BayouSlide

North Fork Composites seem very nice, particularly when on sale. You may have to wait weeks for the in-house blank manufacturing, however. Have one being built, one on deck and two on order.

I own six, the Lowrider models which I consider unbeatable at their price point. Excellent components, nice looking cork, great performance, plenty of versions for any technique and the Fuji low guide concept offers advantages to casting distance. Consider easily equal of my Tatulas (which are $25+ more) or my Dobyns Sierras or Kadens. If I want a better rod, I buy a Dobyns Champion XP or build one on an expensive blank.

That doesn't look like a "mess" to me, rather a clean, workmanlike setup. I could show you what a real wiring mess looks like if I had any pictures of my old boat...before the fire in the battery compartment, probably caused by overcharging by a malfunctioning external charger, resulting repairs cost a much as the boat. On the bright side, it did resulting in an expensive pro redo of the electrical circuits in my battery compartment😟 Be very careful when adding new wiring or "cleaning up" your electrical connections. The wallet you save may be your own. 😉

Mostly Spunk Shad on chatterbaits and spinnerbaits, but I usually use Zakos on Jackhammers.

Plug knockers for lure retrieval. More than one because I may lose both the knocker and the lure on a tough snag. I make my own from 5 or 6 oz. bank sinker, a snap swivel and a zip tie. I also carry a 8 foot extendable Frabil lure retriever pole. Also carry a "hound dog" type knocker on a retractable dog leash, but only as a last resort. The others tend to work better.

All flouro except for ultralight and the leader for Carolina rigs.

Don't be a tease...my curiosity has definitely been piqued...what are the techniques? 😉 😁

I was considering the similar deal offered on Plano. The discount showed up in the cart after adding the two items.

My three BFS setups (Shimano Curado BCF reels) run 8# Sunline Sniper. Simplicity itself and never any problems.

My 2004 Yamaha 60 HP had the auto oiler disabled when I bought it used, which was fine with me. Use the same attention to detail and double checking myself when mixing oil and gas at 50:1 as I do to use the right pump when I need diesel, not gas in my vehicles. Keep the mixing ratio container right next to the Quicksilver synthetic 2-stroke jug in the garage. All my boat gas is in six gallon jugs or 1.5 or 4 gallon Rotopax labeled "Premixed oil & gas only". You can't be too careful: The engine you save will be your own 😉.

When I think about it, I've actually offered to show my license more often than I've been asked for it. Not necessary, is their usual reply. Maybe it's my gray hair and honest face 😉

Two Plano boxes: one for 0 - 6 ft depth, the other for 6+ depth, with labels on each compartment slot showing brand, weight and depth for each jerkbait.

Either on the water or hunting public lands, a number of times. They have always been courteous and I always thank them for doing the important (and often dangerous) job of protecting our public resources. The most recent time was coming in after dark to the boat landing on a WMA the opening day of rifle season for deer. I had two pigs in the boat but no deer. This was a choke point with the launch and the adjacent gravel road providing access to a wide area that included some private camps. It was dark, late and I was bushed from field dressing and hauling out the two pigs the mile or two to my boat. The launch was primitive and I had a really hard time trailering the boat, which makes me nervous at this ramp even in daylight. Eventually I had to set a flashlight on a dock point just to help me align my vehicle and trailer with the ramp. The warden had a line of trucks he was checking and was writing some citations. He was all business but said to take my time and he would check me after I got the boat on the trailer. He was thorough, validating my license info with his headquarters. In response to his questions I offered that I was hunting with a suppressed AR-10 in .308. He asked to see the ATF Form 4 (which I was required to have with me) so I showed it to him as a scan in PDF form on my phone. Don't think he had dealt with one before so he saw the Form title which was "Application for..." and I showed him the tax stamp on the form with signature of the AFT official which indicated it was an approved application. He then compared the serial number of the suppressor with the form. He was taking care of business just the way he should have, in my opinion. He then asked me for printouts of my deer tags. I was taken aback because I never printed them out, knowing I could fill them out electronically in the unlikely chance I had run across a deer: I was targeting pigs with no plans of taking a deer. The license was issued electronically and the tags were a separate printout. He noted that cell service would not make electronic check in possible much of the time in the WMA. He then spent a good amount of time showing me how to access the forms as part of my digital LA Wallet (which contains electronic versions of driver, hunting and fishing licenses). It took longer for me to access than it should, I actually had to reset my password. He was very patient and probably could have just made his life simpler by giving me a ticket. I would have accepted it because it was my mistake. Eventually I was able to pull up the tags on my phone. In short he helped me meet "the letter of the law" that night. And, yes, I ended our contact with "I'll make sure to have tag printouts in the future. Thank you for all you do to protect our wildlife from violators. Stay safe."

I feel that the Lowriders are outstanding value and own plenty of 'em. Nothing fancy, but each offers excellent performance and good looking cork. Can't be touched at that price point IMO. I have started to build rods. The first I built had the guide train based on a Fuji concept that I now understand is the basis of the Lowrider: a guide train designed with a precise array of lower guides designed to control line flow in a way to squeeze maximum distance from casts. Yup, and it works as well as I expected 😀.

I'm with Catt on this one. I prefer the look and feel of bare cork, even if I have to clean it with a Magic Eraser pad or fill pits occasionally with Elmer's Carpenter's Wood Filler (Gold Oak).

Welcome, from the Queen City on the Bayou Teche. 😀👍

Why should a professional's choice to use electronics prompt someone to "feel physically ill"? I would figure as professionals, they know what it takes to elevate their chances of putting money in bank and paying for all that fancy gear: more power to 'em 😉 Rather than relying solely on electronics, I ... and probably a lot of other people... find electronics are just another tool in the bag used to find bass. You can watch electronics to see structure and watch for fish activity, while still studying the wind direction, see indications of bird activity, fish surfacing etc. I often will see how a fish or multiple fish at 10 feet deep or more react to a crankbait running too quickly or a jerkbait I'm fishing. Plenty to learn there. I'm always surprised how electronics, and other people's use of them, irks some people who don't chose to take advantage of what they have to offer. Freedom to chose and all that, and respect the choices of others whose choices differ has always been my motto. As the old bluegrass gospel song states: "You go to your church and I'll go to mine. But we'll walk the road together." 😎👍

Lucas Red & Tacky preferred for me 😎👍

I don't totally agree. I find electronics can speed up the learning curve, especially important for those ancient ones among us who have more years behind than ahead of us. 😉

Get Bit Outdoors

I'm the second owner of a 2004 G3 16+ footer. Navigating and fishing in South Louisiana means bouncing off of sunken logs, cypress stumps, etc. nearly every outing. I'd buy another in a heartbeat, that is if I ever manage to break this one 😄.

Beat me to it. 👍 You will be able to scrape away the epoxy over the thread wrap. Carefully use a razor blade parallel to the rod to get it started. The thread and epoxy will peel off. Use a plastic utensil and your thumbnail to scrape away the residue. See Mudhole for the how-to-videos, guide, thread and the little 2 gram packet of thread epoxy and you'll be good as new before you know it. Or do what I did. I needed to replace a hook saver and ended up buying all the tools so now I'm building a jerkbait rod 😁. I'm a tool junkie always looking to acquire new skills so I did this even though I know a great rod builder just 30 minutes down the rod who has done this repair for economically me in the past. Just figured: why not, I'll be breaking plenty of stuff in the future 😉.

Yea, Mega Live doesn't get the love for sure. But the previous poster shouldn't feel FOMO for picking Mega Live, it's a no brainer to run an integrated HB One Boat Network if you're running Birds/MK. One less black box is another advantage. I've been running both Mega 360 and Mega Live and they do everything I need to do and Mega Live never fails to impress me with it's imaging and fish locating abilities. You don't have to be a tournament angler to make better use of your fishing time to fish only where you have seen fish.

I've got three. They always arrived...never paid any attention to how long it took.

I found casting a rat to be like tossing a brick...with the expected super splash if you're fishing still water 😉. 20# Sunline Sniper line on my heavy swimbait rod would be the minimum I would consider. You're right, heavier line size shouldn't detract from this lure's action.