Big Hands

^ ^ This ^ ^

Much time has passed since then, so it has enabled me to view these memories with MUCH more of a sense of humor than was possible at that time. Sadly, and as much as I hate to admit it, I have been guilty again on both counts. I think getting flustered and/or being thrown off from a routine I normally follow has triggered these moments for me.

THAT is a sleeper.

I've recounted the story of this day here before. The story is so long my fingers were bruised and bloody, so I'll just go over the highlights. C'mon, y'all know better than that. The setup: I live at the northern end of Los Angeles County. 175 miles south in San Diego County is San Vicente Reservoir. Our company fishing club (a small company of 44,000 employees worldwide) was having a Saturday tournament there on Saturday. My wife and I stayed at her Aunt's home Friday night in Oceanside, and then I drove to San Vicente early Saturday morning. I'll just say that you gotta be a rookie before you can be a veteran. And, on this day, I was definitely a rookie. But at least I didn't total my garage door. Honestly though, if I had power poles on that boat, I surely would have. Probably more than once. I get to the lake early Saturday and (this being California where many of the lakes open at sometime after sunrise) the line to get in is about half a mile long. I start to prep my boat for the day and realize that I cannot find the key to my new Ranger 393. I search every nook and cranny three times and of course a mild panic has ensued. Some helpful soul suggested that Rangers only used a few different keys and that someone in line might be willing to let me try their spare. I went a-begging all the way to each Ranger in line and came up empty. I'm considering taking the "L" and take one last look and find it in the far reaches of the boat's glove box. . . . and voila! I find the key. Crisis averted, and everyone lives happily after. . . . Not. My dear friend Luke (RIP brother, I surely miss you) was having an issue too. His little Mazda B2000 wouldn't quite pull his 18' Tracker over the hill to get to the launch area. He eventually went into Lakeside and paid someone $20 to get him into the launch area , but was an hour late getting on the water. Eventually it's my turn to get over the hill. It's so steep that people were waiting until the person in front made it over before they took their run. Luke was not the only one that couldn't make it and then you could back down the curvy road and decide to take another shot at it, or take the "L" and . . . . I don't even know. I finally make it over the hump and into the launch, but mentally I am still trying to regain my composure. I back down the ramp (which didn't have a ton of incline to begin with) and the boats not floating off the trailer. I keep going back, and back, and "OH &^%$#$%" water is coming into the back seat floorboard. I pull forward and into the parking lot because there is a line waiting to launch and it would not have been cool to figure out my problem while they are waiting to launch. GAH! My straps are still binding the boat to the trailer. Smooth move Jeffro. I take off the straps and get back in line to launch. . . . and everyone lived happily ever after. . . . Not. I launch and the big Ranger pops off the trailer like it should. I tie it off at the courtesy dock and park my car. I make it back to the boat and slowly idle out of the marina, ready for whatever this beautiful March morning has to offer. I pass the marker buoy and give it the beans. Water surges up through the floor drain. Ruh Roh! I realize the I have not inserted the drain plug. I turn on the two 800 GPH bilge pumps and retrieve the plug from the glove box. I strip off all of the layers from my upper body and reach down over the transom searching for the drain hole. I find it and manage to eek it in there with the cold water lapping at my ear. Success! I layered back up and got ready to have a nice day of fishing. . . . . and everyone lived happily ever after. . . . Not so fast Jeffro. As I once again pour the coal to that big beautiful 200 Merc, once again water surges up through the floor drain. I look at where the bilge pumps empty from and both are still pumping water out. I strip back down and lean over, water once again lapping into my ear, and locate another hole. I manage to remove the plug from the hole that leads to the livewell and get it into the proper hole from the bilge area and I once again layer up to finally get to fishing. . . . . and everyone lived happily ever after. No seriously, they did. I managed to land one decent fish and it put me barely into "the money" LOL. My buddy Luke was able to join me and we had a relatively uneventful, beautiful day on the water, and I get to have a "three stooges go bass fishing" story that is beyond ridiculous almost 40 years later.

Am I missing something. . . . like an X-Nanahan I don't yet have. . . . because I would remediate that issue postehaste. The only X-Nanahan jerkbaits I know of all weigh 1/4 oz. ============================ I have been trying to figure out the intent of the KastKing Mg-Ti Elite. I say this as a fan of KastKing. They (KK) talk about it's ability to throw baits as light as 1/16 oz, but the spool capacity is listed as 100 yds of 12 lbs mono or 85 yards of 14 lbs mono (so the spool is relatively cavernous compared to true BFS reels), and it has a drag capacity of 18 lbs. In these times of highly specialized reels, this comes off as trying to be many things to many people. On paper, it seems like it would be a great reel for baits solidly in the wheelhouse of the "medium" rod power range or maybe medium light with baits from 1/4 oz to 5/8 oz on 8 lbs to 12 lbs mono with it's purportedly strong 6.5g spool and 18 lbs drag capacity. KastKing already makes at least three (maybe four or five) BFS reels with lighter spools (as light as 4g) with large arbor diameters. Once again, could I be missing something here? In case you were unaware, Tom passed away last week.

Tying a Bimini Twist is a bit impractical, but a much less complex knot to tie would be the Double San Diego Jam, which is essentially doubling the line over and using the doubled line to tie a San Diego Jam knot. When you get it cinched, you'll have three tag ends to clip. YT has videos to watch to learn how to tie it. I tie the regular SDJ with crankbaits, and then the double with A-Rigs and big swimbaits.

I responded to your PM. Thank you.

Hello BR Fam, I had a very heartfelt conversation today with Tom's wife. I let her know that I had posted the news of Tom's passing on this forum earlier today, and that there were quite a number of forum members that had posted their condolences and shared thoughts about our interactions with Tom. She knew how much posting and sharing meant to him and how he loved to interact here. She also said she would very much like to read the posts. I let her know that I would do my best to find a way to share our posts from this thread with her. I don't know if there is a way to easily convert this to something like a pdf file, or if there is some other way to share this with her. I would also like to say that reading these posts has also helped me to understand just how many people he profoundly impacted while sharing our mutual passion.

I am deeply saddened to report that our friend and fellow angler Tom has passed away. His wife reached out to me yesterday to let me know that he injured himself Tuesday morning and succumbed to his injuries early Wednesday. To say that I am shocked and heartbroken is a massive understatement. I had the distinct pleasure of fishing with Tom several times over the past few years since I had gotten to know him as a result of our participation here on the Bass Resource forum. I was always looking for opportunities to get out on the water with and truly enjoyed his company as both angler and friend.

The rear window is the easiest way to discern a '74 F body from a '75 F body.

FIFY

Digitaka charged you everything up front and covers whatever needs to be covered. Once you've checked out, that's it. It's a great policy IMHO, and it's why I will do business with them without hesitation.

Wow, they jumped right on it! More than a couple!

No skin on my undercarriage is grated or otherwise damaged if someone else chooses different models or brands. Use what you want to. I own reels from Daiwa, Shimano, ABU Garcia, Okuma, KastKing, and I think I still have a Quantum spinning reel lurking around somewhere. The combos I use most have Shimano or Daiwa reels, with the exception three KastKing BFS reels. My KastKing BFS reels have earned their spot in terms of value and performance for what I am asking them to do. The others can work adequately enough when called upon, but my first team gear handles most situations with precision, skill, efficiency. Shimano and Daiwa both have made many, many excellent reels. They have IMHO also made a few guajolotes (at least from a bang for the buck perspective) along the way. I own two or three of them. They are still the brands I look to first, mostly because I choose to. Fender (Honda) and Gibson (Yamaha) make great guitars (dirt bikes) and a musician (rider) could go their whole life using (riding) just those two brands and do OK. But sometimes, you just want to play (ride) a Gretsch (Suzuki/Kawasaki). It's the same dilemma in many of our endeavors.

When the bass tell me they want "fun size" meals, these are my go-to BFS-ish Texas rigged plastics: Zoom Tiny Brush Hog or Z-Man 2.5" Crawz / Owner Rig-N-Hook with either 1/16 or 1/8 oz tungsten worm weight and a bobber stopper about 1/16" above the weight. I work the Crawz a lot slower than the brush hog (which has the best action with the tails orientated the "correct" way).

I try to at least slightly exceed the bass' level of caring about my presence in that moment. Sometimes they seem very sensitive to my presence. Other times, I have literally been swimming with them boiling all around me. Most of time, it's closer to the middle of the spectrum. I'm not opposed to turning off the pinging, using as low a speed as possible. My boat is small, low, and army drab green. I also have a 1/2" rubber mat on the floor of my boat and I don't play music.

Oh my goodness, with a heavy emphasis on "goodness". @swhit140 Thank you Sir! When I picked up the package, I thought must be a fair bit of lead in here. Nope, almost none. Let's take a look, shall we? Nice grouping. Great baits in great colors. These are all getting a workout. Really high quality custom baits right here. And, as soon as I saw those hooks. . . . "Oh, I know exactly what to do with these. I have been keeping an eye out for an alternative to the Owner Jungle Wacky Weedless hooks. Merry Fishness everybody!

I apologize to the person I drew because even though I ordered the goods the day after the names were distributed, I received the last item I will be shipping today. So, unfortunately it won't be arriving to the recipient until the day after Christmas (12/26).

I ordered a reel from them in late September and it went very well. They pay the tariff for you, (on top of whatever the reel costs) and were even splitting the (estimated) cost of the tariff so you knew the total cost before checking out. I am not sure this arrangement still exists.

For me, the changes I made make more sense for my way of fishing, and probably for my world. Overall, I think this seems like a well reasoned quiver without any gaping holes, at least in range you've covered. I also do like Tom's mention of some BFS gear

I've clamped down pretty firmly on it and currently have four BFS combos Phenix 7'4" Classic BFS / Aldebaran BFS Dobyns 7'0" SUF700c / KastKing Kestrel BFS Dobyns 6'9" SUF690c / KastKing Kestrel Air Micro Finesse Old18 6'6" Buoyancy UL / KastKing Kestrel Air Micro Finesse I'm still doing a lot of experimenting with line and lures as well as casting and retrieving techniques. I like to throw Texas rigged creature baits like the Zoom Tiny Brush Hog and Z-Man Crawz and a multitude of small crankbaits, jerkbaits, poppers, walking baits, Kastmaster spoons, tiny wakebaits. So far, my most limiting factor has not been the rods, reels, or line, but rather the trebles on some baits either bending or even breaking. My biggest catch so far was a six pound striper on a Karashi. Took close to ten minutes to land it and each of the trebles were half bent out, but still got it into the net.

I have a St. Croix 7'6" ML/XF spinning rod that has an uncanny ability to keep fish pinned. I found that once I get down to ML in power, the rod has a lot of give when fighting a fish, but still has enough power quickly to set a wacky rigged Senko hook. I don't feel the same way about Medium power rods or higher with extra fast or even fast action rods in the same way. I am using 10 lbs braid to 6-8 fluoro leaders. I have really come to like and appreciate ML spinning rods and have recently acquired a few nice ones (6'10" ML/XF Zillion and ML/F Zodias, in addition to a ML-M/F Tatula Elite AGS) to my quiver. I also have a 7'0" Expride A L+/F that is sublime for baits that benefit from something just a tad lighter in power. I have an older Shimano rod that is roughly the equivalent of a modern ML/F rod that mostly gathers dust these days. Your experience seems to be a little different from mine, and there's no harm in that. You should absolutely use what works for you. I did come across a Daiwa Zillion offering that may suit your preferences more than it did mine) and that is the ZLON761MLMFS. In spite of it being rated as a fast action rod, it has a decidedly moderate feel IMHO compared to any of their other 7'6" hair jig rods other than possibly the Chris Johnston Tatula Elite TTEL761MLFS-AGS, which somewhere in between IMHO.

I can (and do) go either way.

"In her view" you say? Hmmm, seems like that could be easily fixed.

Is your trolling motor your primary source of propulsion? If it is, and you are likely to spend some long days on the water, I would suggest a Lifepo4 (let's just call them "lithium" batteries here for simplicity's sake) system that has more than 50 ah at 24v. Until last spring, I ran a single 24v 100ah lithium battery (that weighs 48 lbs) with a MK Edge 70 on a Tracker 1648. I could easily go all day with it as my only source, but at the end of a long day doing that, I would have used around 65% of that 100 ah @ 24v capacity if I was making a long run to get where I was fishing, or doing something like trolling with it. I could go three half day trips (with using the 40 hp tiller outboard as the primary power to get me to where I was fishing) before even worrying about whether or not I needed to recharge. If you're used to running lead acid batteries, a 12v deep cycle with a 100 ah capacity (that each weigh around 63 lbs), you're not supposed to run them down to below 50% of their rated capacity vs lithium where you can pretty much use all of their capacity (or close to it). so, with two 50 ah 12v lithium batteries wired in series, you essentially have about the same capacity as having two 100 ah 12v lead acid batteries wired in series. As for whether or not it would be better to have a single 24v or two 12v in series, that could depend on a number of unique factors such as other power needs, storage space and layout, desired weight distribution. Think it through, measure/calculate twice, buy once. I recently upgraded . . . . massively. . . . to a MK Ultrex Quest and ran it since last spring on that same single 24v 100 ah lithium battery and still had plenty of battery for all day doing whatever I wanted to do, and it would push my boat over 4.5 mph at top speed. The TM I have can run on 24v or 36v, so I recently got a single 36v 65 ah battery (which has almost the same energy capacity as the 24v 100 ah battery), but it's in a Group 31 case and only weighs 41 lbs. I have not installed it yet, but I expect it to push me up over 5 mph at top speed.