Junger

Shakespeare in a bass fishing thread? We're definitely going to get 20" of snow Tuesday now!

Cabela's has a lot of fishing line on sale, lots of Power Pro. https://www.cabelas.com/catalog/browse/fishing-line-terminal-tackle/_/N-1102774/Ns-CATEGORY_SEQ_105746580

Or Steeze SV TW for $450!

Walmart has the Lifetime Tamarak for $220. Lots of youtube videos of people modding it to be a decent fishing kayak.

The Arachnid is a rebranded Daiwa Tatula Type R.

Yes that is possible with fins, but you also have a slight downfall that you have to toggle the reverse pulley with the Mirage drive, vs propellers where you simply just peddle reverse. I think both methods have their pros and cons and it's really up to the user to figure out which would work best for him/her. I like the Old Town Predator PDL a lot. The prop console pulls up easy and is flush on the bottom for skinny water. I don't mind having a paddle on my lap for the weeds, but having instant forward and reverse is key for me to fish those grass edges and staying stationary in wind or current. I think you'll be happy with any of those yaks though, good luck!

For poppers, I like a soft tip to get some more slack in the line between pops, but I like higher reel ratios to keep control of the slack line (wind, current, etc) if that makes sense. I also like a 6'6 rod as it doesn't pick up too much line and I can work it slow or fast without wrist fatigue.

Same here, I started getting back into it in April 2017. This forum has a wealth of knowledge, and a lot of very helpful members. My only advice is, use the search button as much as you can, and really read the posts and put in the time and effort and it will start to pay off.

Heh, maybe you can get into tackle making in your retirement...I think I will if I ever get time to do it.

If you go fish the Mattawoman, stop by George's on 210: http://www.georgesribs.com/ I only have a Weber Summit propane, but it does have a smoker box and I do ribs/chicken a lot in the summer. Anyone get their ribs from Costco? I like to work with the St. Louis spare ribs, and they come in packs of 3 slabs and I usually end up getting 2 packs (6 slabs). Problem with my grill is that it handles up to 4 slabs upright just fine. So I usually just did 3 slabs at a time, which took about 10 hours between 2 smoking sessions....not really efficient with kids, weekend activities, etc. So I found a cheat.....I've been using the Ribalizer which holds 6 racks, and it takes me about 2.5hrs. I don't follow their instructions exactly however...I find the Ribalizer makes the ribs very tender, but doesn't do a great job making bark, so I put them on indirect medium for another 30 minutes to get them crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.

I pick one technique in the winter that I want to apply more frequently for the next season and try to glean as much info as I can on it. For me it will be punching and flipping a jig so I invested in a high-end rod and reel and some jigs, terminal tackle this winter, and watched lots of videos and read a lot about it. But yeah, I'm really anxious to get out and fish.

What size rods are they using? My son is using a 6' UL/F and that's pushing it for his size/age, he'd probably prefer a 5' or 5'6, but I know he'll grow into the 6' quickly. I haven't tried, but I'm not sure his 6' UL could handle the full size lures I want him to start using (spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, keel-weighted paddletails). Maybe it can, but by downsizing I'm thinking he'll be getting more numbers and action than bigguns, but I'm sure his face will light up the day he hauls in a 4lber.

Are you looking for a rod to do it all? This rod could probably handle all of them to a degree, but I think user skill probably plays a more important factor. For crankbaits and topwaters, you're probably pushing it with the fast tip, maybe throw a mono leader for some stretch, but I haven't tried it on the water. Then again, some people may prefer a stiffer tip for those applications, but the rod will definitely throw them just fine. I'm sure it will throw worms/jigs fine, I just don't know about the sensitivity yet, but again, if you feel a thud set the hook and see what happens right? For $60, I think it's a low risk proposition, and you have 30 days to return to Amazon. I'll do some more testing on actual lures in the spring but right now it's definitely going to be in my bank beater arsenal.

I'm in the same boat, kind of...my 7 year old son is ready for more than just dipping a bobber and nightcrawler into the water. I had him practice casting on a 6' medium-light/fast spinning rod once a week in the fall so we can target LMB together, and I've stocked up on some mini chatter and spinner baits from Strike King and other simply retrieve lures. I also thought about those rebel mini critters and poppers, but I think they probably take too much skill other than a simple cast and retrieve to be effective. So my list of lures for him are: Mini chatterbaits, mini spinnerbaits, 2.8" keitech paddletails, and some Mepp's spinnerbaits. Honestly I look at the tackle box I put together for him and I think it may be more effective than a lot of my other tackle, haha.

OK I got it in last night. I'm really impressed with the rod for $60 and a lifetime tip warranty. The guides and wraps are nicely finished, and the blank has good aesthetics. The medium power section has a little more parabolic action than the MH section, but I can't really say how well both sections handle different weight lures because I haven't actually put line and took them out fishing yet. The joint section seems really solid, there's about 2.5" where the insert goes into the other end. Would I use this for bottom contact? Probably not but I don't know how sensitivity compares to my other rods, but I think it could handle spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, swim jigs just fine.

It's 4lbs 8oz with no tackle boxes in it, but feels really lightweight with the cross strap buckled. Here's a shot of the inside rigid plastic frame.

Yeah fully loaded, with 8 3600's and all types of weights (bullet, drop shot, split shots, punching) was just over 15lbs, and while not uncomfortable, it probably would be just a tad heavy in the hot summer sun. I'm thinking 10lbs loaded is probably where I want my pack to be. I also usually just carry 2 rods, but there were times I wish I had a third for another application, such as live-lining. I just picked up the Rod Runner Express, and I really like it so far.

Anyone need a $10 off $40 for Cabela's? (instore or online), expires 2/28.

So I've finally loaded up the Daiwa Tactical Backpack. Overall, I'd give it a 9/10. Here's a picture of it loaded in the flat tackle area. Again, I really like how it has a rigid plastic frame to hold 3x 3600 boxes flat. It came with 3x Shimano 3600 size boxes but one had a crack in the corner, and I replaced them all with Flambeau 4007's. The Flambeau's seemed just a tad bigger because I think the dividers are thinner. I left the side plastic tabs on so that they're easy to pull out of the backpack. There are two upper compartments, the upper/outer (shown below) compartment has two mesh pockets that come with 2 small 3400 size boxes, I put weights and swivels in each. This compartment can also hold another 3600 box. Here's a picture from the other side, and here's why I gave it a 9/10 instead of 10/10. The upper/inner compartment (shown above) can only hold 3600 size tackle boxes. It can actually hold 4 (3 vertically, and 1 flat on top of the 3), but I wish it could hold 3700's to give me some flexibility in tackle box options. Right now I have a double sided 3600 Plano wormbox, and a Flambeau WP4005 which fit fine, but there's a few inches of empty space and if they just added maybe 1 more inch, 3700's could fit in there. I also wish that there was a open style mesh pocket on this side of the pack where I could have easy access to a water bottle, sunscreen or bugspray. But overall, it can hold a lot of tackle boxes, at least 8 3600 boxes and 2 3400 boxes. Fully loaded for my tackle, it weighed in at 15.4lbs and the back has a decent amount of padding, but we'll see how it goes when it gets warm enough for a field test.

Check out Imgur.com, I think it's easier to use and free too.

Love the vids, but I have to kind of chuckle sometimes when the photo in the link has nothing to do with the content being discussed.

No, but they're at a very good price on Amazon right now and I just ordered the 7' casting MH/M-F as a travel rod. I have a couple KK reels and I've been pleasantly surprised by them.

KastKing Perigee II is a two piece rod that comes with two different powers based on the top section of the blank.

Mustad Fastach Size 1 to the popper.