jimanchower

From fall through spring I'm almost always wearing a wool base layer. The Triple Aught Design Huntsman henley is a favorite. I wear them for days - no stink. Even my cold weather running gear is merino wool.

Here's a new one: There's a bait I didn't order in my latest TW order (edit: it doesn't show up on the invoice). The interesting part is that I think I added it to my cart at some point and then took it out. I could be making that last part up. It's a 13 Fishing Whipper Snapper jerkbait in a 110 size. Anybody else get a freebie or did this one fall off a shelf into my box?

They're always on the side of mine, too! And I don't use them, at least not consistently. In this case, I was standing, and the lip grippers won't reach. I'm sure if I think about it hard enough I can figure out a way to address this problem. I appreciate the input - I need to make some rules for myself that will significantly decrease the risk of getting hooked.

A couple of weekends ago the conditions were great when I got on the water at about 4:30p and I was excited to quickly catch a bass on a jerkbait, which is what I was out to do after a successful stint a few days prior. Once I had the fish in the boat (kayak) and I went to release him, he flopped at the wrong time, and I ended up with a barbed hook in my left thumb. After unhooking the fish and pondering my options I took a big swig of my barley soda, put my pliers to the hook, looked away, and popped that baby out. No[t much] blood or tears; back to fishing 2 minutes later. Anyway, my question: What are your dos and don'ts for handling of these baits with a bunch of treble hooks? I'm definitely going to net a fish bigger than a couple of pounds, but once they're in the boat and generally under control are there some best practices for how to not hook yourself?

Most of my stuff is braid-to-leader and the leader is almost always Maxima Ultragreen mono. I've got spools of Big Game as well but I like the stiffer Maxima. I do occasionally use a fluoro leader for one reason or another.

Apart from TW, what other vendors offer sales multiple times a year when you can grab just about anything on the site (Shimano, Loomis, Megabass, etc.) at a 15-20% discount? I still buy from TW (just did today, in fact) but I've taken to getting my "staples" elsewhere and mostly shopping big-ticket items at TW. Curious who else I need to be checking out. Feel free to PM me, of course.

I was only able to piddle around on the lake a little, but Saturday morning I got out early and got this guy to bite a chatterbait Mini Max. I had forgotten how much a little spottie can fight. I hardly ever get to fish anything resembling a steep, rocky lake, so this was a nice change of pace.

I got this one today on a 1/2 oz mini max with a cut down magnum menace edit: I was fishing this 1/2oz green pumpkin mini max, trying out a ~3.5" swimbait trailer that I got cheap on sale, and it worked well. I tore up the two of those that I had so I put on the next most appropriate trailer I had: a Strike King Magnum Rage Menace, with about 1/2" of the body taken off, rigged in a craw profile. I was about to wrap it up for the day and this big gal bit. This was also my first time combining my Loomis GLX 853 MBR with the Aldebaran and what a great combo that was. So much fun.

Or you could use braid, pull the backlash out, and keep fishing! (Nothing against mono...)

I'm going on a guy's trip this weekend and we're going to be staying on Smith Lake. I've been there before, but never fished it. Lots of spotted bass, yeah? Any smallmouth? I'm only taking a couple of medium power rods but I'm thinking ned rigs, paddletails, weightless senkos skipped under docks, drop shot... does that sound about right? edit: I'll be fishing from a dock and will venture out short distances in a kayak

I got the X-Bites in today and here are my quick impressions based on fiddling around with it and a couple of other rods on dry ground. The X-Bites is very light, and looks great. Comfortable and balanced with a variety of reels (Tatula, Zillion, Metanium). The X-Bites seems slightly faster than my Expride 7'2" MH/F, but with a much softer tip. The Expride actually seems to have more power?? I'll reserve that judgement until fishing them side by side. I thought these two would be similar but they're very different. The X-Bites' action is not dissimilar to the only Loomis rod I have, a GLX 853 MBR. Power seems similar, too. I suspect that I'm not accurately assessing power by bending these in the garage. But if the verdict is "fishes like an 853 MBR but has more power when you need it," it should be a winner.

I really should try it on the water before making a judgement but with the short handle it feels tip heavy.

After a few adult beverages the other night I clicked "buy" on a new Destroyer X-Bites. I hope it works out better than my Levante Perfect Pitch impulse purchase. I haven't even run line through that one yet. I should have returned it. I was originally looking at an NRX+ 873C CRR, but it was out of stock so I thought I'd try the X-Bites. Interested to see how the X-Bites fits in with my Expride 7'2" MH/F. I'm guessing a little lighter, a little slower, and a little more power?

Still loving the Grils. It's one of my favorites even if you take away its ability to travel. I went fishing for half an hour yesterday and it's the only rod I took, because it's fun to fish with. Love it for stuff like: smaller paddletails (2.5" - 3.5") on a ball jig head or underspin (1/8oz is the sweet spot), wacky rig, 3/8 oz jerkbaits, the new Mini Max chatterbait (1/4 and 3/8 oz), the tiny whopper plopper (65?) and ned heads. I don't fish a lot of crankbaits but the Grils would certainly be nice with a smaller squarebill. I don't love it for coming through cover or having to set a hook on something weedless. I'll throw a weightless t-rigged plastic on it, though. On the Thunderbird, something about the power and action just didn't mesh for me. I'd like to check out the Stym Palides (sp?) as maybe something of a worm/jig rod.

How are y'all applying the conditioner? Spraying the spool? Applying with a sponge or something? I keep dipping my toes into FC lines in some applications but tend to find my way back to straight braid or braid + mono leader.

Yeah, while I like my Aldebaran + Expride combo that is essentially my dedicated jerkbait setup, I will absolutely throw one on whatever spinning rod I have with me, and the fish don't know any different. For what it's worth I prefer a high-viz braid to a leader (mono, usually). I'm mostly a shallow water angler, and high-viz helps me watch the line for bites.

I like these. Good weight transfer system for casting, good profile, good [enough] colors. Good advice here, too!

I have four of the Expride A but never did pull the trigger on the 7'2" glass even though I'm a big chatterbait guy. The new 7' medium glass intrigues me. Should it be able to handle a 1/2oz jackhammer and trailer, or is that asking too much? I feel like it would be great for 3/8oz jackhammers and the 3/8 - 1/2oz Mini Max but I still need to be able to throw the full-size stuff.

No trailer needed. I'm not generally a spinnerbait guy but I always have them with me at ponds and small creeks. Crappie will hit them, too.

I guess my question is: What's the difference between sending it to Daiwa versus sending it to a Daiwa-certified warranty center? (It's on its way to the Tackle Trap so it's kind of academic at this point - I just want it fixed)

For those applications I like a 6 or 7 ratio, and I think I tend to prefer faster reels compared to most seasoned bass fishermen. Specifically, I find myself using a 6.3:1 (26.3 IPT) or a 7.1:1 (28 IPT) reel. I never think to myself, "I wish I could reel these faster" but I do frequently find myself retrieving too quickly if I'm not focused.

I have a not-very-old Tatula SV TW Limited 103HL that has either a bent spool shaft, a damaged pinion gear, or both. I'm also missing the handle cover and screw. The former may or may not be covered under warranty. The latter shouldn't be since it was certainly my fault. The Daiwa Reel Repair Request Form says to send the reel to Daiwa in Cypress, CA. But their warranty page also lists authorized warranty repair centers. Am I better off sending it to Daiwa or picking a service center nearby (Tackle Trap, maybe)? Apologies if this subject has been beaten to death.

I have the DC705c and I would say that it does have a soft tip for its overall power, but I also don't have any similarly-spec'd rods to compare to. I recently [impulse-]bought a Levante Perfect Pitch, thinking that it would replace the Dobyns, but just based on handling them at the house I think I'll let the Megabass rod go to a new owner.

The best example of a "soft tip" that I have in my arsenal is a St Croix Bass-X 7'1" MF. It feels so whippy in the tip section but is still somewhat of a fast action. I use it for 1/2" poppers along with some other topwater and it is a ton of fun. Last spring I fished it on 12# mono and between that and the soft tip I felt like a hero landing 3 pounders.

I'm saving this post to show to my wife. "See?! I knew all that tackle was a great 'investment'" I laughed to myself earlier this year wondering why I'd invest in I-series bonds at ~7.5% interest when I can get 10% on my Tackle Warehouse gift cards.