bulldog1935

@WVU-SCPA David Train invented the pattern for Scot Lochs, and made the wing stand, so he claimed, using whiskers he plucked from his shy cat. I make Krystal Flash suffice for the same. Here's where I posted the pattern on FFR I published an article on the fly, and got permission from everyone who had ever published it before (back when you did that sort of thing), including David Train, Mike Dawes, and the late Ian Colin James (Fumbling With a Fly Rod). Ian and I became great correspondence and humor buddies over a decade. He called me the Guy Who Killed the Cats Whisker, by letting it out of the bag. On the dead drift, it's a dragonfly nymph, on the swing it's a cyprinid minnow, bottom bounced on a Teeny line, it's a killifish (mud minnow). It catches Everything.

For endemic Guadalupe spotted bass, 15 inches is a lunker, But on a fly rod 200-fish day, you don't really care. In high flows like this, they're stacked in deep plunge pools and eddies like cordwood. You troll a Teeny sinking line in the current seams to probe for them. In the fall bite, same fish will be scattered in the riffles.

Since my Shimanos are in the salt, I use titanium dual-BB MTCW line rollers (no seals, no brass). The heat-tinted titanium is softer than either chrome-plate or TiN-plasma coat, and these are exactly made for braid. Not a recommendation, just the surface hardness and free-spinning bearing issue. This is FFP ice-blue 20-lb X-braid, made by Varivas. My guess, you'll wonder why you ever used mono on a spinning reel.

Native northern largemouth and endemic spotted bass live side by side in Texas hill country limestone creeks and Do Not interbreed, nor have they since God put them there. They also occupy completely different water, the spotted bass live where trout would in coldwater, and the largemouth in stiller water. Spotted bass interbreed with smallmouth. adding another example - these two came from the same 30 yds, separated by a riffle. The largemouth from a still deep plunge pool below an impoundment, the spot from the fast run below the riffle (note the watercress laying in the current) The bluegill in both pool and run were large and skittish.

In Texas, Smallmouth are the invasive species, because they interbreed with our endemic spotted bass. Our native bass retreat into the aquifer to survive drought, and spelunkers have fished for them. TPWD has a hatchery and stocking program trying to overwhelm feral smallmouth genes with endemic Guadalupe bass fingerlings. Pretty sure this girl is all Guadalupe by her blue sheen (she got this size eating baby bats in a bat nursery cave) Cibolo Creek A-strain endemic Guadalupe bass isolated from smallmouth by aquifer recharge (the creek disappears into the ground to re-emerge in the coastal plain) There are only two remaining A-strains, they're extinct in the Blanco River except for state stocking. this copper-sheen kid is a smallie hybrid When KT Diaries did an episode on our endemic bass, I took him fishing. @soflabasser spotted bass will interbreed with smallmouth and, of course, other spotted bass species, but do not interbreed with largemouth. @TnRiver46 I ate a 4-lb feral smallie one day, caught on a 3-wt. They were stocked by a game ranch on a private creek when the state allowed such, and this was right at the river confluence.

It's the same as shooting a fly rod to 140', which includes Allbright knot and 30' of backing.

ok, I looked it over. They figured out they don't need a 2nd pinion bearing, because the spool spindle is always supporting the pinion gear from the inside during cranking. Kind of a Doh, not profound to figure out it self-aligns better without a second pinion bearing. Floating spools like this need two support points to keep the pinion aligned. It's kinda like saying Doyo was right.

@Skunkmaster-k That's a Daiwa SLP Works handle with IOS shaft adapter to fit a Tica Cetus If you have a hex-shaft reel with folding handle, IOS adapter will let you swap in a fixed Daiwa handle. Tica Samira with Daiwa handle on right. Double and counter-balanced handles on finesse spinning reels improve light touch feel by keeping the bail weight from turning under gravity.

Even when fishing 5-lb fluorocarbon mainline, I'll add a 9-lb hard fluoro abrasion leader. I fished bulk spools of 12-lb Abrazx for a decade, and would still add 15-lb leader for more shock and abrasion-resistance. If you tie good knots, doesn't cost much for your line taking abuse between structure and rubbing fins and gill plates of multiple fish.

well, nothing beats speckled trout for fish tacos (and of course Corn tortillas) that's like Spanish Mackerel for your ceviche - some things are just right

You can buy prepared pike leaders online - I order 20 at a time from Poland - titanium wire - and they get used in the salt, especially for our winter Arroyo trips catching big speckled trout and snook on UL tackle. Unlike stainless wire, titanium also stretches before it breaks. Snook gill plates make short work of anything except wire. I checked Bait Finesse Empire, they don't carry larger than PE#0.8 (18 lb), which will work if you stack the spool with larger cheaper braid first. They also have Varivas, which is just as good. Link just below is capacity calculator for stacking two lines. You can go really big to get your arbor before you add your working braid. https://www.pattayafishing.net/advanced-fishing-reel-line-capacity-estimator/ YGK G-soul is a similar line that includes fluoro fibers to help it sink. I checked Tackle Warehouse - they're out of stock. Amazon prices are crazy.. Tackle Trap has stock. Florida Fishing Products Distance Braid is probably Varivas, and they have 15-lb. I have a spool of this that's been fishing hard 3 years now

YGK X-braid PE#1, 22-lb test. It's smaller diameter than 832 in 10-lb test. Small enough and strong enough to cover a wide lure weight range and the wide range in fish power. Definitely one size fits all. Take a few spools of different leader test and learn improved Allbright for tying them on the night before. In spite of belief systems, you will have the ability to match break-off to the situation, quick change terminal tackle, and have some measure of shock resistance, which straight braid lacks. With spinning tackle, it's always a good idea to use swivels in some form, micro swivels are great and tiny, and you can add pike leaders (bite traces) for toothy fish.

I always set up brakes on braid-specific reels I'm building, using cheap, disposable, YoZuri hybrid from a bulk spool - backlash is no worry. When I have it were I want, I load with the real purpose, e.g., PE#0.8 X-braid. (it will never backlash again, I built it that way) Braid is so limp, and can be so fine, it makes sharp 180-degree backlash folds you can't even find without probing with a plastic toothpick. You don't have that problem with mono. The line has nothing to do with backlash tendency. Back to credulity. The OP has described frequent backlash as a concern, and likely doesn't want to spend his day on the bank probing with a plastic toothpick. He's also asking for a recommendation he can live with

I've gone back and forth. My first use for braid was backing, especially using old 4x braids on salt reels with working fluoro on top. e.g. trolling reel with 350 yds 40-lb braid backing and 30 yds 30-lb leader on top. When braid caught up to fishing, I went the other way, keeping spool mass low with 20-yds 20-lb mono backing and topping with 20-lb 832 - this casts like a rocket. I recommend not using braid for working line on baitcaster until backlash is a distant memory, which our OP has described is not the case. This was working fluoro backed with YoZuri braid, and got a very good line lay result. Braid working line has a lot of advantages on spinning tackle, and like the baitcaster caveat, you need to use manual bail technique to dodge wind knots with braid. A problem you run into stacking lines on deeper spinning spools, stacking too deep and finishing too small results in hour-glass line lay, which also promotes wind knots. That said, here's the line capacity calculator for stacking lines of two different diameters on fishing reels. I'll recommend Sufix 832 braid for most working-line braid applications, especially if you're stacking lines on spools made for mono. The best way to fish braid on either spin or baitcast is using shallow spools made for braid.

They certainly belong on finesse tackle using light braid. They weigh less than full-frame guides. As a rule, you want to keep shock leaders short and outside microguides so they won't impede your cast. I would generally consider microguides right out for mono. My most recent Valleyhill MH rods are made for up to PE#1.5 braid, have Ti-frame guides that are intermediate size between microguides and full-size Fuji K-frames, and casting leader knots is not an issue - they zing without you noticing.

sorry I'm late to the thread. The secret ingredient to a perfect fish taco is a thin stripe of Remoulade sauce. (horseradish in Cajun mustard) I learned this from Blackbeard's at Corpus North Beach.

certainly trash fish is in the eye of the beholder, use of the term may simply be colloquial, and seems to be the major subject of this thread. I've had my day made by a 25" ladyfish (bigger than this one) because of the rocket-sled ride, and the same day brought home slot reds. I'll add to this I've targeted carp in a cottonwood seed fall - you see them circling under the cottonwood trees. Went home and tied up cottonwood seed flies - tufts of waste white marabou on a size 18 hook tied with brown thread. Fished 4 inches below a strike indicator, major sport on a 4-wt. Also picked up a couple of nice ones high-sticking my cats whisker out of a chute, preparing to swing the tailout for endemic bass.

@Eric 26 and I both tout this brand for everything I listed above, plus backbone. Fractional result from Omen Green 7'1" ML, which uses the same rod blank MOC. This is the least-expensive rod I fish, and will never be without. Extremely light in hand, fast, extremely sensitive - I literally feel every blade of grass through this rod. @Devon B. never owned or fished a Tatula, and will guess the 13Fishing is lighter in hand and more bang for the buck.

that was actually a different thread. What he's asking about now is the suitcase-on-wheels for a traveling cache of 1-pc rods. (also good for 2-pc surf rods)

You should try bottom-bouncing a 10-lb gaspergou on a fly rod. Or sight-fish a 30" longnose gar. Just watching the 10' surface lunge to take your cats whisker is a rush - hooked up, their aerials are tarpon-like. Way Better than nothing. Hooked up a samsonite-size black buffalo on a Tonka Queen cane rod and 1917 Hardy St. George. Never expected to land it, and was happy when it came unhooked, but it porpoised continuously for two trips into the backing. It was a 10-min Ride.

The reason I listed Super Duty G, though list was $180, I bought my first from ebay vendor for $120. I still can't get over the reliability of this reel after 4+ hard salt years, and remain shocked by its versatile ability to cast light weights with a simple bearing swap. Discovered this one day with an ML leader break-off (let an over-slot fish tangle in my drift sock rigging) and finished the day on a forced reel swap. It was enough to cause me to sell two higher-priced Lew's and replace with another SD and a Zillion. Even my second SD was $145 sale price from Lew's, and can back up most niches. If I'm going to define sleeper, can't beat surprising reliability and versatility at the price point. @Eric 26 nah, you don't get to count reels you traded in. Another part of sleeper is couldn't pry from my fingers, etc.

The thread has done great for sticking below the $50 (or a little more) mark that you set. Since no one has mentioned the "little more" mark, I'll throw out 13Fishing Defy Black, which are $60, fast rods and very light in hand.

Super Duty G can't explain why this reel can cast 1/8 oz jigheads as far as it does @Big Rick ok, it has KTF spool bearings, but there are no spool options made for this reel.

spending 4 hours stoking the sidebox smoker today. Here's the first 3 hours. Rubbed pork loins, uncooked Polish wedding sausage (jalapenos and cheese) and Boar's Head casting franks After 2-1/2 hours (185), the hot dog strings are done Stoke the fire to 240 to roast glazed chicken breasts, a half-hour on each side Another half hour to go on the chicken, and I'll cool it down for the last hour on the pork and sausage. ok, the chicken looks too good - it got another photo ps - not eating all this, and it freezes for a lot of good meals - splitting it with my folks, who live up the road. I'll get 2 caesar salads from the smallest chicken breast, 8 meals of pulled-pork tacos (carnitas en adobada) from two loins. The sausage sliced thin is great on crackers. Kraut dogs from my string. My folks get the rest.

graphite MH blade, 3/8 to 1 oz for a Smith Super Strike offset handle, made for round reels.