TOXIC

So, the wife and I head off to Florida (Thursday the 4th) from Virginia and I'm all giddy about surf fishing and spending a week at my Brother & Sister-in Law's beach house where I can walk right out their back door and down to the beach. First problem....big storm moving up the coast. 95 will be a mess (it was and was closed in Georgia). Debated on postponing but decided to head out and pick a route that kept me off the coast. That was a good choice. Get to St Augustine/Cresent Beach and it's 34 degrees.....34 degrees!! Then I get up and walk out their walkway over the dunes to find that the NorEaster has ripped the dunes up pretty good and there is an 8 foot drop from the walkway to the beach. Ok, I can drive down to the beach access with my truck and come out on the beach......Nope. All vehicular traffic prohibited on the beach after the storm. Ok, I can walk down to the public access even though it will be a pain with all my sufcasting gear......Nope. Public access closed. At least I got to see some pretty sunrises and sunsets for a week and we did get 1 day....1 of 70 degrees. The rest were in the 50's. Still better than the weather back at home

I understand the temptation to buy value based sunglasses but as is with "some" things, you usually get what you pay for and I have found that is true with eye wear. Not that value based glasses won't work, to me it's how well will they work. Since I need prescription shades, I am pretty much guaranteed to spend some coin to get them. I work fishing events with a guy who actually makes prescription lenses for an eyeglass retailer. He works in their lab. He gave me some tips that I think will carry over to any sunglasses as well as prescription ones. My standards are high since for 15 years, I have been going to Lake St Clair to bed fish smallmouth in May. I was not seeing fish that my buddies were and they were using a higher quality sunglasses. General rules as were communicated to me: 1. If you need a prescription, get prescription sunglasses. 2. ALWAYS get polycarbonate lenses for fishing not glass. Eye protection is paramount. 3. Match the lense color to the task you want them to perform. Why a lot have multiple pairs. 4. Make sure they fit properly. Nothing like throbbing headache from ill fitting glasses. 5. Quality matters. Bad glasses are bad for your eyes and you only have one set. So, for me I even went a little deeper and found that many of the expensive glasses manufacturers do not make their own Rx lenses. They ship them out to the closest lab and all that $$ you are paying for "top of the line" glasses is for the frames only. I ended up with Oakley Rx glasses in a poly lense color that is middle of the road and I can use them for fishing and driving. I chose Oakley because they are one of the few manufacturers that require Rx glasses to be shipped back to them for their lenses. Plus my buddy gave me a 50% off certificate and I have a good vision insurance plan. I have had them for 3 years and don't know how I ever fished without them. And because they cost me $$, I take good care of them. All that being said and if I didn't need Rx glasses, I would still cough up the $$ for a sunglass manufacturer in the mid-price range that are made for fishing even if I thought I would lose them, because I think it is important to take good care of the only set of eyeballs I have.

I have not done but I have seen some windscreens painted on the backside so they do not chip or peel. If it were me, I would either have them wrapped in vinyl or hydro-dipped.

I guess the most important thing to remember is both you and your boats limits on any body of water and don't push them. I buy my boats knowing the type and size of water I know I will be spending the majority of my time on. As current events have shown, even big glass boats are not a guarantee.

On Lake St. Clair, we throw a lot of SPRO Little John's (original size) and in various colors....Cell Mate, Nasty Shad, Spooky Shad, Olive to name just a few. We tear them up!! Add in Walleye, Musky and Pike and we get some food fish as well (especially walleye). Of course we catch the by-product fish as well.....Largemouth/Goggle eyes/white bass/sheepshead but we always have them tied on ready to throw.

I'm cheap!! Now that that's out of the way, I use racks I got for free when a golf store was going out of business. The racks used to hold individual golf clubs so they are sturdy and have green felt anywhere a rod (or Club) contacts the wood.

You are on the right track. As long as you don't venture out in big water on bad days, then there's no better boat to cut your teeth on than an aluminum. The question is how long to you plan on keeping that tin rig? That will determine the year and cost. If you think you might want a glass boat in the future, then I'd keep my sights set on a good used tin rig. Remember, you still have to tow it and you will have trailer maintenance as well. Good luck!!

Backing the brakes off completely isn't unusual but you better be on your game because there's no room for error.

I think of it this way.....An Off the Shelf Rod you get what you get. A custom rod you get to design and get what you want with a builder who I would hope takes the extra time to do things that the factory won't like properly spline the rod and use his/her skill in the build process which would set them apart from factory built and be worth the extra coin for a custom build. A rod builder who uses the same components and puts no skill into the build is no different than the factory building a rod. So my point is that to me it's not in the cost of the components as much as it is the skill of the builder.

Having taught literally hundreds to throw a baitcaster as a guide, I would have to watch you cast to be able to tell you exactly why you are backlashing.........but...........Here are some general rules of thumb... Reel Adjustment: Cheaper the reel, the harder it will be to cast lightweight lures. Less quality bearings and braking systems will require a more skill to cast (I call it a very educated thumb). Make short casts adjusting the backlash system(s) on the reel as you go. Technique: Casting heavier weighted lures doesn't require much technique, just rare back and throw it. The heavier lure will keep constant pressure on the line. When you go lighter you have to really pay attention to your arm/wrist position and how you are moving the rod. Normally, you snap the wrist with a Spinning Rod to get the maximum distance but if you do that with a baitcaster rigged light, you will backlash every time. A baitcaster is more of a whole arm type of cast. If you could see in slow motion what happens when you snap your wrist with a baitcaster, you would see a hump in your line heading out towards your lure and then traveling back to your reel. When it gets back (very quickly by the way) you get your backlash.

Maybe it was 10-15 miles AND we portaged a creek. I was exhausted!! Left at 7am and got back 5pm. We paddled most of the way to an area with no fishing on the way. Portaged the creek and fished for about an hour before we had to head back. He has an ocean going yak that is a mover and I was in a stubby sit in style. He DID NOT take it easy on me and I think he was surprised that I was able to keep up. Especially the last 3 miles.

I throw a Yamamoto DShad a LOT. It is one of my go to baits. I have rigged it many different ways but weightless is the most deadly for me. Depending on how I want the bait to act, the key is where you insert the hook in the nose for a weightless Texas Rigged bait. Straight in the center will give you a flat level fall. to the top and the bait will dive when you twitch it, to the bottom and the bait will climb on the twitch. Likewise left or right of center will move the bait sideways. There are a lot of minor adjustments inbetween those that I mentioned that will dictate the baits movement. Although spinning is my preferred gear, you should be able to cast a DShad with a properly set up baitcaster.

IMHO, your first cut should be to decide your means of propulsion. Paddle, peddle or power. You say you have weakness on one side. In my limited experience, it takes both arms, shoulders, back and legs to paddle correctly. Even with a peddle style you are going to need the use of both your legs. I thought I was in fair shape and my brother in law who is an accomplished yaker took me on a 20 mile lake fishing expedition and it was a LOT tougher than I thought it was going to be.

I went through the same thing with my grandfather who really introduced me to the fishing world. He died of Leukemia when I was 14. I spend all of my summers growing up with him and my grandmother in a small town in Iowa. I am 60 years old and could go on for hours about the relationship I had with him. Take some things that remind you of him and the happy times you had together and whenever you feel down, pull them out or go look at them. The happy times will drown out the sadness of his passing. I do this often. I feel his presence every time I am on the water and it gives me the most beautiful sense of calm and peace. Live your life in a way that would make him proud of you. Do I miss him? Yes I do but in a way he has never left and that is a good thing.

Personally, I can't wait for retirement. I think it's the mindset you go into retirement with. What are you going to do with yourself after you retire? What do you get from your job now? If your job is your life and it sustains you, then retirement would be a disaster. I work in a very high stress job but I have great pay and benefits. I have seen many that have retired from my field and have flourished. I have no doubt that will be me. Keep your mind and body active and live life to the fullest. That's all you can do.

It was a great event and there's talk about a Grand Opening celebration there soon. I'll keep everyone posted.

I'll be at the Bass Pro in Hampton for their spring classic and the Cabela's in Gainsville as well. I always have samples with me so just introduce yourself!!

I never leave the dock without a DS tied up. All of the above are good reply's and are spot on. I'll add 2 points. I fish the DS in pretty much all configurations but there is a deadly application that I use it for, dragging it while drift fishing. On St Clair when most would drag a tube, I pull out the DS and it is very effective. I stay with 1/4 unless we can't slow the drift with socks and then I might step it up in weight. Also a huge factor is the quality of your DS weight. I have gone through a lot of cheap weights during my week on St Clair and I have gone an entire week with 2 weights. I couldn't believe it. The difference was in the quality of the weight. A weight manufactured with a quality harp and proper shape is what made the difference. My DS weight of choice is a QuickDrop.

Awesome!! Plenty of samples to give out.

Everybody chooses their path in life according to their own needs and wants. I spent the first few years of my working life hopping from job to job trying different things and career paths. I trained thoroughbreds. I did the trades, I was a certified Union welder/painter/assembler by the time I left a plant where we rebuilt rail cars. I determined that was not the field for me after seeing the end point. The $$ was great but mentally I would have collapsed. I then went into the business world and finance. Started at a Finance Company, then a Bank. I ended up in a Federal Government job and soon realized that if I stuck with it, I could retire well and have great bennies along the way. That was 33 years ago and I will retire comfortably in another year. There's always going to be downsides to every job and IMHO, there is no "perfect" job for most but I will say that if you haven't planned for your dream job by 28, you need to determine what is important to you. My biggest concerns were job security and the ability to retire comfortably while still young enough to enjoy it. I have had some downsides to my job like 4 relocations, some extend time away from the family (1 year to Kansas City, 2 years to Florida) and I've been detailed to some pretty bad locations but I worked my way to DC (headquarters) and the payoff is right around the corner.

I don't change hands. I change my spinning gear handles.

Totally depends on the type of warranty. Those rod companies that offer a lifetime warranty do so KNOWING that if the rod is 4, 5 ,....10 years old, more than likely it's not a manufacturer defect. If they try to limit their "lifetime" warranty to manufacturers defects then it is no more than marketing. You only find the lifetime warranties on upper end rods why? Because the cost of that "no-fault" warranty is built in to the price of the rod up front. Now they can hedge their bet and charge a replacement fee, that allows them to keep the cost down on the front sale. Just know what kind of warranty you are getting when you purchase your rod. Warranty costs are built into the price for rods...period.

Better hope I don't try it. Every time I get a new favorite line, it gets discontinued. For YEARS I used Berkley Trilene Tournament Strength in Photochromic. It was the best line ever. Came in a Gold foil box. Yep....discontinued. I was able to stock up as stores cleared out their inventory and in the end even got some in Canada sent to me but after a while, I was starting to get questionable quality since it had been out of production. Since I was sponsored by Bass Pro, I just went with their Excel and while it has been good, it's nowhere near what my old favorite was.

It used to be (in the olden days ) if you wanted the stronger drag systems you had to throw a baitcaster. Spinning reels have come a long way since then and have better drag systems and components. Both have their place in my boat. I don't throw cranks on spinning and I don't throw Senkos on baitcasting. Could I? Sure, but to me there's the proper tool for the job. It's what works for you.

Smart shopping for the products you know you are going to use.