fishnkamp

First when we talk about the Upper Chesapeake Bay, tidal portions of the Patuxent, Potomac or even the eastern shore rivers like Nanticoke, Wicomico, or Pocomoke we are talking "tidal influenced brackish " waters. These are very different than talking about fishing true "salt water" like ocean fishing. I have been fishing these MD tidal waters for years. I have had only 3 regular bass reels ruined and it was due to being left in a rod locker that had been flooded by a tidal river boat wake. I hit a wave wrong and did not think about removing and cleaning the equipment. Totally my fault. Otherwise I do not really believe it is necessary to fish with saltwater specific gear on these rivers and the bay. Having said all that, the most expensive reels I own are Diawa Tatula type Rs (around $200 retail) and none of my dozen or so baitcasters are really designed to throw a bait that light weight. I turn to spinning gear for say an unweighted senco, or 1/8 ounce tube, or a1/10 ounce Ned Rig.

I checked with my friend Ed. He owns a Jeep Liberty with the v6. He owns two boats. One is a 16 foot jon boat totally decked inside. It has electric trolling motors and 5 batteries. He does pull that boat but his other boat is a 18 foot Ranger and he says it is not safe to pull it. He has tried and said the breaks were undersized and the shorter wheelbase was not that good either. His Liberty can tow 3500. So I would be VERY careful in my choice.

Do you have a boat?

What is your budget? What length do you enjoy using. I have three rods I like for doing this. The first is a Powell Max683, it is a 6'8" mh fast action baitcasting rod. That rod is as versatile rod I have ever owned. My second is Quantum Escalade 6'6" medium fast action spinning rod, and for grass and docks in tight corners I love my G Loomis IMX 6' Medium spinning rod. Of course I have a 7'3 Heavy rod for punching mats and a 7 foot MH xf for heavier baits in and around heavier cover. It specs 1/4 to 1 1/2 ounce baits, I love it for carolinas and hvy t rigs stuff.

What part of MD do you live in?

The President will run $60 at Dicks and most other places. That reel is a 10 ball bearing reel which is why I think it works so well. By the way did you an my friend Ed ever catch up on the phone? I knew he tried to a couple of times.

I just purchased a Symetre 3000fl for Linda 3 months ago. I did it based on its gear ratio, and the success I have had with other Shimano reels in the past. All 7 of our other spinning reels are Pflueger Presidents and with the exception of one Shimano Solstace. I like her new reel but I am concerned because I have read a lot of complaints about them going bad ( the rotor can get bent). I would stick with a Pflueger.

I looked up your boat to find out a little more. Unfortunately I could not find the exact boat you have. Make sure the exact hull weight because if you underestimate this you could be in trouble. The only boat on their website that came close to your estimate was a Storm 1700. If your specs are correct I would advise you to be carefull. I have a friend that has a Jeep Patriot and he does pull a boat with it. His boat is a 16 jon with a full deck and two seats. It is an electric only boat. My concern is about braking. I know you will have enough power to get it moving, it is the stopping that concerns me. The other thing is that vehicle has a short wheelbase and your trailer will have a longer one so making turns while backing up may get hairy. Like you, I always use a truck. I had to utilize my wife Ford Escape one time. Making my 18 foot Lowe go, where I wanted it to, go was a major problem. I will never use it again. Almost all of the Jeeps have that same towing capacity until you look at Jeep Grand Cherokee. You might want to look at a Chevy Equinox. It has a longer wheelbase and can handle up to 3500 with the V6.

It is really simple, if you want a boat that can have a deck big enough to safely stand up and fish on then the boat needs to be at least 16 foot and have a double wide bottom. That means it needs to be at least 48 at the bottom. It comes down to that. Most of the jon boats you can find that already have a factory front deck are either 1648 or 1656 or even larger like the 1756 and larger . They also most often have a mod v front end. I am not saying a 1448 can not fish well, but it is not big and stable enough to stand up on top of a raised deck I personally have owned a 12 foot jon, a 15 foot jon boat that was 48 inches wide at the bottom, another 15 foot 48 inch mod vee boat with stick steering, and two 17.5 foot 60 inch wide mod v aluminum bass boats. Until I got the 17.5 footers none of them were stable enough to have a raised front deck.

Bunnielab you and I are going to have to catch up. I live here by Martin State Airport and we fish the same waters. I fish a bunch of Diawa Tatulas, Tatula Rs and and even a Diawa Exceler. Our brackish water does not bother them. You are welcome to stop by and cast a few to see what you like. Diawa even makes a couple specifically for salt use. Check these out Daiwa Aird Coastal and the Daiwa Coastal 200HS both seem to be well made as well. I fish the Gunpowder River, Seneca, Middle River, Back River and out around the islands for bass,stripers. perch etc. I have also gone up the Northeast and Susqy but with several ramps minutes away I stick closer to home most trips. In the last few years we have been catching some big blue cats while throwing rattle traps for stripers. It is amazing how hard those catfish pull. They can nearly spool you.

For that price there are a lot of really nice rods. Go put a Dobyns Sierra or Irod Genesis II rod or an Avid or Avid X both from St Croix. I own and love 7 G Loomis rods from IM6s ( going way back) to GL2 and GL3 and a pair of IMXs. I would stack my older rods up to anything that was out there back then. Since the merger with Shimano I can see the choices in components have been downgraded. I even had to have a custom rod builder strip the handle and seat on a new IMX rod because the plastic reel locking nut kept backing off. Since the rod was not broken yet, I did not think they would do anything about it and if they did they are still using the same cheap plastic across the line anyway. I love the feel of the rod after we installed a high quality American Tackle reel seat and a set of Winn Grips ( a short foregrip and a split grip setup) Not trying to start a war but that was my experience. I think G Loomis has been caught and surpassed in the sub $300 rod marketplace. I am sure I have purchased my last one.

A lot of guys will use live bait but also a lot use the fluke/bass assassin/ hollow body fish imitations on a jig head. There are also some plastic shrimp imitations that I would look at. Even the Berkley Gulp baits that come in the plastic containers filled with attractant might be worth trying. Pick one species you mentioned, go on YouTube and do a search for say "jetty fishing for calico bass" or even "southern California jetty fishing" maybe you can get some info that way. There are videos these days on everything. Check these out These guys were fishing a different swimbait called a BIG Hammer Shad. I fish them for smallmouth bass in large Kentucky Tennessee lakes. Check this one out on live bait. It looks like they are using a 7 or 8 foot rod in both of these and the first one the guys were using a round baitcasting reel. I would load it with 50 pound braid and a 10 to 15 pound leader. There are lots more to look at these were just two I thought you might find interesting. Good Luck

Between myself and my wife we fish around 7 of them. Some are over 10 years old and some are less than 2 years old. I spool them 1/2 way up with 14 pound Stren Original mono for backing and finish it up with 14 pound Berkley original FireLine in 14 pound test (almost the same size as 8 pound mono). To this I tie on a leader made of P Line CXX moss green in 10 pound test.. It breaks around 20 pound test. I use it to fish for panfish, bass, stripers, and often we catch catfish up to 20 pounds while chasing the stripers. These reels cost $60 and just perform great. I have never had to have one repaired.

The short answer is no, it probably is not worth it. Having said that check with Kistler and see if they have a no questions asked warranty. For instance G Loomis replaced a $250 IMX for me for around $80 if I remember correctly.. The nice thing was my dealer could do it. I am guessing you were selling the Kistler because it no longer met your needs. Maybe you can use the warranty, pay the difference and pick a different model that would better meet your needs. It has to cost the same but say the rod you broke was a 7 foot mh maybe you would have more use for a 7 ft heavy model instead.

Grumman made very nice 14 and 16 foot riveted v hull boats. These are very light hulls and are wide in the rear however they have a sharp vee in the front so they are bad choices to add front decks and stand up on. See my posting on your other topic. It sounds like what you need to do is determine how much monwy you can pend and let me try and find you a bass boat in your budget. Also these boats can leak at the rivets from age. My friend Ed built one of these into a really nice fishing boat but you have to sit down low inside the hull or it gets very tipsy.

Crustymono have you considered how much money you are going to spend by purchasing any of these boats you have been looking at, decking them, wiring them, adding a motor, electronics, a trolling motor etc. Think about all of the things you are trying to add. Then think about finding a boat that is similar to what you want done. Give me an honest picture of what you want, is this going in lakes like Wallenpaupack, Lake Harmony etc. Do you want an all electric trolling motor boat, one with a 9.9 or 15 hp gas outboard or do you really want something like a 16 or 17 foot aluminum bass boat with something closer to 50 or 60 HP. Give me an honest budget you could spend if the boat were ready to go instead of a project. Look here at some possibilities. If any of these are close, let me help you find something. Also what do you have to tow with? http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/boa/5758684287.html http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/boa/5747202969.html http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/boa/5736097693.html http://lancaster.craigslist.org/boa/5767761210.html http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/boa/5750093630.html http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/bod/5741585251.html http://www.highwaymarine.com/pre_owned_detail.asp?veh=4686048

Do not leave out Irod Genesis rods and Dobyns rods, they both have some really nice options in the sub $200 range. Personally, I used to love G Loomis and between my wife and I we own 7, but I am just not as impressed by them after the merge with Shimano. They have cheapened up some of their components. I have had to have a custom rod builder redo some of the stock G Loomis components.

Visually looking at that boat i believe it only has a 40 inch bottom. If you want something like what you asked about in your other posting it will be too narrow to deck at all. It will be too tippy. Look for some of the 1448's and if possible one that has the mod v front ends. they are more stabile. I can tell its width because it is almost straight front to back and does not get wider towards the rear.

From your posting so far I am not sure if you have purchased the boat you are looking to get or not. If you are going to make something out of a 14 footer then make sure it is a 14 foot long 48 inch wide hull if not I would forget standing up on a front deck to fish in such a narrow boat as say a 1440. In a 40 inch wide hull measured across the bottom there will not be enough stability. If you look at the picture of this Tracker Grizzly Tracker Marine has put in enough ribs, a mod V front end and the exact front deck you want. Be aware they did it on the WIDE body hull. Here is a picture of what I mean.

Berkley does make a Berkley Lightning Shock rod. It is a 7 foot MH rod with the 1/4 to 1 1/4 ounce 10 to 25 pound test and if you can find one at your local Walmart they should run around $38.00 What I have found around here in Baltimore is each Wal Mart had different stock and the same rods were not being sold at the same price so look around at different stores near you. There is a difference between the Berkley Lightning rod and the Berkley Lightning Shock rod series. The Shock is a nicer rod.

Right now Dicks Sporting Goods has a really nice IM8 rod you should look at. It is a Quantum Escalade It is a 7 footer listed as a MH but it rates 1/4 to 1 1/2ounce lures and its' line weight 10 to 25 pound test. It regularly sells for $99. It is on sale for $50. I fish two Escalades a 6'6" medium spinning and this 7 foot baitcaster. I love it for jigs, carolina rigs, and other bottom contact baits. It is listed as a mh but acts a bit heavier which is reflected by its fast tip and heavier specs. I would call around to Dicks stores and see if they have any, most stores have limited quantities of these rods. If you find it stop in and buy something cheap like a spinnerbait, a jig etc for a couple of dollars. Return home and go on to Dick's website . Fill out the online questionnaire and print your instant $10 off coupon. Now go buy your rod. You said you wanted a "heavy" action baitcaster but did not mention for what techniques. Let us know, maybe we can come up with something else but if I were you I would go look at this rod. I have fished mine heavy for the last year and am perfectly happy with it.

d-camarena Let me ask a couple of questions. First you say you need some new reels. What are you looking at spinning or baitcasting. If the baitcasting are you leaving the combo you have intact and you would like to add some more rod/reel combos? what are you looking to put together in terms of techniques and what is your budget for each?

Let's start by getting a Diawa baitcaster. Look online and choose between a standard Tatula 100 series reel, or for a reel a bit smaller in overall size pick a Tatula CT (I like the size of the bigger reels but the CT should feel closer to your Lews.) These reels can be picked up for $100 to $120.. That leaves plenty to get some nice rods for around $100. Take a look at the Aetos, the Fenwick factory website is selling the last of the 2016 inventory for $95 originally selling them for close to $200. Or a Diawa Tatula rod, a Dobyns Fury is close to that and even a Powell Inferno is nice at that price. Often you can pick up an Abu Garcia Veritas on sale for $75 but it is regularly sold for $99. I am not much on BPS rods but I think they had the Carbon Lites on sale right now.

If keeping both is an option I would do it. Fill one with some mono backing and 30 pound braid and maybe a leader as well. This would be very good for bottom contact baits, jigs, worms, creature baits etc. Take the other and fill that reel with either mono or a copoly line. This would work better to fish crankbaits, rattle traps, top waters etc. Whichever rod bends further down the blank I would load it with the mono or Copoly line.

St Croix Avid and Axid x both cost right at $200. What do you want to do with this rod. You need to look at this totally different. Are you looking to fish lightweight baits like unweighted worms Senkos, and to throw baits like light weight texas rigs, drop shots or shakeyhead baits then a medium light or medium spinning rod might be your best choice. If you want to throw heavier texas rigs, carolina rigs, jigs etc a medium heavy fast action rod would be best. To throw baits with treble hooks like small to mid size cranks and rattle traps you probably want a rod somewhere between 6'6' and 7 foot with a medium power rating and with a moderate taper to keep your fish hooked. Rods for techniques like frogs and heavy jigs in heavy grass, lily pads etc take a different rod all together. So first pick your budget, next the type of baits you want to use on the rod and then that will help you pick a rod series and a specific model,. The St Croix Mojo Bass is the next series below the Avid and Avid X rods. They make almost the exact individual rod models in each series.