Darth-Baiter

my dog cracks me up. I get on the living room floor to do yoga moves to stretch. first thing in the morning, he will do downward dog, right next to me. my wife laughs. as I struggle to get myself off the floor, he stands next to me to offer a brace. funny how he knows. what an awesome Mutt. he totally head butted me this morning.. it aint perfect.

this is on a rod I dont truly love. I thought about simply dumping the loose guide and taking this rod out into the ocean to overload it with halibut. but I am not made of money...sad. I will fix it. guide, spool bobbin loaded up with some thread, superglue? from follows function, here.

^^^^ dang!!

hahha.. the original reciept thing almost got me bad!! I had to talk and plead to a dude at the Hookup tackle. one of the young kids that shows up in videos. he was so cool. he stayed on the line with me and re-emailed me a receipt. he had to wade thru 2.5 years of stuff...lucky I had the shipping slip still. I think I paid 65% of the cost of a new rod. the only real benefit is now I have an idea of the profit margin the shops get. whatever, I broke it. I owned it. above someone said something about the old school integrity of a manufacturer. and how companies care only about profits these days. I used to be a business major. ever since the beginning of time, any business only cares about profit. they offered warranties to attract more profits. the flip side of the coin, what has also changed are the people. the general public. very litigious happy, and that translates directly into a consumer that feels entitled for more and more. I got run over by a car on my motorcycle. I didnt sue the guy. in hindsight I am not sure that was the smart choice, since I still have issues.. but I am still not sue-happy.

I tweaked my back yesterday doing an awkward move to pick up my fish finder battery. ouchx10! now, I am stretching over and over. smell like an old person with the Salonpas stickers all over, and I am grumpy. hahaha.. I fished the day before 10 hours on my kayak. cramped quarters. I stand constantly, but that is a move for a strong core as well. IN HINDSHIGHT; I should have stretched once I got home. and the next morning as well, before I tried to move the vacuum cleaner with one hand, and grab my battery with the other - all from the side while trying slip on my garage sandals. once this is over, and the pain is gone, I vow to do planks, pushups, etc to boost my core strength. this is annoying as heck. I'd prefer a sprained ankle at this point, I think. it is a wild perspective to realize how important a healty a lower back is!!! it is involved in EVERYTHING.

Your dropshot video is what got me onto fish in the early days.

In case my explanation sucked, here’s the juice of the day. Last tattered one that came home w me. (See my too-big hook w too-small tube?)

I love the free-rig. My favorite bait is a beaver. No it’s “The Beaver”. today I wanted to try something new. Me, free-rigging a tube. I didn’t think it all the way thru. My smallest EWG was 1/0 owner. My tube is tiny. The hook was too big. I resorted to tucking the tip up into the bung hole. You know, for science. I casted it out and grinned. What happened next floored me. My rod was almost yanked out of my hands. It went very parabolic. in zero-flat. Of course my janky too-big hook didn’t pierce the mystery fish. I lost it. I took scissors and cut a relief slot for the hook. It was game on. Fish after fish. Fire! I even managed to cast a few 3’s nd 4’s. Mostly smalls due to my snack like tube, I think. I saw in clear water my sinker go down. And the tube kinda spirals down after it. im hitting the store tomorrow to find 3” tubes. I bet mine are 1.5” (body). Dinky. I don’t think this generation of bass have ever seen a tube. I ended up fishing 10 hours today. In a drizzle. It was so much fun. I’m a believer. I caught a lot of fish. Lots.

Today. My mojo was off. B-lashed on first try. It was deep!

Heavy fast rod. Megabass FMJ to be exact.

last weekend I was kinda good at it. I was putting the bait into some impossible places. so fun. I am not 100%. not even close. but when it get that tight, "kish kish kish" sound of a bait skipping perfectly, it is like hearing a perfect golf shot. or a basketball swish. I am still at it. practicing when I can. Shimano Bantam is getting it done. big epiphany was that I didnt need to put heat on the cast. a gentle cast is all that is needed. and I keep my thumb on the spool full time. guarding against the backlash. I even skipped backhanded once. nobody was around to witness it. the Deps Coverscat is my current practice bait for skipping.

I'm great at the FG part of the FG knot. where I come apart is finishing it. I am a hot mess. I use the Alberto and I am not having any issues. figured a knot I have down pat, is better than a knot I fuss with.

Megabass has something similar. cant remember the replacement price. but it is a one time thing.

thanks. I am in an online work meeting. wasn't distracted enough to get on another computer and put in an order. thanks for the info. I felt I had the info to choose. shallows on the way.

eww...apologies. what changed is I dont have a single G-loomis anymore. I wasn't even close to being clear.

Gloomis used to. now, I'm over it. I cant expect some company to sponsor my shananigans. I own my mistakes that cost me a rod. like taking a punch weight to the rod shaft..who does that? me apparently.

I am going to order some of these. or see if the shop has them. the 5" pre rigged seem like a great solution. I like to slow swim them. the bottom hooks of the Megabass versions will plow into the snot-grass almost every time. having the hook on top should mitigate the situation for me. sinking vs floating? seem like it is a weight thing. any huge diff?

I have a bottle. I have owned it 8 years. it is right next to the lubrication bottle I bought for my kayak pedal drive. both are virtually unused. I did spray it on my spool when I took brand new line to Mexico. I spooled up halfway, sprayed, fill it, sprayed. if it did anything at all, total mystery. felt very snake-oily. I use Sunline Sniper almost exclusively. but I did pony up the money for Shooter for Mexico. again, no noticeable improvements. if I had to pick one con (call it a headache) for me using Flouro. it would be the line doesnt perform well to sudden and violent loading. but since that barely happens, I dont see any problems. and I think my knots perform better as the "double" versions. double improved Clinch, double San Diego Jam, etc. nice to have two strands going around the bait eyelet. in the grand scheme of things, the line is relatively inexpensive compared to other things..like the cost of the actual trip. gas. its like buying cheap ammo for a hunt. just me, I love Flouro. I am watching the Sunline Sniper. I have had some fraying lately. maybe a new batch. dunno. I might need to change loyalties. soon.

tubes dont seem popular around here. the shops dont seem to carry much. I hope that translates to a bass looking at my tube-bait and thinking, "hey, never seen that before..looks yummy" I'm going to free rig it. I went into my junk bin and found a few packages of strike kings coffee. probably need to dump them out and stuff pieces of plastic worm up the bung hole if I want to use an Owner Haymaker hook.

I like my glass slate the best. If I need to make a long distance call, I have a custom slate that is loud. It makes my teeth tickle when I scratch it. I don’t gobble. I don’t mouth call. My mouth dries out when a bird comes in. From nerves.

Last Saturday I was impatient and wanted my wacky to sink quicker. I pushed a tiny weight into the nose and first cast it was fish on! I haven’t Neko’d in a couple years. Not entirely sure why I stopped. It’s fun. Spinning rod fun. 🤩 m trying the gamakatsu cover neko hook this weekend. It was fairly straightforward

I’m a chatty turkey.

I own the crappiest spool of gas station monofilament. its only purpose for me it to tie it to my Jake Decoy. when they hang up, I can pull the line and make the decoy spin a tiny bit. it can drag them in in as a hail-mary.

zero headache. heck if it wasnt for forums like this, i wouldnt even know people have problems with it.

Oh boy. There’s a whole big world out there.