Russ E

Thanks. honestly getting my gun back is not the major concern. The possibility of someone using it to do something bad, is what bothers me.

I grew up with guns. Started hunting with my father when I was 7. until recently I never felt the need to carry a gun. Times have changed. There has not been any real crime, besides a few robberies, in my area since I moved here. half of the city police department lives in my housing development. If you go 10 miles east of here there are shootings nearly every night. I stay away from the inner city most of the time. Unfortunately the court house and a lot of the businesses I frequent, are in the city. if I go into the city I am carrying.

my personal best bass was on a fluke and it was a series of taps, but it felt a lot different than the constant pecking of a bluegill when it has the tail of a bait. there is no standard, feeling for a bite. if something doesn't feel normal, I set the hook. the worst you can do is hook a sunfish or nothing at all.

^^^. this. It has been 10 years, since my last trip there. might plan a trip there later this fall.

unfortunately I have a constant craving for barbecue. The best meat market is in a sketchy neighborhood.

i did not have a gun just to go to the bank. I live in a normally safe area.I rarely carry a gun. I went to a meat market in a less than savory area of town and stopped by the bank on the way home. You can't carry a gun into the bank, so I placed it in my center console.

went out to my truck, which sits in my driveway, to prepare it for fishing tomorrow. noticed the center console was open and my belongings were scattered all over the truck. I did not notice anything missing, until I remembered I placed my carry gun in the console, Friday to run into a bank. My S&W M&P shield was missing. I had an instant feeling of dread. A criminal now owns one of my guns. I filed a police report and found 11 vehicles were hit in our neighborhood last night. there is camera footage from a couple residences, so hopefully they are caught.

if you are getting several little taps, it is usually sunfish biting the tail. A bass is usually one tap as it sucks in the bait.

^^^ I agree. If you get into a feeling contest with the fish, it will usually spit the bait. there is one bait that I will hesitate, before I set the hook. that is big 10-11 inch worms. I still don't try to feel the fish, I just wait a couple seconds for it to get the whole bait in its mouth. I have watched bass suck in and then instantly spit lures while sight fishing the shallows. It felt like 2 quick taps. Not much you can do about it, when that happens.

i bought the same reel. I already have a speed demon shakyhead rod to put it on.

shakyheads are my go to bait when fishing gets tough. trying to catch up with a fish that grabs the bait and swims right at you has always been a problem for me with this lure. Ksatking has a 10% off coupon on their facebook page for the speed demon spinning reel. I just bought one at Amazon. https://www.facebook.com/kastking/

Everyone gets skunked occasionally. It is just a part of fishing. Especially if you are targeting big fish. However if I only caught 3 fish in 3 dozen trips, I would be looking for better places to fish. I fish several different bodies of water. If one is not producing, I move to another.

^^^^ this

The bargain cave here in Kansas City is packed full of things nobody wants to buy. there are changes every time I go into bass pro and cabelas. I noticed Bass pro is now carrying Cabelas brand equipment, like smokers and grinders. they are merging the cabelas and bass pro credit cards. I have a Cabelas club visa card. It now builds points when I purchase at either store.

Seems like every time kastking is mentioned, angry posts follow. crucified was probably the wrong term. I just wanted to give @Joshua van Wyk an honest answer without the thread going south.

that jon boat is only a year old and $2000.00. if you are patient you should be able to find one a little older in your price range. often times boats come up for sale in the fall, because people don't want to pay storage on a boat they want to sell.

a new boat like that will easily cost $4000.00 or higher. you can get a used boat much cheaper

Don't think it is on the market yet. if it is any were close to the quality of the speed demon pro baitcaster it will be a good reel. I own 1 Sharky II in 3000 size and 2 sharky III in 2000 size. they are all very nice reels.

I own a bass boat and a nice fully outfitted Kayak. the Kayak spends most of its time Hanging from the ceiling collecting dust and spiders. I might use it once or twice a year. Personally I would get a double wide 16ft. jon boat. with that you will need a trailer. you can easily stand up in it. While you can stand up in a smaller jon boat they are often times not very stable. regarding outboard size it depends on the water you are going to use it. If you are fishing small lakes, around 100 to 300 acres, a 10 horse is plenty. (they are usually no wake lakes anyway) if you are occasionally hitting larger reservoirs I would get a 20-25 horse motor. a word of advice. Jon boats are not your best choice if you plan on fishing bigger water. they don't fair well in rough water. neither does a Kayak. often times the outboard is the most expensive part of a smaller boat. the bigger the motor the more it costs. You can usually get a nice used jon boat relatively cheap with a small outboard. $1500.00 should get you into a used boat with a small outboard good luck.

I will probably get crucified here for saying this, but lately the KastKing Speed Demon Pro reel with a Speed demon pro 7ft 3in. medium action jig/worm rod, has been my favorite. the same combo with the 7ft 3in medium heavy swimbait rod has also impressed me. the reel was $89.99 and the rod was $109.99 on amazon.

The few I have broken were because of my stupidity. Usually by hanging out the side of the boat at a dock or, being overzealous on freeing a snag. I have however inadvertently kicked a few overboard, while battling a fish. It seems, I lose track of my surroundings when a big fish is on the line. for this reason I no longer buy expensive equipment. after kicking a $500.00 Dobyns/Tatula combo overboard, I decided to stick with a little less costly equipment. I fished for that rod for 2 hours, with no luck. I don't buy baseline equipment, but most of my combos cost less than $200.00 a piece.

my old boat did not have a latch on the livewell. while we were at the weigh in waiting for our turn, another angler walked up to me and asked why there was a 3lb bass laying on the floor of my boat. I went back to my boat and put the fish back in the livewell. a few minutes later is was my turn to weigh in and that same fish somehow knocked the lid open again and was laying in the cockpit of the boat. we did weigh it, then release it. Surprisingly it swam away. I no longer underestimate the escape instinct of a bass.

Mental health. Before retiring I had a long hour, high stress job. Short fishing trips after work, would always put life back into perspective. Now that I am retired, my constant quest to catch a new personal best bass, keeps my mind working. Retiring healthy and with the means to pursue my goals, also helps.

I have a 115 mercury pro xs 4 stroke. once a year (which is usually around 100hrs.) I take it to the Local Cabelas for service. they change fluids, filters and put it on the computer for a checkup. Last time costs me $242.50.

Shakyheads are one of my most used baits. I have tried several different combos and have ended up with this. Medium action Kastking speed demon pro 7ft 3in spinning jig/worm rod, with a Kastking sharky III 2000 spinning reel. 10lb power pro braid, with a 6ft. 10lb. highseas grand slam flourocarbon coated copoly leader. Owner ultrahead shakyhead jig. usually 3/16 oz. usually a trick worm or baby brush hog finishes it off.