Darth-Baiter

slow day at work, so i am playing hookie. i'm gonna kayak down the mouth of the Napa River in California Wine country and see if the Striper are coming in due to all this rain we have been having. i just want one for some fish tacos. i know the Sturgeon fishing is on fire right now. the best thing about winter fishing is you can sleep in to normal times. i'm off!! i actually called my boss yesterday and said..."hey boss, with the break in the weather tomor..." "yea! take the day off!". haha. he is bailing on friday, and was feeling guilty.

my wife is also a sound sleeper. I can wake up moaning nauseous stomach running, sprinting to the toilet. she sleeps right thru it. next morning, "wow, you dont look so good. kinda green, you sleep much?" my dog wakes up takes one step, and she hears his nails click on the wood floor. she is up! "oh Hank do you need to pee?".

I rusted out a few jackhammers. I sharpened the hooks so I’m good, but I can’t imagine long term stolid that.

if you didnt know..I am a Chinese dude. born in Texas. haha. my parents introduced me to all sorts of foods. some good, some I can't talk about to this day. but I tried. I vaguely remember this sauce from my youth. it is a newer sauce. invented in HongKong in the 1980's. it is made with expensive ingredients. I tried to buy a jar and it was tiny and was (hidden) inside a cardboard box. you couldn't open it to suss it out. total trust. NOPE. oh, it was $27. I remember my stepdad (RIP) making it, so I have been home all week researching. the main ingredients are dried scallops and dried shrimp. then a bunch of aromatics. I think I used maybe $20 bucks worth of ingredients so it isn't bad making it yourself. we all hear about Umami. soy sauces, anchovies, tomato paste..whatever. this stuff is RIDICULOUS!! I tasted it before jaring it and it was like a choir of angels singing in my mouth. I nailed it on the first try. I am so happy I took notes while making this. I'll use it to dress noodles..put a clop over fried rice. a drizzle over fried eggs (over a big bowl of white rice). I wish my stepdad was here to try my version.

tell me you dont put a push broom in her sleeping hand...hahah. sorry!! just kidding. my brother used to sleep walk and it kinda spooked me out. I would come home late and he would just stand there spooky.

I do admit, I wasn't committed to this discussion to quote so many responses. wow!! it was just a thought of how I imagined things "in general". not in absolutes. my personal financial budgets govern more than anything else, and what I consider high end is not the same for everyone.

so in a dire emergency, you can do it? but be prepared to pay the consequences?

i fish from a kayak, so excuse my stupid question. can you jump the starting battery with the bank of trolling batteries.?

my wife is tiny, and she sleeps like a starfish. she dominates the bed. she also snores..and i wear earplugs on the worst nights. most nights, it is a rhythmic breathing that puts me at ease, and i sleep well. and my dog snores. but my dog is my early warning system. good times

Bullards is on my list this spring. my wife will be traveling in Paris, so i plan to take full advantage of my hall pass. i would love even a 4+ spotted bass. Almanor for a bigger Smallie is another one. but back to your question. i think my retirement will circle around easy public transporation and GREAT health care first...then great fishing. any fishing. even ocean fishing. i have always wanted to live in a cuteass beach community.

killing me!! that spinner bait spins with enthusiasm at ANY speed. i found i had to slow it way the heck down, and when it came up boat side the blades are thumping... thumping.

i just used an empty rod. it happend to be a Sierra Dobyns in medH. i was light on the line. 15lb flouro if i remember right. bass were smoking the thing coming thru grass.. it was scary and exciting all at once. i didnt lose a fish. my entire rig felt light. but it was fuuuuunnnn..

did any gifts go MIA?

my statement was also obvious. are you associating higher cost to being better?

the perfect rod for $50..anyone would buy it. that is the obvious thing. but like golf clubs and mountain bikes...lightweight costs more money. I would like to add that not necessarily technique specific..but I will spend way more money on any Travel rod in general. I am in no way landing on some distant body of water to have my rod break. my travel rods will be nosebleed, rarified air level stuff.

I think I would drop better coin on a technique that wears me out physically. like punching. elbows hurt, wrists gets sore. helps to have a lighter rod to help fish longer. I think in general, light equals more money. punching and flipping takes a good stout rod with great sensitivity, and it should be great in the ergonomic department as well. my favorite well most common tech is drop shot. I dont need a high end setup for that. and I dont have it. my go to drop shot is very vanilla and middle of the road as far as "good".

^^^^ this guy either got the BEST fishmas gift ever...or this is outside the scope of this thread.

sweet Haul!! those SV3 spinner baits got me back into spinner baits. it is no secret I suck with one. but I finally put a few on the board with the SV3. wait..what I meant to say was..those SV3 suck horribly, and you could send them to me for proper disposal.

you said it basically the same as my friend. she is a cat person. she said when a cat likes you, you earned it. cat love is not unconditional like dog love.

I got one, and it looked so weird on me. I never get those ever again. I would just Goodwill them.

I buy the 25 pack of cheap lead ones. 3/16th oz exclusively. they work great and I dont cringe much when I snag. I have been buying 3/16 tungsten and they do snag less. I dont think I need to feel the bottom as much on a drop shot, but i do like the occasional bump telling me I am clicking on hard bottom.

the PA14 in perspective is just a tiny boat. you can stand and face in any direction and cast. on a trailer you can launch like a boat. there is a huge population putting electric motors on those things. I seen a guy with one on each end. one for pushing him to a spot..and the front has the spot lock and things. the sky is (and the $) is the limit. and you live near the spot they make those custom OTW trailers. the gold standard. we can't get them in CA because they are so far away.

yea. my dog was an abandoned stray. he has all the issues some pound puppies come with. but we adapt and overcome.

I didnt talk much about my reel. Daiwa Tatula SV 103 or something. I used to use some Lews BB1. it was okay. I spooled it full of 65lb braid. I could punch/flip and my spool control wasn't the best. eventually the line would loosen on the spool. I would occasionally need to face away from shore and bomb out a cast and reel it back in to tighten up the line on the spool. the Tatula SV holds much less line. way less. and the light spool somehow made me better at thumbing it to a slow and stop. I eliminated the need to occasionally tighten up my line. well it is very rare. my system I way better. I cannot wait until next season.

my cat just chewed a hole into my Fishmas gift..the soft plastics bag...hahhaha..