txchaser

I bought u40 early on and coated my first few cork-handles rods with it. I really couldn't tell much difference over time from the next few I didn't coat, so I stopped. I'm mostly lipping fish though, so very little grime on my hands, and I wash hands twice after sunscreen. So...no, not anymore.

Sale has passed, but here's 2c anyway: For $20 yeah always get the z-bone. For me, I can't tell the difference between a helium and a z-bone in the same config. Both are great, and I care zero about high grade cork in the z-bone. I grab them interchangeably. It's really hard to buy a bottom contact rod from anyone else... the way the rod loads is great, customer service is great, owner is great, sensitivity is a++. I wish they did more mod-fast rods with high end blanks/guide trains. The two Nitraniums I have are amazing, but that line needs some big rods too, for deep cranks or 6" soft swimbaits. I was skeptical of the recoil guides, now I love them.

I'm guessing by your response it out fishes the Geecrack Bellows Gill or Shad when they are on a gill bite? And I'm glad it is heavier, I usually have more rods from 1.5-8oz target out than less than an oz, so likely fits my more default style.

Thanks! DoLive Beaver Geecrack Bellows shad (and gill) Cover Scat T-mac Those four are in the bag. Flick shake Spunk Shad Hira Tailor (I think when I run out of bellows gills I'll try this, looks tasty) DoLive Stick Are not in the bag. On chatter bait trailers I'm mostly fishing gill profile so nod goes to larger eg not pintails. Zako was the default. But the new man chatter blade is really good and I can't tell any difference in results. It's a little less tail heavy so might have better action/less tail drag. Swing impact - using the skinny one not the fat? Do Live Stick - 4.5"?

Nah just curious what else you found when testing since you seem thoughtful about it.

No but the stealth rig on TW appears to be the same thing.

Re the original question: Heck I don't even use 20% of my rods in the boat on a regular basis. Long post incoming, I guess I hadn't really thought about this much. Hard tackle - Tough to say, I'm on a new lake that I haven't really gotten the vibe for the hard bait in 12-25ft zone yet, and it's a lot of grass. So the 15 mid-depth and 15 deep cranks mostly sit in the box. But for flatsides, very little, and the hybrid hunter style grass cranks don't work too well. Soft plastics- craws, straight worms, rage bugs, etc - maybe 1% - far too much experimenting with brands. Same goes for strolling trailers. Probably should have just bought drift fry and sakamata shad and stopped. I bet I have 50 bags of big worms. Swimming trailers/small swimbaits - 80%+ and climbing- I feel like I have this dialed in on color and brand pretty well. As an example, there are two colors in two brands that make the cut on the a-rig. 6th sense divine in ghost pro and in a natural color, and jackall if I need to get more 'wag' as they are softer. And as time goes by I may not replace the jackall when they are gone - I haven't yet seen a case where I felt like I needed it during the whole warm season this year. Same deal for chatter bait trailers - just two now, the Zako and the new z-man chatter blade. I may not buy zakos anymore unless I need a color I can't get in the z-man as they seem interchangeable. Big Soft Swimbaits - 20% and falling - I'm in the 'try everything' mode here... still learning. Biggest thing so far is I very much prefer top-hook line-through baits - landing percentage is way higher. 100% of the time there will be a 6-7" soft swimbait on the deck. Colors are down to 'white-ish' and 'natural-ish' Topwaters - 20% and I wouldn't miss most of the rest of it. Frog, buzz bait, spook, popping frog that's enough. The rest of it just doesn't seem to produce enough. Trying big wake baits now though.

What else beyond the do-live beaver tops your list?

I need to get another life jacket for the boat. I have a MIT 70 or 100 (would have to go look) and a MIT-150 for passengers. Sometimes I might have two passengers, and I got to thinking about the Elite series which are probably better when on plane and going fast. So if I need another, might be able to improve my situation, and I started thinking I can wear a much meatier PFD when it is cold too. I like the tiny inflatable most of the year though, it's hot here. Is the 120 vs 190 elite simply amount of flotation? I'm about 210lbs. I suppose this post is mostly directed at @A-Jay

---- 6th Sense SPEND $100 GET 20% OFF SPEND $150 GET 25% OFF SPEND $200 GET 30% OFF Sorry for the cut/paste all-caps.

The category search interface is pretty poor on Haul. I suggest putting in your favorite brands as many don't come up under 'fishing'. There was stuff I actually use, in normal colors, lots was 60-ish% off.

A few of learnings since I started this thread. 1) if you see "two or three sticks" far out, and together, that look like a tall return kinda like a gar... that's bass. Big ones. Get'em. 2) stop throwing at little fish. if it's big enough to want to catch you aren't going to miss it 3) I'm starting to call out fish - 'thats a gar' - it's as much based on where they are in the column and how they are moving than anything. The 'long skinny tendrils' coming out the top help too. This has been 100% just a time on the scope thing. 4) wind still rough at 30mph lol 5) Best I have for the bottom fish is they just... look different? Can't always see them, but the edges have a different quality than grass patch or rock or wood. Still working on this. But a good standing rule for me would be "if you aren't really sure, just keep moving" - or nothing more than running a bait a few feet over their head, not throwing a bunch of stuff. So far it never pays off to sit there and rotate baits on maybes. 6) Don't let a follower follow all the way to the boat. 7) Followers can sometimes be triggered by a 1/2 reel spin, or a pop up towards the surface, depending on the bait (spin an a-rig, pop a minnow). Last resort is a big rip/drop if you have something that falls fast. Works often enough to be worth trying.

Top baits for the year. Little timber/rock, lots of weeds. I spent at least 50% of my time scoping. Every time they bite it's like watching a wake coming up on your topwater. Onshore: Mag speed worm bladed jig Scoping: Jackall Driftfry (4") on a variety of jig heads. Learned to slow down the rolling. A-rig (star player) Hangover (fat 6" line through) - this bait is so so fun to fish. They just smoke it. And the line through means few missed fish, once I learned to watch for the line rub on the insert. Up and comers: Neko Rig Super-sweep (tall 5.2" Swimbait, beast hook. looks like a gizzard or a gill) Honorable mention: T-rigged bug or brush hog Unexpectedly poor results vs last year on same water: Frog Slither rig/jig Forgot to fish and definitely should have: Punch Rig - there were some days I straight out couldn't find the shore fish and I'm pretty sure they were just buried up in the grass. Our grass grows out to about 10'. And finally, I got a crappie rod and a few baits. Now I can almost always answer the question - what is it that I'm seeing? Found gills way offshore on a tree, and lots and lots of barfish (like a baby white bass), and the occasional crappie stack.

Thanks, I'll check it out!

Huk is 40-50% off for captain's club members. Stacks with clearance/sale prices too.

What's the verdict on those TBX boxes vs alternatives? Along with some other stuff, bought some of the large one (LSL2C) of these for spinnerbaits - buzzbe lure sleeves. Honestly I just don't get it. I'll end up putting them back in a CD case.

+1 for the okasana. Gets bit. FYI f you don't put the second hook in, it floats. Alternatively if you are going to do a hard glide the s-waver 168 is known as the best entry point glide - seems to be easy to make it work, and it isn't expensive. In either case, something like bone.

I couldn't find a thread that listed military discounts, so I'm starting one. Tackle Warehouse - 10% (usually stacks with clearance but not sales, except Memorial Day) 6th Sense - 10% via GovX, 50/50 on stacking BassPro/Cabela's - 10%. I don't use it because the prices there are always higher to start with. Not hating, just consistently the case. GSM/Yamamoto/Dobyns/etc - via Guidefitter.com - specifically asks not to talk about the discount amount, but pretty easy to find it w/o signing up. It's the best deal I've seen on veteran discounts anywhere. Huk - 10% via GovX, rarely stacks Rapala - unknown % via Expertvoice Copperstate Tackle - none Omnia - none Will update this as others post.

Yeah c-tape is the one I was thinking of.

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/DD26_Fishing_Graph_Strap_Cover_Keeper/descpage-DDCTTGT.html This will probably help with the cover flying off. It is important that you get it working in forward mode again to make sure the transducer is good - as mentioned above there was a run of them that the factory took back because they were having this problem and calibrating didn't fix it.

I just bought a Daiwa grease tube, it's kind of accordion-shaped applicator. It's blue. Same crap and I shouldn't use it, or it's fine?

FYI didn't see this one on the front page.

Is this different than the carbon tape that's been around for a while?