PhishLI

I re-posted that vid today in General, partly because it addressed the theme of this thread, and was wondering the same exact thing when he made that crack.

Uh oh. I think I hear Irene coming. That was fun.

So the essence of your question is based on your suspicion that it seems unlikely that a pro could fish with what you regard as budget rods? If so, I thought that's what you were getting at from the beginning. P.S. I don't think you're nuts for wondering, and I stand by my replies.

Everyone likes high end gear too. What's not to like? It was not the point of my voluminous screeds to get into the expensive vs affordable debate. Not one bit. It was to address the OP's curiosity about sponsored Pros having to use affordable gear and what that really means in the end. It means this: Brian Latimer being forced to use Favorite Rods, or Jacob Wheeler being forced to use Duckett Rods because of sponsorship $ is not the same as Usain Bolt being forced to run the 100 Metre in Goloshes. Some people feel that's true, and some people are led to believe that's true, but it's not.

I don't know whether Glenn's an amateur hypnotist, or if he simply slipped Lithium into Ike's energy drink, but Mike's on his best behavior for this one. Great vid! Useful info too.

Shellcracker G2 in Ghost Gill caught my biggest LM and my biggest Bluegill. Yes, a Bluegill.

Ha! You should've seen the first unedited draft! Tolstoy's ghost nodded out after the first run-on paragraph.

Somewhere out there a little birdie is chirping about this reel. Sounds like love. Sez it's a long caster during limited tests. Maybe he'll sing his song here?

Have you ever spoken to Pros at fishing expos? I haven't come across one yet that was a gear connoisseur/enthusiast. Not a single one that could talk about anything related to rods and reels on a basic technical level, even when they endorse them. I guarantee that the small clutch of weirdos, myself included, that post across fishing sites and suffer over the smallest details know way more about what's marketed to them than the Pros do. Pros are very rarely actual gear experts. They're fish catching experts when under pressure. That's their job. Line feel, seeing their line, and reasonable sensitivity is all they actually need for finesse-ier techniques. Also, they're often fishing moving baits. Nothing really special required here. Nope. It's reasonable to conclude that using current state of the art (SOTA) gear should increase one's catch rate assuming you can read water and find fish. It's possible and maybe even true, but other factors outweigh that possibility by a huge margin. Short of gear malfunctioning during a tournament, absolute "quality", as forum posters see it anyway, is low on the list of priorities. An assumption, and highly unlikely as a norm. It's more likely that if that did happen it would become a production model. Prototyping according to the whims of an endorser has layers of costs. Manufacturers consider their ROI when they endorse. Also, only another independent contractor can truly understand what it's like to be out there without a safety net. There's no unemployment check. It's you by yourself, and that's it. Nobody's coming to save you. Do you think KVD, Palaniuk, or Ish like spending their weekends chucking baits into a giant fish tank and answering the same dumb questions from fans? Sponsorship checks matter. Most of these guys would've been better off in the long run opening up a corner bagel shop.

I really can't complain about how I've done in my local waters, especially last pre-spawn, so I lay off them during the spawn. Bass season is closed here anyway starting May 1st through the end of the 1st or 2nd week in June, depending. The past year I fished right up to the deadline and bagged two nice 5 1/2 pounders the last two trips at my home lake. Not giants by most standards, but they had me smiling, and that made the layoff a shade easier. I hit the ground running after the opener, but it was a bit tougher than I expected. We had very little snowfall during the winter, so the water was quite low. As it turns out, just like in'17, we were in a drought, which only got worse as the season went on. I spent the 1st week picking off smalls. Fishing near bluegill beds has produced a few lunkers for me in the past, so I stuck with it. Then, all of a sudden the tide turned. I was wading with my friend one night and we both started getting hard strikes. Definitely a different class of fish now. He hooked up first with a nice 3 pounder. My turn came when a 5.2 lber gobbled my Miyagi swimmer. Then he bagged a nice 4.4 lber, so we know it was on. I'm aware of a stand of weeds on top of a hump which is a real good cast from where we were wading. I whaled out a Shellcracker G2 as far as I could, then swam it back just outside the sweet spot. When my rod loaded up I immediately felt that familiar strain in my forearm. Hard charging 3 or 4 pounders sometimes feel much bigger than they actually are during the fight, but the way bigs pull is something quite different, especially in 65 degree water. I cranked this girl in, and when she busted my bud wigged out. She was a whopper. Big head. Big belly. Significantly larger than either of the better fish we'd caught that night. As she got closer and I got an even better look a panic set it. I could not lose this fish! Normally I'd grab a fish with my large grippers in order to keep a distance from a swim bait with scary hooks, but I didn't this time. I just reached down with my left and lipped her. The bait was hooked on the opposite side of her mouth, so I didn't want to release tension and handed my rod to my friend. So now I'm really gripping her tightly with my left while I try to unhook her with my right, but the hooks were really in there. Right through a boney part. I held her in the water as I tried to get them out, and that lit a spark in her. She thrashed wildly and flung the bait around. The rear treble hook of the G2 landed nicely into my right thumb's knuckle. Thankfully my bud was there to excise it. A 7lb + well pinned fish in one hand and a grappling hook in the thumb of my other would've been a disaster had I been alone. All of this, mind you, because I wanted that pic so badly that I'd dispensed with my normal cautious practice of using a gripper. Such a boob. So with the hook out of my thumb, finally, I finished removing the G2 from her face. Close to 3 minutes had elapsed since I brought her in, and my lipping hand and thumb were quite fatigued. She was only out of the water for maybe 25 seconds tops during the unhooking/getting hooked fiasco, so she had plenty of O2 and fought me all the way. Now it's picture time. I lift her straight up in order to cradle her for the horizontal glory shot. I get my right hand under her belly, stupid grin on my mug, and with one huge shake she flops out down at my feet in 2 feet of water. Splash! See ya. I'm glad there wasn't a live action wildlife camera there to capture two lunatics shouting obscenities into the night sky, arms flailing. After all that, it turns out that none of the previous pics turned out anyway. My camera's flash was off. Oh, and I never managed to catch anything close to her for the rest of the season. DOH!

I have my favorite local spots. My comfort zones. Every other weekend during the season I fish with my brother. Sometimes we fish my spots and sometimes we fish his. We either do yaks, wade, or the boat. This past season we acted on a plan to hit new water as much as possible. We found some off the radar places, and we rarely fished the same spot twice. Yes, we skunked sometimes, but more importantly we got the lay of the land. We graphed and took notes. We pretty much winged it the first time out, but there are a few places we're going back to with a purpose and strategy. We're looking forward to winning in those waters, and that's definitely spiced things up for us.

The hardcore enthusiast/cognescenti sector of any hobby or activity is nearly always tiny. Their views and wants occasionally leach out into the greater population to a tiny degree. Their positions have weight and influence with manufacturer's R&D decisions occasionally, but typically have little effect on the average person, or even "Pros". That's because the things that matter to the hardcores really don't matter that much in reality. Most of the time, you, me, or Jacob Wheeler will catch the same fish with a Black Max/ Berkeley Cherrywood as we would've on an Antares/Legend Elite because we found the fish and figured out what they were willing to eat. It's that simple. What a pro or anyone else needs as opposed to what they want or prefer are two different things. You don't need much beyond your brain to catch fish. $100 reels and rods give up very little to their $600 counterparts during actual fishing. The majority of pro bass fisherman aren't trust fund babies. Most grew up fishing and catching on budget gear and/or hand-me downs. They didn't need cutting edge gear then and they don't need it now, especially if sponsorship money is keeping the lights on. Some may appreciate the high end, or even use it, but none need it to do their job. P.S. I'll be wearing my custom chin-strap mounted drool cup when I unbox my new Zillion. I don't need anyone twisting an ankle.

I lost my marbles buying reels last year, but haven't gotten to it yet. Sooner or later. Next up is the new Zillion. Gotta have that one before anything else! What happens if I get one that weighs 5.7 ounces? Will I go broke?

It all depends on where and how you're fishing. For me there's zero point in using a leader when pitching a jig into pads or holes in heavy weed lines. The fish isn't inspecting the bait. It's almost always an instantaneous ambush or reaction strike. Same thing if I'm ripping through pad fields or heavy weeds. A valid argument for a leader in those situations would be that some stretch is desirable. You fish jigs, so you know a jig bite is tricky. But the breakoff rate with leaders, while rare, is too high for my stomach. I never breakoff on straight braid unless a huge pickerel is in the equation. Nobody thinks 20 lb fluoro is invisible anymore. The data is out there. If you're fishing ultra clear water, or in a manner where they can inspect your jig, then go for it. Being able to break off, wood and rocks, have all been covered to death. Listen to Greenpig for the leader length.

I have zero clue whether you're sincere or not. 50/50 chance, I reckon. You're not him though. Sorry.

A 1/2 oz compact bait on the right stick will chuck a mile using most 100-150 sized reels. No real advantage using a SV here unless you're throwing directly into the wind, and even then not really with that bait. I'd go for the Elite simply for the metal handle sideplate. It's a different feel. If you're concerned about gear ratio, then for $30 you can buy a complete gear set with a different ratio and swap it out. Easy stuff and you can go back and forth for different uses.

Mine got the ACE grease treatment on the gears and grease and oil in other spots right off the bat and has been just fine. Don't forget the spool bearings. Mine's mostly been on wake bait duty, up to 2.5 oz. No issues. Feels solid. Strong. It's bigger than a Fuego CT, or Tatula CT. If you have stumpy mitts, or object to wider reels, you should feel one first. Doesn't bother me in the least, but I loves me some Daiwas, so maybe I just don't focus on it. If there's one area where the T-Wing makes the most sense, on paper as well in the real world, is with heavier line. You can feel it fighting through typical line guides on the cast with heavy braid and lower quality and less than smooth heavy mono like Big Game. Where the distance between the center line of the spool and the inside face of the line guide aperture is greater on reels with typical line guides, this issue is diminished to a small degree. However, line guide positioning and shape cannot and does not match a very wide aperture even if it's centered before the cast. The T-Wing doesn't seem to add much with nlyon line under .015, but with 50 lb and up braid and thick mono it does. I haven't heard much on the web about T-Wing failures. DVT makes a valid point that they add a layer of difficulty during reassembly that he could live without. Other than that, no problems AFAIK.

Some do, some don't. Some like to fish as if they're in a tournament and think in terms of a 5 fish limit where that fantasy pressure is their challenge. For some it's just about quantity. Fishing isn't solely about catching fish for everyone though. We all have different priorities, and some people aren't easily amused. I find it curious how certain people dispense information based on their struggle to meet a challenge, then assume it will apply to someone else, or even everyone else. It's essentially discouragement, even though they feel like they're just trying to help. The ego is a funny thing. One sincere member here often responds to BFS threads by adding his conclusion that people only do it to impress others, or to look cool. I don't know how one chooses to fish impresses anyone, or that it's any cooler than bowling. Bowling's fun, but it isn't cool. Perfectly said. Doing anything artfully takes time and perseverance. Doing something inherently difficult artfully is a layer too far for some people. For others its bliss. That's fine. A man's gotta know his limitations, but why assume the limitations of others will be yours?

I wonder?

I'm guessing that pedestal seats are on backorder?

Two 1/4" squares of Super 33+ placed over the line at 180 degrees on the spool won't imbalance anything, are immeasurably light, and your line won't slip.

The 6" version sounds like what you're looking for. I always have both sizes in the boat. The 6"ers can be a bit sketchy with a huge pickerel. I'd rather be farther away if they wig out. https://www.rapala.com/rapala/fishing-tools/fish-grippers/floating-fish-gripper/Floating+Fish+Gripper.html

No regrets. That type of training when so young hardens your mind and builds a core strength matched only by wrestlers who also started early. I could deal with broken toes, fingers, and a foot fracture, but getting the knees drained, OOF. To my eyes that syringe looked as big as a bazooka and the needle like a railroad spike. I could've died right then from the sight of it. Last time for that was '07. My wife is friends with the orthopedist and was allowed in the room. When we heard the wheels of the dolly crying in pain as they wheeled the massive Hypodermic down the corridor she laid across my chest and covered my eyes with her hand. I'm not making this up. I must've felt the vibrations of her lips trembling as she mouthed OMG to the Doc when she finally saw it, or perhaps it was simply husband/wife telepathy transmitting her shock, but I knew she was stunned by the sight of it. I whispered "mommy", then she said "Just don't peek honey", so I didn't. Good times.

Wait for some feedback on the new Zillion SV TW 1000. One member here, Bandersnatch, has one already, and another, iabass8, has one on the way. Both are in hard water states, but maybe they'd be willing to sling some casting plugs across the ice and give us a quick impression? The reports have been quite good from other sources.

I was a dedicated gymnast starting at a very young age up until something in my genetic lineage, and puberty, morphed my body into that of a running back. Not big into the team thing after a short stint I switched to a very rough form of martial arts. My recreational time was spent doing motocross and fishing. Both of the sports I chose require all consuming dedication to be highly competent. The thought of any time off from training was mentally crushing. The idea of regressing or losing a step is torturous, but the fear of never competing again was way scarier to an obsessive like me. The list of sidelining soft tissue injuries I've had doing what I've done is too long to list. Luckily, I was always diligent enough to lay off when I had to, and had the discipline to not take risks during those periods. Tendons and muscles take a long time to heal. Surgery or no surgery, mind those areas over time, do the PT, and you'll be OK. But know that those old injuries hang around just under the surface pretty much forever, for the most part. There's no problem with adapting and compensating them by shifting and distributing burdens differently to protect those old wounds. If you wish to remain active, you'll need to listen to them. Pain is your flashing amber light. Silver lining: The bass in your most fished spots will be bigger by the time you're all healed up!