TOXIC

I use Yamamoto DShads and I treat them more like a frog. Gotta give them a few seconds to turn with the Bait.

While I don’t disagree, a top end reel that is lighter tends to be more fragile in my experience besides the fact I’ve never stopped fishing because my arm is tired, doesn’t need to cast any farther than what I have and the way I fish, and the drag systems are more than adequate. I’ve had 75 fish days on St Clair and I’ve caught 14lb snakehead, 40lb catfish and 10lb bass on my rigs with 6lb test. I’d just rather put my $$ into something that pays a better dividend. Maybe I’ve just been lucky and have reels that punched above their weight class but so far I am happy.

Looks like spawning behavior to me. Bass is just a little confused.?

Oh, I’ve fished some top end reels and in my world, I need a reel that is smooth, has a good drag system and is durable or at least serviceable. I’m not getting into that age old debate on advantages of some over the disadvantages of others but I will say, I have never lost a fish due to reel malfunction. The bass in the picture was on an at least 10 hear old Pro Qualifier that survived a couple of good runs without failure. I don’t know exactly what a top end reel would have done differently. That being said, I have fished some to failure and it’s usually a bail spring or anti reverse gears. Some of these same reels have survived 20 years of St Clair Smallmouth without a failure. Far be it from me to tell someone how much to spend on their gear but for me, I’m totally happy with my system.

That’s my thinking except for the 1 season. At that price point and the fact that the BPS reels and cheaper quantum’s have lasted as long as they have with regular maintenance, I would hope these are a step up. Time will tell.

I am naturally resistant to the sun but as I have aged and gotten a little wiser I moved away from short sleeve shirts and visors to long sleeved sun shirts with hoods, buffs and full hats. I have not been able to get used to gloves. I was always against sunscreen after seeing what it does to graph screens from overspray and leftover residue on fingers on touchscreens.

Those who know me, know I use my gear to failure and a bit beyond. Meaning, there’s a few repairs before retirement. I am not overly sensitive to top notch gear because I’ve been in the game long enough to pretty much be able to figure out the different price point influences. I was pro staff for Bass Pro for 15 years and I used exclusively BPS gear including a lot of JLM Signature, Pro Qualifier and Browning (including Midas and Citori). I travel and do shows for a Manufacturer’s Rep group that opened the door to Quantum. I am currently fishing with some Quantum and JLM baitcasters, Pro Qualifer, Browning and Quantum Smoke spinning reels and a couple Smoke baitcasters. I ran across this deal on some Duckett reels where if you buy 1 you get 2 free. They are discontinued but that matters not to me. At the retail price point of $149.00 they should be a good mid range deal and 3 for the price of 1 was enticing enough to get me to buy in. Just got notified they shipped today and I hope they will be here before I leave for St Clair at the end of next week. Anybody have any predictions on how these reels will perform? 1 DFSR2500 PARADIGM SR 2500 1 ea 2 DFSR2500 PARADIGM SR 2500 2 ea

I’ve had people follow me around all day when I had clients in the boat and was guiding. I had a very unique boat and everybody knew it. I had no problem with it because as a good friend of mine used to say “You ain’t gonna catch another man’s fish”. Lol. I had a tree that I usually took clients to as my first stop. It was half submerged in the water and laying on its side. It was always good for at least a couple 2 pounders and sometimes better fish were on it. I was at the ramp one day and mentioned to another guide that I was heading out to my secret tree and he laughed because he lived fairly close to that tree across a small cove and said that every tournament that goes out of the marina, someone stops and fishes that tree. But, he said, You are the only one I have ever seen catch a fish off it. ?

Although we fish year round and make a trip to Florida in February, we are coming up on our annual spring trip to Lake St Clair in about a week. We have been trying to get out as often as we can here and staying out as long as we can to get into “fishing shape” for this trip. It’s one thing to go out for a day, it’s a totally different thing to go out from sunup to sunset for a week straight on big water pretty much regardless of the conditions. We call it combat fishing. While there, I’ll be in bed by 7pm every night after eating dinner and a couple Jack&Cokes. Full bottles of Aleve and Tylenol packed and clothing for both snow and sun because it’s “Pure Michigan”.?

I guess I better update myself. The Rappahonock trip had fast, high, stained, moving water and was not conducive to throwing the Yamatanuki. Im getting gear ready for our St Clair trip that starts a week from this Saturday. I’ll be able to throw it there as well as possibly our filming with Kim Striker.

If, and that’s a big if, you copyright a bait you have a basis to go after knockoffs. In order to avoid copyright infringement you have to differ from the copyrighted product by a certain percentage. Owning a copyright you have to renew it on a regular basis or you lose the right to defend it. Yamamoto let the copyright expire on the Senko and look where we are now. ZMan was pretty well known for sending cease and desist letters from attorneys to copiers of the original chatterbait. I don’t know if they are still defending it so actively. Yamamoto had to retool one of its creature baits due to a copyright infringement lawsuit. Also takes a lot of $$ to go after and defend a copyright infringement case so a lot don’t bother.

When I was serious into wading, I spent the bucks and bought a good pair of 3mm neoprene waders. I waded the Shenandoah river with ice chunks bouncing off me. It never completely froze up due to the flow. Neoprene waders are also buoyant and will certainly help if you ever get swept. I got boot foot and felt soled wading boots also. Footing is important in fast moving water like in the Shenandoah, especially in cold water.

I don’t do donuts very often. If I do it’s a grab and go single or double if I’m on a road trip. My favorite are the sourdough cake style with glaze. When I lived in Massachusetts there was a Dunkin’ on every corner. When I lived in both Kansas City and Florida I had to go by a Krispy Cream shop every mornin on my way to the office. Never stopped at either even if the fresh light was on. Bagels are another matter completely. I will buy them by the dozen. I would rather make a sandwich out of a sesame bagel than bread. Likewise nothing beats a bagel with cream cheese in the morning. Asaigo cheese, sesame, everything, plain, any style is my favorite.?

Good video. You and I have the same motor (if yours is a 250). I have used both styles. I originally had a lower unit to trailer style. Why? Because I was in direct contact with Ranger and it was the only toter they approved. Times may have changed but for the reasons you gave I did switch over to the smaller unit but not the DD26 model. I have seen a lot of different makers and contact points. Some requiring attaching additional plates for spring loaded pins to mount in and varying contact points between the models. Problems have ranged from material wear on some, fitment problems where the unit if not carefully attached, would cut the engine ground wire. The one I have was designed specifically for my motor and custom made also out of aircraft aluminum. It has lasted through 4 separate boats before it got to me and has zero wear. I think it would be very interesting to query the major boat manufacturers and tally their recommendations. Now that Caymas, Vexus, Ikon, and a couple more have entered the market their perspective would be interesting. As far as I know, no one has queried the engine manufacturers either.

The spraying and the major tournament scheduled the same week we were planning to go last February pushed us to find another lake. The year before we did “ok” on the big O (thanks for the info) but some of the less experienced in our group had a very tough time there. We opted for Headwaters just to try something new since we had been to Okeechobee, and Kissimmee multiple times and we really had a good time except for the lodging and that nasty access road. We are setting up for next February and are looking at returning to Headwaters or possibly trying somewhere new like Harris Chain or Rodman. Florida is one of my 2 away trips, the other is Lake St Clair which we will be leaving in about two weeks.

So much for the stories,I’ve been hearing that they sprayed the lake and it decimated the bass.?

So have I. It depends on the hook keeper. First off when I when I was Pro Staff for Bass Pro, the hook keepers on their rods were cheap and rusted in one season. My CastAway rods all came with a rubber hook keeper and I liked that. My Quantum’s have a hook keeper on the butt of the rod that if I put a lure there, it’s guaranteed I will stab myself every time I reach for it. I have also had rods where there is a good hook keeper in front of the foregrip but it was placed so that it would catch my line on a cast occasionally. That was on a spinning rod. I don’t like attaching to the rod guide frame since if you miss, you can chip ceramic guides and if in the frame, when I spin the line for storage, it puts stress on the guide. Very frustrating. I also like the open ended keepers not the closed loop style. So in summary, a quality hook keeper in a good position is a good thing. A lot are not.

I’ve followed him for a while. He’s a great ambassador for the sport. Here’s a pic of his old wrap. I think his current wrap probably has sponsors on it since he went with BassCat and PowerPole just to name a couple.

While I don’t wade fish anymore, I used to rig a 3 inch Kalins Smoke with Black Flake, I think it was technically named a smoke salt and pepper, on a 1/16th jighead, hook exposed. I would cast it across the current and let it sweep down river. If you cast up current, you’re almost guaranteed a snag. I had 100 fish days with this rig.

I agree but he won’t be allowed to fish the elites without a wrap. Remember Steve Kennedy wrapping his boat with an Auburn logo and no sponsors? He did that because of the wrap requirements. Section 5.3 https://www.bassmaster.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2022_elite_classic_rules.pdf

Y'all know he’s a part owner in 6th Sense? If he ever went to the elites, he would be required to wrap his boat, it’s a rule.

Having a career that paired me with people from all walks of life including top level executives all the way down and everything in between, you gotta play the room. Words to live by!

Oooops, guess I looked before everybody weighed in. Still good points and he might be suffering from the lack of performance most of these guys have after a big win. Hope he keeps rockin the 402.??

Well, he finished 56th.

It’s well worth it. We went from Virginia last year. Lots of guides and a lot of drama but we caught at least 1 over 6lbs every day between 3 boats. We only fished artificials. Most of the guides are shiner fishermen. There were a lot of kayaks but we never had a problem with them and most waved us past when we went by. To my knowledge there have not been any incidents between bass boats and kayaks there yet.