Arcs&sparks

Props for doing it the hard way. Why 600ft of line?

Wayyy more rods than reels. A lot of my reels see a variety of rods given the time of year. Ice fishing, Stripers, salmon, trout, bass...

Harbor freight boat trailer with a 25% off coupon on a holiday will get you down to $300

A dealer demo NRX can be had for under $500

Any offshore guys here? Got the invite to do some offshore jigging for pollock, cod, etc. with my buddy and his stepfather. Northern New England, Jeffereys ledge. I’ve been out once before on a charter boat using the 6’ poolcue rods and big Penn Senators with 40# mono. Had a great time, but besides the unintentional sharks that ate our jigs and enevetably snapped off(got to hand line them though ) those rods hardly flexed with an 8lb fish on em, and you could hardly tell he difference between a fish and your jig. I know the target fish can potentially be 50lb+, but seem to average in the 1-10lb range with 20lb being a substantial catch. I would like to use my own gear (and left hand reels), and feel alittle bit of fight instead of just winching. The boat owner has some extra, typical offshore combos, but assuming id be catching fish under 20lb, does anyone see any reason I can’t just use swimbait rods and/or a flipping stick with Calcutta Conquest 301&401? Avg 250’ of water with 2 other guys jigging 40lb braid backing with 20lb cxx Mono. I would say there’s over 350 ft of line per reel? Rods I was considering; Loomis 955c 7’11” 3-6oz all star flippin stick 7’6 -2oz Quantum BLU 7’ -1.5oz (saltwater rod, very stiff with mod fast taper) Am I out of my mind to think any of these combos would be good for bottom fishing? @WRB I have read a post or two of you using Calcutta’s for bigger saltwater game. Any advice?

Hahaha not a very bright one huh? I’m surprised you’ve caught so few of them, I catch them quite regularly on bass lures in southern maine. Baitfish imitations mostly.

Ouch, that’s though man. Sometimes, when all else fails, throw something you think will never work. Worked for me lots of times when the bite is slow, like Bubblegum senko, topwater at ice-out, drastic downsize or upsize. You can consider large shiners, they can be phenomenal, but if you don’t aerate them or get them acclimated to the water temp they can be a huge pain as well.. don’t use them if it’s really hot out. i might also just try a new location.

How to catch a huge bass near bank? Huge net ?

Also, if the hook point is sticking out, I just cut the hook in half with my dikes and remove both sides. I feel that’s a lot better than forcing your hands though there gills and turning it’s guts inside out to remove your $0.50 hook ? Not saying you didn’t do the right thing but just a tip for the future.

Approximately 53.467%

I Absolutely LOVE the red Spike-it garlic dye. I’ve actually never used it, my buddy does, and always gets it all over himself and his gear so it never fails to make for a hilarious trip out on the water. Part of me craves a spaghetti dinner and the other part wants to throw up. Seriously though, (while trout fishing at least), I’ve had times throwing Berkeley Gulp minnows where everyone else is throwing live worms and outfishing them at least 5-1 and Even 5-0. Is it the Scent or matching the hatch? No clue, but I never waste money on worms anymore. With that said, I do sometimes dip my soft plastic bass baits in the Gulp baitfish juice.

Pb rainbow 3lbs even. They don’t get really big here like they do out west...

The OP says he will mostly be trolling. I don’t think an ultralight is the best rod for this situation, and sensitivity isn’t needed. For a bass rod I would opt for a 7’medium moderate(cranking stick). 7’6” would be even better if they have one. That should do you just fine for dragging a spoon/bait. I’ve used my 7’MHF spinning rods in my downriggers for Lake trout (avg 1-5lb up to 18+) trolling 4” shiners behind 6” dodgers 100’ down. They worked fine and you probably already have one or two of those. A more moderate action and longer rod is generally better for the application though. I’ll tell you though, if you want a super fun way to troll for trout, find an old 5 or 6 weight fly rod get a cheap deep arbor fly reel with a good drag, and load it with lead core.

The fish don’t care, you might though. A medium heavy with 20lb mono isn’t going to cast a little spoon very well. One of my favorite rods is a 7’ medium light fast (bass rod) Use it for trout, salmon, bass even schoolie stripers. Because... it bomb casts a small rat-l-trap, throws a weightless t-rig lizard, etc.. How big are your trout? Mine are normally 0.5-3lbs I throw mostly 3” GULP minnows on a jig head for them in lakes and larger rivers. my 5’ 6” ultralight throws them but can be difficult to get a hook set with it at any distance, because it’s too light and short for this jighook bait. So I prefer my 7’medium light for this application. Just consider what lure weights you will be using and where you are fishing.

Augusta area is pretty centralized

There are NO bass in the Rangely lakes bud. Consider bringing your fly rod and trolling gear. Lol . They haven’t been introduced to that area, it’s all salmon and trout. Unfortunately it’s only a matter of time before someone brings a bucket, but for now we still lakes with Maine’s native species in them. You might consider Moosehead Lake? there are smallies in there and I hear the fishing is really good by the state park, large section of the lake is like boulder fields. Other attractions include the 700’ cliff jutting up out of 250’ water, and other nice Mountain View’s and low boat traffic. And as as others have said, Belgrade area has a lot to offer for bass fishing, lots of lakes to choose from in the are

Lol My buddy and I have done that same thing so many times in his little Jon boat. We are now very good about keeping tips in the boat. I bent a brand new st croix premier right in half going under a bridge, it's amazing it didn't break. It's not the best rod I own but it sure is rugged!

Yeah I'm in Alfred. My family has rented a camp there for the past few years so I've fished it Probly 5 times, That's a tough lake, I'm not used to bass fishing that type of lake lol. Done well with smallies on the rock piles. But I spent bout 6 hrs in "the basins" last time I was there and got a whopping 1 fish..a pickerel. The next morning i was trolling for rainbows and salmon and caught a 3lb smallie suspended 30' down in 75 FOW. But couldn't catch a bass to save my life where they "should be" have you done well there? That was off topic... The charger does it's job. It IS waterproof, and I see it on sale a couple times a year. I Think I paid $150 for mine. Despite the spare battery issue, It works as advertised.

I have the 3bank charger and so does my boss. His gets a lot of use and is over 3years old. Mines been almost totally submerged over night while docked on great east during a storm. Only thing to pay attention to is overcharging. With a 3bank for example, you have to connect 3 batteries for the charger to work. I used to only have 2 in my boat, so I used a spare battery to connect each time I needed to charge. Over time the spare battery started leaking acid. It says in the manual it won't overcharge and only puts the right amount of current to each battery. But in this case I think it was still putting a charge to the already charged battery. Another feature is you can leave it plugged in all winter and every 30 days(?) it will put a load on the batteries and them charge them again to prolong the life. Its the only charger I have owned so can't speak of other brands and their features.

Haha, I googled it. I then googled his name with "skateboarding";

I watched a guy catch a rod at a local bridge, it wasn't too suprising cause a lot of people and family's fish there, what WAS surprising was that the rod he was fishing with was also caught there lol. Definitely. But man what a crappy day.

Hahaha I grew up doin a lot of skateboarding. It's common for guys to get mad and break their board. I was thinking about that the other day, there must be guys who break their rods too? I wanna see it cause that's hilarious.

tell me you had good car insurance.

Haha you swam after it? That sucks.. I've thrown my rod in the water so many times while landing fish in small boats, luckily always in super shallow water or with the lure and line still in my hand at least.