PhishLI

We believe you. ? WaaaHaaHaaaa!

I do a tad less than a 3rd of a spool of 50lb braid as a backer. Two small 3/8" squares of Super 33 electrical tape placed 180 degrees apart on the spool before tying an arbor knot keeps it from slipping. Braid never wants to jump off the spool like heavier mono does, is lighter, and the uni to uni connection knot to the main line is slimmer than when using mono as a backer. I use it for lighter braid main lines also. Works for me.

I fish off a boat and a kayak, but the majority of my fishing is done by first walking through the woods in the dark and fishing with trees close by. I also lean my rods not in use at that moment against trees when I'm wading. Between snagging tree limbs on the way in, unavoidable at night while carrying 4-5 rods, leaning rods against tree limbs, and occasionally swatting branches on the backswing, which happens sometimes, $140 is my limit. I park $300 reels on some of them, which might seem goofy, but I like cool reels. Up to this point I haven't busted a single rod, but that's because I've capped my spending at $140 per rod. The second I give in and buy a pricier rod it'll get busted pronto, no doubt. I know, you know it. That's how it goes. Truthfully, I'm quite happy with my choices at that price point and below. You get a pretty good stick these days, even at lower prices than $140. High end tech makes it's way down stream. Even a $54 Daiwa Aird X fishes just fine.

7'3" MHF 13 Omen Black 2 . Daiwa Fuego CT 8 speed. 15 LB Trilene Big Game.

I put a light coating of oil on my jig heads and hooks before installing salted plastics, and always hang them to dry after an outing. This does the trick for the most part.

When I checked the 7 day forecast last week I was happy to see that Monday - Wednesday we'd be back in the 50's, but once again Saturday and Sunday would be harsh. 20's with high speed N winds on Sat and not much better on Sunday. More post cold front challenges. Uhg. Yesterday we had blustery S winds, so I hit the N cove right off the bat at 9pm. They wanted nothing moving fast or moving much at all, so I stuck to the bottom nice and slow. No bite and runs, just slurp and spits. I kept missing until I didn't. I had 2 shake off at my feet, but got one in finally. We moved up the shore to deeper water and threw some big wakes and glides. I didn't get a sniff, but my buddy hooked into a whopper on the Bull Shad slow sink. He almost got her in, but one jump and a tail slap and the big girl was bye bye. I only wish I was filming the scene. You could 've heard his cries of OMG a mile away. Rolling around on the ground, feet up in the air, arms outstretched. Whyyyyy! Priceless

Well that's bad. Aren't you like 300 yrs old? Looks like I'll be fishin' with at least 301 year old fishing line. Wish me luck.? P.S. It came off the filler spool smoothly, not as rough as Big Game does. I did a few break tests with my hands and it's definitely stronger than 12lb Big game at nearly the same diameter. I guess I'll find out.

New rides for the Daiwa Catalina and Curado K 6 speed. 13 Omen Black ll 7'6" MHF and 13 Defy Black 7'3" Crankbait.

Do you have the Tactical or the Ambidextrous? I have the Magellan sling for wading and love it. It also swings to the front and opens in the "up" position. I need to wear an additional shoulder bag occasionally for 3600 boxes. I was looking at a White River sling, but the Simms is on my radar too.

I'll keep throwing red until the wheels fall off. It just hasn't happened for me yet. White, natural, perch, and greens have been working up to this point.

I don't think this guy makes a bait that doesn't swim right/well. Mattlures Ultimate Bluegill 5".

They'll continue getting fished. I never quit anything. The reel feel temps here were in the 20s today with cranking NW winds. I should be out there, but I'm trapped inside. I'm just venting. Don't worry, bro, the gear's safe.

1 or 2, maybe

Good idea. I have plenty of Owner CPSs. I'll try your method using worms if I run out of Boogers.

Yeah, out of the 3 I listed I've pegged red at the most hopeless, hence the bonfire.

The spools are in fully enclosed cardboard boxes. I grabbed one earlier. We'll see. Thanks!

No worries.

LOL! Not just yet. What's confusing here is that colors very close to Yamamoto Watermelon Black Flake are my best producers. That particular color is quite a bit darker than most other brand's versions often called watermelon seed, etc. Watermelon Black Flake ala Yamamoto is different. As long as darker tones of green and black are in the mix then everything's hunky dory. Black alone has even been great, but mix in shades of dark blue and I'm singin' the blues. On a side note, Yamamoto 297 has been a great color for me elsewhere, but is a dud in my home lake. Only after being totally frustrated throwing it with zero feedback did I take a blind shot with watermelon/blk flake. I terrorized them for 2 months straight with that color, then bought other baits as close to it as I could find and continue to do quite well. Megabass green pumpkin blue doesn't look as if there's any blue in it whatsoever, but instead has the dark green hue of GY Watermelon/BLK/FLK and I absolutely clean up with the Hazedong Shad in that color. These outcomes likely have more to do with statistics and probability due to the the slim bass population here than the colors I choose. There's also the possibility that I simply suck at fishing, but it's mostly just tough sledding here for myself and everyone I know. I've been skunked with the colors that have worked well, of course, but it's the others that have left me completely stumped.

My local B&T has 400 yard spools of 14lb Sufix Tritanium Plus in the closeout bin. $4 for 1 or $3 each for 5. Is it junk? Any happy users?

I've never ever ever caught a fish on any chartreuse yellow, red, or junebug colored bait. I have those colors in many bait types and can't seem to get any play. I'm heading to Home Despot for a can of Rustoleum. They're all getting spray painted black, except for the red Manns Jelly Worms. I'm setting those on fire.

It was frigid and very windy here today, so going to the lake was out. I was dying to see how it would go throwing a 1/8 oz # 7 Rapala jointed minnow. It weighs 3.5 grams on the scale. The reel is spooled up with 8lb Sufix Advance. The rod isn't ideal for this bait, an Omen Black 2 7'1" MF, but I wanted to get a feel. The wind wasn't nearly as bad on the side of my house, but I was limited to overhead casts due to the proximity of the fence and max distance due to trees. The lure went 70 ft easily before I stopped it on several flick throws. No funny business with fluff ups or over runs. I'm confident I can get that bait out 90 ft or more on this less than ideal setup. I'll probably grab a Teton soon and find out what the basement is. A bearing upgrade will be interesting. Anyway, a 10 gram spool with a slick braking system is a good recipe for throwing light baits successfully. In addition, it's tiny, palms great, and is light. Too bad it's a Lew's. If it were called something else, like with a D or S, it'd be getting raves.

When A-Jay speaks my portfolio trembles.

Looks like you're set, until the next Black Friday sale anyway. ?

We fish the IMA and the Curve as shallow running cranks just above the greenery in the shallows. Neither has enough of a bill or runs nose down enough to really deflect anyway. Not much to deflect off of around here, just muck and weeds to get snagged in.

I'm with you! I had 3 fully impacted wisdom teeth that had to go, in two sittings. Mama mia.