ironbjorn

Agreed it's a great $100 reel, but spending $30 more to fine tune according to conditions is more than worth it with the XT.

Your threads are fine man. The more the better on a forum. Threads keep these places alive. Not sure if most BR members are aware of this because most of us grew up before the Internet Age and actually go outside and touch grass unlike the newer generation, but forums died a long time ago because of social media. Sort of like how Uber and Lyft killed taxis. That this community is alive, well, and thriving is absolutely amazing and a testament to the bass fishing community as a whole and Glenn and his crew. It's just funny to poke fun at your massive overthinking sometimes.

These types of guys are my dad's favorite animals. He likes them gnarly. He'd kill to have a one eyed cat that drools. He's currently in the market for an English Bulldog with an attitude problem because he wants it to sit next to him on the couch drooling and PO'd when people come over.

Yessir, there's a reason we have "lab rats." They get a bad rap because of the plague. But we now know it was the fleas and lice responsible for the plague, and that it was humans who carried and spread them the most. But that stigma hasn't gone away and probably never will. They're actually very clean animals despite their other stereotype of being filthy dumpster animals - ALL animals in the cities dig in dumpsters for food. Plus the whole icky tail thing which actually isn't that bad.

When I was a kid I had a gray and white rat named Pepper. He knew his name and would come when called. We could free roam him in the house. He climbed up your arm to sit on your shoulder. He would clean my ears. Really was like a miniature dog. I made a tiny homemade leash for him and would take him on walks outside.

It's just that it means exactly what it says.

That is very weird. I have no answers. Just that my son did snap the Fenwick I had that made this clicking you're describing, so I wouldn't trust it at all.

Could it be line slap or even the reel?

I had a rod like that once, but it was a Fenwick. 4-5 years ago. My son ended up snapping it. Sounds like you might have gotten the exact same rod back, literally. I once exchanged a reel to Tackle Warehouse because it was a finicky POS, brakes were not right. I'd had several of these reels and all the others were fine. I got the exact same reel back. I know because a lipless treble made a unique making in the reel. It had my same lipless marking. Exchanged again and got an actually different reel.

Day #6. We're almost half way there. How long does it usually take for dissolvable stitches to go away? Of course I'm not expecting them to be gone by day #6 or even by day #14. But at what point is it no longer a concern if they bite at them?

Nothing sad about that rod. A $130 rod for treble hooked top waters is livin' good.

How are the bills on those squarebills? I want to bash them off rock bottoms for river smallies. Do they hold up?

Another thread got me thinking about live bluegill fishing. I've been a strictly artificial lure user and I exclusively fish for bass. I taught myself to fish a long time ago, and this style of fishing is all I wanted to do. I never had moments as a kid sitting on the banks with a worm or minnow and a bobber, and I've never been part of the bucket brigade as an adult. So I have no idea about live bait fishing for the most part. If I wanted to catch a bluegill and use it for bass fishing, where should I hook the bluegill? Also, should I let it swim freely with no bobbers or anything?

You definitely have a way better chance at the bigs. I fish by day and wake my fiance by night screaming into the mic playing Call of Duty. Those 12 year olds have told me every which way my mother is a promiscuous lady.

We gonna talk about how the great Michael Jordan cut Caleb Martin only for Martin to end up in Miami and lose the conference finals MVP by one vote to teammate Jimmy Butler?

It's not about winning or losing. I think I'm probably failing to express my thoughts coherently enough. Crickety mentioned new places where other people don't fish. Maine has a ton of water, lots of untouched territory. She's blessed to fish where she does. Of course we have our public lakes. That's not what I'm talking about. Scouring Google maps for gems like Crickety can find, where other people don't fish, isn't a thing I've experienced either here or in my home state of Illinois. If you find a body of water that's not one of our bigger boaty public lakes that everyone already knows about, and you go check it out, you find it posted private and/or fenced. You zoom in and find it on private business or farm property. You find it in a private residential area. Or you find that it's a park or nature preserve that's been beaten and beaten and beaten by fishermen. We do not really have the option of untouched territory where other anglers are not. Unless of course you can gain permission at these private places or know someone. I don't even bother to ask. The world and its people are crazy.

Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but by the time I'm seeing the line move, I'm late with my hook set. Either a swing and a miss or a gut hook. I rely far more on feel. And I only fish during daylight.

I'm not talking about public lakes or streams. I'm talking about the ability to scour Google maps for a new body of water such as a pond or small lake. Anything you find will be private or in some beat to death park. No debate needs to be had. Melting ice, rising oceans, drying lakes and streams, record heat every year, wacky seasons, and more severe storms and wildfires, and animal extinction speaks for itself.

Better start fishing with live gills.

I will feel seen and affirmed

It could be that, but there are many reasons kayakers are closer to shore in general.

This is common on cheaper rods. Any of the guides can be crooked, sometimes all of them. They don't have masters building these things. More like 8 year olds being paid with a slice of bread. Never found it to be an issue. They're locked in, just crooked.

Yeah I have model B and I don't consider it fat at all. The ridiculously fat rods I've seen for their power rating come in the form of cheap combos from Lew's or Abu or rods like the Berkley Shock rod. Maybe I'm just used to what you consider fat rods so I don't consider them fat.