ironbjorn

Kayaking around gators can't be that sca- *Looks up record* NOPE NOT EVEN ONCE

Anything with the box sells for more. Anything.

Nothing beats absolutely burning a 1/4 oz trap along the shoreline about 1-2 ft from the bank.

I'll do the dissing for you. Goofy Squad is

EWG for everything. No idea how or why some people claim to have problems with them. I don't at all, so not my problem I guess.

You lost me at 2 pieces. Not much of an idea there. I think the Daiwa Aird X has a 2 piece MH/F 7' but it's on the light side of MH/F. Pair it with a Fuego. $165 retail. And idk where you'd get the 2 piece. I haven't even seen 6'6"ers. All I've actually seen being sold is 7' 1 piece models. But they claim they make the others.

I love how that water is so clear that you can see her swim off to our right and your left.

@Jabbaman, you have to be aware of who you're talking to. Years ago I would have thought that any ol' fisherman I encountered would be someone worth asking advice from. I've learned that's not the case. I will admit that these days there's a 95% chance I'm not talking to anyone while I'm fishing, but if I do find myself in a position where I would like some advice and there's someone nearby, I look for clues that they could be knowledgeable: Are they sitting on a bucket? Are they using cut bait? Are they using live bait, such as worms or minnows? Are they using corn or hotdogs? Are they using a small rod with a spincast reel? Is the rod propped up along the bank all by itself while they sit 1-3 feet away from it? If the person exhibits any of the above, I won't even bother asking because they're doing something completely different than I am, and I've learned the chances of them being helpful for what I'm doing are slim to none. Back in the day it was always the same answer: "Ain't no bass here." ... As they sit there fishing for anything that swims and wouldn't have a clue how to target bass (I didn't know it then). Many spots that I would have thought were poor bass spots was actually just bad advice and bad information. Only one time was there an exception, and it was the older fella who taught me how to fish a Texas Rig when I was 16 years old. I walked up with my enormous catfish spincast setup I got from Walmart with some bass lures, hooks, and weights (I didn't have a clue). He was sitting in a lawn chair with a bucket next to him. He had a spinning rod in hand and was rigged up with a worm and a bobber. He saw me struggling to rig up and called me over. He taught me how to tie an Improved Clinch Knot, assemble the Texas Rig, and how to hook the plastic worm. Then he taught me how to "work" the bait. Never again have I encountered the stereotype that I presented above who was helpful as far as bass fishing. Case in point last summer. I walked up to a new pond (which is now one of my favorites) and saw a guy out there fishing a plastic lizard. It was the first thing I noticed. I asked if he'd hooked into any yet and he told me no and that it was rare to catch a bass here, there's almost no bass. Then I noticed the rig. Spincast gear. Tiny rod. Tiny line. Weightless lizard. Casting out to the middle swimming it. That's a guy who just doesn't know what to do and wasn't helpful. I slaughtered 20 something bass that afternoon down the bank from him on lipless crankbaits and flukes. So the point I'm making is, you have all these people telling you there's no bass, the bass fishing sucks, at all these different places, but pay attention to who is telling you this. It's hard to find a body of water in this country that doesn't hold bass. That doesn't mean it's good fishing, but there's likely bass. You have to find the fish and make sure you're fishing your techniques properly.

Big Game is known as strong and reliable. For some people, 600yds for $10 rather than 200yds for $25 or 600yds for $60 is huge. Kind of like when people ask about (for example) $100 rods and people say "save up for X $150-$200 rod". That's not what was asked, not within the budget, and takes away time that could have spent fishing if they take the advice and believe they can't be on the water without something out of budget. Sorry just irritates me to consistently see.

It's fine. Backing off the drag is just a form of preventative maintenance. It's like turning a TV off when nobody is watching so it doesn't burn out. The truth is, it's almost always fine to keep the TV on.

It's a Fury 705CB and it's graphite. It's my least favorite rod. It's a whip and isn't ideal for me for what I bought it for, 1/4-1/2oz traps and 1.5-2.5 squarebills. I don't really know what I like it for. In open water I sometimes use it to launch traps, but I almost always prefer the standard 3 power. And yes traps is just another way of saying lipless crankbaits, similar to how some people call every stick bait a Senko or every bladed/vibrating jig a Chatterbait. Glass is for windows and beer

I actually primarily throw 1/4 oz traps and 1.5s on the standard 3 power too. Works great.

My 705CB launches 1/4 oz traps a mile. It's a whip.

I stopped dating high school girls well over a decade ago. ?

Me to the lady over the last couple of months: "Stop ordering so much clothing off Torrid." Also me over the last couple of months:

d**n! I should have done my due diligence right when I saw it.

I saw it on here earlier but I can't find it now and can't remember who is having the sale.

3/8 oz + trailer is absolutely horrible on a 3 power.

I'm with WRB. I really think your problem is the bait. Stick baits can be Texas rigged with a weight and people can and do catch fish this way, but it's not the ideal way to fish the bait. Stick baits are meant to be fished weightless, either Texas rigged or wacky rigged. They have a slow fall and shimmy on the way down, enticing the bass to bite. When you add weight to it you're messing up the action of the bait and it's dropping way too fast. When it's on the bottom it has virtually no action. It's just a turd that does nothing at that point. Using a curly tail worm, the tail has a lot of action on the fall, and then when it's being dragged or hopped. With craws and creature baits, the appendages have a lot of action on the fall and the water movement gives them life on the bottom.

The difference between a pro and the average joe right there. He didn't even care that he broke the rod lol

Rod: Daiwa Aird-X: Buy it on Tackle Warehouse for $55 so you know it will ship swiftly and smoothly, in a strong, sturdy tube. Buy it either in MH or H, depending on what you need. These rods fish a little lighter than advertised. Reel: Abu Garcia Pro Max: Buy it on Amazon for $70 (appears to be $10 cheaper than everywhere else). Buy it in righty or lefty, whichever you use. They're all 7.1:1 with 29 IPT. 28-32 IPT is what I consider an all around sweet spot. $125, and it matches.

Jig Senko Lipless Ned Squarebill

Look at it similarly to fishing in bass-y places. Vegetation, cover, lay downs, docks, rocks, etc. Things that you'll sometimes get caught up in, snag on, get wrapped up, break off in. You could choose to only fish open water and be that guy who is asking the other guys how they're catching fish because you can't, and when they tell you, not follow their advice because you're afraid to lose lures, or do it the right way and catch fish and just know that you're going to lose some battles in the process.

Your options are to stop being lazy and to also accept that losing lures is part of the game. In pike waters, they will bite you off sometimes.