MassYak85

Now we just need them to make a low profile reel!

Are there even any reels that are made in the states? I know there are companies like Bates that "design" them stateside but pretty sure they still source components from overseas. Again, I don't mind supporting American businesses but for much of our industry those simply don't exist. The end result is just a burden on consumers already in tough financial waters. It's a sad state of affairs when we have to tell people "your favorite activity isn't a necessity, suck it up".

They're on sale on TW right now for 12.88 😉 It is quite painful buying the 110s lol so definitely open to alternatives. I'm hoping they don't go up even more in price with the tariff situation, especially since other JDM companies seem to be doing so. Their SV3 spinnerbait is my go-to and that's already up to 15 bucks (ouch).

This is the unfortunate reality. The big names will be able to ride out this wave and absorb some costs to get them through if necessary. Mom and pop shops don't have that luxury. Tackle stores have already been slowly closing over the years and this is just another blow to an already tough industry to be in. It's definitely a good time to shop local and show support if you can afford to do so.

To be clear, the April "Liberation Day" tariffs that resulted from the escalation between both countries in April are what was delayed, the 30% baseline tariff on China that was settled on in May is still in effect. They know the 145% tariff would cause extreme economic harm, it's not going to happen and will continue to get delayed. But the 30% is still steep enough to send ripples through the supply chains. The big name tackle shops like BPS who source overseas will likely continue to raise prices.

Yes the De Minimis exemption gets removed at the end of August. This isn't just Japan though, it's all countries.

I despise Trokar and any "cutting point" hook. It does exactly what it's designed to do...cut. It cuts a nice hole in the fishes mouth that's much bigger than the hole a typical hook leaves and makes it incredibly easy for them to spit the hook if they head shake. It's like comparing a broadhead to a field point. I also find the points on those easy to roll. As far as sharpness of other hooks, the slip coated hooks like Ryugi Pierce trebles and Gamakatsu Nano Finesse Trebles I have found to be some of the best. I use both of those for jerkbaits. For other hooks I like Owner and Gamakstu for most things.

Daaaang this sucks. I have a few packs still of the 12". I don't fish them much but they do get the nod in the right conditions. I guess I will appreciate them a bit more now. What's everyone's favorite BIG straight tails? I usually go for 10 or 12" curly tails in the summer if I'm trying to cover and area but if I'm slowing down an soaking the worm a bit more on a piece of structure or deeper weedline I do like the straight tails. These and the Upton's Custom worms were my go-to's for that. I believe @WRB-2.0 was the one I saw mention Upton's when I first tried them.

An interesting idea. I think the potential value is in what they don't seem to be highlighting. A wire like that is probably more durable over many fish catches. Wires bend and eventually break. I can see this potentially holding up longer. But that is going to depend on those crimps. The line tie one would have me a bit worried it would slip out of the crimp. The other is that front blade. Having the ability to swap the front blade is not common and I haven't seen it done this way. I'd be curious how these swim. I'm definitely a tackle junkie when it comes to spinnerbaits and have bought so many different ones over the years trying to find "The One". Still haven't found it, but the Megabass SV3s are the closest I've found. If these were 15-20 bucks I'd probably give it a shot, for 30 that's just ridiculous. Although I can appreciate the work that goes into each one. Still it's tempting to try. The wire tied skirt, the wire spring trailer keeper, and the blade change makes this pretty unique. I'd need to see a swim video of these first I think.

Some of the pad fields on my lakes you won't get through without at least 1 1/2 oz of tungsten. I tend not worry about line in those cases. 65lb braid, a 3x hook, and a locked drag.

Something I've been noticing the last few years in New England is true summer ends a lot sooner than I thought. Those first cool nights in August can have a lot of impact even if it still gets up to 85 or 90 in the day time. The milfoil starts to slowly die and even if on the surface it doesn't feel like anything has changed, I start to find fish pulling more to those "Fall" spots where the last areas of green grass usually are, or pulling to the hard cover amongst the shallow stuff. Usually I wouldn't key on this until September but it definitely happens sooner.

For some reason I almost never catch pickerel on topwater. You'd think with how aggressive they are they would be all over that stuff.

Hit one of our local spots with my dad. Tough bite today but got into some mid morning before it got hot. He got a 4-1 on a psycho gill that hit it like a freight train, huge explosion right near the boat. Thought it was gonna break 5 at 20” but she was a couple meals short it looked like. I managed 5 on the spinner bait in the same area. This is actually a spot I do well in during the Fall as it holds some of the last good vegetation as it gets colder. A while back Tactical Bassin said the transition to fall starts a lot earlier than we think and I’ve noticed that the last couple years I feel like. Those first nights where you need a sweatshirt in the morning can have more impact than you’d think. The rest of the day was slow once it heated up. I went shallow looking for some punching fish. This lake is LOADED with pad fields and it’s tough to pick the exact spots they might be under. Loaded up on one quick but it got off in the thick stuff. From there we wandered around and I got two more on a small power worm t rigged and ended the day with 7. My dad only got the one big one but that’s swim bait fishing for you. Tons of wildlife today. Saw some Ospreys, an Eagle, some Hawks, a pair of Loons with a chick, and a snake swam by our boat!

Back on topic, as of an executive order today, the de minimis exemption has now been completely eliminated for ALL countries, effective August 29. If you buy from Japan, might be a good time to stock up. Things are about to get a LOT more expensive.

Most of what I use is sold out but solid sale. Some 65lb moss green and tons of the hi-vis yellow left.

The Lake I grew up on I'd give a 3/5. Consistent, nice variety of cover and depths, but small enough to cover most of it in a day. No giants, in fact I'd be shocked if anything over 6lbs lived in there, but just really solid producer of numbers and averages decent fish. I kind of group lakes around me into three categories: Numbers lakes where you can catch lots of dinks, Lakes where the average size is really good but having all those medium fish seems to snuff out the potential for giants, and lakes where the numbers usually suck but the chance at a true giant exists. I think it's fun to fish all of them but the mindset going into the day is usually different.

I think the deeper alewife lakes around here would be a place forward facing would be a game changer. When the bass get those guys schooling they don't really pay attention to much else. Sometimes you get lucky and it's a calm day and you can visually see the schools near the surface and the birds going after them as well but if there's any wind you basically have to luck into one or use side imaging to look around and get close.

I started out with a uni to uni and had lots of failures. I fussed around with the FG for a solid couple of years before deciding I just didn't want to deal with it and I settled back on the Alberto (occasionally will use blood knot for larger lines).

Man that freaking snotgrass and the black decaying vegetation is a nightmare. There's a couple lakes I fish it's like if they aren't hitting moving baits you might as well go home cause anything on the bottom you're spending more time clearing your bait of crud than actually fishing. I also rarely fish the ned rig. I think it's just more suited to rocky or sandy lakes and most of where I fish isn't that. I'm happy to be able to fish a jig when I can but even that can be a struggle in a lot of areas.

Agreed, in those situations I like fishing 5-6" roboworms on a light wire straight shank hook rigged weedless and fishing it through sparse weeds. Can be really good when they won't touch the larger texas rigged worms. For shorter grass beds and rocks I usually just nose hook with a traditional dropshot hook. Unfortunately the pickerel like them too and horsing out a 24" pickerel from weeds with a medum or medium light rod and 6lb line is usually a losing battle. My one grips with dropshot fishing is constantly untwisting the mess of line that always comes up with the fish lol.

I loosen them at the end of every trip. The cumulative time they sit during the season between trips is far longer than the cumulative time of the entire offseason so I like to back them off when not in use. Yes I have to adjust the drag every outing, but I'd be doing that anyways to adjust to what lure I'm using.

Not much really stood out to me. I'm going to try the Big Bite Baits Thresher Worm as a trailer on a couple of things but that's about it. One thing that caught my eye as a curiosity thing was the Great Lakes Finesse CX Spinning Rods. The design of the lead guide coming off the spool is something I hadn't seen before. Seems almost counter-intuitive to me for a spinning rod but I'd be curious if anyone tries it what they think.

I don't but lots of guys in the ice fishing community up here trap their own minnows. There's a small group of Pike and big bass guys that will catch and use BIG golden shiners as bait.

Saw MASSIVE White Perch floating while we were fishing a local lake yesterday. Thought it was a dead bass at first. Definitely was a pin. We got a late start around 11am and each managed a decent one within the first hour. Mine on a 10" power worm off a point, and my dad with a nice 3lber on the Psycho Gill. From there it was the typical summer grind for most of the afternoon. Water temps were close to 80 and the ones we did run into seemed deeper. The bite was slow and we had a lot of missed bites. I lost another huge pickerel on the spinnerbait. They really love to dig down into the weeds and wrap up. Later on we tried a deep flat (well deep for this lake i's like 10-12ft) that has a good mix of short grass and rocks. I had a dropshot tied on at this point (usually not a good sign lol) and actually did quite well. Got a bunch of 1-3lbers in this spot that were a ton of fun to catch on the lighter tackle. Also broke off some more big pickerel (d**n things have been stealing a lot of my gear this year). I need to restock on some terminal tackle and drop shot worms at this point. We bailed while the bite was still good unfortunately as the thunderstorms rolled through. Very solid day for middle of the day in mid-July though. Almost makes me want to put together a drop shot rig.

Basically as little weight I can get away with for the wind and depth I'm fishing. Like you said deeper structure I usually go to 1/2oz, shallow I try to stick to 1/4oz unless it's super windy.