Columbia Craw

Gave mine to Ghoti.

Exxxxxxcelent Simpson

Gambler Bacon Rind. No longer made.

The Zoom Brushhog is a staple and the baby is a go to when the bite is tough. For a slender profile the RI Man Bear Pig is very very good. I did well with the Cal. 420 and Black/blue. I have caught a lot of fish on Yo Mamas, Pit Boss, RI Beavers, Fighting Frogs, and the Space Monkey but my primary go to is the Rage Bug and Rodent. Black/Blue, Blue Craw and Watermelon Red cover my needs. I would like to see SK offer 12 packs at a reduced cost per bait retail. Good stuff.

I own the MB and the new Tatula 100 so I can offer up on those two being the Shimano is a also a very good reel. The Tatula 100 has a better cast control than the MB in my opinion. You would do well with any of the three but the Tat gets the nod from me.

I'm going to send you a bag of Brazil nuts and then we'll see what your enamel is really made of.

When I think about it A-jay, yours could be " Analyze This. "☺️

My wife set me straight and said it should be The Greatest Story Ever Told.

white vinegar helps clean the body.

True Grit.................no, probably One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.

I, like Ajay, fished Lamiglas SR705-765R glass rods. I still have my SR705R. I wanted something lighter, more sensitive and less bulky but still moderate. The answer was the Champion 705CB Glass which is composite. Since then I discovered the Champion line has all graphite moderate action rods in the crankbait "CB" line. I consider these MID tier rods. Like Ajay, this series is what "I like", works for me and is extremely effective for the way I fish. As for high end top tier, they are FEEL rods.

8-5, 6-13, 6-10, 6-3 and 6-00. All northern strain large mouth. I had one decent smallie right at four pounds. Tough year. Three of my buddies each caught their personal best large mouths while fishing with me and that was the best.

I looked very carefully at both models. I went with the Ballistic LT, the main reason being the Stradic has no reverse lever so back reeling is not an option. I would have preferred the line roller on the Ballistic be supported by a bearing but line twist has not been an issue. The LT (3000) balances perfectly on my DS rod. Ultra smooth retrieve and drag. Both reels are quality.

I think "feel " rods get the nod, both casting and spinning. My upper tier rods are all feel rods, jigs, finesse plastics, drop shot, tubes and so on. My mid tier are moving baits, cranks, jerk baits and swim jigs. The lower tier are frogs, spinnerbaits, and some top water. My buddy is very new to the drop shot and fishes with a Dobyns Fury. He does well. I let him borrow my Extreme HP 702SF for a day on the water. He's saving for one this spring. That sums it up.

Getting back on topic, how a rod balances is just as important as overall weight, even for a frog rod. A balanced rod is more comfortable to fish. I'm off to the gym.

Are you talking about these ?

Amish Uber. Strongsville Ohio.

Boy, was this timely. I retired about sixteen months ago. I'll be 65 in December. I finished 25 years as a police officer/shift sergeant (my second career). I miss the people I worked along side with. I can relate, in that I have a quarter century of L/E experience and it now sits dormant. It seems like a waste. I had offers to become a trainer and an independent consultant but that required more travel than I was willing to endure. The most blaring aspect of retirement is the amount of time I have with my wife. She, nor I were used to being with each other that much. I don't miss the shift work and the shift system I worked was brutal. I don't miss the interactions with the negativeness of the people. I do miss those rare opportunities to impact a person and maybe save their lives or futures and bring some closure to problems. I think I planned well and finances are are not an issue. We live a simple life. Family is everything. I have discovered the simple pleasure of reading. I'm a huge history buff but never had the time to read. I've read 34 books in the last 12 months and love my reading time. Gym time is also a priority. I want to remain healthy and enjoy my retirement. It's taken me a year to figure things out, deal with the financial aspect of retirement and learn to relax. I was diagnosed with PTSD a few years ago, one of the reasons I did retire. It's real. Trust me, it's real. Fishing and interaction with others is therapeutic for me. Now if I can stop looking at every license plate tab to see if it's expired, the rest will be gravy. Doug

When you get older you will wish you had installed a comfort hight. Looks like you spilled your Mountain Dew.

I use both and they work well. I mix it up and let the bass tell me if they have a preference on any given day. I also like the Robo FX Sculpin.

Honey Crisp is my wife's favorite. I can find them at local produce stands for 99 cents a pound right now. My favorite apple is an Ambrosia. Jonathans are second. My least favorite is a red Delicious and a Rome Beauty. Eat up☺️

Seriously, how do you like them. One of my favorite aspects of fall is fresh apples. I love a good apple. I made a run to the farm and stocked up on Honey Crisp, Jonathans, Kings, Prime Reds, Jonagolds, Ambrosias and Fuji. Living in my region is apple heaven. My grandfather told me a story when I was a child regarding how hard it was to get fresh fruit and or vegetables during World War I and when he was in Belgium he found an apple on the ground that was half rotten. He ate it. He said it was the best apple he ever ate I guess at my age it doesn't take much to make me happy and appreciative.

The 705CB Glass is a composite rod and although more moderate in it's action, it has good power. The 705CBMF is moderate in it's action farther down into the blank. There is a following on the west coast for that action of rod. It feels much more like a traditional E glass rod. The 704 CB Glass is very moderate and flexes well into the middle of the blank. It does not have the snap to effectively work a jerkbait in my opinion. It's a great rod for finesse cranks like 1/8 ounce speed traps, Bandit 100 and the little 6th Sense Crush model. Dobyns does not produce a glass/composite spinning rod. Call Dobyns Direct and explain what you want to accomplish and they can clarify what models would be most effective.

The Goby color #242, was available in most models up to about 11 years ago and then was dropped. I know because I scrounged all I find and ended up with 17 of them in Deep Little N. Then about seven years ago the pattern was put back into production, but not in all models. J. Franco was right on, in that PRADCO acquired Normans and the production went from made in USA to Guatemala. So far the off shore baits have not appeared to suffer and work well. The 242 DLN is available from TW. I've caught more smallmouth on the Deep Little N than all my other crankbaits combined. They work.

Stretch is no worse than any mono and I have yet to have a knot failure. Read the evaluation on TT.