FloridaFishinFool

Musky. I compared shape of fins to both species and musky fits. Here's a pike. Notice rear two fins upper and lower are rounded? Now look at same fins on a musky and compare to your fish. Shows corners rather than rounded. From my comparison, your fish shows the same corners rather than rounded for lack of better descriptive words. Also those same fins on your fish shows dots that also match the musky. So I am seeing at least 2 distinct characteristics to make a quick uneducated guess. I say musky based on visual comparison. If wrong, won't be the first time- and the "Florida argument is irrelevant" since we don't have those around here. But I bet they are fun to catch. Nice fish!

I had hoped some of the daiwa fans would be along to help you out with this or DVT. I would suggest sending DVT a PM about it directly: https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/profile/23280-delaware-valley-tackle/

In certain conditions ultra light is awesome! Just have to avoid heavy cover with it. One of my long time fishing buddies recently made Grandmaster level fisherman with the Florida Sport Fishing Association. To date only 51 people have earned that title since 1974. Now I will never hear the end of it! FFF fishin' with the newest grandmaster! Competition and smack talk in the boat is so thick you can cut it with a knife. But you know, he earned grandmaster level on 4 pound line in saltwater. And we are talking tarpon too. Not just bass. But all species across the board. He had to successfully catch them in all categories on 4 pound line. It took him years of perseverance and dedication to accomplish it. https://fsfaclub.org/grand-masters The point is, ultra-light tackle makes fishing far more challenging than what we see in bass fishing today- and fishing in general- with some, well really many moving to tackle that all but guarantees landing the fish like using 60 pound braid on broomsticks for a 3 pound fish. Florida has organizations that levels the playing field and really makes the fisherman work for prize. Now THAT'S fishing! Today the closest I come to it are medium and even medium light rods, 1000 size Shimano (mostly) spinning reels and 10 pound braid. Does that count? I think it is close to a 4lb mono line in size and diameter. Just gives me a little extra tug is all. My favorite rod is a GLoomis PR844S IMX medium. I use this one because its a little stronger in backbone than a ML and works better in the river current, but has good play in the tip making it just right for chasing schoolies on the St. Johns river or lakes with light tackle. And I recently purchased a brand new 1989 Quantum Great White 4W spinning reel just because Shaw Grigsby was using 2 in his 1991 Clearwater bass fishing video where he was using I think 6 and 8lb mono mostly in open water, but close to heavy cover. So he knew he had to keep the big ones away from cover and it was a challenge for him and makes for a good bass fishing video on light tackle. I just wish he were not hawking tubes in this video and would have been free of having to use just one bait for the entire show. I plan on spooling the new reel up with 8lb line as well for first time in probably more than 40 years I have gone that low, and I plan on fishing in the same river Shaw was fishing on in this video. I won't be using tubes though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLO-8gJJ80Y

We've discussed this before. Its the same as simply reading the tone of a bell or crystal glass or any other object- including fishing rods- that can produce its own sound. What I have done is a very simple straight forward materials read, and NOT counting tip swings. The two are related, but give different results. One is calibrated especially if the electronics is certified. The other is not. I noticed over the decades that rods do have their own tone. When I shop for rods I can tap on one with a key and hear its tone. I simply compare what I hear. Some rods are higher. Some lower. It is easily measurable with any standard electronics like frequency counters and spectrum analyzers and oscilloscopes. This is the method I prefer, and I prefer rods with a higher tone. Simple as that. And with a few other devices I can also read a rod's ability to transmit vibration signals input at the tip and read an A/B comparison output signal at the butt of the rod. And even see them on oscilloscopes to compare waveform shapes. Its no different than a large audio stylus. A blank can be read and measured before anything is put on it, and read through the build process to see and watch how vibrations are muted by guides installed and other items like handles. Some builds kill the blanks ability to transmit vibrations down its length while other builds are designed to amplify those vibrations. (See below) The process is exactly identical to doing a simple read on a bell. It produces a tone. It can be read. And that tone can be identified on any audio frequency counter and viewed on a spectrum analyzer or oscilloscope showing how long the materials will ring at its primary dominant resonant frequency. Its so basic and simple kids can do it with the right gear. Fishing rods of different sizes, and shapes, and materials produce different results. Today frequency counters and spectrum analyzers can be purchased quite cheaply so anyone can do it. As stated my All Star Emerald Edition rods made over 45 years ago have the highest tone or frequency of any rod I have, or have ever heard. So I have referred to them as my crystal rods for decades because of their higher tone which I believe points to the binder hardness. They are amazing rods to use. When a fish hits its like getting struck by lightning. I spent decades looking for them and only came up with 2. Today in 2026 only one company- Airrus- actually builds rods utilizing standard old school sound focusing amplification methods: "The new Megaphone Handle II will transmit, quicker and more efficiently, any light bite and every lure motion on the bottom because it amplifies the vibrations coming from the line better than any other former handle style. It’s completely custom, it’s made of 100% carbon fiber and assembled without the use of sound absorbing and vibration dampening materials." They are using a rod blank same as an audio stylus- same as what I said. Input at the tip and a passive megaphone at the butt end. A simple application. Pretty cool to see sound and audio old school standards included in rod building. All I ever did was simply listen to what the materials were telling me- telling my ears. I made a living doing that recording albums and doing live sound engineering. I never saw it as doing anything different or out of the ordinary. Back then I had access to all the gear so why not use it?

One of the most annoying things to find on a trolling motor is someone else's fishing line wrapped around the propeller. I post this as a reminder to everyone to check behind your propellers after each fishing trip. Line wrapped around the prop shaft can prevent normal operation and increase the amount of current a motor needs to operate leading to draining the batteries a little faster. I confess I let my guard down recently and did not check behind my propeller after the last couple of trips but I did today and found this mess waiting on me: I use only braid so I know this mess was not mine! I must have picked it up trolling through a lake recently left behind by other fishermen. Thanks! Also check your propeller shaft pins for bending and cracks and replace as needed! Keep plenty on hand for backup!

Yep! We are losing a world of wealthy knowledge with each passing too! Dick Kantner took the secrets to his double helix blanks to his grave too. But old Don Morton was working on something new with engineering students at an Alabama university. He called it "tracking axis" of a rod blank. It starts here: And once rolled into a fishing rod, it gives the rod specific physical characteristics that can be measured and used to our advantage or disadvantage depending on engineering applications being right or not so right. This is where it starts to apply to various rod blank construction designs Once the rod blank is complete, then it can be read. And that is what Don Morton was working on. A new mechanical device to be used to read a rod blank beyond the simple primary spine finding ideas we see today which really should be expanded on because rod builders and fishermen really have not been told the extent of spine finding and how its important or relates to what we do. The current idea of spine finding is really only entry level seeking a primary spine while there are numerous spines throughout a rod blank. But which one or ones matter and why is the key. Here Gary Loomis himself gives us the 100% accurate primary method and use in application- which much of the industry ignores to this day and some even are 180 degrees backwards to this and most simply are not aware of it. But what Don Morton was working on even at 86 years old with engineering students was a mechanical device used to track these spines throughout the rod blank. He sent me his unpublished work in progress that I can now share some of it here for the first time ever seen in public since his passing just a few days ago. It is my hope that his work will continue on through his engineering students and the engineers he worked with at various rod blank companies. Don was simply a passionate fisherman with a high degree of engineering knowledge and skills that he applied to the current rod blank technology in his efforts to get the most out of our fishing rods. He called this "tracking the axis" of a rod blank. Rest in peace Don Morton! Your supporters and fans and students will carry your work on into the future! So thanks for all you did in moving fishing rods into the space age! The following are excerpts from Don Morton's final unpublished work: And Don Morton was one of the best! A true legend and a behind the scenes player for decades in rod blank design and construction. Hopefully this entire work will one day be published for all of us to learn from. If not, then I may have the only piece of it the world may ever see if his family or university or involved students decides to not move forward with publication. Time will tell. But Don Morton deserves all the credit for sure! RIP legend!

I'm curious from where does this type of claim come from? ***Warning. Long opinion post. Please avoid if too many words. I have to disagree with this statement because price increases does not dictate rod wall thickness. I have studied rod blank construction for decades and my research conclusions are the opposite. Decades ago thin wall rods were popular because they are considered more sensitive due to less mass in the wall meaning the material is easier to vibrate with weaker signals. The problem with thin wall rods is exactly as you said above- they are more prone to breakage and being crushed easily. And this caused rod companies to have to warranty replace a greater number of them. It was Don Mook while working for Morgan McCain of All Star Rods who changed this. Don was then partners with Gary Loomis of LCI, inc. and at the time LCI was then making thin wall rods. But when Morgan called on his rod supplier to help him create his own Houston, Texas rod blank factory, it was Don Mook who went there to create and build it. And from that factory is where the very first "pencil" rods or thicker wall rods came from namely the incredible "Emerald Edition" rods that have a still unknown binder that just keeps getting harder as rod ages. My Emerald Edition rods to this day have the highest resonant frequency of any of my rods. Just tape on them gently with a hard object and listen to the frequency of the sound a rod makes same as ringing a bell. The higher the frequency, the harder the materials are. And the harder they are the easier it is for vibrations to travel through it. On the opposite end of the scale is a rubber band. Extremely soft and vibrations do NOT travel well through a rubber band, or whippy low frequency rods. The binders plays a huge role in a rods sensitivity. The fibers are there for load strength. It is the binder that brings it all together and makes the rods what they are. But the point is, to lower a rod company's warranty claims, after Don Mook and Morgan McCain began producing some of the first true pencil rods, everyone else in the rod blank industry followed suit to this day. Basically what they did was simply change one thing. They simply rolled the rods into a more dense smaller diameter rod blank about half the size of what LCI was then producing. This was a huge significant change in the industry back then. And for rod companies it meant far fewer warranty claims for broken rods because now there was a way to make a fishing rod you could step on and not break. Try that with thin wall rods. My old made in USA Falcon rods are thin wall rods- completely different than what they make today outside of the country. The reason is simple- its their bottom line they are looking at and adjusting their products accordingly. Today rod companies are seeking a balance between the two methods and we see rods now that are kind of half thin wall rods and half thick wall rods falling right in between the old LCI's and old Falcons and the newer pencil rods that Don Mook and Morgan McCain came up with. What they did was revolutionary at the time and these two men deserve credit for it. My point to this comment is that as prices increase rod walls do not necessarily always get thinner. I don't know where this type of statement comes from. Basically what Morgan and Don did was keep the same amount of materials used in rods but simply rolled it tighter and smaller diameter to thicken up the rod wall for increased durability. The move I have seen happening today like with some newer St. Croix rods is to reduce the materials to make lighter rods while still claiming to have the same or better strength than rods with twice the materials weight. And I think this might in part be behind your statement. Its not that they are trying to make thinner wall rods. Most rod companies want to avoid that because of how easily they can break or be damaged and crushed by simply stepping on one. I think some rod companies are simply trying to increase their profit margin by cutting their materials costs in half while still trying to claim same as or better quality. At ICAST last year St. Croix put out their new rod line I don't recall the name of it, but it was in line with this materials reduction game plan while hyping it as same as or stronger which I was not buying into for $600 for half the rod as before. But you can bet St. Croix was still trying to keep those blank walls thick enough to drive down those warranty claims. Today when a rod blank company makes a mistake in this game plan it winds up online with customers complaining about their rods breaking repeatedly. Right now on this forum is a thread about St Croix having just such an issue. I have discussed this very issue with several rod designers in Florida and elsewhere. And there is a process of manufacturing that could help to prevent this but it is way too costly for any manufacturer to do. Presently rods are made by simply rolling a prepeg "flag" around a steel mandrel to give a rod its shape and then baked basically. But, the problem with this is one of flag compression. As rods are presently made they develop thin areas in the wall and thicker areas in the wall. And it is from the overlap of the rod flag taper where this is coming from. What rod manufacturers could and should do if they can afford it is to not only have the blank shaped from the insides but also the outsides by way of compression of the flag once rolled around the mandrel to force compress the entire rod blank length into one uniform thickness of wall. It is NOT possible to do this today as rods are currently made. The equipment and labor needed would send prices skyrocketing to beyond reasonable. So we are all stuck in a economic trap with rod making. I expect in coming years to see some changes but will it be cost effective. So what rod companies are doing today is what Dick Kantner and others got into decades ago- the following is a small excerpt from the Dick Kantner interview: https://www.sexyloops.com/articles/dickkantner.shtml "AD: So you would use a formula to calculate the general attributes of a rod, but not necessarily the subtle details? DK: We'd use the formula to tell us the wall thickness and the fiber orientation necessary to get a certain action. Then if somebody said, "That's great, but it's a little slow in the butt." You don't go back in and recalculate, you just extrapolate and add enough material to get the stiffness and action we needed. AD: Did you work pretty close with Mr. Powell in developing the tapers for your fly rods? DK: We worked very close together in developing the actions. Our tapers are all slower tapers. We wanted to maintain a small diameter, and we had a couple of practical rules of thumb. In keeping a small diameter you have to make slightly heavier walls to carry the same load, which also improves rod buckling properties and damage resistance. We never got into the "weight race" that a lot of fly rod companies did. AD: Lighter and lighter and lighter.... DK: Yeah, lighter and lighter and more fragile. Our thought was fly rods don't break from fishing; they break from collateral damage, whether it's a big fly hitting it or something else like those electric tailgate windows! (Laughter)" That interview was decades ago. Dick Kantner has been deceased for many years. And yet today in 2026 St. Croix is falling right in line with what he was talking about- the direction of rod blank construction in the future. We see it now unfolding. What St. Croix is experimenting with as do all others now are the insertion of other fibers in addition to graphite in various places along the length of the blank. But, the key critical detail is in how those fibers are used. Their directional patterns within the rod blank walls. For those who think and believe rods don't have a spine worthy of inclusion in rod building are really missing out on getting the most out of blank construction on the fishing side of things. If tips are snapping off, then this is the source of it right here. And you may well find that the breaking point is directly along the prepeg flag's taper edge as it is rolled up where the thin area is located. And without external compression this leads to thin and thick spots all along the blanks. Without external compression this is just something we all have to deal with and live with it as is. "Spines" are engineered into blank construction as a default result that cannot be removed with standard methods of construction. In my opinion, based on years of research as price increases, the rod blank manufacturer is trying to make a more durable rod which physics dictates increasing wall thickness, NOT making them thinner. Its really a balancing act now between several important key factors rod blank companies and their engineers are still trying to work on and improve. Sometimes they get it right. Sometimes they don't. In the above video Gary Loomis is holding in his hands one of his blanks that falls right in between thin wall and thick wall rods. The rod in his hands is a compromise balancing act rod blank. One final thought on this, Dick Kantner was asked at the end of the interview about the future of rod manufacturing and possibility of new fibers being used: "AD: What do you foresee as the next generation of materials used in the fishing rod industry? How much further can Carbon filaments be pushed, and after that what is next? DK: Well, the polyethylene filaments are being used in a lot of ballistic applications whether it is vests or sides of personnel carriers or that sort of thing. The problem with polyethylene is that it is so hard to get the fibers to stick together. Of course that is one of the advantages in a vest or something is that it will absorb a lot of energy as it breaks down and comes apart. Hhhmmm....other than that, I just don't know." And there he nailed it. This is why boron was dropped. In order for a rod to have strength the epoxy binder must be able to adhere to the fibers. If the fibers reject the epoxy binder like water on oil, then the rod will fall apart and break easily. Binder must adhere to the fibers. And then fibers must be correctly angled- which sometimes different up and down the blank. Dick Kantner mentioned possibly using PE fibers BEFORE anyone had tried them, but he was right that they could not be used for rods because of the constant bending rods see daily. Solid objects in military hardware could use them so long as the object was not stressed or bent in any way. Kevlar is used today. Rod blank companies are going back to a mixture of fiberglass fibers and graphite to seek the optimum balance we fishermen want in our rods. Its all a delicate balancing act to achieve the best of all worlds. Its kind of ironic today I would not pay $600 for a rod with half the materials. And the old All Star Emerald Edition rods- first true pencil rods of their kind are far more durable and were priced at only $20 each retail when new. Revolutionary rods right here! And only $20 when new. Some of my rods used to display this change in rod blank design and construction: Top 3 rods shown below are low end Falcon rods made in USA at Oklahoma factory designed and built by Don Mook. These are true thin wall rods and basic entry level Falcon rods. Note they are thin wall on low end! Notice the thicker diameter of the blank. Moving up the made in USA Falcon rod line to mid-line Low Rider rods and now you can begin to see the blank diameter getting smaller as rod blank wall thickens up moving towards higher end rods! Exactly the opposite of the statement I am writing this comment about. The 6th rod down is a.....forgot how to use English Kantner double helix rod. It is very similar in size to the Falcon Low Riders above it. The 7th and 8th rods down are both LCI rods. One is an LCI brand rod while the other is an LCI blank Gary Loomis and Don Mook sold to Morgan McCain of All Star rods prior to him making his own rods like the Emerald Edition first thick wall rods to hit the market. The last 3 rods shown below, 2 are All Star Emerald Edition rods. The first true pencil rods ever made with thicker walls to avoid as many warranty claims as possible. We have businessman Morgan McCain to thank for this change, and Don Mook for doing it. Gary Loomis quickly followed suit as did everyone else in rod blank industry. All about the bottom line profits versus expenses. Shown below at top 3 thin wall Bucoo low end rods. 4th rod down, the new thicker wall rod. The 5th and 6th rods down below were made at the same time as the Emerald Edition above them showing the LCI blank sold to All Star is a thinner wall rod, and the low rider below it shows the move towards thicker wall in more expensive rods. Tossing in some more words on this subject.... above Dick Kantner mentions developing specific action in his rods while not getting the action he wanted in the butt end. He said you can't go back in and rearrange and re-engineer that. So what has happened since Dick Kantner died is that rod blank companies began taking a shortcut. They develop the rod tapers and actions they wanted but if the butt section does not have the action they wanted they simply added a second prepeg flag over top of the rod blank in the butt section to stiffen it up some. This is why we see rods today built this way appearing to be two different rods. Its because of how the fibers are angled in the prepeg. How they cross each other and at what angles. Trying to get different angles and crossing overlays in one prepeg just does not work. So they resorted to using 2 different ones bound together one over top the other. When I was working on my own spiral guide design, Don Morton contacted me about it. He was working on something at the time he called "tracking axis" of a rod blank. His work is still unpublished, but he sent me what he was working on at the time with engineering students at an Alabama university. Don Morton passed away a few days ago, so now I can share his unfinished work publicly as only a mention showing what he was working on in another thread on this forum. https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/270308-don-morton-a-legend-in-tackle-industry-passes/#comment-3223598 Sorry for the long comment. Just wanted to share some of my years of studying this subject. My rod choices to this day are dictated by these changes in rod blank construction and origins.

I think Pat nailed it, and I'd like to add one thing to all that successful froggin' info above...... and I'd be interested to hear other's thoughts on this as well. When using a frog I think our delayed reaction to setting the hook should be a tad bit longer. Maybe a 3 count after fish takes the frog off the surface and turns to head back down deeper with it. If one tries to set the hook immediately might pull the frog out of the fish mouth. But with a frog give the fish just a tad longer with it before setting the hook. Thoughts on this?

For the lighter lures check out the 71.

Joe I'm a gonna put it this way...... for me fishing is not always about catching. For tournament guys and gals catching is necessary to win. But for a lot of us fishing is a stress reliever. A get away from the hectic rat race and a way of relaxing into exercises we just enjoy doing. So for me using a frog is not considered a way to put the most fish into the boat. More of a quality fish method. I only pull out frogs at first light and last light. Never in between unless there is a really good topwater bite on. Frogs are what I pull out while heading back to the boat ramp as the sun is going down and light fading and I need a hail Mary fish. Frogs are what I pull out when my regular fare is no longer working on the fish. Frogs for me generally catch more quality fish than quantity. Since I fish for fun, frogs have made the difference between losing to a fishing buddy or winning the day in terms of number of fish caught, who caught the biggest bass, etc. I can tell you from personal experience I have trolled back to the ramp thinking I won for the day and then my buddy whips out the frog and starts catching them while my technique is no longer getting a bite and by time we get back to the boat ramp his frog takes the win for the day. One of my buddies caught 3 nice bass back to back on way to ramp and I could not get a bite to save my life- or the win. I lost to the frog! I think frogging is something you have to enjoy doing first and foremost, and second think of it as a quality fish catcher and not a quantity fish catcher- usually. I also think location is important to successful frogging. To me Florida is the place. Some high up mountain stream clear water no cover fast current place might not produce any fish. Its location, location, location as well as timing. High noon is not the best time around here. So I've learned first light and last light are when they come out around here. But to each their own. I will say a frogging rod is one of the few around the clock dedicated setups I have. All others change around, but not the froggin' rod! Another issue to frogs is we have to slow it down for them to work and just keep thinking there is a monster lurking below it waiting to pounce on it. Just give them the time- let it sit there- barely twitch it....... hard to do sometimes I know. Your waters there in Iowa just might not be the best location for frogs? I don't know. I've only been to Iowa fishing once and not thrilled with the water quality I was seeing there in SE Iowa. Everywhere I went the water was chocolate brown and fishing was not very good for me possibly because my Florida techniques just don't work well there. I'll take your frogs if you don't want them! 😉 Florida lily pads and frogs were made for each other!

Here in Florida for those of us who live on or near the coast our freshwater tackle is exposed to salt in the air that can be carried inland for miles. So one does not have to actually use it in saltwater to be affected by saltwater. That said, I treat all of my reels with corrosion X especially all the bearings. I never have any rust or corrosion issues and can use freshwater tackle in saltwater with no issues. The key is also regular maintenance and inspecting often enough to prevent any problems. And sometimes switching out bearings to full ceramic also helps. I sometimes even replace the pinion bearing in my baitcast reels just to prevent any rusting since it sits right next to the spool and my braid line brings in the water with each cast.

That's awesome SwampGirl! Congratulations on the new PB! And I think we can all see how spoiled you are to have that awesome lake sized pond all to yourself! 56 fish in one morning is an amazing number to catch! I can't imagine how many more you missed that could have taken it even higher. You put most of us to shame with how many bass you catch! (Hanging head in shame and bowing to the master!) I bet it is a lot of fun to have THAT much activity especially on a 48% day! Guess I'll have to go out and see if Florida will give me just 5 fish today. Be nice to catch just 6. But 56? Wow!

Does it have to be high end? I say this because I also love "high end" rods, but frogging is not a technique where I really care, or where it really matters to me if it is a high end rod because I am kind of abusive on my frogging rods in Florida's heavy cover. A "heavy/fast" broomstick is a heavy/fast broomstick in any brand really. Sensitivity not required. Strong hook setting and leverage are more important to me. I want to be able to yank on it if necessary to get it unsnagged or pull a bass out of that heavy cover, and not worry about breaking a $400 rod. So frogging is one of those techniques where I do dedicate a rod or rods to that technique that are used for nothing else. Presently the rod I have a frog tied onto is one I got in a used tackle deal cheap. Its a rod I normally would not have gone out to buy or even look at for this technique, but once I got it in a bundle deal and had it laying around looking for something to use it for frogging has become its perfect fit. Its a Daiwa AIRX701HFB. Its only a 7 footer but works very well for me. You can get these in longer models if needed. I have been really impressed with the backbone this rod has. And for a $50-$60 rod ya can't beat it for the price. And if I break it I can shrug my shoulders and move on without crying about it. Besides, I only paid $5 for it used like new, and I love it for froggin'. A perfect fit for me. But if you really want higher end frogging rod.... G. Loomis IMX-PRO 884C TWFR St. Croix Legend Xtreme Casting Rod Cashion ICON Series John Crews Frog Rod SPRO Bronzeye Frog Rod - King Daddy iROD Quercus Series Bobby's Perfect Frog Rod

The tackle industry has lost a true legend this week with the passing of Don Morton. A man who changed and reshaped fishing rod development for decades. Always breaking new ground. I am sure more about his life will be coming soon. I'll share some of my own experiences with Don soon. In my world there are only a few names in fishing rods that rise to the top, and Don Morton is one of them right up there with Gary Loomis, Don Mook, Morgan McCain, Bob Batson, Dick Kantner -and Don Morton. Don specialized in physical engineering analysis and design. He not only was an inspiration in the construction development of fishing rods throughout the industry for more than 60 plus years, but he was also instrumental in uncovering a fishing rod blank's unique properties, and worked tirelessly on how to get the most out of them. And this is what he was working on well into his late 80's since he no longer affected rod blank construction any longer, he now turned his talents onto getting the most out of them. He was working on fishing rod engineering right up to his passing. Even as an 86 year old man Don Morton was still writing, still researching and designing machines used to "read" a rod's characteristics to determine the most ideal direction to go in when building a custom fishing rod. At 86 years of age Don Morton was still working directly with engineering students at an Alabama university teaching them how to carry it on into the future. Don Morton was an amazing man with a true passion for fishing and a hidden giant within the tackle industry that numerous companies learned from him and carried his ideas into their own companies for improved fishing rod development. Many of us out here who buy fishing rods don't really realize the huge impact this man had on fishing rod development. He will be missed for sure. Rest in peace Don Morton! And thanks for all you have done for us! Obituary for Don Tryndel Morton Don Tryndel Morton, age 89, of Sardis City, Alabama, passed away on June 4, 2026. Born on May 10, 1937, in Boaz, Alabama, Don lived a life rooted in community, faith, and service to others. Don dedicated his career to education in Etowah County, where he touched the lives of countless students and teachers over many years. His passion for teaching extended well beyond the classroom, as he genuinely loved sharing knowledge and helping others grow. When he was not working, Don could often be found pursuing his love of fishing and designing fishing rods, hobbies that brought him great joy and connected him with friends and neighbors throughout the years. Sardis City was his lifelong home, and he cherished the deep friendships and lasting memories he built there. Those who knew him would attest that he was blessed with wonderful neighbors and friends who enriched his life as much as he enriched theirs. Don is survived by his beloved wife of 69 years, Carolyn Whitt Morton; his son, David Morton (Barbara); his daughter, Kim Rogers (Rusty); his grandchildren, Clay Morton (Natalie), Katie Bone (Landon), Kaci Maroney, Rachel Rogers, and Russ Rogers; his great-grandchildren; Tybee Morton, Amelia Morton, Tatum Morton, May Morton, Whitt Bone, Landry Bone, Koti Patton, and Rhyker Morton; his brothers, Simeon Morton (Cathy), Farris Morton (Nancy); and his sister, Agatha Hall (Bill). He is preceded in death by his parents; Autry & Evelyn Morton and great-grandson; Joshua Bone. A faithful member of Sardis Baptist Church for 82 years, Don's life was guided by his deep and abiding devotion to the Lord. His church family was a cornerstone of his life, and he now rests in the eternal peace of his Savior. Visitation will be held at Etowah Memorial Chapel on Monday, June 8, 2026, from 5:00 to 7:00 PM. A funeral service will take place on Tuesday, June 9, 2026 at Sardis Baptist Church at 11:00 AM, with burial to follow at Sardis Baptist Church Cemetery. Bro. Mike Goforth, Bro. Welton Brooke and Stan Clemons will be officiating. Pallbearers will be John Ross, Cason Morton, Evan Johnson, Jake Ross, Shannon Hall and Mike Maroney, Honorary Pallbearers will be W.M. Blackwell, Dale Johnson, Milo Metcalf, Jim Ross, Eddie Patterson, and Bob Wright. The family would like to thank Shepherd's Cove Hospice for their compassionate care. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Shepherd’s Cove Hospice Care or Sardis Baptist Church. Arrangements are entrusted to Etowah Memorial Chapel.

I just texted a buddy of mine in that area who fishes the bay all the time for large stripers. Here's what he said: "Depends on the time of the year. Blue and white sassy shad, top water plug, or cut up soft crabs bottom fishing. But this time of the year white or green parachute buck tail with same color sassy shad." Good luck! Let us know how it goes- and photos or it didn't happen! 😉

Can't beat this one! Multi-purpose! Here's mine! (kidding of course!) Just gotta be a great side arm caster.

I was going to say North Fork or Airrus or Denali until I read the part about limping away from gators! In that case, a Shakespeare Ugly Stik because one can use it to distract pursuing gators. Simply turn it around and offer the gator the reel end of the rod dragging behind the escaping person. The gator will turn its attention on the movement at ground level and snap at it first. Then once chomped on by a gator, since Ugly Stiks are indestructible. The gator will leave it close by to retrieve later on- sometimes. Problem solved! Not only will it catch fish, but gators can't break it, and its cheap gator protection diversion bait! And one won't be crying over a gator chomping down on a $400 Loomis rod either! 😉

I fish it as long as they are biting. No bites. Not staying. But to be honest I rarely use an anchor. I am the manual spot lock on my trolling motor. A good question for this thread would be more like who likes to stay in one spot, and who likes to constantly move around? I have fishing buddies who will stay in one spot all day long. Needless to say it but we have to be in different boats! It is extremely frustrating to fish with someone who wants to stay in one spot all day long- even when not getting any bites. I am one of those who constantly is on the move. I rarely stay in one spot unless the bite is on right there, then I will stay around until the bite is gone or moves elsewhere. So for me it is not a set time frame measured by a clock. It is all controlled by the fish more or less.

Sounds like my 12 year old son's fish tales! 😁 He hooks into a dink and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger at each retelling. By the time he gets home to tell his mom its now 6 pounds! Until you get to weigh it on camera I'm with Kayak Koz on this one. I don't believe big fish stories any more. Down here in the *** we hear a LOT of big fish stories on a daily basis. I'm at the point where I tell my boys photos or it did not happen. The problem us dads have down here is our kids are always trying to top dad's PB. And so there is a lot talk from the kids- neighborhood kids too- who are all telling these tales of whoppers as each of them tries to top out dad's PB's. Its a really funny situation for sure. But I tell ya some of the kids are really catching some big fish. One of his buddies caught a 9 pound bass weighed out and photographed so that one was real. Another buddy landed a 39" snook recently also weighed, measured and photographed. But for the rest of them..... Photos or it did not happen! 😉

For me it was always about where I was in relationship to the water. For years I used the standard Denny Brauer designed Team Daiwa flipping rod that is 7'6". If I am too close to the water I could not dip the rod tip down low enough and it went into the water. So I needed to be physically higher up off the water. And since the boat is not changing anytime soon something else had to give, and that was the rod length. I am now using a 6'11" rod and find it easier to maneuver, and now I don't have to be higher up off the water. Problem solved for me. I'm curious if maybe you are having a similar issue?

Gotta love it! A question I can't answer without breaking a rule! 😇 Sooooooo........ staying on the right side of the rules!

Glued down carpet will always be a problem because it holds water and dirt. I simply made two changes.... 1) is to never glue carpet down. All the carpet in my boat now is held in place with velcro so I can remove it for cleaning and drying out the boat. And 2) I now use outdoor putt putt golf course carpet which is designed differently. It comes with a foam backing that makes standing on deck more comfortable. And as for non-slip paint is a simple thing of buying the grit size you want and mixing it into the paint so when it dries you will have a non-slip surface. Home Depot sells various paint additives for similar results.

California routinely stocks thousands of catchable rainbow trout into lakes that also contain aggressive bass populations. This overlap acts as a natural feeding cycle, fueling the growth of massive largemouth and striped bass. The intentional introduction of large "swimbaits" by anglers to mimic these stocked trout revolutionized bass fishing in California." Bass fishermen have long noted that in California the state regularly dumps fingerling trout into reservoirs with genetically modified bass waiting to feed on them. Quite often as the trucks are opening up their valves to dump those trout into various waters the bass are trained to it and arrive and start their feeding frenzy as the trout are being dumped into a reservoir sometimes. The bass out there are trained repetitively to slam fingerling trout. And so many bass fisherman duplicate this by using trout swimbaits. Good luck!

You are right of course. There are a lot of shade tree reel techs out there with zero factory training and who never worked in warranty repair shops doing some bad work on reels no doubt about it. The problem with reels is there simply is not enough profit from them to make it worthwhile which might be in part behind this situation. Reels can consume too much time in labor, and just not enough income for it. Well the closing of the shop is now affecting how I order parts. The shop is no longer ordering parts as they begin to close down. So for the first time in 40 years I now have to locate Penn parts outside of the warranty repair facility. And I am already not too happy about the price increases. I have gotten spoiled paying warranty contract cost all these years and now the markups are starting to hit having to go outside of that. A Penn bail assembly directly from Penn is $9. From an online website they want $18.34 for the same part. So today I am going around Penn's new AI email responses which fails to some degree because I put the reel's model number into the email request for parts and their AI sent me an email asking me for the model # to ensure part compatibility. I already did that. I wonder why AI missed it? Or, is their AI just playing games? Either way I am not going round and round with AI. So lesson learned. No more emailing Penn. Phone calls only to real humans. When working at the shop I never had to do the parts ordering. And I begin to really appreciate even more what I am now losing. All good things come to an end I suppose. But on a brighter note, after more than a year of searching I have finally located and purchased for $30 the exact same reel that Shaw Grigsby was using in his 1990-1991 era clearwater sight fishing for bass video. I did not realize how rare they are now which made finding one in good shape difficult and took some time. So I am looking forward to overhauling it and putting it to work soon. At the time Shaw Gigsby made his video on the Withlacoochee River, he was under sponsor contract with Zebco the parent company to Quantum. And he had just been given some new reels for that sponsorship which he used in the video. It appears that the reels he used in the video had graphics on them that were different than production models going to the public. They are the same reels, but slightly different graphics from what I can tell. So I am looking forward to giving this one a try. In the video Shaw does some back reeling on large fish. A lot of spinning reels made today have deleted the AR switch and many spinning reels made today can no longer back reel. This one can. And will be a nice addition to my vintage reel collection. It is the exact same model Shaw Grigsby used under contract. The way Shaw Grigsby is fishing here is right up my alley. I also target Florida's central ridgeline running north/South through the center of the state which is where most of Florida's springs are located. So clean clear water surges out of the ground in numerous places and runs downhill away from those areas. Meaning pollution is not sourced in those areas and the clear waters move through populated areas like Orlando and carries their sewage and run off pollution away towards Kissimmee river and right on down into Lake Okeechobee where it is now 6 times to toxic for humans. I aim for the springs and the cleanest clearest waters in the state same as Shaw Grigsby does here. And the nice thing about our springs is we can still drink the water right out of the ground and swim and really enjoy what Florida has to offer, but we have to stay close to our springs for the high quality of environment we seek. Shaw lives in Gainesville area, and he does the same thing as shown here in this classic bass fishing video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLO-8gJJ80Y

I agree. Its not an issue- even in clear water because the bass do not fear fishing line. I fish a lot of crystal clear spring fed rivers and lakes. And I use straight braid only. I have not used clear line in decades. No reason to. And I sometimes use hi-vis line in orange, blue, and yellow colors. I have watched numerous times as baby bass barely 6 inches long and even 12 inch bass swim right up to my braid line floating on surface or just under it and they are pecking at it to see if they can eat it. Absolutely ZERO fear of my hi-vis braid line. So these days I don't worry about it, and try to darken some line because of an idea or belief that bass are afraid of line. Bass taught me they are not. But to each their own. Give the hi-vis straight brand a chance as is, and see if it is an issue.