bulldog1935

@TnRiver46 I'm taking this to Arroyo in 10 days to throw at snook from the dock and possibly at rolling tarpon from kayak.

must be winter - my fishing is just warming up. Anyway, glad you understand the mechanics of rod taper a bit better. Thanks for welcoming my insight. If you want to see the real joke, read how "feely" fly fishers describe para-taper rods.

@jimmyjoe Exactly untrue. 3' of fly line is less than 1/10 the weight of the 30' fly line belly, because of the fly line front taper. A good progressive dry-fly taper Accurately casts the leader alone - the leader can be 14' remember when I said "if you come from fly rods" - you clearly don't, dude. Weight is weight, whether it's 3' of fly line = 1/32 oz or 30' of fly line = 3/4 oz. You're talking to the guy who can shoot a 30' 250-gr head on his RPLX7 to 140'

If you come from fly rods, you might understand this a little better. Fly rod tapers are called progressive or parabolic. A para taper loads more of the total rod length as casting weight increases. As weight increases on a progressive taper, a loaded band of the rod length progressively moves down the rod. In actuality, all rod tapers are a blend of both ideas, so it's more accurate to call them "more progressive" or "more para" Rod tapers with a narrow lure weight rating are more para. Rod tapers with a wide lure weight rating are more progressive. My Japanese shore light game rods are progressive tapers, both spinning and BFS. The 8'2" bait is rated 2-20 g, which is 1/16 to 3/4 oz. They offer these rods to 10' with a wider lure range than the 1/8 to 1-1/2 oz. The familiar, traditional short UL rod in the US is the type para rod - typically, the tip is faster, and most of the rod flex is in the butt and handle. Doesn't mean all para tapers are UL and slow - they can be Very Fast, and in fly rod examples, the most powerful and unforgiving para taper rods are Sage RPLX and TCR. Every rod John Harrington (Harnell) made from bass to surf and offshore was para taper. The extreme progressive rods in bait and spinning tackle are often called "All Range", and they don't have to be tippy, either, the type example is my Valleyhill all-range BFS bass rod.

for me, winter means big rainbows in the Guadalupe tailwater and especially inshore imitating glass minnows - night-time dock fishing and daytime tide passes

here An anxious sunset on Arroyo Colorado fishing dock (far S. Texas). This is a barge channel than runs from Lower Laguna Madre ICW to Port Harlingen, in the tidal zone right where the natural arroyo and barge channel diverge to opposite ends of Peyton Bay. Will be here Dec 2 to 6 for the new moon. here's what we're anxious for update on the weather prediction - prevailing SE wind, sunny with a few clouds, highs and lows 80 to 60

I release sheepshead, would rather not mess with getting meat from them. They are amazing on the flats - like UPS trucks - they want to get back to deep water.

Shimano Yumeya aftermarket spinning spools are marked for capacity. a 1520 spool is PE#1.5, 200 m an F6 spool is 6-lb fluorocarbon, 100 m.

I fished nothing but Seaguar fluorocarbon 20+ years. I have four spools loaded with Tatsu, a couple with Kureha R18. The best-handling fluorocarbon 8-lbs and under on a spinning reel is Toray ExThread.

Their skin is about 3 times as thick, and their scales even larger - that's part of why the fillets are called half-shell - you scrape the meat out of the dish-hard charred skin like a shell and pick the charred meat off the ribs - maybe the best part. and yes, the size and even shape of the full fillets is very much like striper.

The vitamin A is in the skin. You can taste the sweet in the skin when you paper a small freshwater trout. Our slot redfish fillets are too big to skillet blacken. I didn't care for eating redfish until my buddy Josh showed me half-shell fillets (skin on) and how to blacken them on the grill.

I think rod users know more about what they like and why than rod builders. A full cork grip is comfortable and great for two-hand casting. The exposed blank of split grip transmits more feel in places you don't normally think about, the tapered back grip is comfortable, and the lightest way to build a rod with a grip.

The rod shipping price is included in Asian Portal price, which is part of the reason their prices are high, but their prices are as much as $100 over Digitaka. As always with JDM, the trick is finding stock, so you weigh that against price. I bought one rod off ebay for $130 with free shipping that AP had listed at $250. Plat is a good place if you can find stock, and many of their rods either have free shipping or reduced shipping ($20). I've bought $200 and $300 rods from Plat with free shipping - good prices, but you have to check their In Stock Now listing. They are good about ordering from the rod mfg.

You can usually find better rod prices at digitaka and other JDM vendors. AP shines for reel prices and quick service. A buddy ordered a Twin Power on Friday and it was delivered yesterday.

At the coast, equate speed with efficient distance and wind control. The Kestrel I showed has infinite glide, even upwind. My T160, which I fish from most is still a fast boat, but when you stop paddling, the coast wind takes over.

speckled trout fillets rule

Here's my range of BFS rods. Stream L would be a stretch to call it pistol grip Bass all-range, Inshore ML Shore light game all range Here's my (now grown) daughter fishing a pistol-grip Eagle Claw Featherweight UL with a cork pistol grip and Zebco UL-1. Caught Many fish. When we made the step up to light game XUL and UL spinning 13 years ago, it was a big step up. I fished Lew's Speed Stick, Fenglas Lunkerstik with rubber pistol grips (gave away a Browning Silaflex to a buddy for Abu 170 spincast). Falcon Glass was another big step up.

That came from Hedgehog, Kagawa dual BB idler. The worm gear is Valleyhill dual BB, the LW rider is Valleyhill with ceramic guide, and I have a Mike's zirconia pawl. The spool is AMO and the mag brake Avail. Also Mike's dual BB spur gear. It casts 3 g beautifully, and on up to 1/2+ oz.

@Eric 26

With a modern reel seat and split grip, you're touching the blank directly with your index finger, little finger, and part of your palm. The taper cork is at least as comfortable as the old pistol grip. What you may not get is how important your little finger contact is with feel - it's rarely part of your grip, and always part of your finesse. When my friend was complaining about a rod that didn't transmit feel, I gave my ML as the example rod that feels every blade of grass. Next on my rod list will be a custom Carbon Mag from Waterloo Rods. It will definitely have split grip so I don't waste the light weight with dampened feel from a full-cork grip. of course if you want to OP a question and then answer it...

this one hits 5 kts as soon as you ask, stays there as long as you want, and no pedal yak can keep up with it, but you balance and turn it with thigh straps. Best use is fast taxi to wadefishing.

@TnRiver46 One of the quickest places to date Ambassadeurs is e-replacement parts list of model numbers with schematic dates Oldest 4600C3 is '89. My Royal Express was introduced at the same time, though mine is the later '02/II version. and of course, mine didn't stay that way - I bought a nice and nicely inexpensive estate reel for a braid spool and low-inertia LW vehicle.

Someone is fishing for an early winter argument and snagged this 8-yr-old thread - we fish for fish all winter in S. Texas, and I have a proposal out for friends to plug into December new moon nite-lite dock fishing in the TX tropics. A reel is a gearbox, it Reduces input torque, turning it into speed. The motor is the hand and the handle. You can equate what comes out of the reel in the circumference of the rotated handle. If I was answering the original OP, I'd agree a longer handle puts more torque into the reel. That's one reason I put longer handles on high-geared reels. The other is that it gives you more subtle lure movement, similar to a low-geared reel with a shorter handle. The reel on the right will be catching big fish on UL tackle at the Dec new moon.

Tica sizes run big, I'd suggest the Libra SX 1500 @new2BC4bass I just noticed Amazon only has Libra SX stock in the Big sizes. They do have stock in worm-drive Samira, and I'd recommend 1000H size for 8-lb mono. Mine's a little extra pimped with Daiwa handle. They feel stiff out of the box, but run in quickly while you line them.

oops, already did the coolest sunrise, so here's Neumie's perfect shrimp creole.