PhishLI

Yup. I use the same one. Comes in a 2 pack usually on sale at home despot during the holidays. Coast 1600068 FL74 Tri Color Focusing Headlamps

They work great, but they drive me nuts because they're always dragging my hat down and forward, so I end up having to adjust it often. The Coast models I use have an adjustable elastic band and the light articulates downward with detents, so I often opt to wear it around my neck. Unconventional, but it works, and I don't have to tilt my head to focus the beam when I retie. Try not to focus on the whopper plopper hanging off my sweatjacket. It's a long story.

Don't worry about it at all and just go fishing.

Compared to other types, I'd say definitely, especially if it isn't dialed in just so. And it also depends on which reel it's in with the K being at the bottom of the list. I still own them and use them, but I don't love them, regardless of their build quality. BUT, I switch bait types often due to the nature of how I fish, and I have other reels that don't require that I dick around with adjustments, so when I'm forced to or else, eh, it's just ponderous. A person can fish with any reel throwing baits into the wind with varying results depending on their skill, but certain braking implementations are simply better than others here, especially when chucking wind catching baits into the wind. Unless you're throwing 1/4oz balsa jerkbaits, they tend to cast pretty well on most typical bait casters, especially now that many have weight transfer systems. Personally I'm not taking my Shimano, Lew's, or Quantum centrifugal reels out night fishing in the wind. There's no upside. While I can get through the night without grief if I make a point of it when using those, I can avoid diverting my attention from fishing to managing a spool by instead taking my Daiwa SV/Mag Z types out on windy trips and not even think about it. They're simply a better tool under these conditions using a variety of baits, IMO. If Daiwa comes out with a purely centrifugally braked reel I wouldn't take that out either in those conditions.

I'll have one of these soon and will use it for everything listed plus small cranks. They'll take it back within 3 days of delivery if it's not up to snuff. https://www.alphaangler.com/products/clutch-power-finesse https://www.alphaangler.com/pages/returns

If you're going to be casting into the "teeth of the wind" as you say, then perhaps a DC reel is what you should be considering. The SLX DC is under $200 new, or find a used Curado DC. Even Shimano doesn't tout their centrifugally braked reels as anything special when casting into the wind, MGL or not, but they do with their DC reels.

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Pickerel will eat anything a bass will. Sometimes it's hard to keep them off bass baits. I have a box full of Dark Sleepers in Dark Shad(brown) with missing tails to prove it. My top ten pickerel, all between 26"-29", have for the most part come on small 3.5"-4.5" nondescript paddletail swimmers with no added flash beyond their eyes. A few had no eyes. One came on a GP Zoom Fluke Stick worm and another on a Black/ Blue ribbon tail worm. Big pickerel are more than happy to eat small baits, and often. 4" Zman Diesel Minnow.

Tell me about it. During the height of summer I wear two sweat jackets to keep them from destroying my upper body and a wool winter skull cap to keep them from lumping up my scalp. NY mosquitoes are evil.

Only when necessary and never pointed out into the water. Depends on the lake. In some places fish are more spooky than in others. Start out casting lures on a high trajectory, or arc, then listen to and feel how the vibration of the spool and its bearings change throughout the cast. They'll inform you of where your bait is during flight even on the darkest nights. It takes a little time to download this info, but if you can process it you'll be fine. I haven't blown up a spool in years and I primarily fish at night. An occasional thrown loop is going to happen day or night, but nothing problematic or fatal if you're tuned in. Distance to targets out and away from the shore is all muscle memory that's been calibrated by tens of thousands of reps, but stopping the lure in time is all by feel and sound. Casting towards the shoreline at night from a boat is a different animal. Depth perception is whacked at night, especially in the beginning. It takes some time to adjust. You bet. You bet!

If it's blowing hard outside, literally the last reel I'm bringing out with me is a Curado K. It really sucks casting into the wind. My first choice would be a new Zillion 1000.

Anyone who's ever boxed has heard one version or another of the same concept from their trainer: Don't go looking for the knockout, let it come. Now you could simply throw big baits with the idea that doing so will exclude smaller fish and attract big fish, and sometimes this is true, but this is a tough way to do it in the northeast. You'll need a strong will because you're going to blank a lot. If you think that you have that type of fortitude, then go for it, but understand going in that you're far more likely to catch big fish on typical compact baits. They'll eat those far more frequently. Your best bet is to find fish, and when you do, even if they're a bunch of 2s, keep fishing. They're there for a reason, and a big is likely to be nearby for the same reason. There are simply less of them, so they're harder to connect with. Patience, weedhopper. patience. I'd also advise that you keep the number of places you go to down to only a few, then learn them completely. Over time you will find that there are bigger fish zones where you can concentrate on depending on the season. You can only come to know this by putting in the time and thinking about what happened when it happens. Good Luck

Only iced up guides will stop me if the water's open.

That's only the FOB code. The keys are often chip coded to the ignition, which is different. The dealer has both.

Call your dealer. They'll have the code.

78* today! It's so nice out right now I could fish nekid with zero loss of dignity.

It's a very good reel. You should be fine. Check your PM.

6. Find out if he's open to adoption.

During the 5 months of drought we had here there was rarely wind either, so when wind was in the forecast I was always amp'd up. Sadly, the wind rarely came at all no matter what was in the forecast. It was weird. Fishing here is a grind in good times, so without a few positive elements in play it can be brutal. The drought is well over now, and they said we'd have good wind on Friday night, but no, it never came. Deja vu all over again. Luckily the poachers showed up with their mega-candle-power headlamps which prompted my early exit. Southern winds were kicking nicely all day on Saturday, but that was no guarantee they'd hold up through the night. By some miracle the wind stuck around, then cloud cover rolled in nicely to counteract the giant beaming moon that's been hanging over the lake until 2:00 am. Joy! I scouted out a few of my more productive areas in search of baitfish clinging to the shore, but found little. The floor of the lake is now covered in leaves, so it was really hard to tell. What I did find was that the trout stocking agency had been back and dumped in about a zillion 6" Megabass Magdraft sized trout. They were everywhere. This isn't good for bass fishing in the short term as it's hard to compete with a bunch of dumb and very eatable farm fish, but they grow the big ones, so we bide our time. The chance of catching a plus-sized bass around here is real, so grind or no grind, the anticipation is ever present. If pals are around when that happens, it becomes an even bigger event. It just so happened that I ran into one of my best wading buds who's been missing for most of the year due to life issues, so we ended up doing as much BSing as fishing. Other than one smack on a Bullshooter that missed the hooks, he just couldn't find the bite, and he's one of the most fishcatchingest hombres I know. I ended up with some short fish, and even though they just slurped my wake baits they fought hard afterwards, so it's all good.

The tension knob has a clicker. Does yours click? No. I have one and my friend has five of them.

It's a tad wider than the 80 you sold me. Was there anything uncomfortable about the 80? The Zillion feels small to me, but I wear a XL glove, so most things do. I'd say just try it. It won't be hard to move if you don't like the fit. BTW, how does the Steez A fit in your grip?

Same here. A ton of leaves have fallen since Monday, and my spot looked winter-sad all of a sudden. The forecast claimed 8mph S winds with 15 mph gusts, so that might've counteracted a blaring moon somewhat, but it was glass flat. Since the trout imitators got no play on Monday, I thought a slow-rolled Magnum UV Speedworm might offer a profile and gentle kick that might be palatable to belly-down bass unwilling to chase. Got one piddling bite-and-spit over the next hour running it and several other baits in a zone, but that was it. The brigades swarmed in with their blinding headlamps that they never turn off and saved me from my stubbornness. A lot can happen over two hours and my wife had stories. She was glad I was back way earlier than usual. "They" say it'll be windy again tonight, so I'll try, try again.

Great story! Thanks!

Yup. I'd did my son in law's President recently. Nearly identical bail spring mechanicals. Removing the bail wire completely was the trick to lining everything back up while under tension. Got it back together, but a real PIA. Explaining it without video would be difficult.