CountryboyinDC

I've got a pitching/flipping outfit that's rated for 2 oz, an ALX Brawler. It's heavy enough for me to use for the 4 wire Alabama rigs I throw too. I also have a Kistler KLX Feel 'n Reel 7'6 rated for 2 oz. Hard to tell which is actually more powerful with the different tapers and the fact that the Kistler is a glass/graphite hybrid. They're both used relatively sparingly. I

Death wobble isn't unique to Ford Superduties. It can happen to any 4wd with a solid front axle, as you tead. You'd think it'd be easy to figure out, but it isn't, even it you have a lift and someone helping you. So you end up starting with the track bar and just keep replacing stuff with tie rod ends, ball joints, etc. in a trial-and error sort of way. If they're doing a recall, they know what component is likely to cause it on yours. With a truck with 75k miles in it from the Chicago area, you can crawl under it and figure out what they replaced/if they replaced it pretty easy too. Yes, there are unscrupulous mechanics in the world, but at some point you're going to have to use them, as it doesn't sound like you do all the knuckle busting yourself. If the death wobble comes on, sometimes you can't go 25 mph. Think about it.

I think it's probably because they're the hardest baits to find a way to store, and the bass don't want to make things easy on us.

I think you may be speaking of the stern keel guard that many kayaks have. Yes maybe if you're lifting the bow and dragging it on a small portion of the keel. But if you're dragging it flat (take a small flip line like raft guides use and strap that to the front handle and be amazed how much easier dragging is), I highly doubt it.

I don't think that kayak was thermoformed - Hurricane and Eddyline are, but most are rotomolded and the repair works just as you describe. If you do have a thermoformed kayak, you'll want to use the plastic weld kits from JB or Permatex. There are some blow molded kayaks out there - Prijon comes to mind, but I don't think there are too many fishing kayaks molded this way. The repair, though is roughly the same. I highly agree with the those who are pro-weld. The kayak is likely to be really hard to resell, but can last for years with a weld. As for dragging a kayak, some people worry too much. I, and thousands of other whitewater boaters, splat rocks, seal launch off rocks, use rocks to kick the bow up when boofing, and many other things that wear a plastic hull more than dragging it empty. Sure, pick it up if you can, but it ain't a 2 liter Coke bottle. If you do wear the hull out, you'll have gotten many years of hard use out of it, trust me. And most of that wear won't have come from dragging it to and from the put in.

Not entirely sure what would wear out on my grill, it's a kamado-style grill (Green Egg). The 'rig' (stainless steel stacking grid system) cost a couple hundred bucks about a decade ago. Maybe the pizza stone that goes between the fire and whatever you're smoking? I think I'll be stuck with this thing forever. It does do good on the smoking.

You can definitely tie to the front and rear grab loop. After you use it for 5 minutes you'll be reaching for the drill. I have anchor trolleys on either side of my pedal kayak (Old Town Predator PDL). This isn't the best picture, but it shows. This is the YakAttack one with the backing plate. It is not the easiest install as I remember, but it works for a lot of anchoring options - pins and weighted anchors too.

@Spankey, tie a new $12 frog on, and cast into water that looks a little too shallow and dirty for a bass to be hanging out in. Some juvenile snakehead will be sure to make sure that frog never floats again.

If you're snakehead fishing, most bring along a baseball bat (I bring a foldable entrenched tool). I'd have to be hungry to eat one of those, in spite of what people say about how tasty. The slime that a catfish gives off is nothing in comparison in terms of quantity and stench.

I honestly have been really happy with my Sea Sucker mount. I use it on my old Honda Accord and pickup, and I have a kayak I haul (not fishing type, but it has hauled my Jackson Coosa HD a couple of times) twice a week. I take the bars off Thursday after my second session, because they are loud at highway speeds compared to an aero bar. https://www.seasucker.com/collections/crossbars-and-accessories/products/monkey-bars-2020-edition

I'll take all those Trokars you're getting rid of. I lose plenty of fish on other brands too, so it won't make as big a difference to me.

Didn't realize the snide comment about someone's haircut, "What happened, weedeater run out of gas?" indeed was an occurrence in the wild.

Shoal bass are pretty close to a river smallie in terms of fight, imho.

I'll agree to disagree. When you have antishipping missiles that can kill any surface ship well over the horizon, a gun isn't really in play. Sure, if the warship could get into range of the onshore targets it could reek havoc with a cannon. But that's pretty unlikely with anything other than what today is a primitive opposing force. And you certainly wouldn't do bother with an amphibious assault against a primitive force. I've never been to any kind of war strategy institution, just a guy who thinks about the world around him. I'm a fan of conventional artillery, A-10s, and a lot of things that are unfashionable in the military. But thinking that we're going back fighting the way we did in the days of the Normandy beaches, Iwo Jima, or anything like that is something that I doubt. Good thing too, probably. I certainly wouldn't want to scale a 100' cliff under fire, but I'm thankful there were men with that mettle that did.

I don't think we're hopping in Higgins boats and assaulting pill boxes in the near future. Them Navy boys and girls got stuff on cruisers, destroyers, frigates, and fast attacks that have stuff that the old battleships with their 16" guns couldn't have dreamed of. There is the matter of how many rounds you can hold in your magazines, and the how long it takes to replenish these high-tech munitions, but I don't believe naval gunfire is going to be a determining factor in any invasion that involves a modern military. We are still jumping out of airplanes in mass tactical formations, so we're still doing some pretty arcane stuff in the military. The D-Day Memorial is in Bedford, VA, my home county. https://www.dday.org/ If you're passing through, it's worth a stopping off as you go down 460. The main issue is they built it 25 years too late - most of the D-Day veterans had died by the time it was dedicated. I still remember that hot day - people passing out everywhere. I must have started 20 IVs.

I mainly fish a tube on a Carolina rig, and use a Shaw Grigsby hook. I use offset hooks for a lot of soft plastic fishing, probably EWGS mostly, because they're the main ones you find. Never thought about how that might cause a missed hookset.

I have the older, US-made Cara (T7) finesse jig rod - I'm assuming they're the same taper in this new line. I use it for a number of things when I'm fishing shallow, shoaly rivers. I would say that the most common bait on it is a 3.3 Keitech on a 1/8 oz. keel waited swimbait hook. I also fish the heavy-finesse jigs from Santone and War Eagle with what is usually a light trailer (Paca chunk or Missile Baits twin-tailed grub), lightish T-rigs, and occasionally a small (but usually 3/8 oz +) spinnerbait. Falcon is sort of inconsistent with their rating, in my experience, and this rod is no exception. I don't have any other MH that fishes this light. But with braid and a 12 lb fluro leader, I have no problem with hooksets with the finesse jig. Definitely a favorite; I have a spare one in the attic should this one break.

Recognized this picture immediately - that's Regan's fiancé. KIA the same deployment as Ski. He was in C Co. I only knew him in passing, but I'm really good friends with his medic. https://rangersremembered.com/portfolio/sgt-james-regan/

Every Memorial Day, I think a lot about the 2 same people. SGT Steven "Ski" C. Ganvzewski 2nd PLT, A Co., 3/75 Ranger Regiment KIA 16-Nov- 2007 CW5 James Dunbar Weeks 1st Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment KIA 14-May-2006 Both were KIA on missions I was on. I served with and knew Ski since our pre-Ranger days; he was killed on our 4th deployment together in 2nd PLT. Chief Weeks had a tremendous impact on me personally for grace he demonstrated when I made a huge mistake early on in that deployment to the Baghdad area. I think of the gaping holes both left in their families' lives, and what either could have brought the world had their lives not been cut short. I am so thankful we have men (and women in a lot of cases) like this to honor on this day. I only wish we were honoring them both on Veterans'Day instead. RLTW and Night Stalkers Own the Night!

I guess I'm not cut out for fly fishing. It's a good thing that where you need a fly rod, there's abundant eye candy. Otherwise I could get really discouraged after a day or so. I'll bet it makes you smile all over when you actually land one.

Go knock yourself out @flyfisher. I'll be those things are some kind of skittish. I know I can't catch them.

I've never fished the Rapidan in or near Shenandoah NP, but I'd imagine there's scant smallmouth until you downstream a bit (I've only fished it around Summerduck). If you're bringing a kayak and want to fish out of that, I'd just go to the South Fork Shenandoah. Usually folks go to Shenandoah NP to hike Old Rag or see the leaves turn color; bass fishing is not what that park's known for, so far as I know.

Can't say much about the new ones, but I have a Cara T7 (made in USA) with a Shimano Curado 70 reel, and I don't see how it could get better. I bought a backup before Falcon went overseas with their production, still in the attic waiting for the one I'm using to need replacing. It's not real fast, if you're used to a Loomis JWR or something, but I wouldn't say it's moderate either. Just right - fast enough (and powerful enough) to set the hook easily on some of these 'heavy cover finesse jigs', but soft enough to keep the fish buttoned up after you do. Definitely on the medium side of medium heavy power.

I didn't think anybody used that anymore. From what I heard, if you use Gliss, you won't have to worry about what knots you use because the line itself will break if it gets within 10 yards of anything sharper than a croquet ball.

I'd say that's usually true. The smartest person I've met, in terms of capacity to comprehend information and synthesize new ideas, cussed like no sailor could when he was around the scientists and clinicians he worked with. I'd see him in the clinic with a patient and family, and his bedside manner was as compassionate and assuring as any I've ever witnessed in a field where that's unfathomably hard to pull off with the typical patient trajectory (oncology/radiation oncology). Definitely no swearing then. But get around the staff he knew, and he'd spew a stream of cuss words that would make George Carlin blush. Maybe an outlet, he had others for sure, but I've encountered no one that I consider a genius that completely fits into our notions of "normal behavior" in the areas outside of their genius. I know that many do, and I definitively have, use profanity for emphasis or to lighten a situation. I do find that the less I swear, the less I am likely to in a stressful situation. I'm glad: I want to set that example for my son. And this is after service in a Ranger battalion, where the 'F word' vocabulary seemed to be standard issue along with a can of Copenhagen. I hope to revert to using neither for the remainder of my life.