bulldog1935

We leap at the chance to drift-fish our salt kayaks in 12-18 kt wind. Without the wind, we lose both stealth advantage and the ability to move quickly onto fish.

These photos were well-received on another thread. Different Ambloplites sp. rock bass in my home tailwater (took a red thread midge) - the cold tailwater is the only place I catch these. Lepomis sp. warmouth munched a buddy's popper in the Guadalupe headwaters. they definitely prefer warmer, stiller water. since I'm here, another bud's piggy warmouth farther down the Guadalupe ate a pistol pete

I had the Lew's combo mag + centrifugal in Custom Inshore. My gripe was the weight of the spool add-on, getting me back to the clean-spool mag brake as my favorite Lew's. That's also what sent Lew's back to the drawing board for their new lightweight centrifugal spool add-on. Sorry, I never took a photo of the combo brake. You can find the same mag brake in Abu Revo (though LFS frame design is superior, in simple things like latching the palm plate). I gave the Custom Inshore to my buddy Lou, who needed to fish a baitcaster in place of his Zebco Bullet. The combo brake is good for a beginner casting 1/4 oz and up. Only recently resolved my ML niche with Zillion SV TW. Daiwa's SV brake is the no-brainer brake for the widest possible lure range - set the mag for wind control with your lightest lure and forget about it. Gives you the same start-up brake as centrifugal for heavy weights, then relaxes to lower-force linear mag for longer cast. You can watch tournament casters doing the same thing manually, adjusting their mag brake from heavy start-up through lighter mid-flight to get over the hump, then turning it off for the longest possible finish. (They don't care if the end of their cast backlashes - they only load a little more line than their longest cast)

Ambloplites rupestris Northern rock bass; Redeye; Redeye bass; Rock bass

I can tell you with Lew's centrifugal brake, they work best with heavy lures, and Lew's mag brake works much better with light lures. The mag brake gives better distance and wind control. Big spool capacity, linear mag brake - seems like it should go against it, but Super Duty astounds with cast distance and wind control - even 1/8 oz jigheads. The centrifugal brake is extremely reliable, but it costs distance. The only bait reels I own in pairs are Lew's Super Duty (mag), Daiwa SV TW, and Abu CT customs (centrifugal + fixed mag). With 1/4 oz and more, the CTs out-distance everything, and they're supposed to...

In my distance casting trials from surf to BFS, spool bearings are something you can control to reduce inertia, which affects both backlash and distance. Reduced inertia = lower force to start and stop. Daiwa buys into it enough that they improve their spool bearings, even on large-capacity spools, with micro-races, micro-balls, and lightweight OD spacers.

3x10x4 is 3-mm ID, 10-mm OD, 4-mm thick. My thought is spool bearings should be light and low-inertia, lubed with the lightest oil, and I prefer un-shielded so I can pick my own oil. Tension-cap bearing - my Lew's Super Duty get an HD un-shielded bearing in the cap, though this bearing doesn't normally spin during casting. Note that newer reels with pinion support bearing usually don't have a cap bearing. Palm plate bearing is a spool bearing, and I want racy. Drive bearings should be shielded and factory grease is good. You can probably search many references on the forum for cleaning and re-greasing shielded bearings. I bet if you contact HPRbearings, he can probably put a bearing kit together for your reel.

what we're missing is whether you want a spinning rod or casting rod (HMX is offered in both). MM is good all-around - ML will usually get you to 1/8 oz. The best BFS bass rods will cast 1/16 oz - but can they also be fast and have a wide lure-weight range, up to 5/8 oz. In my niches, the 3 are different rods. My thought is the small stream trout rod should be a different rod from the others. To work well there, it's going to be too light for vertical jigging.

All of my small game (rockfish) rods are fast action with variations in the tip. While they're intended for shore fishing, salt XUL and UL, especially the tubular tip versions would probably make great crappie rods. Search Rockfish UL Rod on ebay and see what turns up. You'll see a bunch from Shimano and Major Craft. Out of my gang, the fastest is NS Black Hole. The solid tip rods have softer tips - some solid tips will literally double in half - while the tubular tip rods have faster tips. Lengths of my rods vary from 7-1/2' to 8'3" Traditional short UL rods are para taper, with and flex through the mid and butt. Long light-game rods are progressive taper with a stiff butt section and long fast mid - most of the flex is in the tip. Here's a 7' Major Craft with tubular tip.

here's an article on Nesting Boats Nesting Boats - Small Boats Magazine (smallboatsmonthly.com) A hull like this is going to be a lot faster (read distance) than any kind of raft - no offense to Brian's nicely rigged inflatable. A nice folding skiff kit from Bedard: Ozona X Nesting Pram | Bedard Yacht Design My buddy Lou built a Bedard fishing kayak from kit though he won't rig it, he treats it like Queen Anne furniture - no lift handles, not even a pad eye for a bow line.

One reason to prefer multipiece to telescoping: With multipiece rods, you can lube the male ferrules with paraffin (Gulfwax), clean both male and female ferrules with alcohol and a q-tip. My first graphite rod was 7-1/2' Browning Hi-Power with 1-pc telescoping blade that pushed into the rod butt. That joint collected everything, and is scarred from the bits of fine sand that ended up in the void space. Other than that, it was a great rod. The rod and later the reel came from Tackle Town in Rockport, back when it was Larry's Tackle Town (I still call it Larry's...)

Thanks Tom - someone else figured this out, and it sold...

Fiberglass is a joy, and Silaflex made some of the best. You should try glass in a short to mid-length fly rod. (was actually swinging streamers to check on rainbow holdovers one fall day and picked up two stripers, instead) You might want to visit this forum - FFR Another Spin on Glass -

Unabashed self-promotion. I have a such-a-deal Lew's Tournament Pro in the Flea Market classifieds that's begging for a fair offer.

Used to fly fish with my Norwegian elkhound on leash. He stalked just like me. He thought it was really important when the fly line was piling on his head. I always let him smell the bass before I released it. When you consider water means falling through the ice in his genes, he was a seriously cool dog. When I was filleting white bass on the back deck - those little fin strips of sushi - always gave him those, and he sat patiently waiting for them. He lived to 19, unusually long for a 55-lb dog.

you forgot the Stubcaster

Pico de gallo and a touch of Remoulade sauce

My favorite all-around inshore rod is Crowder E-series Lite, offered in spinning and casting. TackleDirect is a good vendor for these. My best distance-casting baitcaster - even down to 1/8-oz jighead - is Lew's Super Duty G - Lew's has stock and sale pricing. Best mag brake of any reel I've ever fished - perfect for casting distance in wind. (I gave away a Lew's Custom Inshore) Centrifugal brakes cost distance. If you want to spend a lot more, Daiwa Steez A is salt-rated. But the reel above is on its 5th year in the salt, and I just bought another. Best choice spinning reel is Shimano Stradic. The big step-up is Twin Power, to get the forged aluminum rotor. this one's a bit pimped with Yumeya braid spool and Livre handle. It also has MTCW line roller upgrade, a big step for the salt. The only place you really need seals in the salt is surf fishing. Otherwise, seals let saltwater in, and don't let the salt back out.

Cabelas sells Daiwa Ardito 3-pc casting rod with travel tube for $130. You can have it waiting for you in Buda. Easy to toss in overhead bin, and TSA treat travel rod cases with respect. I flew to Alaska on business for a dozen years and always had rods. OK, no rods when I went to the North Slope in Dec.

My dad used to crank his down so hard he's turn them into donuts, I had to make him new shims from phosphor bronze sheet I keep around for fabricating antique reel springs. I have a nice hand press-brake cutter for making spring strip - cut in the other direction, and you have a shim.

there's no rounder - or smoother - line than the X-braids. They're 8-strand, all the strength is in the center strand; the 7 outer strands are abrasion-resistant and the finest fibers and tightest weave possible - the same makers offer less expensive coarser braids using coarser fibers, and slightly reduced test for the diameter. They're final coated in silicone polymer, and the silicone formulation varies for different applications. I've found some tailored for casting reels, and others for spinning reels, soft feel, etc. But they're round - there's not enough void inside for them to be anything else. PE#0.8 = 0.148 mm = 0.005" is 16-lb test

You guys realize there's not a photo on this page. 50 mm (1/4 oz) YoZuri wake baits, Gorgeous Duo Spearhead 3-4-g minnows, and some serious Jackall crab bodies, that rigged for either swimming or crawling, look and behave more like a crab than anything offered here.

The Japanese are big on telescoping rods - probably has a lot to do with riding trains everywhere and the cultural need to save face. Asian Portal recently received a stock of Daiwa Blazon telescoping bait rods and sold out just as quickly. But I'm sure searching each rod maker will find examples, and maybe stock . Standard overall length: 2.08m, Joint quantity: 6 pieces, Closed length: 47cm, Weight: 133g, Tip diameter: 1.8mm, Original diameter: 14.8mm, Luer weight: 5g-18g, Suitable line: 7-16lb, Carbon content: 98%, / HVF is used for carbon rods, a mobile rod capable of pursuing the essence of bass rods. It is the best material for rods that emphasize stickiness and strength. ?? Brading X: Reinforced structure that suppresses twisting that leads to power loss during rod operation by tightening in X shape with carbon tape. ?? With special case If I was set on a telescoping rod, would definitely go high-grade Japan. Here's a serious Smith multipiece Smith SS-TT60MII3 Super Strike Innovation Top Water Traveler 3-Piece Baitcasting - Asian Portal Fishing (asian-portal.shop) The nice thing about this Smith, there's also a range of 1-pc blades offered to complement the handle. That's another thought, check St. Croix and Loomis for multi-piece bass casting traveler rods.

Not exactly true. X-braid - Duel, YGK, Goshen - in 30-lb test is 0.15 mm (35-lb test 0.17 mm below). In 0.23 mm, they're 46-lb test. In Sufix 832, that's 20-lb test, though both are very well-behaved lines.

You can usually feel the number of shims needed by counting threads remaining to bottom-out. E-replacement parts or Dad's Old Tackle (also sells on ebay) will have both shims and the O-ring you need. Rubber has a finite life, especially under constant compression - replacing the O-ring at least every decade is a good idea.