Craig P

I am in SE Pa, I am not embarrassed to admit that Bass Lakes here leave me perplexed as well and it is not for lack of trying! My best results have come from very slow light football jigs with crawl trailers. Mind you, when I say best results, I mean the anomaly 2 or 3 bites. I have been lucky a couple of days and caught them feeding and they were fun but I am to the point where I believe the time is better spent in the rivers.

I have a few Mojos and a few Dobyns XP. I just went into the garage and grabbed one of each from my boat with the thought to weigh them just for conversation, however, just holding them in hand, it wasn't worth pursuing as the Dobyn's, whether heavier or not than the Mojo? is so well balanced that it feels like a feather compared to the Mojo. All of the weight is in your hand with the Dobyns, not in the rod like the Mojo. Speaking from experience, once you use one, you'll buy another and then probably another and those Mojos you have will see less and less action.

Sunline Assassin 10# on my 71xg. I try to get away with as light as I can as that reel is for Ned rigs and I simply just like how the Sunline casts. A very close second and much more reasonably priced is Seaguar Basix 101 in 10#.

I agree that it's more of a medium than a heavy. I use mine for swimbaits, 1/4-3/8 ounce. I also have a 702C and a 704C and I feel the 703C is best suited for the purpose I mentioned.

I’ve noticed the same thing you have and my conclusion is online lacks voice inflection and facial expression. I won’t forget the fact the some people are just downright crazy either and we do our best day to day in the real world to associate with only normal people.

A typical Z-man ned head and TRD Finesse in your favorite color. I like PB&J.

I have some luck fishing a local reservoir here in Pa. You would swear it’s a graveyard with little signs of life during the winter but I’ve found them in the deepest part of the lake at a nice point. Most of my success has come from Neds but I will use a football jig with a craw or ball head jig with a Keitech. I did have one day there where they were shallow chasing bait and it was a lot of fun but for the most part, I know I’m in for a slow outing but I’m ok with that,I’m out, breathing fresh air and nothing else in the world matters.

Oh heck no! I’d pack it in and sulk in a corner as a complete failure! Lol In all seriousness, I do not tourney fish but I always stay in tune with the amateur tourney results on my local lakes just to see if I am living up to the lake’s potential. My one lake, I am very respectable but the other that I started fishing more this year, oh heck no, I have lots to learn and some pros do fish those tourneys as they are locally popular. It gives me motivation for sure to know that there is more to be achieved.

This is what I have been using for Salmon / Steelhead in Pulaski NY for many many years. I mostly just Salmon fish a few days a year now but it has never felt underpowered. I don’t catfish much anymore but when I did, an 8’-6” Ugly Stick was always my goto for Flatheads from shore.

LOL. Just do the classic twitch twitch on slack line and pause 5-10 seconds. If they're there, they'll let you know.

I use the bank and wade where I can. Rapala X-Raps work well but I’ve used other jerk baits that are similar and have had success.

I fish the Delaware for Walleye during the Winter from the Pa side. Above Washington’s Crossing and up. I use Jerk Baits and do pretty well with them.

If you do some Google or Youtube searching, you'll find MANY manufacturers of varying power, including high power. They even have industry conventions to show off the new products. It's similar to electric cars though, they're pricey!

I’m 51 and have never stopped since I was 5. Hunting I have taken breaks from, a few years on, a few years off but fishing still feels like I am a kid on Xmas eve the night before I go and I am fortunate that I get to go at least once a week, either fresh or salt.

There is no doubt that floro is beneficial as a leader with certain methods but I always look for line to do it’s intended purpose just like a rod, braid to float and cut, floro to sink and endure abrasion and mono to stretch. With deep jigging in rocks, floro the whole way as I need abrasion resistance, sinking and minimal stretch.

Shimano Curado MGL 150 Simply put, I just can't find anything it won't do.

Not just river anglers, I have been doing very will with it in on lakes. For those that say it catches small fish, it does but the amount of 2-5lbers I have caught the last 2 years is impressive. Sure, if I throw a Football jig with a large trailer, I'm almost guaranteed that the fish I catch will be larger than 2lbs but hour for hour, I don't know that I would do any better with one or the other on size. The Ned however, keeps me busier.

I don’t worry about the young without money, we were all young without money at one time. They’ll make their way, we did. As for the price of electronics and boats, no matter the hobby, they all get expensive when you get up into the nicer equipment. Fishing and boating I do think is on the upper end of that realm unless we all want to get into flying airplanes and helicopters. On the bright side, people can still go to Walmart, grab a $30 rod and reel setup, a container of worms and still catch fish. Don’t lose sight of where we started.

I had a 12' Hobie Outback some years back. I was able to fit it the back of my Full Sized Truck Short Bed with a hitch rack. I won't sugar coat it, it becomes a pain in the butt! Now that was a Outback, if you're thinking about an even heavier Pro Angler, you'll hate yourself even more if hauling it in and out of the pickup bed. I am going with what @WRB said, keep the SUV and get a trailer for the PA12. FWIW, I can get a 7'-2" Pole in the bed of my short bed Ranger. I just use a rod sleeve to protect them as there is a slight bend. Works nicely.

If you rig a Senko wacky style vs T-rig, both weightless, you’ll notice that there is more movement in the bait when using wacky. That movement is what you are paying for with a Senko and it makes a difference in strikes in my experience. I always throw wacky unless I am in grass / vegetation for obvious reasons.

You could install a Bluetooth shunt to see the power level of the lithiums or purchase a brand that includes Bluetooth connection that shows voltage via your phone. If you’re the type to charge after every outing, I doubt you would ever run into an issue if you’ve correctly sized your batteries.

I can’t imagine it ever happening to me…..until it happens to me. I’ve said this about a plug before, yep, you guessed it.

Benadryl absolutely kicks my butt! I know, I am not the norm, but it turns me into a zombie, much like the allergies I already experience.

Interesting perspective. I “think” I do sleep pretty good, pretty normal 6 hours or so a night but I also understand that there are different qualities of sleep. Thanks.

I just wanted to follow up and say thank you for all of the suggestions. Today is day 3 of using Flonase. The first day, I noticed how much better I was breathing when I went to bed. Ironically, I never noticed how bad I was breathing. A win for sure. Day 2, I felt pretty darn good. No afternoon lethargic feel, no sinus issues. Day 3 (today) I went fishing with good winds today to blow everything around and I feel great! No issues whatsoever and I feel normal. It’s been a while since I could say that. I think I have a winner for now……. I say that because I did have some vivid dreams last night but nothing that would make me stop using the Flonase as of yet as it’s results are impressive. I have no clue why medications do that to me, it’s not just allergy medicine, it seems to be all medicines but who knows, after regular use, that may disappear? Thanks again!