Junk Fisherman

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B743XWVC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 For $16, you can use them once and throw them away even though I save them and get another use or two out of them. You can glue a bunch of baits with one vial. You can't go wrong for a little over $0.30 each.

Thanks for the report. I'll be headed to Newton in a couple weeks. Hoping the water warms up a little.

This is something I have been thinking about. I use the same dozen or so baits and 75% of the stuff I carry is in the what if or I don't really use this techniques but others do category. I could probably limit all my tackle to one compartment and do just fine.

No, the NRX is not worth twice what a Legend X costs but I don't buy all my fishing equipment with getting the best value as my #1 priority. I'm willing to pay double for a rod if it's 25% better for certain applications. I have paid $500+ for my bottom contact and finesse Daiwa and Loomis rods with the understanding that I could get a great but inferior rod for half the price. But fishing is my passion and I LOVE my high end rods so I treat myself to the best I can buy. This is one of the few areas in my life where I take this approach.

I know enough guys that had Nitros and bought another to convince me that it's a solid enough boat. Sure, a Ranger, Basscat, Phoenix or some other high-end boat is going to be a higher quality with higher resale but at how much of a higher price? 20K-30K? That pays for a lot of potential repairs. They look good and appear solid when I check them out at BPS. I wouldn't hesitate to get one if I couldn't afford more.

I'll definitely help someone on the water or at the launch. Once, there was a newbie that couldn't load his boat. I ended up jumping in his truck, backing down a little farther, and showing him exactly how to load up. He was embarrassed and very appreciative. I'll never forget having some guy act all pompous and arrogant when I was struggling once at the launch when I was a novice boater. I'll always help someone rather than get upset that they are holding up the line. In terms of fishing advice, it really depends. I fish so much pressured water around Chicago that I'm not really giving up secrets I've learned. With that said, I am more likely to help young guys in their 20s or dad/grandpas with kids than I am the guy in the 75K bassboat.

Braidwood opens Wednesday.

This is easy for me. We have a powerplant lake that opens on 3-1 so I'll be there on the Saturday. Water will be in the high 50s to 70 depending on where I go. Here's what I'll have tied on: Chatterbait, spinnerbait, a couple different swimbaits, rattle trap, Ned, Neko, and a dropshot (trying out a new rod). I'll fish fast-moving baits in several spots before moving to slower stuff if the bite is slow (it shouldn't be).

I didn't know that. I see that they are now sponsoring the Cal Sag/Lake Michigan Tournament series. I pop in there every once in a while and their prices are fair. Used to work part time with them as a young lad back when they were in Markham.

I'm not surprised. I know they doubled the cost of a table and it seemed like it was thrown together late in the game. Hopefully, the get a better vendor turnout next year. I didn't go for the simple reason that when I messaged the show asking about a vendor list, they said it would be published in Midwest Outdoors. It never was. When a show isn't prominently stating who will be there, it says a lot about the quality of the show. Plus, the seminar lineup was not impressive and I believe they were asking my bass club if anyone wanted to present. I live right down the street from the Convention Center and I think I made the right decision in not going.

I'll definitely have to check that out in the future. Thanks.

Wish they made this rod in 7'4"-7'6" length. 100% The 843 GLX is a spectacular stick and is my #1 largemouth rod. It is extremely versatile but I use it for pitching plastics, light jigs, Sleepers, Senkos, and more...

They've been my #1 finesse pitching plastic for years. I pretty much always have a Baby Brush Hog or a Super Hog tied on when I am largemouth fishing. A blue fleck Baby Brush Hog with a T-rigged 2/0 EWG hook with a 3/16th oz sinker has put a lot of fish in the boat for me over the years.

Smallmouth Crush is great. Travis asks his guests the exact questions I have.

I have all Daiwa reels except 1 Curado 70 mgl. I am of the belief that all the high-end reels are going to provide solid performance and the slight performance difference between them is not worth chasing. I stick to Daiwa since that is what I'm comfortable with and they have been very reliable over the years providing great performance. I will say that I am not a fan of the T-wing for my braid/fluoro knot which is why I went to a Curado on my last reel since I knew I would only be using braid with the reel. I still use primarily straight fluoro or mono on baitcasters but if that ever changed to more braid/fluoro setups, I would have to consider different reels or a different leader knot.

Wow!!

Anyone have a review on these? Colors look a lot better than Sleepers. Wondering about the hook and your hookup percentage. Thanks in advance.

I was listening to a former goalie who stressed how NHL trainers promoted the cold tub for this very reason. Keeping the inflammation down reduces soft tissue injuries especially the groin and core injuries that goalies are prone to.

I've tried a few of the ballhead jigs with small swimbaits. I don't like the Gammy ones since the bait keeper ridges tear the plastic more than I'd like. I prefer the Owner jigs or better yet the Keitech tungsten jigs. I prefer no keeper or a very small one since I superglue the swimbait to the head. 3/16 oz is the weight I use the most.

For me the question really is what rod only gets used for 1 purpose. Most of me rods get used for primarily 1 technique but almost every one will get used for something else over the course of the year. But to answer your question: Spinning: 761 Steez: I have two of these and a Ned and a Neko are their primary uses but I will use them for hair jigs, tubes, wacky rigs, blade baits, dropshots, ect. The rod has a crazy lure weight range of 1/16 to 3/4 oz so I can really use them for anything I throw on spinning. 742 Champion: I mostly use this rod for 4" swimbaits but I will use it for spybaits, tubes, and most other spinning applications other than my ultra finesse applications. Casting: 844 GLX- Jigs, C-Rigs, pitching in heavier cover 703 Champion- light pitching, Senkos, worming, jerkbaits, spinnerbaits- this is a very versatile rod. 704 Champion CB- mostly jerkbaits but I'll also use it for lighter topwater, squarebills, and mid-diving crankbaits 7' St Croix Tournament Bass MH Spinnerbait Sweeper- chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, swimjigs, buzzbaits, walking topwater 7'11 St Croix Tournament Bass H- A-rigs and punching

I've tried a bunch of fluorocarbon lines for my finesse fishing leaders and Gamma Edge in 6 lb is the best I have found so far. It has the diameter of 8 lb line. I fish around a lot of busted up rock, concrete, steel breakwalls with zebra mussels and the Gamma holds up well. I still have to retie a lot and break off often but that is due to the water I fish. I lose probably 3x as much stuff fishing around the breakwalls of Chicago than I do when I fish natural lakes. I've used a couple leader lines before, can't remember which ones, but they didn't really stand out. But I go through so much leader line fishing the waters I do that it would get quite expensive using Gold Label or any of the other higher priced leader lines.

I know they get excluded from TW's sales and The Tackle Trap doesn't carry them. Does any online retailer ever put them on sale or do I just have to pay the full price? Thanks in advance.

Anyone have experience with either of these two rods? I have a 843 GLX and love its sensitivity. Going to be using the rod primarily for pitching dropshots especially along breakwalls. I use a 3/8th oz sinker 80% of the time. Going to be upgrading from a Dobyns HP 742c. Any input is appreciated.

Rods definitely get me more excited than reels. I love my high-end Steez and GLX rods yet my assortment of reels are somewhat interchangeable. All of my spinning reels are about the same; $150 to $200 Daiwa reels. While I have a bigger range of quality with my casting reels (Tatula to Zillion), their isn't as big of a performance difference as my rods. My arsenal is complete but it's the rod that I upgrade when I am treating myself.

Not to be that guy but the wind knots are probably something you are doing. I have used straight fluoro for years and the only times I've had wind knots was when I overfilled my spool or if my braid to leader knot was a little big. I have used Gamma Touch in 7 lb A LOT and can't recall ever having a wind knot with that line. 8 lb P-Line Fluoro gave me no issues as well. I only use Daiwa spinning reels and have heard they are good at preventing wind knots so maybe that has something to do with it. Good luck.