redmeansdistortion

My grandfather. He passed away back in '93, when I was a kid he always said he wanted to take me fishing but he had some bad health issues. When he passed away I was given all of his fishing gear. He had everything, antique Flatfishes, Arbogast lures, Dardevles, Finnish made Rapalas, you name it. Sadly, my stupid teenager self lost every bit of it. A friend's older brother had a musky boat back in then. I went fishing with them often and figured I'd just leave the tackle on the boat since we were going a few times per week. Unfortunately, he was lazy about paying his bills and the boat was repossessed. Every piece of tackle I owned was on there including my grandfather's, so in my later teens and early 20s, I had to start out from scratch

Mepps Wooly Worms are my favorite for smaller trout. Rooster Tails always seem to be productive for me too. Rooster Tails can be had cheap, I often find them for less than $2 at my local Walmart.

The worst ones are drunk kayakers. They infiltrate my favorite steelhead streams when spring rolls around. Last spring I was fishing one of my favorite holes wading about 10yd from the bank and a group came through. One of them shouted 'get the ____ out of the water or you're gonna get hit' and proceeded to throw a full beer at me. They passed about 20yd out front of me and had more than enough room to get by. I was even courteous enough to get my line off of the water when I heard them coming.

Better than TV.

Come visit Lake St Clair, you'll get one :). I catch them in the Clinton River spillway in early spring right from shore.

Needle nose and snap ring pliers are good to have. On the ultrasonic cleaner end, get some 4oz wide mouth mason jars for non-bearing parts and 2oz jars for bearings. Forceps are something else you may want. They come in handy fishing bearings and other small parts from the jars you'll use with your ultrasonic.

A small bay on Lake St Clair right behind a relative's house. I pull monster pike here during ice out well into spring.

I love the St. Clair River. Such a good spot for salmon, steelies, walleye, and burbot.

I have a 6' ML spinner I use for throwing 3/8oz and under tube jigs and grubs for smallmouth. I also have a 7'6" light Kokanee baitcast rod I use for throwing small Hot n Tots, Wee Wigglers, smaller Mepps, and Little Cleos for browns and brookies. That rod has quite the backbone, no trouble landing the smallmouth that like to interfere with my trout fishing.

If you have waders or a kayak, hit the Rifle River. You could bank fish but much of the river runs through private property so you'll need other means to get the most out of it. It's a tributary of Lake Huron with the mouth being in Saginaw Bay. I always hook into a smallmouth when I'm throwing Hot Shots and Wee Wigglers for steelhead and browns out there.

I didn't know it was a thing until a couple years back. Myself and my wife were backpacking Pictured Rocks National Lake Shore on our annual brook trout fest in the end of September. We were up on a high point overlooking the lake and she says 'Look! Surfers!'. It took me a minute to process because I had no idea what she was talking about, and then I saw a couple guys out there hitting the waves and thought 'Really? In Michigan?' Lol

I saw them, but I have a printer and I'd like to print my own. I was looking for feedback from here to see what works and what doesn't.

There's some surfing done inland. Surfing Lake Superior is a thing. Check this out. Not my pic. https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/02/06/photos-surfing-waves-polar-vortex/2778382002/

I wanted to take this guy home, but my tank is pretty well stocked already. So beautiful.

I haven't had cable television for about 5 years now. I just get my internet through WOW and pay $70 per month for their 500/50 service. I watch most stuff through Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, or an OTA antenna.

I have no experience with the Shimano spinning reels, but they do look nice. I typically buy Penn spinners as they are tough as nails, super easy to self service, and replacement parts are readily available if need be. Parts availability is something I always consider when buying a reel, it's tough when you spend good money on a reel and have it relegated to a doorstop when you can't find parts. I have a Battle II 3000 and a Conflict II 2500. Both are fine reels but the Conflict is much lighter.

The handle has a nice feel. The Celilo is very light and sensitive too, much more so than an Ugly Stik. It uses a full graphite blank, a somewhat uncommon feature in a rod at this price point.

Muscamoot Bay is on fire during the latter part of May into early June. I have no boat so I throw on my waders and have at it. I've been fishing that spot for 20 years and it's a highly productive area. I've had days where it was one after another non-stop all day.

Yamaha blue marine (Yamalube) grease for gears and other areas with metal to metal contact. A 12oz tube runs ~$10 +/- a buck or two. For bearings and level winds, I like TSI 321, and for IAR bearings, Reel X.

Okuma Celilo. They sell them at Field and Stream, check if you have one in your neck of the woods. I carry a 6ft with an Abu Garcia Cardinal STX when hiking the UP of Michigan and it has been fantastic for brook trout.

Not to mention the latest and greatest tech always makes it's way down market. Generally speaking, the higher end stuff of years past is the more budget friendly stuff of today. While this isn't always the case, it happen a lot of the time.

Has anybody printed any of the lures shown on places like Thingiverse or all3dp? If so, which ones did you print and did they work well? I'd like to print some bigger swimbaits, crankbaits, poppers, and plugs but not sure which ones are best as people don't tend to leave behind user reviews.

The Penn reels at this price point have readily available replacement parts. You can buy just about anything for a Fierce II or Battle II. They are very easy to work on too.

Everybody has a method to their madness. For bass fishing, I don't choose my rod according to technique but I consider the weights of the baits I'm throwing instead. This has been my method for 30 years and it hasn't let me down yet. Being primarily a steelhead fishermen, I definitely do go by technique for those as a hardware rod is vastly different from say a float rod or drift rod. Rod choice will make or break you in that respect. With bass, not so much. Just my experience anyway.

I see pistol grip rods on the shelves at the usual stores, but they aren't nearly as common as they were in the past. Give it a shot, it's definitely worth trying. I haven't used a pistol grip rod in probably 25 years, but I can imagine it working well with a lighter reel.