ironbjorn

So, I have been living under the world's largest rock. I didn't know you could buy these new.

M/F in whatever length you like, whatever company you prefer, with whatever budget you have.

I could be happy and get by with a casting rod that fishes like a MH/F, and I often do on bank trips where fewer is better. I can make it do most things. When you're talking about an arsenal, I'm very convinced that anyone would be perfectly fine with a ML spinning, and M, MH, and H casting, although you might not be perfectly happy.

My phones are always $150-$200 prepaid Verizon phones. $50/month unlimited everything and they do everything the $1000 phones do unless you have a tech niche where you need the super sonic camera or something. So it's no great loss if one is lost or breaks. I did lose one to the water once while fishing a dam. It fell right over the dam wall. No chance.

If that's all it took don't go blaming me.

This is going to sound weird because black/blue is such a popular, common color, but I think it's the most underrated color in bass fishing. It works well for me in essentially any lure, any water clarity, any condition, for both LMB and SMB. Where others do not consider BB, I absolutely do.

When, and what power, length, and action? I traded in a 6'10" M/MF that was brand new to replace a rod someone broke very, very recently.

People complain about broken Dobyns rods a lot too. But I've never broken one. However, I know if I do, whether it's a defect or my fault, the warranty is the best in the world. I can even go 2 hours south to ALF to get it taken care of. One of many reasons most of my rods are Dobyns.

Many reasons Dobyns makes up most of my rods.

1/4 oz Rat-L-Trap is killer for me

Ruh-Paul-Uh. Never heard it said another way, and I'm originally from Illinois, now in Indiana.

Which one? Yes Which colors? Yes They're the same, and colors don't matter. It makes a ruckus on top and gets hit because of it.

I don't have these rods, but being a Dobyns fanboy (although new purchases have been going the way of Shimano) I can tell you the only difference in 703/704 and 733/734 rods is very slight, mostly negligible, softer tips in the longer rods. You probably won't notice the difference in casting distance either. My opinion.

I'd just get a M/F casting rod in whatever size you want.

It wasn't too long ago that they also took a hit when they stole an idea from a local Muskie guy up there. I forget what all that fuss was about exactly.

Polygraphs are a joke. There's a reason they're not admissible in court.

Nothing escapes a Gammy Octopus Circle

I've honestly only made one friend in my adult life who has "stuck." The rest of the "friends" I have made as an adult have all faded away for one reason or another. I have 3 best friends from childhood. We have been friends for going on 3 decades. Then my friend I made as an adult who has stuck, we have been friends for 6 years, and there's no signs of that stopping even when life gets busy and we go a couple of months without communication. However, I'm traveling 200 miles next week just to fish with him for a day. I had one other friend I made as an adult, about 10 years ago. I hadn't seen him in a long time. We went to stay at his house for the weekend a couple of weeks ago. He ended up hammered drunk, started busting beer bottles against his house and snapped my Expride clean on half while throwing a tantrum that I, my fiance, his girlfriend, and his neighbor made him feel left out because we were all having a good time having a conversation that he was more than welcome to join. 5 years ago I would have busted his face clean open. These days, as a now divorced dad, and with my illness, and being older, I knew that a.) I can't have anything to do with violence if I expect to maintain my weekend rights with my kids, b.) Somehow I would be to blame due to mental illness, and c.) I just have no interest in confrontations like that. Life goes on. We packed up and left without a word to him and blocked him on everything. Unfortunately I couldn't replace the 6'10" MH/F Expride and he absolutely wouldn't have so no point in trying, so I took a rod and reel I wasn't using and traded it in for $150 credit at ALF, got a 10% discount from the nice employee, and paid the $55 total difference after taxes and all to get a 6'10" MH/F Zodias as a replacement.

Every single time someone has rudely tried to take over my area I have out fished them either in size, numbers, or both, or neither of us do any good. I can't recall a single time it has been worth their efforts. So now I know when someone is a jerk, they're not to be respected as a fisherman, so I couldn't care less. In fact, any emotion I get is a little excitement over the fact that I will probably end up making them jealous.

A classic case of "when you run out of ideas"

I use Yo-Zuri Hybrid for just about anything 4 and 6 lb on spinning 10, 12, and 15 lb on casting

This is the worst I've ever seen this place. Everything I throw is instantly compromised with sludge. I never have been able to fish bottom here because of the muck. I've also never had a frog bite here. This sucks because I can easily access it being 5 minutes away and I've caught several 3-7 lb largemouth out of it. Historically spinnerbaits, lipless crankbaits, jerkbaits, Senkos, and Spooks have been the producers. When I say everything is instantly compromised I do mean that literally. I dunno what to do in order to fish it right now. Even if I can find pockets of clean water there is gunk throughout the water column. Maybe I'm missing something.

Cheap: Berkley Lightning Rod $50~ Daiwa Aird-X $100~ Shimano SLX $125~ Dobyns Fury $150~ Daiwa Tatula $175~ Dobyns Kaden $200~ Shimano Zodias $250~ Dobyns Champion XP $275~ Shimano Expride

I'm not opposed to the idea and I'll definitely try it. Nothing can really hurt at this point. There's a lot of different gut issues that can cause weight loss, bloating, gas, discomfort, pain, diarrhea, etc. The doctor specifically thinks SIBO because of the vitamin B12 deficiency to go along with the gut issues. B12 is easily consumed in meat, fish, eggs. I'm a huge meat eater. So that makes no sense. When you have SIBO you become deficient in B12. It's the key to diagnoses.

I'm glad the honey bees have a safe environment to thrive. It's much needed. When they go, we all go. Hardly anyone is taking that serious enough.