fishwizzard

Z-man used to sell the TRDTubes in pretty small bags, I keep them and reused them to carry a few Neds before I thought of trying the fly box. I would give the ziplocks a try, but only with a few lures, I am sure there are plastic composition difference between brands/styles so you might get unlucky.

I keep a running wish list at every site I can and use that to reference when I am trying to get an order up to free shipping. The last two years I have used the various BF sales to stock up on un-sexy stuff like hook covers, line, weights, and other non-lure consumables. It isn't the most exciting package to open, but it is nice to lay in a supply of that kind of stuff.

They have warped every box I have put them in, given a long enough timespan. It does not seem to hurt the lures, but I only put them into the planos once they have been used a bit. Right now my main Ned box is a plano knockoff I got at Home Depot. It is not as thick and the latch isn't as good, but it was $2, so if I have to replace it in a year it's no big deal. I have also kept the z-mans in ziplock bags and there seems to be no change in the lures. My current strategy to store Ned rigs are small plastic fly boxes with a foam insert. I have had them in there for about 4-5 months now with no warping. I throw a z-rust tab in there for good measure and the hooks have not rusted either. I bought two the the cheapest ones I could find on ebay, if it works out I am going to look for a nicer one with a better latch.

I picked up a Daiwa BG 2000 a month or so ago and really like it so far. I do not have much time on the water with it, but I used to have a pair of Lew's Pro Speed Spins and the BG feels far far smoother and more solid than those reels.

Will do, thanks! I am trying to work towards this, but am still hunting for my "universal finesse line", so I have a bunch of different lines on different spools and have lost track of what is on some of them.

This is my winter go-to as well. I use the winter to scout new spots when the thorns and ticks are less of an issue.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrQAtakEbQa-YZ6zmESV92w Enjoy Fishing Channel. It is all in japanese and focuses more on BFS trout fishing, but the videos are beautifully shot and the guy is a casting wizard.

My local waters are frozen up, so it is time to think about cleaning, organizing, and maintaining my gear. I have enough reels now that I cannot easily remember the details of each, like line, spools, bearing brand and type, upgraded parts, clean and service intervals, that sort of thing. So I wanted to whip up a spreadsheet that I can track all this stuff on. I started fussing around building one this morning, but wondered if anyone else did something similar and was willing to share their template.

Yea, the NRX line having a certain jena se quois seems to be a very common thought. It's hard not go give credence to such an overwhelmingly similar description from so many people. I have two more "urgent" rods I need to pick up, so the NRX fund is not getting a lot of contributions these days and I feel like the Orochi XX relaunch is going to kill my overall fun-fund for quite some time.

This is for real. I own some pretty high end hiking clothing that I picked up for 50-70% off. If you don't have strong feelings about color, hiking-deal sites can be amazing. I also own some very nice, but ill-fitting sunglasses acquired the same way, so for some stuff it's a good idea to make sure you have a good sense of how a specific brand runs on sizings before buying from a no-returns site.

I believe you are correct and will give it ago, starting with less expensive hard baits, this spring. Thanks for the insight.

Hah, I did more or less the same thing. I wanted heavier rod and was like "what the heck, I will spring for an IMX just to see if it's really better the the rods I have now". Then from there it just progressed and progressed. I am currently saving up for an NRX JWR so I can see what all the fuss is about. If there was a place that would rent out high-end rods by the week I thinK I wouldn't own more than a small handful of combos, so curiosity plays a huge role for why I keep buying gear. I am also dying to try a solid tipped rod, but don't want to buy one blind. But I know at some point I am gonna have one more beer with dinner and click that button, just so I can see what they are like.

Hah, man, in my childhood (ok, some of my adulthood too) of throwing rocks into iced over water, I don't think I have ever seen it over an inch or two here.

I helped my sister pick out a casting rod and reel for my nephews xmas present. He ended up with a G. Loomis E6X 783C MBR and a Daiwa Tatula SV TWS 6.3:1. It came in right at $300 during BF sales, it will be around $400 at msrp, but with some hunting you can find them both for less. I went with a shorter loomis as he is 13 and bikes to his fishing spots, so a shorter rod with a decent warranty seemed like a good idea. I have a loomis rod with a MBR taper and find it to be quite universal within it's weight range and he was able to cast my SV reels without too much issue, so I thought an SV reel would be a good starting point as well.

I tried the 14lb, or whatever the thinnest one offered was. It was so soft and limp I had trouble gripping it enough to tie good knots. It did cast a mile, but any amount of wind would send the line all over.

How thick does ice need to be for it to be safe to fish on? I grew up in the midalantic and as a kid "DO NOT GO ONTO ICE FOR ANY REASON" was drilled into my head so often that ice fishing still sounds so crazy to me.

Yea, I am not trying to cast them nearly that far. Right now I just fish them from the bank, so I am not trying to cast them beyond a "trashcan lid" level of accuracy, which is not close to 30y at this point. On the longest controlled cast I can make, I will have a little less than half of the line left on a 1016 spool. I held a 200 size round reel the other day and even that is larger then I would want to deal with.

Thanks, that gives me a lot to think about. I never can considered the line wrapping a lure. The line did get worse once once it got below 40f here and I am using a 34mm 1016 spool, so just an average bass spool. If Armilo Defier has less memory then other mono, I will stick with it and try to make it work.

As others have said, most any "close enough" rod will do for the ned. I would go out and get your hands on as many as you can and pick one based on comfort/ergonomics.

Yep, this is why nothing about fishing, other then boats, seems excessively expensive to me.

I prefer amber/yellow tint, but my main want is high-contrast and max light transmission. The old Costa yellow lenses were perfect, but I never managed to find a pair that fit me well before they disappeared.

I tired the 25lb DA this fall and found it to be super stiff and weary, to the point where coils would form in slack line when floating on the water. Is this unusual or just how heavy line behaves? I have been using the 12lb DA and found it to be really soft and manageable, but the 25lb is killing me. I am trying to resist the urge to give 60lb braid a try, the most expensive swimbait I own is around thirty five bucks, so it will not be the most expensive lesson I had to learn for myself

That is really odd, I have seen pictures of doubles before but never on a lure that tiny, it seems incredible that they both managed to get a hook. I guess I have to buy a bladebait now.

My nephew swears by gummy bears as panfish bait. He says they get as many hits as powerbait and stay on the hook far longer. His pro move is to bite the heads off to give a small profile bait.

Hah, honestly I have never managed to get my layering game right enough that I am not covered in sweat by the time I get my yak squared away and the drysuit off.