like the USDM Exsence, a few extra bearings added to it, and a different spool. All the while, being essentially the same price as the Stradic ci4+.

More often than not, the reason for not catching fish is not being in the right location. If you can locate the fish, generally you can catch at least one or two, even if you aren't throwing exactly what they want. More often than not in my area, the issue isn't locating the fish, it's actually getting them to bite because they're so pressured. 1-3k acre lakes with 3-5 tournaments a week on them. There's only so many places for them to hide and they see everything under the sun, every day of the week.

I'm looking for another higher end spinning setup and the new Sustain has piqued my interest. How does this new model compare to the ci4+ or Stradic FK? I own the FK and FJ for comparison, but I was wondering if anyone here has experience with all of these models and can compare them for me. Thanks.

Why not just borrow a reel from a buddy instead of buying?

Buck Splizzors are the single greatest tool I have ever came across in fishing. I highly recommend them and they are well worth the money.

This sounds nothing like the Hank Williams Jr. song. Stay safe!!!

Green Gizzard Shad. It's a much more natural looking color in clearer water as opposed to some of the white colored baits, so I prefer it. Electric shad would be my next choice.

Thanks for sharing this, James! It's awesome to see such accomplished anglers such as yourself on here helping regular guys like us out. Really appreciate it!

I own the Champion 734C, as well as 2 Avid 7' M-F, and a LTB 7'1" M-F. The 734C is a step up in power (it's a MH). So it's going to pull the duties that are too heavy to handle what my medium powered rods can handle. In my opinion, the Dobyns rods feel slightly better balanced than the standard Avid rods. I'm not sure on the weights, but a balanced rod will feel better in the hand and be less fatiguing on a long day on the water. Not saying that the Avid is a tip heavy or unbalanced rod, just saying that the Dobyns is a hair better.

Try spilling gasoline on it at 3 AM in the morning at the gas station. That's a sound that will wake you up in the morning.

I had two guys make the cut today. I'm doing terrible so far this year.

I get them, so it must be your spam filter on your email or something. You can always subscribe to this thread. This is a pretty active thread and is probably the best reminder you can have for FF.

Congrats! My son was born March 1st last year. Maybe our sons will square off in the Bassmaster Classic some day.

My group is all over the place again. 62, 7, 58, 40, 50. It's a tight race though. 60th and 7th place are only 5 pounds apart.

My squad for this event.

I own 2 Avid 7' M-Fast action and 1 LTB 7'1" M-Fast action rods from St. Croix. By no means would I consider these rods to be a MH by any other manufacturers terms. Obviously this is a blank that fits my fishing style very well, but they certainly aren't taking over any duties that my MH rods are doing.

Living in Pittsburgh, we have a large urban community, and outside of the 3 rivers downtown, and Lake Erie about 2.5 hours north of us, all of our lakes are limited horsepower lakes. Thus making prime water for kayakers to get out on safely without having to worry about big water that gets windy, or large, powerful boats with big wakes. A few of our local lakes are totally overrun with kayakers once Memorial Day hits. One lake in particular is a narrow, long lake (only about 100-200 yards wide in most parts). Groups of kayakers will go out in large floatilla's and string themselves out across the entire lake 20 yards apart and completely block the lake from any boat traffic. I'd say 90% of the time they aren't fishermen, they're just pleasure riders who are clueless to how ignorant they are being. In PA, you are responsible for your own wake, so if you blow past a kayakers and upset them and they get hurt or lose property, you can be responsible. Another thing that upsets me about the pleasure kayaker's is that they have no boat ramp common courtesy. Did you know that two kayaker's can take up an entire 4 boat wide ramp? They sure can, and they have no problem taking their sweet time and BS'ing with each other while multiple boats sit there patiently waiting. If you can't tell already, I'm not overly fond of the clueless kayaker's. In my experience, the majority of kayak fishermen know the rules of the water/ramp and are very courteous to boaters. So I have no problem with those guys at all, but man those pleasure kayaker's...

Lanier blasts off tomorrow morning. Be sure to submit your team before the end of today!

He's done that a lot in recent years. I always refuse to pick him because he's known to not even show up at weigh in's if he knows he doesn't have a chance of making any money.