blckshirt98

I used to use a double-uni to tie my braid to fluoro but even though it's just one point of failure it was oftentimes THE point of failure. It's probably just me burning the line but I got tired of it so I started using a swivel. I use the smallest size SPRO power swivel and have never had a swivel fail on me. I use a palomar knot to both the braid and fluoro and I don't think I've ever had a knot fail at either point - hooks will bend/break/break-free before the connection fails. It does have the limitation where you can't have a super long leader where the swivel will be going through the guides but to be honest I've never needed a leader that long.

Megabass Orochi Swingfire - KVD 1.5 size squarebills. I've used it for the 1.0 and 2.5 sizes but the 1.5 is really the sweet spot. Phenix X3 Glass - KVD 2.5 size squarebills. I also use it for heavier crankbaits/chatterbaits, and I've used it for 1.5 size baits in a pinch, but the 2.5 and above is where I like this rod the best. If I had to only pick one I would get the Phenix X3, because I can throw 1.0 and 1.5 squarebills on a spinning rod. The Orochi was more of a luxury buy, but d**n, it is a nice freaking rod to fish.

Ok the first response wasn't as quality as you might have hoped. Something didn't feel right with the distances and I was totally thrown off by the scale of the zoom on the map. Below is actually the correct fishable area - So that orange section is there you can park to fish, everything else unmarked is gated off/private. I knew something was off when that first purple circle I drew wasn't near wide open water where boats were going in and out. Please like this post or post a reply so I know you read this bro, I don't want to see you go out this weekend and think "that crackhead can't read a map" lol, sorry man, but yeah, the orange section you're good, and that first stretch of road from the green circle to about 2/3 until the first turn is where most of the spots to park on.

Green circle and purple circle are where I found the most parking. Green circle though is probably the most popular place on the tract where people park because the shore area by the bridge is pretty open for bait fishing (I'm guessing lots of striper fishermen). Shoreline around purple circle is rocky, but that's also where you'll find some docks to fish. Just north of the purple circle there's a dock you can fish off of. Lots of hyacinth patches and I have to warn you that the water there is chock full of Brazilian waterweed. So topwater or whatever weedless presentations you have if you go. This next part is going to sound like a sales pitch but it's seriously the tackle-kid-in-a-tackle-store highlight of the year for me where I can geek out on fishing - This Saturday you should come down to Coyote Bait and Tackle in Morgan Hill for their annual mega sale. Pretty much 15-20% off everything with no sales tax on Saturday, including some really nice freebies (like buy any Powell rod get a free Diesel rod), and vendor reps will be there as well. Check their posts on Facebook for the past month to see some of the deals announced that wasn't on the original announcement, and check out the sale flyer. The owner from Black Dog Baits(Jeremy) had a table last year, and the owner from Phenix Rods(Vince) was there as well, along with some of the local area pros like the Borofkas and Elrite. Just a good time with a bunch of fishing geeks and the best store staff around to hang out and talk fishing.

The Google Earth overhead map is crazy old, check Google Street View for a more up to date picture - https://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=en&pb=!1s0x80900109fd8b9493%3A0x7d656290fef79aad!2m19!2m2!1i80!2i80!3m1!2i20!16m13!1b1!2m2!1m1!1e1!2m2!1m1!1e3!2m2!1m1!1e5!2m2!1m1!1e4!3m1!7e115!4shttp%3A%2F%2Fhollandriverside.com%2Fphotos%2F!5sholland riverside marina - Google Search&imagekey=!1e2!2sIgXwphwzWQVMfX6e07PlDg&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjAtffFx_zSAhUJ62MKHX4VDMYQoioIajAK When you drive down Delta Road the green circle is where you'll cross a bridge. You won't be able to make a left turn because it's blocked by a gate but the road will go counterclockwise almost all the way around until you hit another gate at the purple circle. Red has no car access but I have walked past the gate, though not sure if I was trespassing (didn't stay long, didn't find any interesting fishing spots). The orange line is all 2-lane paved road (there's a small marina/launch ramp(Holland Riverside Marina) near purple circle) and sides of the orange line has places to park, though most are on the southern section of the road. The east and north part of the road has some houseboat residential areas and no place to park. Do NOT try to create your own parking spot in the grass on the side of the road even if you have a 4x4 AWD truck. It's all sand/silt - I once saw a Tacoma 4x4 bury itself up to it's exhaust pipe when the driver parked in the grass and kept burying himself deeper and deeper trying to get out, and ended up having to call a tow truck to winch the truck out. Parking is completely free you'll see cars all along the side of the road starting early morning. As for launching I'm not familiar about boat launching/inspection rules but in California I always assume there are restrictions because of the quagga/zebra mussel deal. You might want to call the marina there for kayak launch questions.

Started getting the Trokar hooks from DSG the other day and while they were dirt cheap they really need to work on their packing/shipping efficiency. I got 9 different packages for one order, 6 of those were cardboard boxes around 8x6x4 in size, and 4 of those boxes only had one pack of hooks in them. I can only assume they all ship from different distribution centers nationwide but man, they could have put them all in a Pop Tart box and sent it all out at once. The second order of Trokar hooks I placed has shipped and those too are all coming in 9 separate packages, mostly a single pack of hooks in each shipment.

Does every Wal Mart have a clearance aisle? And is this clearance aisle near the fishing section or is it in another part of the store with a bunch of other clearance stuff like holiday stuff?

Is this in-store or online? I know online they were marked down for a while but the 300's are no longer on the website. For $144 I'd wipe the store out and flip them or trade them for something else you were looking for!

S&H Outdoors is having a sale today only - select Aaron Martin Enigma rods, Daiwa Ballistic casting rods, and Halo Inshore rods are 1/2 off. Their website seems to be not responding right now but you can find their store number through their Facebook page.

I use 20lb Sniper on a Phenix X3 glass rod, works well for me!

I'm surprised at the struggles some of the pros (Chris Lane!) are having early this year! Still a lot of fishing to be done still but I'm already wondering about who might get bumped out next year.

If Zona is reading this, please bring back the chat function on the Bassmaster Live broadcasts! It had a good/helpful chat crowd that would catch people up on things they might have missed or not understood during the broadcast.

If you keep your eyes open you can usually find the expensive baits on sale/clearance at some point in the year, it's just a matter of letting the bait monkey talk you into buying it at the time as soon as you see it on sale even if it's not something you're planning on using right away. I have very few baits that I paid full retail for, and the full retail was from usually supporting a local tackle shop. Cabela's is good about clearing out items if you check often, local tackle shops usually have a clearance section (or, can sadly have a closing shop liquidation), other online stores clearing out baits like when Bass Tackle Depot shut down or TW's Christmas sale, you just kind of have to have one ear dialed into newsletters/forums/social media posts to find the deals and be one of the first to get dibs before it all gets sold.

Hooksets are free, don't be shy about giving the rod a yank if you feel anything weird! The big fish are the ones that at times won't kick their tail and attack the bait, they'll just kind of slowly swim up to it and suck the bait into their mouth - you'll never "feel a bite" but when you lift your rod it'll feel heavy like you snagged something underwater. There's been times when I never felt a bite and thought I got hung up on something, given the rod a couple of yanks to try to free the hook, then the line just started to swim away. Also if you feel a bite, set the hook, because if you feel a bite and wait for a second bite, the second bite is usually the fish spitting your bait out.

Here in NorCal, pretty much nothing is on sale. A couple of Storm baits were $1 each but long gone. Everything else looks like it's full retail still.

I have two (older model) Sojourn ULs that I use for trout fishing and they've worked well for me without any issues. I do set the drag fairly light though (using 2# mono) so I've never really tested the strength of the rod.

As a shore guy there are a few snug spots I've come across where a 5'6" rod would have come in handy. From a boat maybe other options would be better depending on what you're throwing, but as long as the rod is in working order it can still catch anything.

Even if you don't have high temps, UV rays will do damage over time if any of your gear is exposed. I keep a old sweatshirt in my car and after a few months the side exposed to the UV is faded. Anything plastic in particular will become brittle.

No worries man. Keitech USA has been posting up teasers on their Facebook page for the past couple of months, I think the release date is going to be around April or May from what people are saying in comments. Here's a post from Jan 15 2017 where they show the bait being fished, along with Keitech's comments on swimbait hooks to use. Bass Resource is directly blocking the FB link, if it's blocking the tinyurl just go to Keitech USA's page on Facebook and look for their Jan 15 post. http://***/kvzogv3 Search Facebook for "7.8 swing impact" and you'll see some pictures come up, and Keitech France even has a video from Aug 2016 showing it swimming in a tank (oh man it looks good).

In a pinch if you want something waterproof that you won't need often, Frog Toggs. I also saw an ad on a sidebar for Huk Packable Raingear - $99 for the jacket or the pants - https://www.hukgear.com/products/huk-packable-rain-jacket?variant=32368141070 https://www.hukgear.com/products/huk-packable-rain-pant?variant=32976343374

Just another piece of tackle to add to my hoard that I'll probably never use! If anything maybe I'll use it on one of the new 7.8" FAT Swing Impacts and chuck it in the ocean next time I'm in SoCal.

One thing I've done that's worked is after tying the braid, using those little sticky tabs that PowerPro includes with their line - I'll use three of those and fasten down the line from the arbor loop to the spool, seems to do the trick.

Ok when using electrical tape - do you just tape it around the spool then tie your braid around it like normal, or do you tie your braid around the spool and use the tape to actually tape down the knot end of the braid to the spool? I thought the tape would provide the friction needed to hold the braid in place and when I spooled it up I got freespooling and had to remove all the braid and start over again (with mono backing as normal).

For the Trokar hooks, it looks like DSG might be trickling in inventory or people are returning/cancelling orders - just scored 3 packs of size 1 dropshot hooks and 3 packs of size 9/0 weighted swimbait hooks, neither of which were there yesterday.

None of the big box stores around me have the KVD 1.0-2.5 size rattling squarebills, but they do have rattling dive-lip crankbaits (Pro Series). I think the silent Pro Series crankbaits might be a BPS exclusive too.