Junk Fisherman

I throw Sleepers (1/2 oz) on an 843GLX and it's the perfect. match. Assuming the 844 NRX is lighter and a little more sensitive than the GLX, the 844 would be a great choice IMO.

If you already have the UHD 93sv, getting the LVS32 would be the most inexpensive way to get Livescope. A lot of people are selling their LVS32 cheap in order to upgrade. If money is an issue, get the LV32. It's what I'm using and Livescope is pretty awesome.

A lot of variables play into this question. What is my confidence in the spot? What does Livescope show me? How many other places do I have confidence in? What is the fishing pressure? If I leave will someone immediately move in? (This happens A LOT locally.) I tend to stay too long in an area but I feel I'm getting better at moving more often.

I don't have goals as much as habits I want to develop or get back to. 1) Be prepared 2) Be organized 3) Fish with a purpose 4) Continue to learn by watching videos, reading articles, taking notes and putting what I learn into practice 5) When I fish tournaments, give 100% effort and focus for the entire 8 hours 6) Quit worrying and/or complaining about fishing pressure 7) Make a huge push to get my 11-year old into fishing

Dropshot Small swimbait Ned Rig Neko Rig

Not a story about red hooks but a red jig. Last June I was fishing a nearby powerplant lake. There's a very popular, heavily-fished area there that is about the size 2 football fields. Every June I do very well in this area pitching shorelines and throwing Neds and dropshots. So on this day I had been fishing since daylight and had been having a typical good day. Lots of fishermen and the fish were getting hammered. It's about 2 PM and I break off a Ned and replace it with one that had been sitting in my boat for a couple years. I had painted the head a shade of red and the bait was a The Deal TRD but it was stained a little yellow from mixing with another bait. It was ugly but I didn't have any other ones glued up and I was leaving soon so I gave it a shot. Within the next 10 minutes I catch 2, 4 lbers in an area I had fished several times already that day. Those fish are studs for that lake. Was it the red head? Was it the odd color? IDK I caught a few more smaller fish on the bait and soon thereafter I had to leave. I didn't fish there any more that summer (water temps get very warm in the summer) but you better believe I'll be using that bait and others similar to it this year.

Medium light is the most versatile spinning rod action for a bass fisherman. A medium power is too heavy for a 1/16 and 1/10 oz Ned. I’d rather use a light action rod than a medium action rod for a Ned. I’m using a medium or a medium heavy baitcaster rig for the Keitech Fat Impact on a 3/16th oz jig. For the shallow cranks I’m using a medium crankbait rod. Hope it helps.

The Loomis 783 was their worming rod back in the day. Nowadays most people want a longer rod with 7' being the minimum. Also, the GL3 was the lowest quality blank but still a very solid rod. I agree with Reel that it would make for a good spinnerbait/chatterbait close quarters rod. Overall, the 783 is a very versatile rod if you don't mind it being 6'6".

Until I started making mine, Owner were my favorite lead, ball head jigs.

1) TW Gift Card 2) Soft sided cooler I plan to take on weekend tourneys when I fish as a nonboater and don't want to take my big cooler. 3) Battery-operated water compressor/cleaner that I'll use to wash my boat and truck

Thanks Scott for the reply. I just realized that Daiwa is going to be at the Schaumberg Fishing Show in a couple weeks. Hopefully, I can get to feel these rods and add some questions before ordering. I do like the Hook Up videos. This guys's video is pretty good too. As someone who has a lot of Dobyns rods, Steez's sensitivity is on another level compared to Champion HPs and definitely XPs. My Steez spinning 761 is a much lighter, sensitive rod compared to my 741 and 742 Dobyns Champ HPs. I've been slowly replacing my Dobyn rods over the last couple years.

So I've gotten the new rod itch and have been thinking about upgrading my casting rod arsenal. Currently, my best casting rod is an 843 GLX (not the 2024 model) that I use for pitching plastics and 1/4 to 1/2 oz jigs. So I am considering either the Steez Utility Player (7.3 MH) or the Steez Bottom Contact Rod (7.5 MH). Does anyone have either of these rods and if so how do you like it? What applications do you use the rod for? Is there another high end rod you can compare it to? Thanks for any info.

For actually fishing, I wear latex gloves and put a hand warmer in the palm. I've used both the disposable gloves or ones a little heavier duty. I can still cast and pitch lures wearing these gloves. I don't ever fish if the air temp is much less than 35 degrees and the latex/hand warmer does the trick down to that temp. I do have ski gloves that I will wear when running the boat but they come off when I start to fish.

I keep misreading the title of this thread.

After doing line inventory I realized I needed some 15 lb fluorocarbon for pitching plastics. TW: 200 yards of 15 lb ArazX on sale for $20. Added the bulk pack 2.75" TRDs which were on sale, some big TRDs, a mini Chatterbaits, and Berkley's Dark Sleeper knock offs which were over 50% off. All told a little over $50 to hit free shipping. And I even had a gift card.....

My Dad remembered every deer he killed and big buck that he saw in great detail. We'd drive the gravel roads in southern Illinois where he lived and he'd tell the same ole stories year after year. It kinda annoyed me as a teenager and young adult but I gained an appreciation for them as I got older. I'd give anything to go on one of those rides right now.

My rods aren't technique-specific however I end up primarily using a small number of presentations on each rod. For example if I just look at my spinning arsenal: Daiwa Steez 761: Primary: Neds Secondary: Hairjigs, Hover strolling Daiwa Steez 761: Primary: Neko Secondary: Wacky, tubes Dobyns 741 HP: Finesse swimbaits and underspins Dobyns 742 HP: Primary: Dropshot Secondary: Free rig, shakey Dobyns 702 XP: Primary: 4" swimbait and ballhead jig Secondary: All-around Except for the 741 which is a light action rod, all of those rods are medium light action which are the most versatile spinning action and handle 80% of my spinning needs. The Steez 761 has a ridiculous 1/16 oz to 3/4 oz lure range so that covers everything I'll throw on spinning gear. Except for a few instances, if I need heavier than a ML action spinning rod I'll go to a baitcasting outfit.

Great stuff A-Jay. Thanks. I'll have to add this to my arsenal.

Hey A-Jay. How often do you throw a bladed jig versus a spinnerbait for smallmouth? What dictates when you throw one versus the other? I gotta be honest- I rarely ever throw a chatterbait for smallies (only spinnerbaits) and am probably missing out. Thanks for any advice.

This past year I lost a pair of Costa Del Mar sunglasses. I was running at plane and turned around to look at something and they flew off my head. Feels like I've done that before without losing glasses. Didn't have a life jacket secured this past spring and it flew out. It was a nice NRS Chinook life jacket. Several years ago I lost a nice spinning combo on a reef in Green Bay. A buddy hooked a good fish. I grabbed the net and layed down my rod without reeling it in. We had spot-lock on so maybe a fish pulled it out but it was gone once I netted the fish and went back to pick up my rod. That's it in about 35 years of fishing from a boat. Edit- After going back and reading this thread, I remembered that I too lost a wedding ring. It was always a little loose and I caught a fish and was wiping off my hands together and I flicked my ring right off into about 14' of water in Mill Creek Lake (IL). Like others have said, it was pretty cheap to replace. Now there's another wedding ring I launched into Lake Michigan but that was intentional and felt fantastic!

This thread is going to cost me a couple hundred dollars!

You have to check the difference in weight from the 2500 to the 3000. The 3000 Vanford is only 0.1 oz more than the 2500. For a Talula it is a 0.4 oz difference. I'd rather have the bigger reel since the larger spools is better for casting distance.

Same here. Plus, Ive caught bigger bass on the Chatterbait since adding a swimbait trailer.

Those are fantastic boats with an incredibly well-designed layout. Tiller boats overall are a little underated IMO. Removing the console opens up so much room. I completely understand how a 17' tiller feels bigger than a 20'er.

A crankbait rod is perfect for smaller topwater baits with trebles. Definitely jerkbaits as well. Gary Dobyns created their Champion 704CB rod specifically for fishing a Staysee 90.