Darth-Baiter

I Neko w tiny weights. The sink is slow. Good for grass and that snot weed. shakey is heavier and sinks fast. Deeper water presentation. Carolina rig for even deeper waters, but I never use it. I just never warmed up to it.

Haha. Last year I got a 20lb stripper. Reel was screaming. So fun. I honestly didn’t think I would win.

Yea. I missed this years Texoma trip. Lake was high so very few fish caught On spinning gear. Same 2500 reel it’s very exciting

I got one yesterday on a Neko. she was a fiver. very stubborn. I carry one spinning combo with me usually. my bass boat partner gives me a rash of trash talk. I believe it is a good tool in my hand. my (fav)spinning combo is aesthetically unpleasing. Phenix Maxim with a Vanford. the green camo rod, and red reel look kinda gross together. hahah.. I have nobody to impress. that Phenix is fine. I have had it, or one just like it so long I am crazy accurate with it. yesterday, I was standing in my kayak and just letting the wind push me past submerged stumps. one comes into view; I would carpet bomb it with the Neko. fun and satisfying. accuracy counts. the drag, the one hand holding, the jerkiness of the surging bass. on spinning it is fun!! it seems more violent than an equal fight with casting gear. I cant put my finger on it. maybe it is because the line is coming into the rod further from the rod axis causing additional torque? dunno. so fun!!

for Spots. they seem to hit poppers better for me by a huge margin. I throw the pop-whatever from Megabass. I can kinda walk that one.

true story. my dad got cancer when I was a tiny kid. my parents had a lot on their plate. I found a lot of entertainment reading. one of things I read over and over again was that paper Mepps Catalog. you all remember it? it came with pics and fishing tales. I loved it. (same goes for the G-Loomis catalog - good reading!). dont get me wrong, I read books as well. but as a 11 year old, that Mepps #3 Black Fury spoke to me. it just looked cool!. (and I havent fished a single day in my life) there was an adjacent photo and story of a guy that got a 3-lb largemouth with that very same bait. to my kid-eyes, that was the best looking fish I have ever laid my peepers on. I walked past one at Sportsman's Warehouse. smaller than I imagined. $7.99 I think. you know what? I might go back and buy one or two and try to find closure on that thing. hahaha... as an 11 year old, I didnt have the financing worked out to pony up the $ for the #3 BF...but now I do. tell me they work. it looks light! spring time? post spawn? I think I want to scratch that decades old itch. even my younger brother remembers how fascinated we were. I know nothing. they run on the surface?

add in the fact that not a single human being can tell me what a bass can see with certainty... I just buy what I can see on the surface if I need it. the rest is total guesswork. fluorocarbon it is! if I wasn't catching fish, it would be a problem. but whatever. so until fish can talk to us and do that eye chart thing underwater..:D

sounds like a GREAT concert. seen Joan Jett, Billy? no.

my wife wanted me to go to a dinner party with her last evening. so I went. it was a pot luck, so I made a meatball and spaghetti thing. so happy, because the only other thing to eat was a quinoa salad and some rolled carrot cake thing. seriously? nevertheless, my wife was super happy I went, and not only for my spagetti&meatballs. I had fun. lots of laughs, and jokes. met a friends new firefighter boyfriend. cool dude. trouble is, now I won't wake up - or be able to wake up to hit Saturday fishing. Golden State warriors were struggling to put the series to bed. excitement was in the air. I'll fish tomorrow. should be better weather. for me, fishing is my thing. I dont want to use "passion"..but close. out on the water my stresses evaporate, and I get reconnected with my happy version of myself. haha..one of the reasons I quit fishing with my selfish fishing partners. it isn't difficult remembering to put my wife FIRST in my life. I initially said to her, "no I cant go with you, because I have to wake up super early the next morning to go fishing".... she agreed, but her face told the real story. I called her and said, I was making spaghetti and meatballs for the dinner party. she was gleeful. hahah.. might be the right time to ask her if I should buy a kayak trailer....hahahha...I am JOKING!!! JOKING. I had a blast last night. the fish will be there tomorrow. win-win. pretty awkward when the hostess of the party asked me to introduce her to some of my male coworkers. I'm a civil engineer. no shortage of dudes. (I changed the subject)

@Pat Brown. I dont skip unless I have to get it out and UNDER something. If I can come in from above, with a pitched bait, that decision wins 100%. my skips are still filed under "H" for HailMary.

“Hold the steering wheel at 6-o’clock position - move your hand in the direction you want the trailer to go - small inputs, and correct halfway into the trailers turn” I haven’t backed a trailer in decades until a month ago. I had to back a new acquaintance’s shiny bass boat trailer down a crowded ramp. He was out in the water ready to drive on. My palms got sweaty, but I already told him, “oh I got this”. I repeated what I was told, and just punted. To the untrained eye, I looked like a pro. I would practice in a parking lot first. I learned on a tiny utility trailer. Highly reactive, compared to long double axel boat trailer. ‘You got this”

I use the TW hip pack. totally legit. I think I can sling it. or it is a sling I can hip it. one or another.

I use a Tatula SV TW for my frogs and swim baits. I dont feel outgunned. 50lb braid..could be 65. its fine. I dont know what Ideal feels like. but I am not ruining Good chasing for Great.

one thing for certain. rods are like shoes or boots. one person's opinion is valuable, but when it comes down to it, it boils down to someones personal likes/dislikes, body, all the stuff. like I dont really find many Dobyns that I like. the handles are so bulbous. to me. my X-bites is my jam. I may LOVE that rod. I came to that conclusion on my own, despite all the noise of various opinions. just a few days ago, I used a brand new super soft toothbrush to clean the reel seat. it is full of crevices that trap greck. my wife was, "you dont want to us your old toothbrush and use the new on your teeth?" what? I have over 30 teeth and one X-bites. okay, I made that up. I did use my old toothbrush. hahah..I toothbrushed a fishing rod is the big takeaway. I dont even wipe a Dobyns.

I bought my airplane tickets to Japan. I am taking orders. hahahha...just kidding. I am NOT taking orders. I want my wife to continue to love me. I'll probably buy some Zillions and baits for myself. maybe the Triza Stymepaledes. ship myself the Madbull from Osaka. gah..she might wavier in the love department.!!

Seriously. No offense. I didn’t understand that reel at all. Not one bit. It casted awful for Me.

Well I guess I didn’t know what I was doing. Thanks for setting that straight

I love information overload. But only if it’s easy to navigate

Thanks. Im better. I jogged 5 miles this morning. Motion is lotion. way better

I was a teen when some older dude showed me how to hold the steering wheel at the 6oclock position. I got this.

I gotta know the baits you’re trying now to get you 5-7 fish in total for two year’s efforts. but for starters , kudos to the keeping on! I’d be swinging on a golf course by now.

Those look amazing!

I bought a lifetime supply of medical silicone hose for a 5” Senko. For my Wacky. It was maybe $12 at the time. No turning back now.

I just bought hooks an hour ago. came home to put them away, only to find I have a very similar (and arguably better) hook in the exact same configuration. I got back into my truck and returned the new purchase. trouble starts for me if i cannot remember current inventory. no thanks!! I dont poop gold bars. and I do hope to retire one day soon.

I have one. I tried it as a light punch rod. Not ideal. Punching seems to be anything and everything except “light” around here. It’s an okay frog rod. Garden variety tatula with braid, it works fine. Similar performance on top water. Choppo, walking. mine seems to be left behind all the time. Anyone throwing a 5” mag draft on it? Bigger flashy swimmers? That’s the hole I gotta fill. Swim jigs?