BrianMDTX

Well, I could tie 15’ of line to my rod tip and catch fish. Tying a lure to the line straight from the reel would make fishing a little more difficult lol.

Stealthily!

“The other day before breakfast, On the boat was nobody but me. Headin’ out on the water, That’s all I ever need. ’Cause I fish alone...

I fish like I bowhunt. Solo

Fires. Hurricanes. COVID-19. 2020 has been a real crapshow. Be safe and good luck.

Only caught one. On a purple Zoom Max 2 Texas rig. I batted o’fer on the new lures.

No skunk, but close. I was on the water before sunup. Had a bass hit my WP and missed it, stopped the retrieve and it hit it again. Missed that strike as well. Tried Ned rig, weightless TR, WR, crankbait... nothing. Moved to a new spot and tried the same. Nothing. Finally switched to a purple Zoom Mag 2 TR with a 1/4 oz bullet weight and had one strike. Not much, but better than a skunk!

Absolutely! Fingers crossed!

I bought both and will be trying them tomorrow. All rigged up and ready to go!

Any day fishing or hunting is a good day! It beats the hell out of work!

In your opinion, how does a reel improve sensitivity? I realize the line runs through the guides to the spool (and the bail on a spinning reel), but I would think the line contact to the guides which transmits vibrations to the rod is what impacts sensitivity and not the reel.

I have zero experience with the Ned rig. But this does look like it will catch some bass!

Looks nice. I like the green.

Thanks. I’ve never tried the Ned in any fashion, so I’ll try it with the jig heads I have and see how it works. I have a collection of 5” Senkos ripped in half from WR. It looks good on the jig head. Anyone ever try that?

So...is it mandatory to use a mushroom jig head? I have round jig heads. I hear it makes a difference on the fall, but does it make enough difference that I need to feed the monkey twice this week? ?

I saw those spinning rods, but they don’t say Don Iovino like the casting rods do.

I don’t see that model on their website. I found Don Iovino casting rods at TW, but that was it.

Or, I might add, this as well. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Daiwa_Procyon_Spinning_Rods/descpage-PYS.html I bought a Procyon 661MXS for finesse (mostly WR and weightless TR). I was surprised at the sensitivity. It’s a nice rod for the $$.

Trust me. I’d love a decked-out bass boat. Or a pedal yak. Hell, even a 14’ jonboat with a trolling motor. But that ain’t happening at this point in my life lol. This gets me off the shore and on the water.

I’d say everyone has their reasons to use one type of boat/yak/whatever over another. I wanted something to fish the local ponds in my area (there are 46 ponds I can fish, although maybe 35 of them are suitable for a yak, canoe, etc.). A fishing yak was my first thought, but storage, loading/unloading, etc. was an issue. I’m not a spring chicken anymore. I wanted something to get me out on the water that was easy to stow/launch that was practical, decent to fish from and wouldn’t break the bank. So I bought a Sea Eagle Packfish7 inflatable with the option plywood floor for rigidity. To be frank, the position of the oarlocks is not great, although I made it worse by installing a 7” seat pedestal, and swivel and a low back seat vs the inflatable seat that came with it. But I bought a 94” yak paddle for $39.00 at Academy that solved that issue. I purchased it direct from Sea Eagle for $399.99 (the deluxe package with the plywood floor- without it was $379.99). The pedestal, swivel and seat plus hardware was less than $70.00 but IMO, well worth it. I also spent about $15.00 to make a rod holder that fits behind the seat that gives me four rod holders (I normally bring two baitcasters and two spinning rods with me). It has two storage pouches (one on each side) and a small one in the rear. Is it perfect? No. It’s not very fast and if the wind is 5 kts I need to anchor it or it will blow across the pond easily. But, at less than 40 lbs it’s easy to load in the bed of my truck (inflated) and easy to launch, it's comfortable enough to fish in all day long and I’ve caught numerous nice bass out of it this summer and now in fall. All-in-all I’m happy with it. And if I had no truck, deflated it would fit in the trunk of any car or SUV and be inflated in 5 minutes. This is the original configuration.

Ugh. That was painful!

All I needed to know! Thanks! I have those exact tires (LT285/70R17’s) on my ‘05 Dodge Ram 1500 4x4. On my second set at 175K. My first set lasted over 100K. Great tires!

I found out today my Fenwick HMX70M-FC warranty claim won’t be filled until the end of December, so I switched it to a Fenwick HMX76H-FC, which I should get next month. That will give me M, MH and H actions Would the Fuego CT be suitable for a Heavy, casting lures up to 1-1/2 ozs?

Big Hands, I can semi-relate. There’s a reservoir on the Susky in Maryland a few miles upriver from the Chesapeake Bay called Conowingo. On the north side of the reservoir is an inlet underneath a railroad bridge that connects to a decent-sized pond. When I was a kid, it was a great place for big 8”-9” bluegills. When I was 13, we were fishing there one spring day and I saw two of the biggest bass I’ve ever seen slowly cruising the shoreline. Just lazily swimming around the perimeter of the pond. I threw everything in my tackle box for hours and they would do nothing but stop and stare, then slowly swim off. It’s been 47 years and I can still clearly picture them in my mind taunting me lol. They had to be 7-8 lb’ers, which are big bass in Maryland.

Trust me. It pales in comparison to bowhunting seven seasons before arrowing a deer. Days on end of sweating in September to freezing in Nov, Dec and Jan...for seven years. Whiners! ?