Eric 26

I know I’ve shared this one before but way back when I kept seeing the ugly stick ads on tv and in my older brother’s fishing magazines and right in front of him and his buddy I grabbed his brand new I believe Fenwick ultra light and proceeded to place the tip to the handle 😬 I started running before the original 1 piece now 2 piece rod even hit the floor 🤪 Another one was a 2 piece St Croix that I broke about 3 inches off the top putting it in a rod sock, St Croix did me right sending me a new top for the cost of shipping only. And finally I snapped a Denali rod by bending it a bit too hard almost like high sticking it which I’m still kicking myself in the rear for.

@Jig Rookie I like the concept but although I haven’t looked into one maybe you can find a leather punch or something similar to facilitate one handed hole punching. I’m going to include a picture and mind you mine is from my grandfather but I’m trying to show the concept more than anything as we’re getting colder in our state so I’m assuming the tagging is more for next season.

@GeorgeH04 As I said in a different post I contacted Ardent about a cosmetic replacement piece for my Piscifun which is a different branded Ardent Apex Elite and they couldn’t have been more pleasant to deal with. I reached out through E-mail and received a response the next day and the part in question free of charge within a week.

I have the Piscifun version of that reel and my centrifugal brakes did the same thing so I’m using it with only the magnetic brakes with zero issues.

@BigAngus752 The pour before you buy idea is freaking brilliant. I know I’ve done it with craft beer and I’m happy to say there were a few that I’m glad I didn’t purchase before trying and a few I’m glad I did purchase before trying.

The offense has played a bit better due to the new coordinator and the fact that Caleb Williams is becoming more comfortable although he definitely reminds at least me he’s still a rookie that holds on a bit too long at times but I can deal with that. The defense on the other hand has definitely in my view shown some serious disconnect which is where Eberflus is/was supposed to shine, so between that and his definite poor game management overall that has gained national attention I’m very happy to see him go but I do worry about the next head coach hiring.

As a lifelong Bears fan…….

Dicks Sporting Goods is offering the 13 fishing G2 casting reel for just $34.98 or a 13 fishing combo Fate FT in 7’-3” med hvy only for the same price.

Sorry I didn’t realize you had said braid 😬 Forget what I said about the line and listen to everyone else on that. But I’ll stick with what I said about the reel.

I’ll go first in saying don’t put 15 pound line on that spinning reel. Stick with something no higher than 10 pound maybe Trilene XL and I would opt for 8 pound personally and just use the drag properly. Also great combos but again after handling all 3 “C” series Daiwa reels I would strongly suggest the CA80 with the aluminum frame and yes I own one and love it. Keep your eyes open on Amazon and all sales for all the gear and follow the latest sales thread on here.

@ckurdziel Don’t give up on the Daiwa Zillion just because they don’t have the 6 speed on Amazon Japan as there are many Japanese tackle shops you can check out, the 2 I’ve used are Asian portal and my favorite Japan Lure Shop but there are a few more that are reliable and worth checking out as well. As a side note I don’t own the Zillion but all of the opinions on here sure makes me feel like I’m missing out.

I ran across a really good sale on Fireball handles at $20.00 apiece with a $4.00 rebate and bought 2 for $16.00 apiece. My wife likes it over ice but I prefer to mix it and considering we didn’t have any ginger ale which is my preferred choice I tried it with Cola and found I actually like it.

Speaking of bfs rods has anyone had the chance to handle or better yet use the Tatula BFS rod? I’m thinking of picking one up next spring and at the $99.00 price point I’m hoping it’s a decent rod.

I have 3 BPS crankin sticks a medium light, medium and a heavy. I’ve used an inline spinner on the medium light and really loved it for that, I’ve used the medium for throwing spinner baits and really enjoyed it for that and the whole reason I bought the heavy was to throw 1/2 ounce chatterbaits which it handles extremely well but I don’t fish a lot of big fish waters so that one never even got put to use this season.

I will say as far as I’m concerned this guy is one of the most versatile anglers I’ve seen post on here. It’s not to say there aren’t others but good gravy @A-Jay has posted some killer pics of multiple species over my time being on here so I would definitely listen to and heed his advice.

I’ll start this off by saying different situations mean different set ups. For instance I fish small and I emphasize “small” retention ponds that I could probably get by with nothing more than light to medium spinning gear but I really enjoy throwing bait casting gear so therefore I use bait casting gear that’s appropriate for my situation. As for the bait casting gear I use I use everything from medium light to heavy depending on what lures im throwing and I’ve caught them on all my gear so I guess I’m of no help.

It is a Japanese Domestic Market or JDMTackle shop.

As of now with zero quotes this is my and my wife’s preferred route. I’m currently driving a 2005 Dodge Caravan with less than 150,000 miles but severe body rot which only goes 24 miles round trip 5 days a week and my son drives the Ford to high school and work. I appreciate all of the responses and I will say this is one of the many reasons I love this site. And I should have mentioned it’s an automatic transmission.

Hello all, I need some advice and I’m hoping to hear from our mechanics both in the actual trade ie @Woody B and or shade tree members. So I have a 2009 Ford Focus with about 158,000 miles and a really good body with some minimal surface rust under the paint on the frame where it meets the body. I basically had the suspension rebuilt this year and now it’s in need of a new ignition lock cylinder and as we just discovered this morning a new/rebuilt transmission because the current one is slipping. I’m looking for advice on return on investment vs just going ahead and purchasing a used vehicle with a budget of no more than $15,000.00 which I’m aware is not going to buy much in today’s market. I apologize for the long winded description but appreciate any and all advice that is shared.

If you need to tape it but don’t want to wrap the whole handle my suggestion is the tape that BPS uses on a few of their house branded rods, @bulldog1935 has used it and can explain it better. Here’s the wrap.

If I may with very limited knowledge or bfs experience offer my advice if you’re on the fence about bfs and don’t want to spend a whole lot figuring out if you like it then look into a Daiwa Tatula 80 with a bfs spool that @bulldog1935 shared with me for my Tatula 80 both on AliExpress for around $124.00 before taxes and shipping. If you decide to upgrade the reel at a later date you can sell the Tatula and spool or just spool and have a nice extra reel and as a bonus decide if you like the Alphas platform which the Tatula 80 shares.

Review 🤔

@SeanKC15 According to the Okuma website the blanks are 24 ton graphite so no glass as far as I’m reading. Also so you know if you buy it now you get an additional 20% off so it’s under $150.00.

I’m going to suggest looking into Okuma especially right now with the Tackle Warehouse 20% off rods sale. Although I don’t have their crank bait specific rods I do have a couple TCS A rods including their 7’-0” medium plus moderate fast taper that I’ve used smaller cranks and square bills on and they have a 7’-6” heavy moderate fast TCS A in addition to a couple different crank bait specific rods.

Good golly I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again John Jurkovic a former NFL player and current sports talk show host has said if you ain’t cheating you’re not trying as far as holding or any other advantage but good lord how many times are they going to show the KC offensive lineman hold on national television before the commentators let alone the referees call it. And believe me I get it although I only coached little league football I had so many kids complain to me and literally saw it with my own eyes that I understand referees can only watch so much but there were times I told my players if they can get away with it so can you, whether that was right wrong immoral or not it’s the reality but we weren’t being shown on national television every week either.