PhishLI

Oh boy. That's way too neat, AJ. If I went out on your Lund I think you'd just end up suplexing me over the rail, then punching me in the face when I came up for air. I'm a little too "artistic" to hang with that level of org.

That's 'cause you're a (b)asskicking machine.

Yeah. It's cool when he drags bass through the dirt. Awesome.

Please, go for it! I appreciate a willing guinea pig. Oops I meant "early adopter". I've been one myself. ? But seriously, you're probably quite safe going that route. They have ACB nailed down at this point.

? Don't necessarily exclude certain places completely. Store everything away for when you get good at this. Good move. Patience. Lots of patience. Not that they don't exist somewhere, but I have yet to come across a lake in this region having a population density that would reveal anything about itself quickly. Not in a day, not in a week, or a month, unless you're a cyborg who doesn't require sleep and could fish it 24/7 non stop. Then you have 4 seasons to decode, which is another wrinkle altogether. In addition, bait selection, size and color, is a very distant consideration compared to understanding bass behavior and habits in a "specific" lake. Lakes fish differently, even when they're across the street from each other. Nobody figures this out quickly. Had I excluded a few places around my area based on short term failure, and because of "all" of the regulars and casuals I met telling me they sucked because they sucked at fishing, I would've missed the multiple big fish I've caught out of them after I learned them completely. The regulars are flabbergasted by what my crew and I catch on a consistent basis, but this took time and work. Patience.

Nice catches.

The gene pool in any body of water will set the terms for size if the forage base exists along with a number of other important factors. There's a good chance you can find 6-8lb fish in the right spots. If you search around the web you'll find NJ guys holding up fish that size. This isn't an everyday thing up north, but it isn't super rare either. The hardcore boys know how to find them and catch them. The casuals typically don't unless they get dumb lucky. Your best bet you have to get the pointers you're looking for is if you paint a clear picture of a place or two you're mostly likely to put some real time into. Give us everything you can regarding green cover like weeds reeds, pads, depth, bottom composition, current or lack thereof. Inlet/outlet/culverts, etc. In my opinion you should concentrate on decoding only one or two spots instead of bouncing around, at least until you've figured a number of things out. You really need to look at the near future as practice. You need time and reps to build your base and confidence.

Dude from my crew, Ramon, upped his PB again with this nice slugger. Woke me up from a dead sleep in the middle of the night to share. Before I got my wits about me I thought he'd won the Powerball or something. His voice went up by several octaves telling the tale. He puts in the work. Happy for him. It's not easy to crack a 7 around here. Told him I was allowed to show him the secret handshake now? MattLures Strong Shad

I do. Whether it's calibrated well to me, or I've calibrated myself to it, I find it to be very well suited to my casting style. I can only hope they don't somehow lose what I like about it after the inevitable next generation comes out. I'd really miss it if that were to occur.

And it's still a fantastic all-around basic reel, especially at its price point, IMO.

Perhaps, but I like to keep an open mind. In my experience, if something is built differently it behaves differently. Just like centrifugally braked reels of different design, mag brake reels are not all created equal. If the same braintrust who came up with the excellent 6 pin ACB braking system is behind this particular Paramag system, then this might be something special. We'll see.

That's one pretty northern chunk! Congrats!

You're taking a principled stand based on what you know. I get that. Having fished with both ABU's and Lew's, there's not a lot of commonality after $150, IMO. There used to be much more. A $100 Revo and a $100 LFS are more or less the same thing, but you get different braking systems, spool arrangements, and frame ergos as you buy up the ladder. I don't like fishing with an ABU STX because I don't like the brakes, but I like fishing with a Lew's Tournament Pro LFS. Others may have the opposite opinion, and that's because there are notable differences in performance between the two. Someone else may feel those differences are small, and perhaps they are for most people, but I don't, so I have preferences based on those differences.

It isn't. This is all just cognescenti OCD which has spilled out a little. 99.9% of people who fish will never be aware of this info, and if you tried to explain it to them their eyes would just glaze over.

If this was actually a fact, it would be easy to agree with, but this isn't, and I'm not splitting hairs. While there's crossover on certain clamshell products and maybe up to $150, there's a pretty wide diversity of choices farther up the price point ladder. They're not small either.

Can you live without an anti-reverse switch? I can't. If you can't either the Tatula LT 3000 CXH is the shallow spool version. The "D" version holds much more line. Mine has given me zero problems with its spool packed with 15lb PP Super Slick. Going on 5 years now.

You haven't met my cousin.

Email it to yourself. When you hit send you'll get a prompt to choose a file size, small, medium, large. kb size for each choice is shown. Choose small, then hit send. Open the email, tap on the picture, then save it. Use that picture when you upload to this site. Sounds complicated, but takes about 20 seconds to do.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/why-smallmouth-bass-are-one-of-the-most-dangerous-fish-in-the-country/ar-AAZPOb1?cvid=754713df286b45aaa92e308935b05e4f

Incoming. Stay strong.

@Deleted account pm'd me the same selfie! I feel so betrayed...sniff...

Do you have a LFS framed Lew's he can try for fit? If you do and he likes it, you have this option: https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Lews_HyperSpeed_LFS_Casting_Reel/descpage-HYS.html

That's why god made reel covers?

I remember coming home from school one day to find a very well dressed older man speaking to my mom in the living room. The Kirby vac he was demonstrating looked fancy. My mom tried to explain to me that he was an actor, and one of the minor Dons in a scene from the Godfather. I said " Nice to meet you, Don". They both laughed, then he showed me pictures of the set with him next to the other actors in an effort to clarify the matter, but I just couldn't wrap my mind around what a Don was, or the Godfather either, so I just nodded along, then went to my room. My Lincoln Logs were far more interesting to me at that point. I recall hearing my mother telling the guy that his vacuum cost more than our car in the driveway. She ended up buying an Electrolux.

Most people don't have a clue who Doyo is. Some people just like to make noises on fishing forums. "I am discriminating, therefore I'd never buy a rebadged... blah blah blah. When others hear those noises they think they should chirp along with them. The pearl clutching is funny to say the least. Pay no attention to any of it, and don't feel dirty or ever apologize in advance for using what you like using. This happens from time to time because of the noisemaker's influence, and it's ridiculous. Not a lot at all. Read above.