PhishLI

If were left to fish with those sized plastic lines I'd have to quit fishing most of the lakes in my immediate area. Even 15lb nylon/fluoro is sketchy here. I'd be broken off 75% of the time in the pads, water chestnut, and veg/grass, which is where 90% of the fish hang out in or near enough to.

Daiwa J8 green 15lb on spinning and 40lb on baitcasters.

Carolina Fishing Tackle. Cool JDM baits and more. Rock solid communication and fast shipping. https://carolinafishingtackle.com/

You might appreciate this then. I worked in a machine shop when I was a kid. One day the boss was boring a 5C soft collet on a Hardinge tool room lathe. That material isn't really soft, but can be cut at low speed with carbide. He needed two hands on the bed dial to control the feedrate. My job was to apply sulfur oil to the collet and cutter. A chip flew out, as chips do, went over the rim of my safety glasses, then melted into my eyelid. It bled pretty good when I peeled it off. The show must go on, so on went the wrap around goggles. The next searing chip flew out, perfectly curled in size and shape, then melted onto my bottom lip, which bled nicely when I peeled it off. This was all high comedy to the grown men in the shop. On went the face shield... Ah, the good old days.

Pricey yes, but worth it. I imagine that getting blinded by, or blinding someone else with flying fishing tackle would be far more expensive all tallied, and would certainly take the shine off the experience of capturing swimming legless lizards. I do way more night fishing than day fishing, so I'm hoping there're safety glasses with treated lenses that amplify low ambient light. I need to start looking. In the meantime the standard issue box store polycarbs do the trick.

Stay away from rods shipped by DSG, Amazon, and a few others, and order only from sellers that ship in a rod tube. It's not worth the hassle.

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Shimano_Reel_Grease/descpage-SHRG.html?from=gshop&gclid=CjwKCAjw2uf2BRBpEiwA31VZj7C9MVAV5buE9uAZwmt9ZombfwZAW8HRjXzbz39hWVs7zlhnCQymhhoCJKgQAvD_BwE

My brother has the SD300. Not a thing wrong with it yet and he's almost 100% dragging big baits. Not a complaint. We also have all Tranx models up to the 400. Nothing's a Tranx, but the 13 Z3 has been fine, he actually really likes that reel, as well as 3 Quantum Monster 300s.

Second set of gears, recently, in my SV and I clean and lube my stuff multiple times during the season. It's the aluminum sideplate, IMO. Everyone has a different set of tastebuds. Who knows what a claim of smoothness or lack thereof actually means or how that translates to what you or I think? Hard to say when there can be differences from reel to reel from the same run.

SmokeS3. I just hadta have more. I like 'em alot. 300 more Quantums and I'll catch up to AJ.

Yes

A few years ago I was fishing a RI Little Dipper just past dusk. I hooked up but the fish spit the lure about 15 feet from the shore and it shot right back at me and hit me directly in the eye. Thankfully it turned sideways when it hit and I took zero damage from the hook. I've rarely been as grateful. Since then I've made it a habit of wearing some type of glasses when I'm out, but have slipped here and there due to loosing them or just forgetting to bring them. Recently I had a real reminder of the importance of wearing eye protection while fishing. I was wading with a pal in a spot that's wide enough for two people to fish side by side. He was to my left, and we were about 15 feet apart. I was chucking a Whopper Plopper 75 down the bank to my right, but couldn't find a bite. I started firing the bait out to my 2 o'clock and had a few swipes. I finally hooked up and it was on. The fish plowed into some veg about 30 feet out, so I lifted my rod tip tip bring her over, but she spit the lure. My buddy was about 6 feet farther out from the shore at that moment, and the WP rocketed past his head and landed in a tree at head level. He actually didn't know exactly what happened at that moment other than he heard the whistle of the bait and felt the spray hit his ear. It was that close. When I told him it was my Whopper Plopper that just missed him he summed it up perfectly: "That could've been bad"

Nah. She gets her stupid Italian pocket books. I get fishing gear. She got another one while we were in Milan that cost more than 10 of my rigs combined. We have an understanding. She's still not allowed in the garage.

If I go out on a one rod only trip I'll have a 7'3" MHF rod rated to 1 oz and a reel loaded with 30lb braid. There's not much in the bag I can't throw effectively from 1/4 oz to 1oz, and I'll even carefully throw a G2 Shellcracker on it.

My wife isn't allowed in the garage?

A few JDM goodies and more.

Are there magic elves in Malaysia and Thailand? There's no way to know where parts are sourced from or which grade of alloy is used or who the QC girl or guy was that day. It's all a crapshoot now. At best one can only project blind belief in how things are actually done day to day based on a nameplate and the country of assembly, then flip a coin. That includes the Big Two. Affordable reels, below $250, fall into the category of "best of the worst". Some will be just fine, or great, and others will be duds, but a dud is very subjective. Most people don't get hung up on the nits that those inclined to post on enthusiast forums do. They simply fish with what they have with a smile, and do just fine. There are waaaay more of them than there are of fishing forum posters. To them a fishing reel is a zero maintenance disposable item. They aren't suffering over the details you or I might, including the specter of obsolete parts. They aren't suffering at all. Fishing reels, like many other things, were thought of as heirlooms by some people once upon a time. That's really not the mindset anymore in the greater population especially where budget gear is concerned, and manufacturers know it. Even fully metal framed reels that appear to be heirloom quality use plastic parts. Most injectable plastics don't exist in a static state, especially in the presence of petroleum based and some synthetic lubricants. They definitely don't get stronger. Oh well. I try not to sweat it too much. What good would that do?

I break down and grease new reels right away, then several times during the season. It takes very little time. We'll see how it goes. So far so good. Nice tank of a reel. Many of it's parts are available at Tackleservice.com if you need something.

Which rod and baits do you plan on using?

The KVD Smoke S3 has an aluminum main gear. The main reasons for the difference in weight compared to the Tour S3 are due to an aluminum handle vs carbon fiber, a brass crankshaft vs aluminum, a steel spool shaft vs aluminum, and steel drag washers vs aluminum. Otherwise the basic construction is the same. Both have bearings exactly where you'd like to see them in a gear train.

Doyo isn't necessarily the issue, but which Doyo is. If you've transmitted the nomenclature correctly, I'd suggest that you have the wrong Doyo. If that's the case, then the reel you have doesn't include any support for the pinion other than the spool's shaft. In other words, no pinion bearings period. Couple that with an aluminum gear and you'll have a geary feeling reel quicker than you'd like. I've had a few. I speak from experience. Several 2020 models attempt to address this problem with the P2 super pinion, which is a dual supported pinion. I'd start there, and get one with the pin release side plate. It won't fall off.

All but 4 lakes on Long Island are closed for bass fishing from May 1st-June 6th. None of the open lakes are that close to me, so I've been hitting a Walleye lake to fill in until the opener. I connected with my brother and a pal recently at this spot and had an epic night. Started about midnight and went until 5 am. I doubt I'll ever have a day or night like this again. I hit my 1st 14 on a Mann's Baby 1 minus, then a few on a Megabass Magdraft and Hazedong Shad, then 34 on a Z-Man Bucktail Chatterbait. 54 walleye in total plus one pretty big white perch! 15 of the walleye weighed between 4-5 lbs with a few of those just at 5. The biggest all rolled in between 4 and 5 am just as the wind picked up. Bait was exploding within inches of the shore trying to escape. I just chucked the bucktail in near the shore and they exploded on it. Some casts I just let it drop like a wacky worm and they hit it. I could do no wrong. It was nuts. I needed to bend my hook back several times after the first big one bent it out. The headshakes were violent. My grippers got really gnarled up from the teeth on these bad boys. I'm not sure how the Mad Walleye Lipper does it, but I'm not playing that game!

The 1/8oz in blue is my best producer, and my go-to when they're short striking weedless baits. The weeds are still low enough now that I'm able to get through without too much misery. I've had some luck with white, but nothing much with their other colors. It saved the night for me on Saturday at one of the few lake around here that's open-season year 'round. I had a ton of short strikes on the Berkely Champ Swimmer and the MB Hazedong Shad, but once I gave in and tied on the Storm I didn't miss a hook set again. Total weight when rigged is 7-ish grams, so easily slingable with casting gear. BTW, big fish will eat the 1/8oz. I've had far less luck with the 1/4 oz. It's a dense bait when rigged and much more difficult to control higher in the column without burning it. It wants to nosedive and sink fast. There's a weedless 1/4 oz version if you wanna give it a whack, but the single wire weed guard gets mangled after a few fish. Also, the jig heads have a rattle in them. Not sure if it matters, but it's cool. It's an open hook bait. Terrain will dictate how you fish it. I'm typically winding it in just fast enough to keep it above the grass.

Baitsanity Explorer carp.

Take a look at the pics below. MSRP $79. Often on sale for $49 at DSG. Comes in at a tick under 5 ounces. Winn grips. Regardless of price I think it's a great frog rod. Best hookup ratio frogging I've ever had once I tried one of my brother's. Seems to be indestructible. I'm not looking for anything else. It's also great for swimmers up to an ounce with a 6/0 Beast Hook. Try it and bring it back if you don't like it, but you probably will. At least you'll get to hold it beforehand and get a feel for it.