CrankFate

I just got an aldebaran. I can say no. It was more like a penn HT-100 than Carbontex. I can’t think of anything better than that.

Everything is awesome. Especially with that music in the background.

I never sharpen hooks. And I never bend them back if they deform. I replace them with new high quality hooks. I am a bit obsessive with hook sharpness. I personally believe you can set the hook on any fish with any rod as long as your hook is sharp enough.

Vladimir Putin

Me too, highly likely running the trolling motor for fanboys....

Looks great to me—boiled with a little butter and it gets a reaction strike from me.

I do not buy baits in mass. I rarely have more than 5 or 6 packs of plastics at a time. I sometimes buy 50-100 of the most common hooks I use once a year or so. Picked these two up this week from outlet BT. I usually buy a pack or two of whatever catches my eye each outing.

I don’t know? I literally have no idea. The only thing I know is that taking internet advice on which rod to get is why there are always so many used rods for sale on the internet. Fish with what you have, figure out what you like and don’t like about it, then go feel the rods and figure out which ones you need.

If you want to learn how to line watch get setup for carp fishing. Throw a corn rig out where there are 15lb+ carps. Then just sit back and watch the line no bobbers for as long as it takes. When you catch one, you’ll think it was a very small fish by how little they move the line.

Fish more. You’ll get better. Keep an eye out for what someone else might be doing that works.

I never meant women can’t fish, but I don’t see them fishing very often. There are probably less women fishing here in NY than in other more rural areas.

Last time I was at BPS walking through the boats, my wife was starting to get mad, because if I were to even mention it, she’d be ticked. Not because of the money, she knew I was looking at them like, d**n, I could actually buy this, and she started to pull me through them faster, because I live nowhere near boatable water. Ocean, but not any type of lake. And we are definitely not moving. If I ever have the time in a place where a bass boat makes sense, I’ll get one. I will never get a saltwater boat. I hate being on a boat in the ocean. It’s more trouble than it’ll ever be worth just for a few fish.

I have never seen more that 2-3% of the people fishing that were female. Maybe one or two every so often, but never 2-3 out of every 10. I just wonder how many of them register or get a license to take a few kids fishing once or twice a year? I would think 40-50 percent of men that get licenses only go fishing 2 or 3 times a season. It would be great if more people went fishing, women and men.

I still have fun when you throw a piece of worm in an a thousand baby blue gills attack it. The kids love fishing that way. So I’ll do it too. There are 1lb+ BG’s just beyond them and also bass that are basically managing them as forage farms. Sometimes, you can get those bass, too. It’s just not easy, because with a thousand 2.5” blue gills around, they aren’t very hungry and are too lazy to chase anything unless you really tick them off with noisy baits. lets throw a picture in, my youngest son’s first LMB, for this pond this is big. You gotta make sure they get a few of these a season to keep them interested.

I have 30 year old $20 Shimano trigger bail spinners that still work as good as when I was a kid, with zero maintenance.

Don’t get me started on this topic. I’m all for humane treatment, too. Then you get the morons who protest the farming of exotic animals for the markets in places like China. The crazies literally get the farms shut down, which forces more poaching of the endangered species they say they want to protect. I’m not for banning these things. They just need to be managed sensibly.

Catching animals, including fish, is terribly disfavored by the majority of people now a days. Add that to getting dirty and covered with fish slime and fish scales, plus a single pack of rubber worms and a single pack of hooks costs at least $15.00, if not 20, no one is spending that kind of money doing this. Very few parents of this generation are going to spend hundreds and thousands of dollars to go catch (and torture) a few fish for fun. It’s about $150.00 to 200.00 for a simple family pond outing, with gear, food and everything else. And, at any price, most people don’t have the time to spend a full day fishing every week or two. Fishing became a niche activity over the last 50 years. The only way to get kids fishing is to take them fishing. My kids often want the snacks and goodies we get when we go, but if nothing is biting, they are ready to leave within an hour. I personally believe the number of single parent households has killed the sport. Fishing is not a womans sport. And men and women have patience for different things. Men can spend days trying to show kids how to tie a hook, bait a hook and throw a cast. Women don’t have patience for that. And without two parents, it’s basically impossible to have enough time to waste half the weekend torturing innocent fish. Very sad. I started fishing at 2 and have fished the whole 41 years since then. The world has changed. You just have to get the kids out there whenever you can and hope they have fun.

There is barely any difference between a $120 reel and a $500 reel. The difference between a $50 reel and a $100-150 reel will be the most drastic. I just got two baitcasters a Tatula and Aldebaran. The aldebaran costs 3-4x more, it is only 10-15% better. Tops. With spinning reels, where bearings do not affect casting, the difference between reels by price should be even less. This is why I get mad every time I feel like something more expensive is that much better. In hand, the difference isn’t usually worth the price to me. I dont get happy knowing they added a tiny variation to the reel specs. As someone who grew up without money for all the things I wanted any time I wanted (or even if I needed), if I didn’t get half off the aldebaran from my credit card rewards points, I’d feel like I got robbed.

A few more now that I got the baitmonkey out of the wrapper and the reel adjusted to my liking..... The 13” rear grip and Matching Foregrip made my whole winter. I expect to order a few more of their rods.

Rods and reels. Not very impressive looking in their hibernation nest in the back corner of the garage. I don’t even know how many? 20 something? I have a few in my (home) office, too. And 7 or 8 more reels. The one in bubble wrap is the new custom Kistler Magnesium 2 I recieved today but still haven’t unwrapped, yet...

If you want heavy applications I would also recommend a revo (there are many revos that will work), they have a multi disc drag stack. The carbon matrix washers are probably adequate, but an upgrade to all carbontex with cals grease will get you a lot more drag.

I fish by weight. Way too light (weightless or close to weightless). Too light. Light. Medium light. Medium. Heavy. Very heavy (8oz + in deep saltwater) Most of my Rods have similar actions. Most of my reels retrieve 30-36” per crank. Most of my fishing is under 1 oz baits. I match reels to rods based on weight, balance, drag and color. As far as I’m concerned, advice only goes so far. The rest is trial and error. I have small fingers, so I prefer smaller reels and lighter rods. I usually fish very shallow and only from the bank, where distance = fish. These are the biggest factors for me. Everyone has personal mechanics and types of water they fish. A guy with long fingers that fishes deep water from a boat is going to use different gear. The hard part is finding out which gear works best for your body mechanics and the places you’re fishing.

Why not try a weedless C-Rig, with a small bullet, just heavy enough and long enough from the weight to be able to work the bait just above the bottom?

I don’t know, looked to have grease in it to me. And I’m stubborn and opinionated about how the reel should feel. I need everything to be moving as fast and quiet as possible. Otherwise, no matter what actually happens, I’ll feel like something is slowing everything down and that must be reducing my cast distance. I got everything moving fast now. There’s nothing else to do at this time of year than to spend my time servicing reels that dont need any servicing.

d**n this thread. Went to outlet B&T and ordered a pack of 3” & 4” Berkeley injured fish. After ordering a 13g shiner swim bait from Ali express along with a fake 11g mega bass dark sleeper. I plan on using more swimming fish next season instead of the cranks, worms & craws I usually throw.