Johnbt

"I get that people's first reaction many times is to stifle personal freedoms" Let's say the tournament organizers decide to limit the entrants to 50 mph. Or 35 mph. No personal freedoms have been stifled. The tournament is a business. The entrants are there voluntarily and have to agree in writing to obey the tournament rules. They agree to all of the other tournament rules that do not apply to people out fishing for the day for the pure enjoyment of it. You know the other rules: don't fish here, don't fish there, don't use live bait or cut bait, start when we tell you, stop when we tell you, etc. Those rules don't stifle any freedoms. The entrants have the freedom to not enter if they don't like them.

I don't know this person and this is the first of his posts I've watched. I found it with google. He was there competing and went by the center console about 20 minutes or so before the wreck. At the 4:35 mark you can see some mist, but no fog. (There is a big smudge on his camera lens that he is aware of.) At around the 5:00 mark he passes the center console. He doesn't draw any real conclusions. He just posted some of his GoPro recording. If you keep watching he shows charts and tracks of the location. _________ edited to add a screen shot of his vid taken with my phone. My cursor is pointing to the center console

https://rodwarriorusa.com/products/sample-product Calculate the length you need and click custom length to enter what you want. The default color is black, but there are 18 options. There are options for guide size, too. I have a bunch of casting and spinning covers, all black. "Each sleeve includes a clear vinyl pocket for an information tag and a reel loop cord with a cord lock to attach the sleeve." And they make Power Pole covers.

They aren't yet available. Waitlist only right now. I would trip on the raised edge and go over the side. But that's just me.

They are incredibly strong - even a small one like this - and one the fastest fish. You have to land them quickly or the heat they generate fighting a long fight will cook them and ruin the meat. Because of the their hard aerodynamic heads they have to keep swimming to breathe and I've read they can cross the Atlantic in 60 days. I've been visiting the Outer Banks since the early '70s and have never heard of bluefin tuna roving the beaches. Bluefin this close to the beach has been the talk of the tackle shops. They are an offshore fish. You pay a couple of grand for 6 people to charter a boat for a day. Plus tips. Maybe you catch a fish, maybe you don't. "The largest bluefin tuna ever caught, a 1,496-pound Atlantic bluefin tuna, was caught by Ken Fraser off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1979, and it remains the current world record holder. " A big Penn or Shimano reel like that is probably $1500 these days.

Some have been hooked, but none had been landed. "4/4/25 Stefan Turko of Kitty Hawk just landed this awesome BLUEFIN TUNA from his kayak off the end of Jennette's Pier in Nags Head." www.facebook.com/jennettespierobx/posts/stefan-turko-of-kitty-hawk-just-landed-this-awesome-bluefin-tuna-from-his-kayak-/1127871776042165/

My wife doesn't like the snakes that come up to the house to shed in the sun. The lower end of the house has a strip of woods with a little creek that runs down the center. It goes under the road and eventually into the James River.

Bad, but not as bad as the HK catalog cover from 10 or 15 years ago. The catalog with the $5 price on the cover. Look at the magazine in the corner.

Sure, we're only a third of a mile from the tidal James River below Richmond, but we're 90 feet above sea level near Chaffin's Bluff and Jimmy Dean's place. And the Henrico boat landing fwiw. You can't see the two inches of standing water covering most of the backyard. The water in our shallow well is 20' down and the soil is all clay and silt with poor drainage during a downpour. But the deer, turkey and eagles love the deer woods and the yard. The hawks and eagles love the rabbits mostly. This is a first.

I still like Trilene XL. And Yo-Zuri Hybrid. And Spyderwire Invisi-Braid. And Tatsu. All about equally, although for different things. Trilene XL was getting a little expensive a few years ago, then Dick's had a sale - 1000-yd spools for $5 each and about 50 cents each for S&H.

I've been hosing rods and reels off in the driveway - shower setting, not hard stream - for many decades. If that's not available or I'm at the beach and the outdoor shower is turned off or it's near freezing out I'll just carry the rods and reels to the shower. Seriously, am I the only one who fishes in a hard rain?

I've been using Spiderwire Invisi-Braid in 10, 15 and 20 for decades. Some of my friends bought thousand-yard spools and the stuff fishes great and lasts forever. On spinning reels mostly in the lighter weights. I even use it in the surf for the lighter spinning rods with up to 3-ounce sinkers. Now I see they sell something called Spiderwire Ultracast Invisibraid-Translucent. It's always started out white and quickly turned blotchy camo-stained green in the water we usually fish.

I see a store at that address and there are rod-length boxes in the trash. The image capture on google maps says June 2024, but those dates can be years off (example: our house image says 2024 but the pic has 3 decks that were torn off, redesigned and rebuilt in 2021.) That's all I know.

"I am a firm believer that a fisherman should hold the rod with their dominant hand and reel with their non-dominant hand." I don't feel that way. But I'm righthanded and I've done it that way since lefthanded casting reels became reasonably available and affordable. I wanted a lefthanded casting reel in the '50s, but got by with what I had. Fwiw, my first spinning reels were for saltwater fishing in the early '80s. "I’m left handed but bat and golf as a righty." My father was right handed, but golfed and batted lefty. I write, throw, bowl, and usually bat from the right side, but putt better from the left side. Whatever works is good.

"they all look extremely ugly and ancient?" You probably wouldn't like any of my Conquest rods either. They are simple, functional, and I think quite attractive. They're fishing rods, not fashion statements. __________ You say 1994 like that's really old. That's cute. You're funny.

Quit overloading it and making the top bulge. I'm speaking from experience.

"Izzat like a 64(ish) Galaxy convertible in the background?!!" It's a 1964 Olds Jetstar 88 2-door convertible with a 330ci V8/245 hp. It's big and slow. It was an Olds for poor people.

I took a new 2012 Grizzly 1648, added a hinged deck on the back supported by 2"x2" aluminum angle I cut with an angle grinder, some glued down indoor/outdoor carpet, two screwed down battery boxes for the Maxxum 70. I have a 9.9 for reservoirs, but usually use an Endura Max 55 for all the small lakes we fish. The Endura Max and the fish finder are run off a third battery by the transom. The Polar Kraft in the background is my buddy's antique 1648. All of his homemade decking is framed with aluminum and decked in plywood.

Does Simms even have stores? I've only seen their products in stores.

Never fished one. It's been 40 or 45 years since I got interested in largemouth fishing, so I guess I never will fish a tournamet. The guy who taught me to bass fish for big fish used to fish tournaments and after a few years even he got tired of it. Fishing is relaxing. Tournaments aren't. Ever see a guy in tournament sitting there watching a bald eagle dive for fish? Or watch a great blue heron stalk a fish? Me either. We decided to concentrate on catching big bass and fishing where we wanted and when we wanted.

"Boron rods made in the 70 & 80s were nothing special." Compared to the metal rods I had that were made in the '50s they were great.

"SOLID, COMFORTABLE DECKS Boat decks have to absorb heat, vibrations and sound, retain fasteners, remain firm underfoot and last for the lifetime of the boat. We use ¾-inch 7-ply marine grade plywood, covered by our limited lifetime structural and deck guarantee, because it fulfills these requirements better than aluminum." www.trackerboats.com/quality-manufacturing.html

That's terrible news. It really sucks. My wife is sitting across the room and says to tell you that she is a breast cancer survivor - and it's been 17 years.

I just did a Build Your Own with a 250, power poles, better batteries, better fish finders, jack plate, and some other stuff. Total $69,490

"Honestly, who cares about what's on TW?" Lot's of people I know. You start with their price and then shop for deals, both here and overseas. And honestly? You said, ""their higher end reels are as expensive as Japan Made Shimanos and Daiwas"" And honestly, they aren't. Maybe Japan Tackle or Digitaka will have an ABU prototype that costs more than the higher end Daiwas or Shimanos, but many of them are never sold in the states. If you have some additional pricing info to share, well, go ahead. I'm glad I'm in the know and buy the cheapest things I can from Japan, but I'm always on the lookout for a better supplier. The reel dealers in Japan have been great to deal with.