fishwizzard

Hah, yeah, I made my peace with "tackle testing" last year. I try to buy used whenever I can so when I go to sell I don't loose a lot of money on it.

I have a '16 GLX 783 and aside from two tiny complaints (butt is like 1-2" too long and the reel seat is a bit funky) it has been an amazing rod. It casts well across it's full range and has far more power then it seems like. Sensitivity is outstanding as well.

it's not "$400 for one rod". It is $400 for two rods, the first (broken one) and the second new one.

I knew I was missing out. My friends and I used to do a Sunday morning breakfast party every month or so. I would make a huge breakfast and we would listen to bluegrass and drink a little whisky. Apples fried up a little bacon grease never failed to impress.

Where are you from? My West Virginian grandmother made fried apples for breakfast all the time but whenever I tell people in MD about they look at me like I’m some sort of lunatic. There’s a fancy-pants farmers market to my wife likes to go to and there’s an orchard in there that has the most absurd varity of apples I’ve ever seen, some of them look like a lumpy green potatoes covered in warts and I swear they’re about 1.50 to 2 bucks each. She sold us a huge bag of assorted apples and the pies my wife made out of them were the best I have had my entire life. Sweet and tart at the same time, some of the apples stayed solid and crisp and some cooked down into a syrup. I guess I’m an apple-hipster now but there’s no way I’m going back to Granny Smiths. The same orchard also makes hard cider and it’s also pretty incredible, it’s made in the sour style and every sip alternates between incredible apple flavor and astringent vinegar, but in the best way possible.

I use a M/XF for all of those lures other then a lipless crank.

As a sort of accessory question, has anyone here used their homeowners/renters insurance to make a claim on fishing gear?

This might be a dumb question as I know nothing of live wells, but couldn’t you just fill yours up with ice and keep a dead snakehead in it that way?

I fish 6” Robos for most all of my dropshotting. I t-rig them when I am casting and dragging and wacky rig them when I am casting to targets and working them in place.

https://www.mcmaster.com/ This is the only paper catalog I want any more. They are really hard to get now, I think you need to spend around 5 figures a year with them to be on the list. My old boss would sooner let you date his daughter then let you out of his direct line of site with that catalog. I think I learned more from reading it at lunch then I did during my last year of highschool.

I fish right up until the water freezes, but my winter catching has been awful the last few years. So this year, as soon as it gets cold enough that I want gloves, I am gonna throw a Hudd 68 Special and nothing else. If I am only going to only catch a handful of bass all winter I might as well go for some big ones!

All there are the same "Frog" color. The white package ones seem to be the same shape, I will pop one out and weigh them in a bit. The black packaging ones are totally different, if they work well, great, if they don't, then they are going in the pickerel pile. The website still shows the original color scheme.

Yea, I throw my trout lures on a UL casting combo and was only using the 4lb mono due to cost. I still blow it up often enough that I have to replace the line a few times each winter. I had some 8lb braid left over and am now running that to a 6lb mono leader. The casting distance is great but we shall see if my thumb is up to it. Also all the Nano Poppers that I ordered arrived. There are three distinct "styles" in the dozen or so I bought, I hope some of them run like the Prodigal Popper.

I use fuji keepers on most all my rods, even ones that come with hook keepers. I fish a lot of t-rigged plastics and hate having to pop the hook point out every time I want move from spot to spot, so I just snap the juji keeper shut over the line and crank the handle until the lure is semi-tight. It holds very well but if the line does get snagged as I am hiking around it will pop free easily and not put any pressure on the rod tip.

I keep meaning to try the double fluke rig but never think of it when I am anywhere near a tackle shop to buy swivels. I am going to take advantage of the warm weather and hit either Centential or St Mary's Lake this morning. I am still shaken from the sextuplet-skunking and I want to grind some lures on a riprap dam, which are one of my general confidence spots.

Finally. It took six days of the skunk but I have managed to catch a bass again. This morning I decided to ignore conventional wisdom and spend 3 hours slowly dragging a jig around to no effect. Just as I was about to put the jig rod away and go get my DS rod to slowly drag that around the wind came up and I tied on a spinnerbait. Third cast this guy grabbed it like 3' into the retrieve.

It came back! Back at the same pond today and there it was floating in a pile of wind-blown debris. The line broke not at the knot, but like a foot up, which gives me a lot less confidence in my 4lb mono. Also, one of the treble points is broken off. The bass only had that one point in him, so I guess he managed to break the point off?

I have both as well and would give the nod to the FMJ for bottom contact use. However, old model GLXs can be found for very good prices on eaby, I have built up a nice little kayak arsenal full of old-model IMX and GLX rods for not a ton of money.

When did the Destroyers get a reputation for breaking? I know some of the old models had a stinger tip and they are fragile, but I never read much about general durability issues.

Interesting. Like I said, my current rod has been working well with treble hooked rods and I am starting to think that I should look harder at the XX Leviathan. What I don't want is a rod that is too close to the Hyuga, it's upper limit seems to be around 2.5oz.

I have never heard anything about them, but this pic from TW does not make me confident about the quality of the cork.

My current rod, the Hyuga, is Mod action and with 55lb braid it does give pretty good hooksets, but like I said, it's a little weak and I feel it in my shoulder if I fish the 68 Special for more then an hour or three. Your point about going heavier is what has me looking at the XX Levithian. That and a strong preference for cork handles. I am leaning towards the iRod Jr. biased on now much I like the Fred's. I assume I can find it somewhere on BF for 20% off.

Their Tourment Worm is great. It is soft, durable, and super cheap. They are my favorite t-rig worm by far.

Hi, I have had enough success with my "big baits in small water" project this season that I want to really devote myself to them this winter. Specifically I want to crawl a 68 Special through every sqft of some of my local ponds and see if I can find some bigger bass. Right now the rod I am using, a MB Hyuga 72h, is working ok, but I think I want something more powerful and a bit longer for a dedicated rod. The new rod will also be used for the BBZ 50 Rat in warmer months as the Hyuga is a bit light for that as well so accurate casting is tough. The two options I am looking at the hardest are the two in the title. I have found some good info on both of them but I am still undecided. I have an iRod "Fred's" and really like it, so I think the Swim JR would be a good choice, but I have always wanted to try a Dobyns' and the Fury 795sb seems like a great rod for my uses as well. I am going to put a Millionaire cv-z 253a on the rod and likely use 25lb Armilo Defier as my line. The wildcard rod is a MB XX Leviathan, but that will be twice the price and don't know if I will really need that much extra power. I would love any insight ffrom anyone who has used these rods with Hudds 68's or similar lures.

The best way I can describe how to use a baitcaster is to liken it to shooting pool. In both you almost never want to put all your strength behind it, they are both all about smooth and controlled force and in both cases you almost always want to err on the side of less force. When shooting pool in a crowded bar full of drunk rednecks you *do not* want that ball to leave the table and hit someone, bring that same level of caution to casting a baitcaster.