Drawdown

Wal-Mart’s been good to me! $78 worth of lures for $20.

Got about $78 worth of lures for $20 at the Wal-Mart clearance section. Just in time for the upcoming squarebill season!

This is my list, as well. For all I know I may have also hooked an F1 hybrid FL bass, since I fish where they’re stocked.

They’ll ship some of the cheaper combos in normal rectangular box, using zip ties to secure the rod to the box’s side.

Enjoy! I like their jigs a lot in 5/8oz.

Top artist is only because we play instrumental hymns at night to help the baby sleep. ?

Thanks for the reminder—going to pick my Dad up some Fogys for Christmas.

I’d live on the Tennessee side, personally (I live in Cleveland, but travel through N Georgia at least once a week). The nice parts of North Georgia are too far away to be practical for commuting (let me tell you; you don’t want to be passing through the Ft Oglethorpe/Rossville side of the I-75/I-24 split—it gets ugly traffic-wise), whereas there’s lovely areas in and around “Chatt’nooga.” And I wouldn’t be so down on Chickamauga. Especially not if you fish February and March (probably my favorite time to do so; I also enjoy the fishing after Labor Day). There’s also the next lake down the TVA chain that you might want to get to know. ? And you’d be surprised by the kind of waterfowl hunting you can get into if you scout, so long as you don’t expect to see millions of migrating birds up in the clouds (can’t shoot them, anyway). By boat you can also access a great deal of good deer hunting land that doesn’t get swarmed by the orange army.

Right you are, sorry!

BPS BlackFriday ad has been out a minute. $50 off the Johnny Morris Platinum rods and reels. Also relatively steep discounts on the Extreme and Formula combos. And 20% BPS soft plastics. Wish they had a deal on the Pro Qualifier reels, instead.

I too thought a swimbait was the term for soft paddletails. Never had a clue about jointed hard baits.

Guess I need to quit not throwing it.

I did straight 14lb FC this summer, but didn’t like that on a couple occasions I landed a good-sized fish, the knot failed and the fish fell (in both cases, on the bank). I’ll avoid tying a clinch knot on FC from now on. Next time I throw a jig I’ll experiment with 40lb braid to 20lb mono. I’m optimistic.

Kidding aside, this doesn’t make sense to me—if Alabama rigs work in east TN, why wouldn’t a 3/4oz spinnerbait?

You’re an OB/GYN?

I can see the logic behind a 3/4oz single-blade Colorado in the early springtime, especially on my home water—it is almost constantly muddy on the eastern part of the Tennessee River that time of year, and the extra water disruption should pay dividends. But what reason would you throw anything heavier than a 1/2oz double willow (or willow + Colorado, tandem for that matter) other than the lure rating of the rod? I am legitimately wondering this.

Only now noticed that peacock bass sort of look like a LM and a redfish had a love child.

I concur, they’re Blue Winged Teal—the white at the edge of the bill is pretty clear on one of them, anyway. Possible that it’s a mixed species group with a few gadwall thrown in, but I bet it’s a flock of Blue Wings.

On Sunday I somehow bomb-casted a 5/8oz lipless crankbait nearly 100 yards, landing only 20 yards from the opposite bank of the Etowah River on 10lb braid. Amazing what you can do with an overhead cast on spinning gear when the stars align. I say the last bit, because almost none of my other casts got remotely close.

I ended up returning a ML/F Tatula XT that I received instead of the M/F that I ordered. But my impression from holding it, compared to my ML/F Shimano Convergence, was that it was considerably stiffer to the tip. I don’t believe you’ll at all be underpowered with a ML/F Tatula of any flavor. And I would suggest considering a 3/16oz drop shot weight instead, if a 1/8 isn’t enough. I feel like I would be imparting too much action on the bait just trying to drag a 1/4oz weight unless there was stiff current.

What length rod would you be looking at? Guess the only drawback to a lot of these “budget-friendly” rods is they come in fewer length options. However, that could potentially help decide between certain models. For example, at present the only available length for the BPS Graphite series rod at Heavy Power is a 7’6” and for the Daiwa Aird-X it’s a 7’ rod.

Thinking about getting a relatively cheap combo—it is for fishing a moving lure, after all—together over the winter to be ready by spring. Maybe put on the Christmas list with an Abu Max X. Leaning toward something with a softer tip but good backbone—I’m thinking a lot of cheaper “H/F” rods should check that box. Only hoping for enough sensitivity to feel change in lure vibration or weight, not feel subtle ticks like on a jig rod. Anyway, the hope would be to be able to use the same rig for similarly-weighted bladed jigs, flutter spoons, or even frogs depending on conditions—yep, I’m under 30 and have toddlers at home. Think back to that time of life. Shortlist of heavy power rods includes: - BPS Graphite Series - Daiwa Aird-X - BPS Bionic Blade (more expensive than I’d care to pay for…but might go on sale) The “sort of doubtful” list includes: - Berkley Lightning (which, I think will work perfect in M/MF for shallow crankbaits and maybe poppers—but may not be stiff enough even in a Heavy power for single-hook lures) - Okuma Reflexions b (seems oddly saltwater-specific and might be too noodly—but seems to be getting clearanced)

May God grant her rest among the saints. Love her story, and her music.

With the Universal DH this year, we’re all equally sinful.

Felt like the 9th inning could have decided the division race—hard to imagine bouncing back if they Mets roared back from 3 a run deficit in one inning.