SuperDuty

Been doing some reading on the lews tournament series. My son in law has a curado K and a lews tournament MB and says the lews is a far better reel. I’m definitely not brand loyal, always have went with the best available in whatever I buy for the $ I have available.

So the new SLX XT I purchased a couple weeks ago got to the point it was extremely noisy and making a ton of gear whine. I enjoyed the real and especially the size of it. I’m considering stepping up a little to a curado but unsure which one as I know nothing about these reels or their sizes. I’ve got a new tatula 100 type R on it’s way already. I’m trying out different brands so I can find what I like. so I’m considering either a curado K or the DC. Also curious about the Lews Tournament series. I do like to palm my reels and only have average sized hands.

A whole lot of online shopping and a whole lot of fishing! It’s costing me dearly.

Yeah sounds like you got some nice yaks there. I’m sure everyone will be really happy with them. I bought the old town topwater a couple weeks ago and absolutely love it. I started off with a cheap $50 paddle and absolutely hated it so I upgraded to a Bending Branches pro paddle and wow, night and day difference. The topwater is extremely stable and has a ton of storage, paddles easy and tracks very well. I couldn’t have picked a better yak for my needs. The anchor trolly is an absolute must on the yak tho.

We’ve been fishing a lot of stripper pits the state reclaimed from a coal company. Extremely beautiful lakes that are a kayakers dream

I’ve been a die hard spin cast guy for 30 years now. I bought a shimano bait cast reel in like 1985 or 6 that I paid like $230 for, and paid on that dude for months in lawaway. I was a young kid puttin up hay for a nickle a bale and didn’t have anything else more important to spend money on other than fishing stuff. Hated that reel because of the back lashes and never went back. My son in law is who inspired me to get back into BC reels. Seen the fun he was having with them and decided to give them another try. My youngest son has inspirations ro be a pro bass fisherman so I’m gonna get serious with it again.

Thanks for the feedback guys. I Was impatient and just ordered the tatula type-R 100xsl. It’s a sharp looking rig. Maybe I’ll get the SV in a few weeks.

So my youngest son and I have been quarantining ourselves at the various lakes and streams lately on our new kayaks I got us. We’ve put in countless days of fishing the past two weeks with mediocre fishing at best. But last night it finally paid off for me and landed this nice one on a softbait.

So about two weeks ago I picked up a new Shimano SLX XT reel. Since I’m just getting into BC reels, I want to experiment with different brands to see what I like. I’m going to purchase a Daiwa today but unsure which model. should I start with the tatula 100 or jump up to an SV? Is there going to be big enough differences between these models to justify the price difference? I’ve already dumped a small fortune on gear the past two weeks I so don’t wanna spend the extra coin if it’s not a big jump.

The feel free Moken 12.5 V2 is s highly regarded yak that comes in well under 1k. But it’s not a yak you’re gonna want to stand in. the Bonafide RS117 is a nice yak for the money. if you can catch the feel free Lure 11.5 on sale, that’s a nice one with one of the best seats out there. the Kaku wahoo is another one I’d give a hard look at. if you go to youtube, headwaters outdoors has made a great video outlining the top 10 best fishing kayaks for under a grand. But if you’re really wanting to stay under a grand and don’t need ro stand a lot, the Moken is hands down the best buy IMO. good luck!

The state conservation officers patrol my lake very heavily. We have a major university minutes away so the college students can get pretty silly out there. I absolutely don’t think intoxicated boating is a very intelligent thing to do. I was just surprised that you can be charged with a dui for peddling a bike but not a kayak.

So this past week I had a conversation with a state conservation officer on the legality of using a peddle kayak while drinking. In my state you can get a DUI for riding a bicycle while under the influence so I figured the same would apply to a peddle kayak. However, the CO said that wasn’t the case because even with peddling, you’re still under your own power. He said if I were to strap a trolling motor to it, it would then become illegal to have a beer or two while fishing. doesn't seem exactly fair the you can go to jail drinking and peddling a bike and not a kayak.

Have never had that happen to me from oysters and I've eaten a few thousand probably, but have from fried clams. One of the worst sickness of my life!

Yeah the green snakes we have around here are definitely tree snakes. This one fell from a limb high up to one down lower and that's when I seen him and went and got him. He seemed to enjoy being handled.

I think the Feel Free Moken would be too tippy for a guy your size. The ones I'd look at would be the Bonafide rs117, big fish 120, and the lure 11.5 which can be had on sale for 1k.

I'm a snake lover, have had a few pet snakes over the years. My dad got me my first pet snake as a Christmas give when I was in the 4th grade so for 30 some years now I have been infatuated with them. I will catch any snake I come across and then try to show them to people in Hope's to curb their fear of them. I have had a couple of bad experiences. Once when I was 13 I was nailed by a cotton mouth on Lake Weir in Ocala Florida. My mom and aunt rushed me to the ER and surprisingly, there were people waiting outside for my arrival and took me immediately to a room. I remember reading the sign by the door saying "snakebite, and I remember them sticking an IV in my arm and not much else. Another time, I got bitten by a hog nose snake and it made me very I'll for like two days. I assume it may have been due to something it had eaten or something. I've been bitten by many different ones over the year and other than maybe some mild swelling, that's about it. Snakes are more intelligent than what people give them credit for. They're not smart but not just a mindless biting machine. Last summer the weirdest thing happened to me. I had been thinking how I've not ever seen a green snake in the wild, not once in my life. And I had always wanted to catch one. A few weeks later I was out in my shop and was standing in the doorway and seen something fall from one branch to another. I went to investigate and was shocked to see the one snake I've wanted to catch. He sure was a friendly guy, too. My kids and I handled him for a couple hours before we finally released him. His non intimidating appearance even enticed the wife into feeling him which shocked me as she's deathly afraid of snakes. So bad so that one time she got out of the shower and a snake slithered by so she stood stark naked on the kitchen table while her sister's husband came into the kitchen to remove the snake lol.. he was the only person who answered her phone call that day. She was so embarrassed! Here are some pics of a few snakes I've caught and took pics of recently.

When I was a kid I can remember always having lots of snow during the winter. These days we rarely ever get snow, maybe 1-2 decent snows a season. So far this year we've not had a single one.

Pensacola was pretty cool. When else will a young man be able to live in an apartment, yards from the ocean rent free, get a decent paycheck, while having all expenses paid for. It was nothing more than a a vacation. My oldest son folowed my steps and then paved his own way. He enlisted in the Navy, went in for naval intelligence, then went special warfare ST #. He's got crazy stories that'll blow any mind away. One of the craziest to me is a mission he went on that left him stranded floating off the shore of a particular country. He said a massive submarine surfaced yards away to pick his team up. He said it was so quite and all of a sudden this boat just surfaced next to them. Just insane! Anyways, he left the navy and went to work for a top secret government agency making way more money than I ever made at his age. Now, he's 27 with a resume that far exceeds most men of any age. He gets to write his own book from here on out. He's quite the stud if I do say so myself.

My sons and I are huge outdoor lovers and none of us can sit still so hiking, or any outdoor activities, is something we enjoy. The wifey loves the outdoors bit she's just as content indoors lol. Me and the boys usually have to abandoned her on vacations for a few hours. Shes high maintenance and can take 3 hours just to shower and dress. I've never been out west so really looking forward to it. Now that our oldest son is 21, that's a game changer for me. Unfortunately my youngest son may get stuck in the cabin with his mama. Lol Thanks, brother for the info. Looking forward to this trip. Last summer I was stuck on a cruise ship for 3 weeks! No poles allowed.

So the wife informed me last night that we're taking the kids and grandkids to Wyoming for a couple weeks this summer for a family vacation and renting a cabin in Jackson Hole. We're all looking forward to doing some tout fishing. Definitely wanna bring a few back to the cabin to eat. Any advice on the fishing around that area or other cool things to do?

I was stationed in Pensacola when I was in the Navy. Also lived on Marathon Key in Florida, and in Ocala Florida too. Spent a lot of time in the gulf's waters. Swam with Manatees once when they came up into Homosassa Springs. That was a cool experience. Use to do most of my scalloping out of Crystal River Fl. Lobster in the Keys of course. My mom moved to Florida when I was 11 so I spent every summer down visiting her. Great times!

Her first salt water fish

Probably my favorite meal on the planet right here. Oysters on the half and ice cold beer is a pair that can't be beat. My father-in-law loves them too and we often buy a big batch for people to splurge on when we have pool parties. The wifey tried one and said never again lol. She loves crab legs tho and I do too. I made us both a big batch of crab legs for her special dinner last night. They say they're an aphrodisiac and it must be true. Lol I love seafood. Living in the central part of the country kinda sucks since I can't run out and get it super fresh anymore. I use to love diving for lobster and scallops. Miss those days!

Man I can hardly wait for them to start popping up! Found these by my mailbox last spring.

The wife got so excited when she caught this gar. She'd never seen one before.