JFlynn97

DEET on your shoes and pants. Wear long socks or boots that you can tuck your pants into. As soon as you get out of the woods, check key spots for ticks (lower legs and ankles, pits, neck, etc.) and do a thorough check once you're home. Be sure to look carefully, because the ones that will give you lyme disease are generally smaller than the ones you usually see. A tick will generally have to be attached for at least 16-20 hours to transmit the disease, so if you find it early you should be fine. Lymes in no joke. I worked in the woods all last summer with a group of 4 other people (5 total), and by the end of the summer 3 people had contracted lymes and we made sure to be as careful as possible. Again, as long as you're careful you should be fine. Look up the symptoms and be aware of what they are - if you start to show any of them, it's better to get yourself tested early and confirm/deny that you have it. The earlier you're diagnosed, the better off your treatment will be.

Not sure if this goes in Fishing Tackle or Fishing Rods, Reels, Lines, and Knots but here goes. I recently found a Westin Hypoteez ST swimbait in my cupboard that I forgot about because I don't usually fish swimbaits. The rod with the highest lure weight rating I have is my Dobyns Fury 734c (lures from 1/4oz to 1 oz), but according to the packaging the lure weighs one and 3/8 oz. Would I generally be okay casting it on this rod or should I avoid it until I get something that's better able to handle the weight? The rod is paired up with 30lb braid, if that makes a difference at all. Like I said, I never fish swimbaits unless it's a little paddletail on a swimbait hook. Thanks!

Up until recently I've always been a braid or braid with fluoro leader kind of a guy. But my rod in question, an ALX Zolo deputy, has small guides that I imagine won't be able to pass a connection knot through very well. I had it paired up with a Daiwa fuego with 30lb braid, but recently picked up a Shimano SLX and 15lb Seaguar Tatsu to spool it up with. I've heard fluoro can be a little unwieldy and difficult to manage, but modern fluorocarbon isn't nearly as bad as it used to be and Seaguar Tatsu is one of the best if you want a full reel of fluoro (again, from what I've read on this site and others). Is there anything else I should know going in? I don't generally use fluoro because ponds in my area are super weedy so I stick to braid, but this year I plan on doing more traveling where the water is more clear and there's more cover like rocks and laydowns that I don't want to be throwing braid into. Essentially, I'm a fluorocarbon noobie and would appreciate any tips or things I should be aware of.

I'm in my shopping cart on shop.flwfishing.com with the $75 membership in my cart. When I hit "Check Out" it takes me to a log-in page. After logging in it takes me back to the main FLW website (flwfishing.com), where I can't access my cart or finish checking out. If I click "Become a Member", it takes me to the membership page with the four types (Membership, subscriber, high school membership, kids club). Clicking membership then add to cart adds it and takes me to my cart, and pressing check out brings me back to the login page/main flw website. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to log in to the flw shop website and finish checking out. I would appreciate some help! Also, apologies if this is in the wrong section! Edit: not sure how this got posted in fishing tackle when I meant to post it in the General Bass Fishing Forum, sorry about that

1st bass ever followed my crank bait up to the bank but never committed to a strike, once I reeled the crank in he veered off and plopped himself under an algae mat next to a big branch that was in the water no more than 2 feet from the bank. Kept my eye on him while I took off the crank and tied on a senko to make sure he wouldn't swim off again, and plopped the senko right in front of his face and he absolutely annihilated it. All that was followed by a hectic 30 seconds where all logic went out the window and I did all I could to get him up the bank all while yelling about hooking into my first bass. Definitely a moment I'll never forget!

I want to get better at using all types of bottom-contact baits, whether it's a texas-rigged worm, creature baits, jigs, shaky heads, senkos - whatever. But I do have a couple of questions. When people say for bottom contact baits you have to watch your line, where exactly are you looking? Right where your line meets the water? Or further up near the tip of your rod where you might have slack in your line? And what exactly are you looking for when you watch your line? Second, how do you know how much line to reel in? Like for fishing a jig the simplest advice I was giving was to lift your rod tip up to move your jig and reel up the slack as you lower your rod tip back down. How can you get a better of idea of how much line/slack you should be reeling in, especially on lighter rigs like unweighted/lightly weighted worms and such? Also any and other tips you guys have for these kinds of baits would be super appreciated!

Personally I would get the 703. Granted I've only ever used 2 and 3 power Dobyns Sierra rods and not the Fury's, but I actually recently swapped my 2 power for the 3 power and I've been enjoying it significantly more. I don't do a ton of super finesse fishing, mostly light t-rigs, wacky rigs, shaky heads, and ned rigs, which is why I think I like it more. The 2 was super whippy and felt more like a light than a medium light to me, but if you do mostly exposed hook fishing like drop shots and ned rigs, then the 702 should work just fine. I believe the 703 is more versatile, I could definitely use it for a drop shot and other more finesse applications in a pinch.

I really want to get more into jig fishing this year, so I'm looking to buy some that I can use nearly year round in most conditions just to gain some confidence and make all of the jig head and trailer options a little less complex. I'm thinking of using 3/8 oz Arky jigs with Rage Craw trailers, do you guys think that should fit my needs?

One jig trailer for the rest of your life, but you can have it in any color it's currently available in. What do you choose?

Agreed, I have a Zolo I use for jigs and t-rigs just like you want to use it for and I absolutely love it. I've said it on this forum before, but ALX is on another level as far as product quality and customer service. I talked to their customer service to get a recommendation on what model rod I should get for what applications I want to use it for, and after purchasing the rod I received a hand-written letter thanking me for the purchase and hoping it's been working well. If you go ALX, you won't be disappointed.

I received several Cabelas giftcards for Christmas, and have had my eye on a Shimano SLX reel for a little while now, but Cabelas doesn't carry them yet. Does anyone have any ideas when they might?

I have 8lb braid spooled up on my "finesse" rod (the spinning rod I use for all of my more finesse applications like light texas rigs, ned rigs, shaky heads, and dropshots in a pinch, 6'9" medium). I chose braid because i fish mostly smaller ponds with low clarity and generally lots of vegetation. But, next year I may be traveling and fishing areas with clear water, so I'm interested in picking up some fluoro to use as leader in these conditions or if I encounter any heavy cover like wood or rocks that I don't want to throw light braid in to. What line and pound test do you recommend?

Somewhat interested in picking up a new reel to use on my rod for mainly jigs/Texas rigs (an ALX Zolo Deputy) and stumbled upon the SLX. Anyone used it or have any thoughts on it? I'm especially interested because the black/blue color would match the colors on my rod perfectly. I'd most likely spool it up with 15lb fluoro and like I said before it'd mostly be used for jigs and Texas rigs (both long casting and flipping/pitching). I'm normally a Daiwa kinda guy myself, but I've heard nothing but good things from Shimano so I'm sure it'd work well enough but I'm interested in people's opinions!

Does anyone what the current Tackle Warehouse $5 discount code is?

Maybe new rods/reels? Some tackle that you could stock up on? Perhaps something to upgrade or keep on your boat, or even just a fishing tool/accessory?

Can confirm, picked one up recently and I absolutely love it. It's made learning and getting confident with jigs/Texas rigs much easier

What do y'all think?

Agreed with the silvermax, the thing is an absolute workhorse. 3 years now with minimal maintenance (i'm really bad when it comes to maintaining my reels) and it still works like a beast. But like many others have said in this thread, you can find a Fuego CT brand new on ebay for 60-70 bucks and it's fantastic. I love them so much I have one in each gear ratio (the 6.3:1, 7.3:1 and 8.1:1), easily some of my favorite that I own

I'm going to be picking up a Dobyns Sierra 693SF in the near future, and I'm curious if there's any real benefits of getting the micro-guide version of the rod. Thanks!

If it helps, the rod will be a dobyns sierra. Just not sure if I should get the 6'9" med-light or medium Thanks for all the tips guys! @WRB @BobP @LCG

thanks guys, maybe i'll look into a medium over a medium-light

Something that I could throw mostly things like senkos, shaky heads, light texas rigs, some ned and neko rigs, etc. Any suggestions on length too? Thanks!

I don't have a boat of my own so 99% of my fishing is done from the bank, and I've only fished from a boat a handful of times. But someone that the president of my university's bass fishing club knows offered to take a couple of people out on his boat this weekend and I jumped on the opportunity! Only thing is I'm still not totally sure what the standard procedure for a situation like this is. It'll be a 20 ft bass boat with the guy taking us out, and two members (3 total on the boat). What is the appropriate number of rods to bring? How much tackle? I was thinking to bring book bag with enough hard tackle, terminal, and soft plastics for the day that way I don't take up too much space, and maybe 4 or 5 rods. Does that sound about right? I also already know I'm going to give the guy who owns the boat a bit of cash for gas and to make up for taking us out, but how much should I offer? If you guys have any other tips for fishing from a boat for a noob, I'd super appreciate it! Thanks

I recently picked up an ALX Zolo Deputy Rod, not even from the ALX website but from Tackle Warehouse. And yesterday in the mail I received a hand-written letter from Alan (Alex? I'm terrible at reading cursive, hahah!) giving his thanks for purchasing an ALX rod, hoping that I've been enjoying it and catching loads of fish. It was a small notion, but it meant a lot and goes to show that they really care about their customers. On top of this, before purchasing my rod I talked to their customer service looking for recommendations as to what rod I should get based on what techniques I want to use it for, where I'm fishing, etc. They responded quickly and gave their recommendations and an in-depth explanation for why they'd recommend it. This has pretty much guaranteed that the next time I'm looking for a rod to add to my arsenal, it'll be an ALX. And to answer the question, in the short period of time I've had the rod it's quickly become my favorite in my collection! Incredibly sensitive, balanced, and just feels great in my hands. I absolutely love it!