PhishLI

Light plastics, 5" Senkos, etc; Powell Inferno 7' MHXF 703 Cex. Lew's Tournament Pro LFS. 10lb Sufix Advance Medium plastics, 6" Senkos, etc; 13 Omen Black II 7'3" MHF. Shimano Chronarch. 15lb Trilene 100% Fluoro Pitch/Punch/Skip; Daiwa Tatula XT 7'3" HF. Daiwa Tatula SV. 50lb J-Braid

Things were setting up nearly perfectly last night. Low pressure, dense cloud cover removing the huge spotlight in the sky from the equation, and rain coming in at 3:00 am were all good omens. The lack of any wind whatsoever was the only fly in the ointment. That didn't matter though because things started off nicely right away, for my brother anyway. A nice little scrapper bit his G2, so he was on the board. About a half hour later a tank smashed his Matt Lures Hard Gill. Joy! Up to that point, and for the next 2 hours, I was in the weeds. Not a sniff. It was 2:00 am at that point, and the catching streak I've been on looked like it was done. I was being hard-heading throwing just 3 baits; A Jackhammer, an IMA Shallow crank, and a Gantarel. The Berkely Champ Swimmer in Perch has been money lately, but I really wanted to hookup on something different. With my gameplan in tatters I capitulated, tied it on, and within 5 minutes I had my first. Over the next 20 minutes I had multiple hits and bagged two more. The last one blasted the Champ and stripped drag off my Fuego CT like nothing. They're really fired up now. Heart pounding. I was sparked up after that one, but the rain came in hard so I cashed out. OK night for the Phish brothers.

I have a 1600. It's a great vintage reel with some cool features like a sic line roller and a worm gear level wind. Between the long spool and the way the level wind works it lays line in a way that allows for super long casts. It's clunky when compared directly with current reels, but if I'm out fishing with it I'm not focused on those things. The drag is great. It's a cool old reel that you can buy new right now.

yes

My parents are retired and living down in S.C. Dad's on the mend after a heart attack and quintuple bypass, but he's finally hitting the banks again. He just sent some glory pics. He was very proud, and made a point of mentioning that he got her on 6 lb test. Seems to be a badge of honor for the old timers. I was gonna bust his onions and tell him that some guy caught a giant great white shark on 6 lb Stren in '72, or some such nonsense, but held back and let him have his moment. Happy for him.

I haven't needed to defrost my feet after the last few wades, and yesterday was the first time this season that I saw bluegill in the shallows. It's about to get real. Last night's Jackhammer eaters weren't bigs, but were very, very energetic.

Moonlight and slick calm water like we had last night is usually a recipe for a ride home with the skunk. The grass is still sparse, and in just a few spots, and non existent near the shoreline. The pads aren't up yet either, and there was zero activity at the surface. I spent the first hour throwing a few baits that I knew weren't the best option, and fell flat. There's nothing like defying the odds sometimes, but it didn't pan out. The area I committed to seems to be a hot spot for yellow perch to cluster in. At the very least it's where I've seen them caught most often, so I tied on a Berkley Champ Swimmer in perch that I'd glued some nice shiny eyes on. It didn't take long before I started getting hits. I pulled in one, then two, then my buddy hearing the tail splashes finally asked which bait I was using. Within 5 minutes of tying on his own Champ in perch he had a nice fish. OK for a short hop. Anything to break the monotony of self quarantine. Also, I'm hearing some nearby lakes have been closed. Gotta get em while I still can.

On Daiwa's homepage they claim reinforced brass gearing. Next time I'm up in the attic I'll pull out the box and check the lit.

Now how am I supposed to get this idea out of my head? Thanks.

I use and like that light also and carry two with me. I keep one around my neck, as shown in the pic, because it's stationary, and in that position it's far better for me when re-tying and rigging. I put the 2nd one on my head just for walking in and out of the lake.

I'd say there's a reason Shimano didn't put micro module gearing in the Tranx. High resistance baits may not be ideal for the Curado. P.S. Daiwa claims heavy duty gearing's in the 200

I have a new Tat 200 and a Tranx 200, each on Dobyn's Champ XP 794s. They both cast like a dream and equally as far with the baits I use. Honestly, I was surprised at how much I like the Tat and how well it performs. I wasn't expecting it to be this nice. It's also remarkably smooth on the retrieve. The Tranx has only a slight edge here. It feels belt driven, even without MM gearing. Butter.

Goof-Off will melt that foam in a second.

Here's a good, or bad depending on your perspective, night fishing treble hook story. The victim is a member of this group. I won't share pics of the incident. He may, but I doubt it. One lake we fish is ringed by trees. You'll find telephone poles laid right at the shoreline parallel to the water where they made periodic cuts in the treeline to provide access for bank fishing. He was alone one night fishing with a big treble bait at one of these cuts. He hooked into a solid 5 pounder. He knelt down and reached over the pole to unhook the fish using both hands. The bass shook and drove a huge treble hook into each of his thumbs. There was no getting out of it. It's quite a long walk through the woods, over a footbridge, through some more woods then back to the street. None of that mattered because it was impossible to to lift the fish which was also totally pinned. Lucky for him he always has a bluetooth on his ear and he was able to call someone nearby. Unfortunately that someone was 40 minutes away. So for 40 minutes he was trapped at the water's edge in the dark hunched over a telephone pole with a 5 lb bass connected to him that would thrash every now and then, and could do nothing about it but wait. When the rescuer arrived he took the occasion to video his walk from the car to the scene including narration. He got the bass free of the hooks, but there wasn't a chance of getting the hooks out of patient X's thumbs. 2 hours in the waiting room at emergency while still thumbcuffed by a swimbait, then horrible needles in his thumbs so they could cut the hooks out. All true. Caught on tape.

I keep both long and short Rapala fish grippers on me. Short for single hook baits and long for trebles. They can get you with a single hook too.

$60 for the 7", but be prepared to wait for the build. Definitely get the 7" first.

All I fish in my immediate area are shallow lakes. There aren't any marinas and generally no lights whatsover. In these places the worst nights to fish are when there's moonlight, like tonight/this morning. I just got back. Thankfully there was cloud cover, but the moon illuminated it enough that we barely needed flashlights. The bite was OK tonight, but nothing like it's been recently with far more darkness. All of my bites came in the shadow lines cast by the moonlight. To be clear, I'm not saying that a situation like a well lit marina can't be a positive, just that here it's not. As a matter of fact, the far side of this particular lake has a culvert where street lights shine on the water. Fishing at night there is rarely good at all. My point is don't limit yourself to where you fish at night to areas that have light. The best fishing might be where it's darkest. Baitfish have a survival instinct too. There's a reason that they go shallow. They also avoid the light in order to not be seen. P.S. The swimbait bite wasn't happening tonight. Everything came slow rolling paddletails on the bottom, which is typical on moonlit nights during this part of the season where the pads aren't up yet.

The zero adjuster is a gimmick, IMO. Yes, it's harder than usual to rotate the tension knob. Adjust it to where you want the tension and don't worry about it, even a little.

When you open the sideplate and swing it out you'll see a gear next to the thumb wheel. Put a drop of bantam oil on it in addition to backing off the screw a tad. You have a pretty small window where the screwdriver clears the frame in order to reach the screw. Close the plate and cycle the thumb wheel back and forth several times. That should loosen it up. I've had to re-apply oil now and then when it gets tight again. Don't go overboard loosening the screw. No benefit past a certain point.

It may be less advanced in theory, but in actual use as implemented in the 200 it's absolutely fine. Never came close to backlashing that reel. No weirdness period.

They aint trying to fool ya. If you'd like a greater understanding of how mag brakes work then look up "Permanent magnet eddy current braking". It's been used in industry forever. Daiwa didn't cheap out by offering Magforce and not Magforce Z in the 200. It's a heavy bait reel that doesn't benefit from using Magforce Z. Other Daiwa reels that are intended for heavier baits and happen to have Magforce Z may employ such a stiff spring that their inductors are nearly fixed, just like regular Magforce. The Tatula 150 is a middle ground reel with respect to lure weights, so it has Magforce Z. BTW, the 200 is fantastic if you're thinking about it. Every bit as good as the Tranx 200 in use, I MO. Considering it's street price it's an absolute steal. I have both.

Bucca Bull Gill Slow Sink, Shellcracker G2, MegaBass Magdraft Freestyle. Right at your budget and these 3 versatile baits will attract any size bass and cover the column nicely.

Bam!

I got a buddy who was cozy on his couch and "wasn't going anywhere" out for a midnight wade with the old "I've got a really good feeling" shtick. Works every time. It was kinda crappy with steady 15mph winds with 20mph gusts, but not bone chilling this time around. Got one 20 minutes in on the Rat 40. The Beast Coast Miyagi in Dope Gill got the rest of the attention.