PhishLI

When you have it open it's worth it to either clean and lube, or just add lube, the side-plate side spool bearing, then the palm side spool bearing. One of mine came dry and locked up rather quickly. I haven't had any lube-clashing issues in the past using either Bantam oil or the Daiwa Reel oiler on Daiwa bearings.

Sold mine for $3500 in '07 with 343k on it to a guy I know. He sold it last year to a kid who door knocked him every few months trying to get him to sell. The brake lines had rusted out in spots, he didn't want to bother with it, so the kid took it for $1k. If it had airbags, and I didn't need to worry about passengers, I'd still have it. Loved that unstoppable truck.

Does water enter the body where the fins broke off? If not did the lack of fins affect the action much. Hasn't happened to me yet. I'm just curious.

Certain lakes I wade at have terrain where it's impractical for me to park extra rods at the shore, so I'll bring one. Most of the time that'll be a 6'6"-7'3" MH rod and a reel spooled with 30-40 lb braid. I keep a few spools of leader with me to tie where I see fit. It's a bit of an annoyance to stop slinging and tie up, and I hate the knot clunking through the guides, but sometimes it's worth while to do.

I always carry a pair of Fiskars pruning shears with me and cut my way through the sticker bushes and vines. I haven't gotten a hole from one yet.

Nobody has bashed you. Not even close. Matter of fact, several members here have taken the time to thoroughly explain things to you, but you seem to either ignore specifics, or not absorb them at all. Actually, that's a bit rude, whether you mean to be or not, and I don't believe you do. So slow down, take in what you've read, and respond in kind if you don't appreciate a bit of snark.

But it holds plenty of line unless its spooled with 25lb fluoro.

Will a Walleye try to eat a 6" MB Magdraft Freestyle? You bet! Three about the same size did, and a bunch more tried before cruel, cold rain ended the night.

If you're loaded up with MHs, then why not grab a MF? A casting rod rated at MF isn't the same as a spinning MF. Versatility is a good thing, and there's no problem catching solid fish on a decent M rod, including a bunch of 5 lb and up bass. Both fish below were both caught on a Medium fast rod. The 1st in open water throwing a 1/2oz spinner bait. The second on a Megabass Hazedong Shad 4.2" which is a light bait. No problem pulling that fish through a sparse pad field. The now discontinued 13 OB2 7'1" MF I used runs a tad stout for a Medium, but it's more effective for throwing lighter baits than a MHF rated to 1 oz. Still, I'll throw a Whopper plopper 75 all day long on it, and that bait is at the top of it's lure rating, but it loads just fine. I wouldn't be throwing this range of baits on a softer M, but you get to choose what you want. The currently available Tatula Bass rods feel quite similar to me at $159.

I was out last week at a local spot with one of my buds who's an arborist. I remarked that the pad fields that were hearty, high, and well defined by this time last year are barely showing themselves, and super sparse where they're up at all. Weed beds are also non existent. We might snag a sprout occasionally at best. He said that his contracted scheduled business is based upon growing days, and growth is way behind so far this year. My only theory was that the oxygen levels are depressed, even though the water is cold-ish, and that's the issue with the fish chasing top water. Also, I haven't seen many random top water kill shots where they blast suspending bait. There were nights last year when the whole lake would turn on with this type of activity during April, but not so far in certain lakes. However, a lake farther east with a good flow of water down its center has voluminous flourishes of grass up to the surface in spots. So it's reasonable to assume that moving water which is contributing to oxygenation is the difference maker regarding this subject. The lake where we were last week doesn't have that sort of flow at all, but there's some. Anyway, If that isn't the explanation, then I'm stumped.

Are you being chased by wolves as you read the replies we've given you? As I've said in my previous post, the waders you bought have gravel guards already. You don't need add-ons. Regardless, neither will stop junk from getting into a walking shoe unless you put your waders on before you go to sleep, fill them with silicone, slip into them, and let them dry overnight while you sleep. But don't do that, because it's nutz. The shoes will fall apart from the submerged wet/dry cycles anyway. Get the $59 Field & Stream wading boots, then buy some $25 sports gel insoles for them. There's one made for your issues. Slow down, take a breath, and research it.

Do pictures not show up on your phone, tablet, or laptop? JFC! The waders you've ordered have neoprene booties attached already. Just get boots and you're good. Get sports insoles that address your particular foot issues. Don't get felt bottomed boots unless you're fishing on slippery rocks in streams. Don't use sneakers. Bad idea. You need the gravel guards that are attached to the waders to tighten down over the the high ankle section of boots to prevent stones and sand from getting in between the neoprene booties and the sole of the boot. Some fine sand will get in anyway, but rocks won't. Besides being uncomfortable, the excess sand and rocks let in by inappropriate footwear will wear a hole through the neoprene quickly due to your full body weight grinding them in.

Too late. He's already ordered them from Amazon.

If you'd asked this question this time last year I would've suggested quite a list. In my immediate area top water baits ruled from March 1st through May 1st. Rats, 75mm wakes, Bull Wakes, Shellcracker G2, etc. The best of the bunch by a mile was the Whopper Plopper 75 in perch, even up until the last day before the closer. I haven't gotten one yet this season on the WP, and nothing else on a typical small wake until a few weekends ago, but that was at a lake far away from home, and that wake was cranked down. Any G2 fish I've gotten has been when it was cranked down. Same for my brother and my other friends. Had to be cranked down, and I know where to be and when. So, I've really got nuthin' for you. I was surprised last year at how early they were hitting topwater here, but zip so far. Go figure. Try what you've got and let the fish tell you.

I enjoy rolling different reels onto different rod and line combinations in order to find a sweet spot, or something special, or specific. I've disliked a number of reels or rods right off the bat, but have then found magic when mixing and matching them. Happens a lot. Makes things interesting for me. There's definitely an extra bit of satisfaction when landing fish on a combo I favor at that moment. It's the equivalent of carefully calibrating a miter saw, then executing a perfect outside corner on crown moulding. Something like that matters more to some people, and less to others.

OK. I've had more than one job where a single lapse in concentration and awareness could change everything forever, or even kill me in a flash. None of that comes close to the stress of each encounter with a stranger possibly leading to my death, or maiming me. I've never had to worry about being shot, stabbed, purposely ran over, hit in the head with bricks, or spit on, and the list goes on. What might happen to me at any given moment is on me, and I'm not stressed a bit. For them It's a different type and level of danger. God bless anyone who walks into that life with eyes wide open, and to then have the stomach to endure it every single day.

The pounding winds we had on Friday, and huge temp drop, chilled one of my favorite holes 5-7 degrees in the shallow spawning flats. Rooted plants have barely started to take hold yet, and the pad fields here are way behind, so there's not much to hold the heat at this spot. The bedding bass I'd spotted just a few days earlier had all pulled off into who knows where, and it was tough sledding for quite a while. It looked like another night of Crappie-palooza and a basslet dinkfest, but we stuck with it and caught a wave of Greenies coming in for breakfast two hours before dawn. My buddy hooked a solid 5.1 slugger on a G2 at the end of a monster bomb cast. My brother tossed an Eco Pro tungsten swing head jig tipped with a Krakin' Craw directly into the mouth of a 3.4 at the corner of a pad line. Finally, a hard charging 3.1 ate my Beast Coast Miyagi. After that, and several short strikes later on the Miyagi, I downsized swimmers and my rod to a MH. With no takers I tied the Miyagi with a 6/0 Beast hook back on again. I knew this was risky with this rod, but I was dead tired at this point and unwilling to trudge back to the bank to swap rods to my Heavy. Sure enough I got blasted. The MH bent in half. The fish ran straight at me, laughed, then shook off at a rod's length out. It's all good though. Each of us beat the skunk and hooked up on our last bass trip until the season opens again in 6 weeks. Good times.

I put a hash mark with a sharpie on the spool tension knobs of all of my reels at the desired in-use setting. I back it off a skosh at the end of a session, except for reels that are always set loose like Daiwas. Centrifugally braked reels with tapered friction surfaces are set to neutral zero side-to-side pIay. There's zero upside to spool play, or slight side-to-side clicking, with these types, and it's actually a negative, IMO. I like to return to this condition easily without going through a ritual, and the hash mark allows for that. I also back off my drags. Blew a few hook sets over time because I forgot to reset. Oh well. Psychic pain is a good teacher. I rarely forget anymore.

Posting pics of my minor glory so closely following @king fisher and his DD beast has me feeling as if I were walking down main street in broad daylight while stark nekkid in zero degree temps. Shriveled and apologetic. Sorry everyone! Onward! I think I can count on one hand the number of Crappie I've caught over the past few years at one of my local spots. I thought they were somewhat rare in this lake, but I was wrong. Some bass have already started bedding, the season closes on May 1st, and I was hopeful the bass bite would be on fire near the flats, but it wasn't. My 1st bass came on the outside corner of a pad field in about 4 feet of water. He smashed my Shellcracker G2, then fought like crazy the whole way in, then every second while I was trying to get the pic. Then he shot off like a rocket when I released him. I've never seen a bed that deep around here before, so maybe he was guarding fry? All I know for sure is I haven't ever had a 3 pounder fight that hard and with no quit. It was like battling a decent smallmouth. Next, a big crappie nailed the G2 within a few feet of where the bass hit it. Several more from the same general area hit the G2 and the Livingston Bullnose. This lent some weight to my theory that the bass was fry guarding. It's possible that the Crappie were there trying to pick them off. They were clustered up and keyed in on something, so who knows? Anyway, I stopped counting the crappie after a while. They were everywhere I went, with some bigs mixed in. A turtle or a bird took a nice chunk out of one of them, but it seemed unfazed. Not what I was going for, but no complaints either. High winds and real feel temps of 28* tonight, which is a 40* swing overnight. One last bite at the apple on Saturday night before the 6 week shutdown for the spawn. It's Walleye time again.

If it's going to happen it's going to be a right place at the right time thing. 1000 different baits might be the one if you pull it past her face. My brother has a 6 acre weed choked puddle right around the block from his house. We took the Jon boat out in the dead of winter when the weeds were down in order to scope the place for contour and structure. We didn't find a spot more than 4ft deep, and didn't see a single fish. During the bluegill spawn the banks are loaded with beds, and it's a shooting gallery for bass on certain nights. Earlier that fall he pulled out a 5-14, and his buddy pulled out a 7-7 which were weighted and photo'd. You never know.

Personally, I wouldn't want a XF do all setup, but most of my rods are a version of typical Fast, and my preference. I'm down to one XF now, and it's rather bait specific for me.

My brother was very confident that his latest Flex Seal effort on our trusty old Jon boat would do the trick this time. I was just happy that I didn't need to bring my big Dewalt cordless and the drill pump. We pack up to the limit, so I didn't need this contraption of hoses cramping my style. Also Lithium Ion power tools don't fare well in rain, and rain was on the way. Very little time went by when I noticed my 3600 box floating at my feet yet again. No pump. Now what? My brother felt around under the shelf in the front of the boat and struck gold, sort of. He pulled out a truly disgusting, skanky, moldy, grout sponge. A horrific, stinky, squishy, Petri dish. I was driving, the water was pooling in the back of the boat, so I was on sponge bailing duty. I love me some bassin', but I don't like puking, so I wasn't squeezing that nasty thing bare handed. No way. No how. Nope. Thank god he had latex gloves in the truck, or I would've had to bail with his baseball cap. My brother struck first throwing a Triple Trout, but then the bite went cold. Couldn't find them for nothing, but we were just throwing the wrong baits. I tied on a Rapala shallow runner and started whacking them. Switched up to a Livingston Bullnose and kept the rally going. Pickerel, bass, and crappie were all aggressively blasting the baits. Just a bunch of cookie cutter buck bass mostly, but we used spinning rods and had a blast anyway. #NoSkunk!

Its a bit overwhelming for a 4" torpedo shaped bait like a 4" Spark Shad, but right on for just about any 5"er.

Eh, does it really matter? Unless you've broken a state record, and even then, what do you get? A special Lollipop? I caught a slob a week and a half ago, and my scale's batteries were dead. I'll never know. My buddy was there, freaking out, and took a really nice horizontal pic. Sent the pic to my bros and they were all chirping. I had the fight, got the snapshot, and will always have the memory. Caught a nice 5.42 a few days later. Felt pretty much the same about it during and afterwards, thrilled, except that I was alone and there were no high fives or fist bumps to celebrate. A hanging picture never does the fish justice, but you can tell it's a good one anyway. My XL fist provides context for those who know me personally. Good enough.