txchaser

Stanley buzz-it in white. Love buzzbaits but the weeds were getting a little nasty so I dug it out of the top water box for the first time. New PB.

Everyone calls it something different, as an example OR calls it active ice. I know columbia, OR, and Huk all have it. Basically it is hyper-evaporative. The water* evaporates faster so it creates more cooling. Kind of like how alcohol on your skin feels cooler than pouring water on it. *or sweat

I bought a kit on amazon for this purpose. I figure it cost me a little more to do it that way, but it saved a ton of fiddling. 8ga has been plenty for a 55lb 12v motor. It is hooked to the minn kota battery box. Working great for at least a year.

I fish all summer long in Texas, so lots of trial and error. The only time it really gets unbearable is if there's no wind. Here's what works for me - Wide Brim Hat with cooling dots. It's like a portable tree. I look like my grandpa. Don't care, because it works. Gloves with cooling dots. Wear them mostly through the brightest six hours or so. Buff with cooling dots, but mostly just to cover my neck in the front from reflected sun. Generally don't like it over my face, but sometimes later in the day I can feel my face cooking, even with 50 or 100spf. Goes on around 11 or so. Basically as soon as I start feeling sun on my neck. All three go in the water occasionally, at least until the water starts hitting 90, at which point I'm better off with some water from the cooler. The cooling dots make a -huge- difference. The buffs I have with no dots just stay in the drawer.

Patagonia Nano is pretty good for passing storms and small enough to fit in a pocket. It isn't for 'the sky opened up' kinds of rain. Sold as a runner's windbreaker. GoreTex is really a bunch of different weights now; it is worth spending a little time on their site. if you don't have the ultralight goretex make sure it has pit zips.

Upsize the owner CPS or hitchiker on just about everything that comes with them. They always seem one size too small.

I have the daiwa, and I like it. If crisp is a legit description, that's what I'd call it. I'm sure they are both great; the daiwa seems built for a light-ish bottom contact presentation.

I bought this rod (for frogs) based on recommendations here. It's great, and really versatile.

Unconventional, but you might give him one of the dinks you pull out. It'll get bored quick, maybe it takes the excitement out of the whole thing.

Trashmaster Jig is pretty good all-purpose grass/wood and is really forgiving on the hookset vs a traditional jig, because it gets rigged like a texas rig.

I just want you to remember this thread a couple of years from now so you can compare it to the pile you have built by then. The monkey always wins, it is better at rationalization. Seriously though, I've noticed I go through expansion and contraction of what I use or pack. I'll get focused and start culling stuff out, but then it'll start refilling. "wait I don't have any of these in silent or one-knocker." Or I'll go in a box looking for a little bit different presentation or color and don't have it, and it'll get added. Does it help? Eh, my five all-time largest fish were caught on exactly three lures, and the next six only add three more. (flatside, a-rig, buzzbait, jig, chatterbait, senko). And if I wanted to cut it by numbers I'd only add another lure or two, Keitech/underspin and a frog. If it weren't for the soft plastics it'd be way easier for sure, and that's been going through the same experimentation and culling process. I have a good reason for 3-4 craw colors, but no good reason for multiple vendors across those craws. But like another poster mentioned, I had to experiment to figure out what I liked and what worked for me, and along the way accumlated a bunch of good stuff that I'm not actually going to use for one reason or another. I've started giving away what I know I'm not going to fish, mostly to a small town high school fishing club. It feels great to both clean it out, and know it is going to some kids that are light on tackle.

?

The 8-carrier braid has been pretty finicky for me on most knots. For the direct tie the double palomar is definitely better than the single. But IMO a 12-turn uni (through the eye twice) has never slipped on me, and that's full body hip-twist hooksets on straight braid. And on braid to leader, at least on the FG, same issue, different solution - you have to pop the knot a little at the beginning vs a steady pull to get it to start to bite in to the flouro. Knots work on friction. Superslick is... super slick? Also you mentioned something about inspecting the guides. You can't always see the damage (it happened to me on a tip-top) so fluffing up a q-tip and working the guides top and bottom you might find something.

Is this what the Lobina Rio and Rico Rio are going for? And did you fish it the same way, more of a fast-walking spitting?

For as much as I hear about the mid-sized ones, I don't hear many people talking about these. Usually it's a magdraft or 3:16. Do they not scale up well, there are better alternatives at that size, or something else? I've fished a decent amount with the 6.8" - they work, but just about everything will bite them and I don't recall any outsized catches on them. Seem to do about the same as the 3.8 or 4.3.

@WRB can you confirm which rating that irod is? the XH as listed on TW says 8-12 oz. Just want to make sure I'm not misreading something.

To follow up, everything of size was: 1) on the outside weed edge next to deep water (top, mid, bottom bites) 2) rock right next to deep water (midcolumn) 3) hanging deeper on a ledge near even deeper water (bottom bites) There were some little ones up shallow, and one odd fish still guarding a shallow bed. Odd because there were no bedding markings on the fish, and by the end of the day the water was touching 80 degrees at 6" deep. Evening bite was poor, midday bite was great.

IMO if you seriously do need a leader that long, and distance is that important, a spinning reel is a better choice.

The issue isn't really stretch it is how the line does under a shock load vs a steady load. I learned this the hard way. Stretch would mask the problem, but it wouldn't fix it. A different knot might though. Won't fix it if you are doing full body hooksets on 10 lb line, but if you aren't using a SDJ or double SDJ, start with that. My testing on 15lb tatsu on a 3/0 gammy hook the double SDJ won 100% of the time.

Worth trying underspin with a paddletail (try both colorodo and willow) and a fluke.

I fished a swim senko more than a senko for a good while, because it was more versatile, and then I just stopped. This thread is a good reminder to go back, especially as the weeds are piling up now.

Had to go look at this since it is my favorite flouro knot. If this video is correct I have no idea what I have been tying, as the doubled end never goes through the top loop in this video.

@FryDog62 did you ever test Sufix Advance mono?

Here in Texas we are in our fourth week of rain, and I'm wondering about how that might impact the fish. The first week they were up dirt shallow, second week was a mix of between 1' and 4'. Last weekend was mostly scattered around the weeds, in more than 5fow. Creeks and creek mouths have been good as long as the water clarity was still good, but not the best bite in most cases. Lots of stuff is flooded everywhere, but they have seemed to pull off the flood bite some. Water in the mid-70's. And it is raining all this week too. Anything different to do with all this rain beyond check and see if they are up real shallow again, and after that fish it like it wasn't high water? Skip it all and go look offshore since we are way out of the spawn now?