Boomstick

734C will do a 3/8 and 1/2oz with or without a trailer and in decent cover, where you can throw a 3/8oz with maybe a lighter trailer or a 1/2oz without a trailer in open water on a 733C, but if weeds are involved forget it.

Well it looks like the hurricane completely missed us. It came about 45 minutes south and pulled a hard U-turn. All we got was a drizzle. Got more rain on my camping trip last week.

Hey guys, I am going to look at scheduling the next one on Thursday, August 26. The reason being I am not entirely sure if I will or will not have power due to whatever happens in the hurricane, and I was away last week and need time to catch up on life and such. I'll try to get invites out tomorrow.

Was the article pushing (trying to sell you) an alternative by chance?

I have been carrying two or three rods with me on the kayak a lot this year, with the idea when I go out, I'm hitting specific parts of the lake, maybe throwing a frog over lily pads or pitching a jig into pockets or fishing weedlines with it.

The Sierras are nice rods. I go for the non micro guide versions myself, but if you run straight mono, fluoro or braid then go for it.

@Spankey if you are on a kayak, Goose Bay is a pretty good bet to get out of the current of the main river, but you won't find any smallies there. You can throw jigs in the pockets in the edges, T-Rigs in the weeds in the middle and then mix in a spinnerbait or chatterbait everywhere else.

I would be inclined to throw straight braid in weeds like that.

St Croix Avid X, 6'9" ML/XF with a Daiwa BG 2000 reel. Works great, I even catch trout on a ned rig time to time. Sunline SX1 12# with a 6# fluoro leader.

I definitely prefer the wire keepers as they damage soft plastics the least, but they all work.

Some of the Peet's dark roasts are among my favorite.

I've been thinking of buying one of them off Amazon, curious about that one.

I get Dean's Beans a lot in my neck of the woods. Our work coffee (back when we had an office before I was remote) was the Sumatran French Roast, which is probably actually a little too strong and one of my least favorites from them, but still so much better than many. My all time favorite Dean's Beans is the Mexican Chipas French Roast, followed by the regular Mexican Chipas.

Thursdays work best for you don't they? I could try 8/26 if that's better for some people.

Our local supermarket had Kona coffee at one point, maybe two blends. I recall really liking one of them.

You want a reel at least 6.3:1 or so, but a faster reel is nice. I have two reels I run braid on, one is a Tatula 150 and the fastest they make is a 7.3:1, and the other is a Tatula CT. I was going to buy the 8.1:1, but I couldn't get that any less than retail where I got the 7.3:1 for a pretty significant discount. The 8.1:1 would be nice, but the 7.3:1 is still fine.

Mine sit outside in the backyard. In the summer, I store them in my mom's basement.

I have heard from other users that it's not good on casting gear, but great on spinning gear.

Hey coffee drinkers, what's your go to coffee? My all-time favorite coffee is one of several Mocha Joe's dark roast blends who are out of Brattleboro VT with some half and half. However since I'm lactose intolerant and half and half in my coffee at times can be enough to make me feel awful, I usually drink it black and have settled on the Death Wish dark roast which is the original blend before they made a medium as my go to. When I switched to Death Wish, I started drinking only one cup in the morning, and as many stronger coffees will give me the jitters, the Death Wish does not and it also does not fade away around 2-3pm. Plus it does seem to give me less heartburn than many others, and I like it black so I've stuck with it.

Hey guys, I am sorry I missed July, been quite busy now that it's not thunderstorming all the time finally. And I will be away next week, so I am thinking the following week sometime, maybe Tuesday 8/24 for our next zoom call. How would that work for everyone?

I'll second this. If you can find a deal or spend a little more, the Fury 702SF will be great.

If #1 is on a MH/F rod, I would go with 15# fluorocarbon. I like the Daiwa J-Fluoro Samurai a lot, but Sunline Sniper and Shooter and Seaguar Inviszx and Tatsu are also all solid choices. For #2, I would either go with a slightly cheaper fluorocarbon like Invizx or 15# monofilament. If I only have three rods and reels, I'm probably going with mono to throw topwaters on it. For #3, I like the 12# Sunline SX1 myself, but 15# PowerPro or Daiwa J-Braid x8 will do nicely, then add a 6-8# leader.

Try Daiwa J-Fluoro Samurai. That's what I've been using on rods for jigs and T-Rigs this year (I will either mono, copoly or cheaper fluoro for reels that I primarily use with moving baits). I also have Tatsu and Shooter FC on other reels, but honestly the J-Fluoro is cheaper than both and every bit as good so far (I honestly think it handles a little better). For whatever reason, the diameter of Yo Zuri Hybrid 15# is like most 17# mono that runs fat, but the other sizes run inline with fatter monos, say Berkley Big Game or Sufix Siege etc.

The drop shot works for green and brown bass alike. A lot of times if you are fishing for brown bass, you will target drop offs and alongside rocks where with green bass you'll target weedlines, but if you target various drop offs like you are fishing for brown bass, sometimes that produces some mean massive green bass

The LiveTarget 2 5/8" is money for the real thick stuff, but that said I have got a few in the thick stuff with the 2 1/4" as well too mainly because that's my go to size. I believe even the 2 1/4" is slightly heavier than the Pad Crasher or the same weight, and they have better action. Some complain they don't hold up as long but I haven't had many issues.