Dorado

The 150 looks sweet! I already own an older gen Tatula for my cranking rod and I love it. The Lews Super Duty Wide Spool reel is a top contender too. I’ve narrowed it down now to 3. Ill decide tomorrow.

@MassYak85 disregard that last comment. Going to trade out the Shimano Calcutta 400 for an Okuma Citrix 364 and pull the trigger on the Dobyns 795 I went too big on my first order. My baits are too small

I’m trying to force the 806 to cover those smaller baits all the way to the 8” Hudds. In your opinion, would using that 806 on a 400 series reel be incredibly awkward throwing those 2-3 oz lures?

My gut is telling me to go with the 806, but here’s the million dollar question...... is it too overpowered for the baits in the 2-3oz range?

I have a box of smaller glide baits and smaller swimbaits that needed the right equipment. That Daiwa DX is out of stock so now I’m contemplating going with the downsized Dobyns Fury 795 rod since the ratings align with my tackle. Hope the Calcutta isn’t overkill for now. It will shine when I tap into the larger swimbaits, but I need to take baby steps. I’ve been a finesse fisherman mostly so this is going against the grain

Wife did well this Birthday. Waiting for the Daiwa DX 8’ Heavy Swimbait rod to arrive. Im not embarrassed to say that I got an adrenaline rush when I opened the box today from TW also, those 2.8 Keitechs are going to be killer for crappies this spring! I’m on edge to hit the water now

@J._Bricker Beast mode! Toads

Beauty

Birthday present.

This ^

Larry Dahlberg. His DVD series, 'Hunt for Big Fish', inspired me to want to fish internationally and to dream big. His adventures around the globe gives me daily motivation to work hard in my career to set me up for that freedom when I'm older. Taking care of my family is #1 daily motivation, but what I just mentioned is right behind! He has answered fishing-related questions directly for me in the past and is one of the most humble anglers around. Not only a skilled fishing tackle developer, but extremely versatile with a fly rod and bait-caster. The Whopper Plopper really made him famous, but I was an avid fan years before he went mainstream.

Do you know the forage? Let’s start there

Month late I realize but has anyone tried them out on the field yet? I’ll play around with it next week with the Twilight pattern(pic below) The colors are wicked up close and pics online do not do justice. Desert Craw looks like a promising AZ color. I trimmed off 1/4” because I’m neurotic like that

What was your 20# flathead experience like off the Ned? I remember seeing pics last year

I shouldn’t say what I’m about to say on a BASS site, but a cat fights way harder than a largie pound per pound. They have so much power in their shoulders and tail. In football terms, Cats are the line backer position equivalent of the freshwater world, IMO

Landed this 8.4 lb 28.5” Channel Catfish tonight off a Finesse TRD (California Craw) on a 1/15 oz shroomz jig head. Used my ‘drop shot’ rod which is a Fenwick HMG medium-light spinning rod spooled with #10 braid and 6# co-polymer leader. FG knot stayed strong as you could imagine the fight I had with this pig! She peeled drag and I landed her without a net. Crawled army style just to craddle the fish one-handed onto shore. It was an epic fight I’ll remember forever. Ned Rig has been pond magic for me this March. My new favorite multi-species lure for warm water species.

@Bluebasser86 You're a good buddy to have! Those fish are beauties.......all on the ned too.

For me, I use lipless cranks in Open water and it could be used at any depth, so they are beyond versatile. I shy away from structure to avoid getting hung up so easily since I mostly fish from shore. It excels in colder temps when the fish prefer a tight wobble. I like to use it like a blade bait too in late fall- winter when the Shad start dying off When spring is in the air, I replace the lipless with a Squarebill for a wider wobble and to deflect off structure to trigger reaction bites when the bass move to the shallows during the prespawn. I get hung up less due to the Squarebill and most dive down 1-5 ft, on average. Fast forward to fall, then I’m burning lipless cranks subsurface when the shad schooled up. Never used a Squarebill in the fall so others might attest.

There are structure spoons that fit in the 1oz-2oz category

@Pedigohornet Thanks for posting a pic of the flies and elaborating some. Great post my man!

I learned that when I turned 16 and start my 1st job!

I learned a tough lesson the hard way tonight on swapping out those stocked hooks. They are garbage! I set a solid hookset on a nice 4# Largie tonight on a KVD 1.5, Chart./Black Back and she throw the hook on the second jump. I’ll pick up those Mustad hooks this weekend and do a hardware exchange on all my SK KVDs.

Incredible! Congrats especially on a fly rod. Can we see a pic of the streamer?

Interesting what you said about the mayfly hatch hmmmm. I bank fish at night and never turn my headlight on, unless I'm unhooking a fish or tying. With that said, it's too dark to line watch so I'm kinda limited in the various retrieval styles I can employ. I have to fish it like a grub by letting it hit the bottom, then slowly reeling the rig slightly off the bottom with rod twitches. With braid and co-poly leader coupled with a sensitive medium action spinning rod, I can detect the slightest thump. It's so addicting right now.......at least until the weeds start to emerge