Basseditor

BASSWEST magazine That was very helpful. Thank you.

I couldn't log in under my old account so I made a new account. I was basseditor now it is bass editor. I took that name decades go when I first got into websites because I was the Editor of a bass fishing magazine.

I've been retired for just over a year. I fish less now than ever. What I dislike are the two hour drives to the lakes round me. I wish I could afford a lake house so I could just go for a few hours. My wife doesn't like that I go alone, so she insists on going but she doesn't like fishing. She just reads or spends time on her phone. I'm capable of handling being alone but with several major surgeries in the past, she thinks I'll keel over at any time. I also have 9 grandsons who I enjoy being around. I take them out, but I can really only take one or two at a time in order to give them a better experience. (For them and me.) But they are too young to help me with the boat so my wife has to go too. I've spent an inordinate amount of time tinkering with my boat. All new components, electronics, etc. I really enjoy that. My family wants me to sell some of my stuff. They don't seem to want it. I still hang on to hundreds of rods and reels — plus, totes full of new-in-the box/bags of crank baits and plastics. Many of these are expensive items that still have great value and are hard to find.

Yup. They didn't help my Fantasy Fishing picks.

Cabelas is closer to me than BPS. I've had some good experiences lately regarding customer service. First to make a long story short I was on vacation in Green Bay last summer when they had their occasional 10% off sale. I decided to get a Livescope but they did not have any in stock (the store said they had some when I checked before I drove to the store). I ordered one to be delivered to the store. They said 5-8 days. I was going to be there for two more weeks so that should have worked. It didn't come of course. On my way back to Texas I swung by the store to see what could be done. The customer service dept. said it would arrive the next day. They said they could cancel the order, but with how scarce they were at that time, I didn't want that option. I couldn't stay another day so I went to the parking lot and called the corporate office. A nice lady went through the options and then decided to call the store manager while I was on hold. She comes back on and says to go back into the store and talk to the manager. He looked up my account and said he would personally get my Livescope when it arrived and send it to my house at no charge. Plus he gave me extra club points for the hassle. The unit arrived the day after I got home via FedEx. Some other time I'll tell about the Black Friday/Cyber Monday deal I got on Garmin 126s.

There may be sleeper lakes around the country that get little pressure. A known big LMB guy who catches giant largemouth (O H Ivie guy) made a trip to a reservoir very few people know of and caught several over 8 last summer. They're documented on his Facebook page. He was not there at the optimum time. Having said that it's not easy. I've caught hundreds over 5 pound and 50 over 6 and a handful over 7. I lost one well over 9 one year because I didn't get a good hook set — as soon as I set the hook, she pulled me on my float tube about 5 feet. One jump and she was off.

I have the Cabelas Card only so I get points to use on stuff down the road. Plus there are occasional 10% discounts when you use the card online or in store. I manage all of my cards very carefully to get the best deals or more cash back. I pay off the cards every month except when there is free interest — for example I bought two 126s and other stuff on Cyber Monday. I got 12% Rakuten cash rebate (it just came) of about $600 and an additional 450 points or so from Cabelas. And no interest for 12 months. That's about $1000 off on a little more than $3000 in purchases.

I worked as a salesman at a marine dealership in the 80s. When we had to increase the sales price on a new bass boat to $15,000, I thought we'd never sell another one. (At 15,000 we only made 10% margin.)

I grew up in WI, but never fished Hayward. I may need to head that way this summer. It's a long haul from TX, but now that I'm retired I try to go up north every summer.

My bad for not reading all of the comments before chiming in. The $2000 was mentioned several times. OH Ivie is about 3 hours from me. I'm going to start hitting it regularly from mid-Jan to Mar. 1. There a few other lakes that have potential this year too. Three years ago I wrote an article about Ivie and predicted it was ready to break loose. Here we are now. You have to give these guys credit who are consistent. There can be 100+ boats on some days, but only a few of the top guys are catching.

Kistler 7'6" Heavy (5 power), 20 or 25lb Invisx on a Daiwa P/F reel

He bumped his Jan-Feb rates to $2000/day. Sold out Jan. in a span of a few hours.

Kistler 7'6" heavy (5 power) Zbone. I catch so many fish on that rod. Luckily, I have 3 of them.

I caught two 10+ bass in 100+ degree heat: one shallow and the other very deep.

I appreciate the responses. Good stuff.

I've been with one particular rod manufacturer for more than 10 years. I like the whole atmosphere of the company and of course, the products. I've never explored a new sponsorship opportunity because I have a sense of loyalty. I'm sure I could find a better deal monetarily, but I don't try. Is it foolish not to explore other opportunities? On the other hand, they asked me to help line up to 5 new team members now. I helped quite a few new team members join over the years, but I've exhausted my contacts. I don't want to make a public announcement but I want to recommend good people. How would you do this? You can PM me, if you want.

I'm late to the party, but I love my Steez crazy cranker 5.X (don't recall exact ratio) JDM if not mistaken. I added 100mm handle.

smoke hologram – #1 fish catching Senko I use, 6" size watermelon/red black/blue green pumpkin

"How are those aluminum gears holding up vs brass?" You can buy brass gears if you want. Also, the "Zillion boost" spool is available if you want to put it in a different reel too.

I was in the 21' Phoenix boat storage unit (14' X 40') the other day installing a new Garmin 106 (holding off on the LVS34 for a bit), new to me HB 360, new mounting brackets to accommodate all the electronics units, etc. She asks, "how much money do you have in here? $100,000? more?" I replied more. She said nothing more. She is ok with it. 50+ high end Kistler rods and Daiwa reels (average $700-750 each Zbone/Steez combo?) and another 50+ other brands. More: Floor to nearly three-quarters height of the 16' ceiling full of totes full of lures and plastics, rolling tool boxes full of stuff for working on boats and vehicles in the back 10' of the unit. If I add in the 10+ boats over the years and 6-7 towing vehicles, we could easily hit $500,000 to $1 million. Next purchase is a lake house with big garage when I can find one to accommodate all this stuff. I was frugal until about 15 years ago. I had 3 major brain surgeries; major complications and infections followed. Several other injuries and illnesses also occured. I decided to enjoy myself and buy all high-end stuff to fish with and spend what borrowed time I may have left with 9 grandsons. They will be able to carry on with little out-of-pocket money when I depart.

10" Powerworm. (Weight 11.35lbs.)

T-wing

I got the new Steez HLC a couple of months ago. I put in ZPI bearings before taking it out. That is one hot reel. I have to keep everything pretty tight. It is too wild (at least for me) to cast bulky baits, but it is great for lipless crank baits and other heavy small profile lures. I also have Tatula and Zillion HLCs. Casting distance (with new Steez HLC) is about the same as my other Steez A with ZPI spools and bearings.

I use a weightless 6" Senko for pitching rather than a jig in some pretty heavy cover and around docks. It pitches easily, even on 20 or 25-pound flouro and really works in over-fished areas. The 5-inch is my wacky favorite though. I do catch more on the 6-inch, but more likely because of location.

I think I know the answer, but what about flouro instead of mono?