fishwizzard

They are good for sinkers, but I have been unimpressed with the hooks they use.

Oh, nice, I have not seen those before. They are cheaper then the ones I like but the keeper looks just as good.

PVC will bend a great deal before it snaps and an extreme bend will look like that pic. At one of my old jobs we had a truck driver who was not the best at backing into the admittedly tight bay door. We rigged up some shc40 pvc pipe "bumpers" to help him, but the dude would still back into them from time to time.

I have settled into two hooks, I tried about a half dozen others but these two were the best of the lot. For t-rigging, I use the Gamakatsu Finesse Heavy Cover Hook 1/0. They are stupid expensive but they will let a roboworm last 5-6 fish and give really solid hooksets. For nose hooking/wacky rigging, I use the Gamakatsu Aaron Martens TGW Drop Shot Hook in #1. They are sharp as hell and even with the barb crimped down, they really hold fish as well. I don't usually even need to set with them, the bass usually get hooked inside the mouth and I have only ever had a small handfull of bass come off.

Sent you a PM.

Yea, I have been delaying getting my yak out until I can safely ditch the drysuit, but the lure of pickerel is getting stronger.

I have one of those little guys and I'm running a pretty enormous hook on it, I want to say it's like a 1/0 or 2\0. It snags on everything but I don't think I have ever missed a fish on it, but I only have maybe half dozen bass on it. I don't even remember that I have it most of time so I never throw it, but it seems like it fills the "small and heavy" niche pretty well.

I picked mine up partially based on your enthusiasm for it as a jerkbait rod. I'm really digging it as a shallow-water tube and finesse jig rod as well, it's way more sensitive than I was expecting it to be. I would love a Light power casting rod with it's action.

How muddy is everything? I am out of town until Wednesday, but have all day Thursday free to fish.

I bought into the fast real craze and now I sort of regret it and I started buying more middle of the road ed reels. It's not really a make or break thing, but I wish I had gone slower for a few of them.

Yes, with an ultra-light rod and a DIY spool I have no doubt that any problem is me, not the gear. I am really really into throwing inline spinners on UL casting gear. Once you get it dailed in a little flick of the wrist will shoot the lure out like a lazer and if you like living dangerously, you can bomb them out there.

You should check out one of the Kuying Teton UL casting rods. They really are great for the price and with a PX68 w/ DIY loaded with 4lb mono it will cast a 1/16 inline pretty well and launch a 1/8 one.

It's likely that they have a very low bandwidth cap on linked photos. I suspect that picture will be gone once the page is viewed by more people.

I do at times feel like there's some defect in my character that is keeping me from loving the 721. I've never read a single word against it, but for some reason it just doesn't do it for me. I think if it had just a little bit faster taper I would like it more.

I am going to need to catch a ton of bass on the S-Waver before I take the plunge on a more expensive glide.

I agree, but wanted to point out that I feel that 2oz upper limit seems like a pretty hard one on this rod, so I wanted to let the OP know that, in my opinion, there's not a lot of "room to grow".

I have one of these and liked it but for the long handle. It will throw a 1/2oz frog a mile and will throw a 68 Hudd/S-Waver reasonably well, but the big BBZ Rat felt like too much. I have replaced it with a MB Hyuga 72H as I am more intrested in swimbaits rather then frogs, though the internet has given me hope that it will be ok for them. The Fred's MS has been demoted to "light inshore" duties as it will throw a 1oz jig further then I think I can set a hook.

I have a Loomis 721 and honeslty am not in love with it. While it will cast a 3/16 (total weight) Ned rig, it's not that great at it and I dont like it at all for lighter stuff. If you are throwing a 1/8-3/16 jighead plus a tube then it should handle it fine, the rod's sweet spot seems to be around 5/16 to 3/8oz. I had picked it up for poppers, jerks, and tubes but I am not loving it for any of those lures. It seems much better for small spinnerbaits and little cranks. I just picked up a St Croix Avid 6'2" M/XF to replace it with. I am liking the Avid more for the poppers/jerks/tubes, but I have yet to give the rods a proper side-by-side test.

That's why I carry a single tallboy in my kayak. Some days I drink it to celebrate, some days I drink it to morn.

Hah, that was the first one I was going to mention. There is a newer one down south, called Texas 202, that is pretty great. He even makes boudin, which I have never found in MD before. Edit: Forgot to mention, Andy Neslon's is maybe 10-15min from Angler's Express, which is the only actually bass fishing store I have found around here. Both are also maybe 10-15 min from nice, if pressured, bank spots on the reservoir. One can make a nice little day of it, once the daylight lasts long enough to fish past rush-hour.

I love bbq and got pretty good at pulled pork. It's one of my favorite foods to make when we have parties as good pork is hard to find up here, so it is always a huge hit and I make my rub in huge batches, so it's a pretty simple way to feed a ton of people. I have started cutting my butts up into 4-5lb chunks to get more bark, which imho is the best part. I have found that you need to get a real fatty cut to make it work and not get too dry, but when it works I will put it up against anything I have gotten at a restaurant.

What are those things?

It's a newer one called "Drew's Craw". I have not even fished it yet, but it is going to replace The Deal/Mudminnow as my "Natural" color. I cannot resist chartreuse/copper flake. Z-Man and Roboworm are neck and neck with colors that make me buy them.

I have not had a lot of luck with the Micro Critters. It seems like maybe 1 in 3 has any action to it, the bad ones just drag through the water on their sides. The ones that work do catch a ton of small fish, but I have given up on them. I have a few of the Strike King Bitsy Minnows that I put barbless single hooks on and they perform much better and still draw a lot of fish. I buy them in lots on ebay, if you are willing to buy them a dozen at a time you can find them for $2-3 bucks per.

Man, even 10lbs is more that I want for a little fishing, but good luck! I got to handle one of the Daiwa backpacks, but one size down from yours. It seemed really well built, more so than some of the fishing packs I have tried.