PhishLI

Me either. Last spring I was looking for a Gantarel Jr in Crappie. It wasn't in stock yet where I usually look, and projections were out to August in better known places, but they had them and the price was awesome. That accidental circumstance put them on my radar. Great prices often, and fast and free shipping.

Mine just came. Well packaged. Not loose in the tube whatsoever.

Is there a specific issue you're having? The only reason you'd end up with a bird's nest is that your thumb is off the spool at some point, and it should never leave on short/midrange pitches. The trick here is pitching with the flattest trajectory you can with as little arc-up as is practical. This is important, and too much spool tension will actually mess you up here. Also, the correct amount pitching pace, or speed, will keep your bait out in front of the spool, and will force you to use your thumb as the primary brake. Too slow of a pitch with lighter baits may induce you to have a light-switch thumb in order to get the distance you want, but that's where you'll lose contact leading to a blowup.

I'm a fan.

I recently bought 3 1200 yd spools for bait casters only. Your buddy's cool. ? Different strokes... If you have a Tat 300, they've widened the T-wing line guide section to accommodate leader knots. I haven't tried it with mine as I see zero advantage to using braid with swimbaits.

Midway. There are still 6 in stock at this moment.

I've been throwing that bait and others like it on a $100 Tatula XT 7'3" H and have had no issues socking home a 6/0 Beast hook.

That's the idea. You're going to want a long-ish leader with braid though. You're going to backlash if you use it and a short leader, and there's a good chance you'll break off and launch your bait. We're pretty deep into the swimbait game around here, and everyone I know has gone to straight mono or fluoro mainline. Mostly mono though. Check out some of NDYakAngler's vids on YT. He's caught a chit ton of smallies in clear water throwing hardbaits on straight 30lb green Jbraid, so small diameter mono shouldn't upset them at all and will give you zero grief. However, many of these hardbaits come with very beefy trebles. If you're going to go with light line, consider swapping out to lighter trebles. It takes some real oomph to set the heavier ones.

That's it right there, but one needs to understand how to learn. While the "time on the water" thing is very real, your headspace during that time is everything. I've been back at this long enough to see people who seem to work hard, yet never improve, or barely improve. Most seem a bit tense, frustrated quickly, and get upset easily by failure. Their adjustments, as they are, are rarely subtle, and this is a game of subtleties. Every single guy I know who can catch fish well are far more Zen about it. They're absorbing everything, especially their failures, and they don't jump to conclusions with little evidence.

Same here, because the tube got crushed. Besides that, if you hate the feel of a rod, just return it for a small fee. I always do a dry run right away with a hard cast using a weight at the stated limit to screen out for infant mortality. Every rod so far has passed this test, and none have ever failed when bringing in a fish. I've ordered at least 60 rods online. I won't bother getting one if it's shipped in a triangular box, or a box of any kind. My brother has had a bunch of those come in broken from amazon and DSG.

I pm'd some of the dudes who've ordered and received rods from them, and they said they came in tubes.

Me too. Lake/pond wading at night is sketchy sometimes, but I always find the safe routes during daytime wades. There are several places where we can get out 300 feet from the bank, but only several feet in others. I've had some dudes from out east come to wade with me in my spots during summer. I've warned them all to bring heavy clothing or else, yet some resisted offering one reason or another. Me: Trust me on this one. They're evil. Them: I'll spray myself. Me: Okie doke. Them: I wore a long sleeve shirt. Me: Alrighty then. Them: I've been fishing for 30 years. I'll be fine. Me: You da man. Them: Mosquitoes don't like me. Me: Uh huh... Each one got ravaged and had to tap out way early. It was impossible not laughing during my told-you-so. Like this is something I'd make up? I enjoy sweating like an animal through my clothes? One guy even came back the next year and forgot his armour. I wondered how he could forget. He had welts everywhere the last time he came.

Which hook?

X2^^

That's what's going on mine too. 20lb Big Game. Skipping Jigs, 1/2oz Chatterbaits, swim jigs, 5-6" Beast Hook rigged swimmers, G2s, Gantarel Jrs, and other 1 1/2 oz hardbaits baits in that class. If I get to throw those baits with it from tight quarters, anything else is gravy.

The 6'9" H I don't, but I'll find out what it does. I have hopes beyond what they say it is. Anytime you need a bait, look not only at the sales section, but the non sale bait and all its options. There's often a super deal squirreled into those sections.

Definitely. I never take their quoted "purposes" seriously, so I try new ones out a number of different ways and find out what's what. I multipurpose so many of my rods with judicious line choices and drag adjustments. Fish it awhile and let it tell you what it does well.

Nope!

A rare crazy good deal for sure.

They chug deet before they bite here. Nothing will stop them except thick clothing. I need to wear a heavy fleece sweat jacket and wool skull cap at the height of the summer heat in order to save myself. They'll sting right through a ball cap. I left with lumps on my head before I threw in the towel and tried the beanie. Even after spraying my gloves, I leave with swollen hands form the bites. Sometimes it's simply too much. This is me in August. Eh, a nice shvitz is good for one's health.

I have the FR733. I mainly use it for throwing 4' MB Hazedong Shads on a 3/16oz weight swimbait hook. About 10 grams. Same as an unweighted 5" senko. I always run straight 30 lb braid with it. It's actually a good 3/8oz chatterbait rod as long as the trailer isn't too heavy. I got a few fat 5+ fish on it right off the bait, so no durability issues for me.

At the peak of the endless heat wave last August, that spot was down 2 feet during the drought. Water ceased flowing over the dam there. Just a stagnated, stinking mess of rotting plant life. A dog with hands. Terrifying!

I thought TN was a smidge south of NY? Most of my spots are on the south shore close to the salt. They were man-made mill ponds from back in the olden days. There are a ton of them running down the island. All are quite shallow and rarely deeper than 6-7 feet at the very center where the original stream bed lies. Their average depth is more like 2-4 feet. There may be oddball deeper holes that were excavated for fill during the original builds to build up surrounding roadways. While the pads will start budding on the bottom very soon, the weeds will lag behind by months. Until they're established enough to provide a scaffolding to hold heat, usually sometime in June, cold fronts and high winds will have the water temps yo-yo-ing like crazy. This is what's common here. It's 18 acres. The dam is at the south end of the larger eastern section. As in the rest of my county, no floating devices allowed, so I wade them. If you don't mind stagnating heat and salt marsh mosquitoes so big they have landing gear, I'd be happy to have you.

Must be nice! We won't have those water temps here until June! Waters are still in the high 30s here, and with 20* temps this weekend and high northern winds our small waters will chill right back down into the mid 30s. Uhg. I gotta move.

Midway is blowing out Tatula Elite casting rods at super low prices. I just got one for $109 and @drakesndrum just got one for $88. Each qualifies for a rebate in the form of a $60 Daiwa Huk UPF 50 hoodie shirt. P.S. If you've purchased any qualifying Tatula products from any retailer after Feb 1 of this year, the rebate is available to you if you have the receipt and the original bar code. Just do a search for "Tatula/HUK Promotion" to find the rebate form and rules.