ironbjorn

Spinning gear - let the modern drag we pay for do its job. A reasonable mix between letting the drag work, letting them wear out, and getting them in. Casting gear - trebles, get them in carefully. Single hook, horse them every time.

One can't tell a man something doesn't work when it has clearly worked for him, but I do believe you have been lucky. Even light bouncing and the small, continuous vibrations can damage blanks and guides.

I chew trebles, shoot elaztech, smoke plastisol, huff lead, and snort tag ends like a man.

I've had great days Texas rigging them with 1/8 or 1/16 oz bullet weights. I've never tried to become a genius with it by splitting the tail though, highly, highly doubt that makes any difference at all. Some people try to get smart so their name is attached if it works.

I have never caught or fished for lake Smallmouth, which is odd considering I'm in the Great Lakes region. Only lake and pond Largemouth and river and stream Smallmouth.

I rarely partake in booze or weed these days, but when I did, I always performed like garbage no matter the activity. I don't know how people take substances and have a good time trying to concentrate on what they're doing.

I don't. I don't really frog, and 15lb Big Game and Yo-Zuri Hybrid pulls up literal logs.

When I was still able to work this would have broke me. I'm now disabled because of the mental issues, so my insurance is taxpayer funded. No doubt some people will hate that, but I like to think that I'm one of the people who this is truly meant for. I've been sick for nearly half my life, although we didn't know what it was until a few years ago. It caused me to drop out of college 15 years ago and ruined many jobs, but I always got another job and kept on keeping on and trying my best, with many successes and failures. In recent years my cognitive decline ruined me, and hallucinations and delusions finally hospitalized me. I tried for a long time. More than most can say. I take pride in that actually. Allergic reactions are my absolute worst nightmare and fear. Particularly the anaphylactic shock aspect. This goes back to my mental illness. In 2014 I developed a strong delusion that I was allergic to virtually all foods and medications, despite zero evidence that this is true, but that's part of the illness. For 2 years I only ate potatoes, and I didn't take a single pill for 7 years until I had to for infection in 2021. Going back to my previous reply on top of this one where I've always tried my best and have been as strong as possible, in 2016 I broke the spell myself because I wasn't yet receiving mental health treatment, but I knew something was wrong and I had to do something about it. So I took each individual food, one by one, every single day, sometimes multiple times a day, for months, and sat in the ER waiting room while I ate it so I could be sure I was safe if I had a reaction. I of course never did, and it opened my diet fully back up. My therapist nowadays says that was very impressive and I did my own exposure therapy without realizing it. Now that I have had a fairly serious allergic reaction it's really messing with me mentally, even in regards to food again. I'm having anxiety attacks even attempting to eat. Worst of all is that I absolutely have to treat this hypothyroidism and that means trying another drug. That's terrifying.

Aside from having Schizoaffective Disorder, since May I have had one thing after another going on. From May to mid June I had a tension headache that nothing and nobody could get rid of. Then it was nerve pains in my right chest and arm (everything else was ruled out) for several weeks. No known cause. Then it was SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacteria Overgrowth) that caused horrible gut pains, discomfort, and gas for a few weeks. Then I went to Lake Michigan with my family and got hit in the side of the face by a wave while making sure my youngest daughter was having a safe, fun time. I've had water trapped in it for a month. No prescription nasal sprays or drops will touch it. Thankfully no infection, but it could head that way. Next up is an ENT and probably surgery to drain it. Back to the SIBO. We found out the root cause of that and my vitamin B12 deficiency was being caused by hypothyroidism. I was on my Levothyroxine medication for 2 weeks with no ill effects. In fact, I didn't realize how sluggish, fatigued, and just flat out bad I had been feeling, because I started to feel energized and great. However, 2 weeks in, I woke up one morning to red and flesh colored raised bumps on my hands and fingers. I went to the ER as a precaution because I have known people with allergies and I know these things can progress dangerously. Better safe than sorry. It was indeed an allergic or histamine reaction. They said it was likely the new medication, as that was the only thing new in my life. I saw my primary care physician the next day and he disagreed that it was an allergy and told me to continue the medication. I DID NOT take it again for nearly a week, but I started to feel the ill effects of not doing so, so I took it. Less than 72 hours later, I woke up intensely itchy everywhere, but especially on my hands, knees, and the back of my scalp. My hands were a bit red, as were my knees, and my scalp was covered in bumps (I could feel them as I was digging at my head). I thought I was just breaking out because I had recently shaved my head. As I'm playing Call of Duty with my friends, my hands started to burn. I looked down and they were swollen and FIRE red. My knees were also fire. My abdomen itched, so I checked it. Hives everywhere. Hives on my hands, knees, abdomen, back, hips, and scalp. I was flushed as well. I went to the ER and had to have IV Benadryl and steroid shots. I had to stay for monitoring for several hours to make sure things didn't take a dangerous turn. The ER doctor learned of my previous trip and the medication and said I absolutely am allergic to this and cannot take it any longer and to see my doctor. There are other thyroid medications out there, but I'm definitely going to be scared to take any of it, although I have to treat the hypothyroidism at the same time. Going back to the Schizoaffective stuff, I almost earned myself a trip back to the mental hospital several days ago. I wasn't acting right and had dug out a closet in the house to lay in to hide from "the demon" (one of the hallucinations I get). Haven't dealt with "him" in awhile. That was an emergency call from my fiance to the therapist, and next week I see the psychiatrist to talk about it and probably a medication adjustment. I've had the worst summer of my life, and I've had some bad summers, heck, bad years.

There's no right or wrong answer when it comes to brakes. Skill level, conditions, and what you're doing determines what brake settings you use. If they're being funky, that's a different story.

Watch the fish run with your lure for 38 seconds to make sure it's in their mouth. When you swing and miss, that's when it's time to change colors. That will make all the difference. I've been watching too much YouTube fishing.

A guy from Wisconsin sharing info with a guy from California is different than sharing with someone who fishes the exact same lake or pond.

At the end of the day it's timing, location, and a little dumb luck more than anything. You have to be around and have access to big fish to catch big fish, and you have to be there at the right time, in the right moment, and that is a little lucky in itself. Many big bass have been caught by people who don't know squat about bass fishing.

There has never been a single time where I have shared the where, when, and what, that it didn't burn me in the end. Specifically in regards to where I personally fish, and not generally speaking on a forum such as this. So I no longer share. Humans ruin good things.

I'm career backup QB Chase Daniel. Not a rookie, good enough to be there, but not impressive enough to start.

Not entirely the same thing, but more often than not, if I'm fishing a pond that is loaded with huge bluegill, it has a mostly stunted bass population.

Hence old farts. Quite boring.

Anywhere you store things in your house will work fine. Assuming nobody puts their line in the window like a flower pot.

Truth

1/3 of it is sparsely populated islands but yeah

The Dobyns 2 power spinning rods are really wimpy. I find the 3 powers to be much better. They're more like something between a 702 and 703. Like a ML+. They perform a lot better for me - my opinion.

Catch with your hands, not your body. Football 101!

703c or 733c.

I prefer bank fishing ponds and wading known stretches of rivers. It's a lot easier to get on fish and a lot less hassle. I look at it the opposite as you. My hats off to you guys who are willing to spend all day searching and/or graphing and doing all that loading and unloading. I like pulling up with a small bag and a rod in hand and just going at it knowing I'm never far from a bite.

I would honestly get a 6'6" or 7' M/F Daiwa Aird-X and slap the Fuego on there. Ugly Stik, pond, minnows, Senko. You're frugal, and that's perfectly ok. Those things work. For this I would 100% get this rod in the same scenario. It performs like $100 anyways.