Darth-Baiter

strong point. i love fishing in a puffy vest.

i am going into salty water this saturday. my wife demands a Halibut for her investments. haha. i am going to try to dropshot one with a Zoom Super fluke, or Reaction Innovation skinny dipper. it will be a crazy dropshot rig, since i may have a 4oz weight dragging it down. i talked to a guy super familiar the area and he said to expect a fast tidal current and about 9 feet of water. 9-feet? that got me thinking. i deep diving crankbait rooting around in the sand would get smashed! i need to keep my kayak light and relatively empty in case i fall out, flip or something. i know how to flip it back over and slide back in. i think some of my bass skills could translate to the ocean. you all know any deep longer profile, sardine/anchovy looking crankbaits?

Sore?

i'm okay with the cold. i wear good stuff, in general. as i get older, i notice i get surprise-notices more often from my body's sewage department. hahaha.. "i gotta go!"

waited patiently for the Memorial sale. i was too slow. the Mustang Callans sold out and the sale ended early. booo!!! so i went with the Simms Challenger. mixed reviews. i did have them sent to my local Sportsmans Warehouse, so i can at least try them on..and feel them. just in time for our dryass summer. hahahha

sport motivated clothing has thinner arm sleeves. Patagonia for example. i bought a Simms light puffy jacket that i wear for fishing and the sleeves are tailerer slender. i dont have issues. all my fishing shirts are Simms. i also buy all my clothing to layer with each other. except my lucky black fishing hoodie. that is fairly baggy and it does get in the way, but its my lucky hoodie!!

6-10 hours. I can do 8 easily. as long as I brought enough water and snacks. 10 hours, and the next day I am toast. sore back usually. I drive kinda far to my best spots, so I stay and fish all of it.

i have never hunted feral birds.. only on a farm operation. zero challenge. true story. i got invited by a couple of coworkers. i accepted mainly to watch his dogs work. they were pretty spectacular. the pheasants? nope. boring. they would explode out of cover with the enthusiasm of a runaway party balloon. this one lifted off, and the guys went full auto (sounded like it). no one connected. they were awful shots. i had the time to ask them, "you all done?' then BOOM. i dropped the nearly hovering bird. the range/farm owner invited me to hit the other sections to mop up. i passed. too easy. i made the mental promise to myself to go after wild birds one day. soooo...one day. hopefully soon.

I love the tabular data link on the NOAA website. I can scan ahead five days , and look hour by hour data. Been fairly accurate it seems to get more accurate as the target fishing day gets nearer. As a kayaker I watch the wind like im prepping for a shuttle launch.

hahahha.. especially when you bend over to paint low. hahah..

i went with "man-land".

Well done dad!!! you typed all that with gushing pride. me: so that is what it looks like.!! parental pride!! hahha... my dad passed when i was a kid and mom, well....i just say, she did the best she could. hahah..

so...no knife right now, right?

Phenix Maxim series. about $120. the M spinning is my most prolific rod. i can plop my bait with pinpoint accuracy with that rod. it is eerie how good i cast with it. i bought the Med heavy casting in an emergency purchase when i went to Oklahoma and realized i packed the wrong travel rod. same $120. i won the camp distance casting contest with that thing. it flings them! and it fights big Stripers like a champ. if i ever drive to el paso again, i will bring it back home with me. currently, my brother hangs onto it and he drives it to oklahoma annually for me. it is a great budget rod. both rods are butt ugly to me...i dont love the camo. but form follows function.

i work in heavy construction, so i have developed a habit to have a knife on me at all times. i am supervising now, so more desk time, less field time, but the habit has been established. now, i seem to cut food more. so unless i flew somewhere with only carry on baggage, or i am in a court house..i have some knife with me. these days, it is usually a multo-tool. Pic

here as well.

wow. i just pull the line off my reel hunched over like a monkey. ahhahha... rod clenched with my knees.

hard to pick a favorite. honestly, it is about the technique primarily. say, your favorite thing in the word is to throw a jerkbait. your fav P5 should follow suit. it would be odd if you love the Anaconda the most if that is the case. the rod follows the technique for me.

when i fish clear lakes, i stay far and embrace the long bomb casts.

going out of Berkeley Marina. not sure if i have ever realized you are local to me!! so cool

Yea. I heard I could pay someone to change my car oil too. I wanted to try to make them. And not cuz I’m cheap.

The cover Neko is next level destructive. The bait keeper prong is rough on a SENKO. And I do use silicone tubing (normally). When my usual hook went AWOL, I was exploring options.

@BrianMDTX- t’s weedless. Very weedless

I gave the Neko Cover hook a honest try. good hook, but they themselves destroyed a Senko by how they went thru the worm. I used the MotoHook in the past. the family that made them retired. the Dad made them. Son, passed. RIP. never met the son, but I work with the brother. Dad showed me how to tie them. so I tried. the OG shiner hook was not available local, so I will mail order some. I tried with a 1/0 Owner hook. I kinda suck, but since these are for just myself, they are perfectly serviceable. the DIY MOTO HOOK!! For me I think a 1/0 shiner hook is perfect. Maybe a 2/0 if I’m feeling spunky. I am thrilled to not be a fly fisherman because I’m all thumbs.

I've been thinking about this. a big swimsuit (<--I hate autocorrect - SwimBAIT). like a biiigggg..swimbait. I think you could expect skunk days back to back to back. but when a fish hit, it would be a very good one.