Darth-Baiter

I’m using Almight line. Zero issues for me. The fish however, hate it. It’s thin. A full spool needs sufficient backing to fill my 2500 Vanford.

#925 SENKO. It’s my only color, I think. in weeds I fish it weightless, Texas rigged.

never seen that one. NICE!!! I want one more. the very ubiquitous, Osborne. I've given away (other models) several to friends. but I have always wanted an Osborne. for Benchmade, I only have one left, the Bugout. I'm in no hurry for the Osborne. for a knife, I have been using my Giantmouse Ace Biblio mostly. great knife. tough to sharpen, but it does hold it.

we honestly had a few slow days. we were in a drought year. but we never skunked. on great days, we did 40 fish each. the biggest for me was a 15lb, and my brother bested me by a pound. we were not in Rio *****, so the peacock species we were targeting are smaller than the 4-bar ones you see. I was fishing with a Shimano 150mgl, (you can see them pull drag with it cinched down hard) and I could almost spool my reel. my far cast with two hands, catapult style would fly way further than 100 feet. 70 yards?? dont know. it was far!! the bait was 2oz and very aerodynamic. people in our group did get bigger fish. like I said, my other reel was a Tatula TWSV and I did fine. I fried a bearing in that one. a Tranx 200 would be perfect. when I go back, I am buying two of them.

It is. They don’t even need to announce a winner! I see people dropping their info into a box at the mall. Nobody follows up to see if anyone actually won.

I wanted the Callan bibs. On paper they looked perfect. Only xxxxxl is available. Haha. I do think their Taku dry bib is a kayakers dream, for the ocean. My Challengers are still en route, I’m happy you chose them. Make me feel better for my Hail Mary purchase.

I'm using Almight. in hot pink. mostly for weightless stuff, and the dropshot. it doesnt sink like Flouro, but it does drag stuff down...slowly. I see the hot pink easily.

79? dang..I was wearing a PFD in my 30's. anyways, what you described is why I run a traditional foam(?) PFD in my kayak. simple, and I 100% know it will float me. no mechanicals. I think mine is comfortable, and I forget it is on. I have found myself driving home with it on, and then I pull over and take it off, like a dooffus. I own a Mustang inflatable. I wear it on boats. my friends bass boat, party boats. there is mental checklist I do. I check the tautness of the canister. look for the green "GO" plastic indicator, etc. it's a process. I've seen one blown up. I am not convinced I can climb back aboard my kayak with it inflated on my chest. for $30...I should just yank the the backup cord. double check it. hahah buy the Mustang Chimera. it has both. some foam to keep you up, and it inflates when the SHTF... I had one, it is crazy comfy.

yes!! @AbelG reminded me. yanking a woodchopper is brutal. the super short rod allows you to kinda point the tip to the water and yank. you are not twitching the rod. you are yanking it, like hard. like you have a Belgium Melanois on a leash and you need to stop it from going to eat some kitten, kinda yank. HARD. then you repeat that yank about a million times. I texted my fishing friends. they remember out Amazon rods being sub six footers. they were lighter than I imagined. med-heavy. flexy...soft tips. they bombed the baits. my brother would spool his first reel with a cast. he had to reload his reel with a full spool of braid. you empty the spools on casts. so you have to have capacity. I do have one and only YouTube video up. I'm not a YouTuber, so dont subscribe or click anything. hahah...just the gist of the trip.

My record is four fish.

I look at the SAE rating and as long as it has the number the manual states. Go for it.

one...it was below min-sized.

the tariff department keeps rescinding and "scinding". a moving target. that's all I'll say about it. my friend leaves for Japan Monday. he is bringing back swimbaits that are killing it over here, but impossible to get at a regular price. and some reels. I leave for Japan November. I'll shop more then.

I fish lakes. Clearlake, and Lake Camanche have both tried to drown me. winds waves send me scurrying for shore with clench teeth, fists and butt. I watch winds forecasts like a meteorologist.. (I still will) buuuttt..I just got home from trying to catch an elusive keeper halibut. the winds were probably 10mph with some gust. water was whitecapping. swell was prob 5-6 feet and happening very often. full disclosure: my kayak was light!! no tackle box, just two rods and a tiny storage box in back. light. and I put my seat into the lowest setting. slammed low! there was no standing up, it was that low. I was bobbing around in that water for 6 hours. I never came close to flipping over. I few big surprise (rogue) waves would slap me around and pucker my butt, but I never felt unsafe. I had a water tight dry suit on, a marine radio, and a buddy to complete the buddy system. the conditions however were much more dramatic than both Clearlake and Camanche have ever been. it was just me being scared. I will remain safety oriented and head in when it gets windy. but maybe more because it is impossible to bass fish in winds like that. at Camanche I had to beach it and hike 3 miles to my truck. that was probably still navigable..I dont know. the Hobie with the seat down low is very very stable. and it didnt leak a drop!! until I hit it with a jet spray to blast off the salty grime. Maybe TMI, but peeing while wearing a dry suit and in waves like that takes preparation. hahah...

To add. The reel needs the strongest drag. The water resistance of a woodchopper will pull line from your drag. I had to cinch my drag down “full tight”. It felt unnatural. Full TIGHT! Like with a gloved hand - just turn the star nut tight - like your trying to shut off a leaky hose faucet. Then when a big peacock slams the bait, that fish will still strip line. It’s wild and unbelievable. tranx 200 _ fo sure. the baits are huge, so everything casts amazing. Short rods if I failed to get that point across.

I’ve fished for that fish. The peacock. If I were buying rods. I would buy rods specific for them. The Falcons Buccos or something. The are like 6’ long. Maybe shorter. I was so skeptical about the short rods, but d**n; that’s the way to go. The baits are huge and have so much water resistance. . You’re yanking on them for hours. It’s like doing CrossFit. Trust me. Go short rods. reels. Zero doubt. The Shimano Tranx 200. 65lb powerPro. 100%. I dang near destroyed my 150mgl. I did hurt my tatula. Haha. It was rattling the second day. im going back. I’ll bring two Tranx reels. And use their rods. They were med-heavy. Way lighter than I expected. And they were white Veritas I think. 6 footers. BEST FISHING TRIP OF MY ENTIRE LIFE. BY A MILE. flying there and back suuuuuccckkksss

I’m w @bulldog1935 on this. Why does it even matter? Abu seems to have a social media presence. My main YouTuber hawks them.

20lb white suffix mostly. 8 -10 lb flouro leader. I like the Daiwa stuff. I also have one combo spooled with pink Almight line. Braid. It’s pretty fantastic. 19.5lbs.

you have a Windbuster? that no good for this? I kinda want to try the Jade Python simply because my BanderSnatch is so kicking butt. that X10 line might be awesome. save a Benjamin in the process.

i found a supertool300 on a boat ramp. stepped on it. it was rusty and crusted with grit. i sent it in to donate it to them for their "hall of shame" display. they reached out and laughed and asked for my address to send me one. i reminded them, i found it. they insisted. it now rides in my kayak dry sack. very useful tool. cotter pins, etc.

if i catch nothing but dinks, i will move bigger to see if anything more substantial in size takes it.

Some of My new dropshot weights. Haha.

are you casting with 50lb mono? or dropping it over the side to a prescribed depth.

go crazy...just put one eye in the middle like a cyclops. the big bully bass will bite it just to be d's about it.

confidence mostly. and the fish tell you shortly after you start. my fav bait comes in 3.5 or 4" the size diff is fairly dramatic. i just pull one of each and go for it. the 3.5 is my confidence size for sure. harder to cast, in wind.