bulldog1935

What is wait? I've fished tackle out to 30 years as long as it's going strong, and adding new along the way - not necessarily upgrading the old, until it's ready to be retired. I didn't begin adding in low-profile baitcasters (Super Duty G) until 5 years ago, and still fished my Lew's BB-25SW a few years more (compared to LFS, the larger spool on this reel still casts a long way, though the drive was finally getting sloppy). When I try new, if something gets my attention, will probably buy more than one. And for that reason, none of my low profile baitcasters have twins. The different models I added have their strong points and found their niches (except the Custom Inshore, which nothing makes sense about it, and I kind of hid it in favor of better Tournament Pro and Team SP). When I'm ready to add another baitcaster (nothing in sight), it will likely be a Metanium. I have a 30 y-o Loomis GL2 I never expect to retire (retired the Penn 4400SS), but supplement it with newer rods.

the trick to getting your hook back is getting them turned over, flat on the deck. Caught a big one on this lazy day in the Arroyo Colorado barge canal, and Lou and I looked pretty pro getting it handled. And yeah, would rather it had been a big flounder.

I'm familiar with Stu Apte fly rods made by Diamondback, and that's about all that will google. My friend from FFR caught this nice bass on his Stu Apte Signature casting rod and a Shimano Core reel. He bought the rod from Offshore Anglers in the early '90s, and all he can put together from his research is the rod was made in Arkansas. Anybody familiar with these rods, their history, or their maker?

oversized Gizzard shad in reservoirs is why they began stocking stripers - the shad were out-growing the largemouth and white bass they first stocked to prey on them.

In blackwater on the beach one day (blackwater = calm, low tide, gin-clear but black with bait) I hooked a 20+ lb stingray on a fly rod. Took me a half-hour to drag it up on the beach, while my buddies were limiting out on specs. It's OK, they waited for me to get my trout limit, too.

well this page is sorely needing a knife photo, so posting off topic, here's the neck knife I carry daily when fishing the salt. It's titanium, carbide edge, and nips braid like a champ. here's my neck knife nipper for freshwater

Many people on this forum won't consider buying a 5+ ounce reel. But the weight wars between the manufacturers pretty much create the issues you guys complain about. Stainless steel gears don't wear, they just work-harden. My longest-and-hardest-service Lew's Super Duty G doesn't get a complaint, and my bronze-geared long-lived Tica spinners will probably out-fish every other reel I own.

I'm going to reiterate this point even stronger. I have three '19 and '20 Shimano 1000/2000 size spinners, and would never swap the felt drag washers for carbontex. The little reels won't crank against more than 3 lbs, and there's no reason to give up smooth wide ranging drag for a big meaningless number. I did upgrade one felt drag (not Shimano) to carbontex - that was with spooled 10-lb braid, and wasn't able to get 2-lbs measured drag - the carbontex gave me 2-1/2-lbs I was shooting for..

hmm, this spool isn't 1/8" deep. never thrown a wind knot and caught dozens of fish

Recent thread on the same topic: Is this overspooled? - Fishing Rods, Reels, Line, and Knots - Bass Fishing Forums (bassresource.com) If you use good manual bait technique, there's virtually no such thing as overspooling. Wind knots come from loose line at the beginning of your retrieve. With manual bail, you don't use the crank-auto-close, instead, keep your free hand close to the spool, so you can feather the line with your fingertips at the end of the cast (similar to thumbing a baitcaster). Close the bail manually with your free hand, and turn with the rod to take up any remaining slack when you begin retrieve.

my buddy Josh in the Frio uphill from Garner SP, fly fishing the run for Texas brook trout (endemic Guadalupe bass) and he took this photo of me on the downstream side of the crossing

truly they don't - too far away from their beaten access points even get just a few sporadic kayakers through here. adding to this post, over the years I've won many good graces filling a trash bag as I go. So many landowners hate kayakers and tubers, and I'll go out of my way to meet them, but I've also had many see me picking up litter on their bank, and invite me back at my discretion. There are many brush-bust-wades I couldn't make without their good graces. Being able to hike their bank around a bottomless hole can open up another mile of river to you

If you haven't tried it, sourdough makes killer pizza. once there was a BBQ grill in this chimney pit, now it's a 600-degree pizza oven

you may not have noticed I agreed with you about them being exotic you must have never tied cottonwood seed flies to target carp on a 4/5-wt in a cottonwood seed fall.

George Washington imported many, simply for gamefish, and fished for them with "coarse" tackle. We of course have other, native cyprinids. This is a native redhorse sucker, which are great game in our cold tailwater - we call them Guadalupe redfish. This one took a swinging caddis during a hatch.

Thanks, I'll just hike/wade to here (caught 7 endemic bass in the frame of this photo)

also boat width. Werner used to have a very good selection guide on their website, but that ended when chairs went up and SUP's were added. If you're paddling right, starting in core muscles, you'll probably get by with the shortest paddle for your configuration. The example I used above, though, my little razor Kestrel still needs the short mid-blade touring paddle (along with thigh straps), because it oversteers and tips with my big Coryvreckan paddle.

I went back to a straight shaft, and ended up with a larger glass blade (Coryvreckan) at the same weight as my all-carbon bent-shaft touring Werner (Camano). The main reason for bent shaft is indexed hand position, always placing your hands in the most efficient paddling position. I made my own indexed-position grips with closed-cell foam and shrink-tube - of course I had my bent shaft for reference.

at least 9 mo/yr in south Texas. this deep, though I'll hold up the bag to cross shoulder-deep and get to the confluence of the Guadalupe forks I'm pretty much the board shorts type, and only care for shoes that drain through the soles. Though in coast sun, I wear long quick-dry nylon pants, like Simms Lightweights. Unfortunately, the best hike/wet-wade shoes I've ever bought have all been discontinued, and I bought up a few pairs when they closed out. Keen Hood River boots and New Balance OTB Abyss II (claim to have been designed for Navy Seals) Many of my kayak friends swear by Soft Science also NRS workboot looks pretty rugged. I tried a pair of canyoneering boots, and sent them back because they were just too big to fit in a kayak footwell. Neoprene socks with wading boots are always a good answer. Also note with the lace-up type wet-wading boots above, you still need lycra scuba socks to keep sand from your soles - I've seen my buddies take off tennis shoes to bloody feet. Sandals collect gravel in all the worst places. good support is important for hike/wade, which rules out neoprene booties (which don't drain, anyway) and most water tennies - even rules out my favorite kayak shoes, Astral Hiyak - the review won me a $250 Moosejaw gift certificate, which I turned into a tent-cot.

purt near, of course Mad's snappy answer to that one begins with C. The photo has exactly reversed parallax error from the cheese shots everyone takes grinning Way behind their fish with arms extended and Short-focal-length lens. The way you recognize a big bass is look at its jaw structure and fins. This is a sight-fished 10-lb bass that measured 27+" They don't get distended bellies eating nickel-size crayfish and dime-size minnows in wild rivers, but eating shad in a reservoir this would be an 18-lb fish not really showing off, just going after my cats whisker Different fish, different day, different river, this was the state record endemic bass, except that I released her rather than killing her for the liver biopsy then required to verify her pure species. Our endemic bass retreat into the aquifer to survive our droughts - this girl came from a bat cave vent, and got this size eating the baby bats that fell in. A 15" endemic Guadalupe bass is a lunker.

will do - I'm showing him this Sunday, with a fly rod trip to the Sabinal sendero and Frio confluence - all sight-fishing 5-lb bass. um, and I guess big thumbs Also a 100-mi drive to get there, and so close to Mexico, the only other vehicles we'll see will be INS.

My buddy Josh, who worked through college rigging kayaks at Jerry B's in Corpus, and is the most organized kayak fisherman I know, put together this spreadsheet of all kayaks in the market - it's pretty complete, and includes use recommendations and search filters.

Will never understand why people want to insult nature with their ghetto blasters. They should stay in their cars with the windows rolled up. Especially on the water, the noise carries so far, combined with the fact the people who do this have abhorrent taste in music. It's bad enough when people bring them to the flats on their kayaks, but the worst of all was certainly Quartz Creek on Kenai.

Toadstool Waterhole - you can't get there from here, it's in the sendero only answer a rhetorical question if you have a really good answer

You're going to get the best cast distance with light braid, and your reel has the shallow spool for it. Per Jun at japan Tackle, PE#1 (0.165 mm = 0.006") is the finest line diameter you want to use on baitcaster. The Japanese X-braids are up to 22-lb in that size, Sufix 832 is 6-lb.