Received these in the mail today

 

3 hours ago, WVU-SCPA said:

Picked up a 150 at the end of a fishing show yesterday. 

 

It looked so lonely just sitting by itself since all of his friends had already been adopted.  I couldn't just leave it there.

Nice. They're beefy reels. The 150's going on a pitch/punch rod and the 200 on a swimbait rod.

1 hour ago, kayaking_kev said:

Got a couple new reels today. Putting them on my Xtasys for now. My first left handed reels. Tatula 100 7.1.1 and a JDM Catalina 7.3.1

Congrats. Just wanted to mention this: The spool bearings on the Catalina must've been a touch dry. This isn't unusual with the Daiwas I've gotten recently. Anyway, they were sounding a little bit zippy. A drop between in inner race and the shield on each bearing made them happy. Use the Bantam oil from your Shimanos, or the Daiwa reel oiler if you have one. I've used both on Daiwa bearings in the past without issue. My Catalina gets better with each use. It's easily my longest caster. I like letting 'em fly, so I'm extra happy.

4 hours ago, Dangerfield said:

And they arrived! The spare tail is going on the ghost gill.

Outta the box for full effect

Love that Shellcrcaker. I've gotten all of my bites in this cold water by cranking it down about 1-2 feet and keeping there.

Got my raps today, 5 glass, 3 RS.  I had all balsa ones and wanted to try these since Rapala had a sale on em.

 

51 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

Congrats. Just wanted to mention this: The spool bearings on the Catalina must've been a touch dry. This isn't unusual with the Daiwas I've gotten recently. Anyway, they were sounding a little bit zippy. A drop between in inner race and the shield on each bearing made them happy. Use the Bantam oil from your Shimanos, or the Daiwa reel oiler if you have one. I've used both on Daiwa bearings in the past without issue. My Catalina gets better with each use. It's easily my longest caster. I like letting 'em fly, so I'm extra happy.

Love that Shellcrcaker. I've gotten all of my bites in this cold water by cranking it down about 1-2 feet and keeping there.

Any suggestions on a reel cover for the Catalina?

TW just got some business from me for a variety of True Bass Swimbaits along with some Dirty Jigs Swim Jigs. 

15 hours ago, kayaking_kev said:

Any suggestions on a reel cover for the Catalina?

The Catalina is barely larger than a Tatula CT. I use these on all of my reels under 300 size:

 

https://www.amazon.com/SF-Casting-Baitcast-Reels-Baitcaster/dp/B0775M9TSJ/ref=sr_1_8?dchild=1&m=A17HZK8R17EXXR&qid=1582616566&s=merchant-items&sr=1-8&th=1&psc=1

 

They fit great.

12 hours ago, PhishLI said:

Love that Shellcrcaker. I've gotten all of my bites in this cold water by cranking it down about 1-2 feet and keeping there.

That's awesome, I've been following them for a while. They don't usually ship up here but I got a BBB guy on IG to do me a solid. I'll be using them for pike opener when the water is still cooler.

19 hours ago, WI_Angler1989 said:

Wow, he really had to twist your arm lol.

I don't mess with the Monkey.

Just took delivery:

Eye Surrender ESE Sunglasses Black/Copper Lens

6th Sense Crush 50x Craw Bomb

When the Bait Monkey bites, I love it when I can bite back.

 

Here in Maine we've got a series of stores called Mardens. They scour the country buying up water damaged, hurricane, going out of business, etc store merchandise. It's semi organized but they purposely know people like to hunt to see if they can find that next big thing on sale. Usually it's marked down 30% off the original price tag. 

Now, it's funny that some categories of items are often marked down a lot more. Fishing stuff is one of them. Today my eye caught this 70% off Lunker frog in a bin of USB cables. In the past I've found a bunch of KVD shad and other crankbaits, Superslick 8 braided line. The 30 lb green braid on my spinning reel was 300 yds for $13.95, and Lot's of hooks and sinkers.

This frog today says $7.95 but I snatched it for $2.39. A little thing but it's fun to grab it and think you know something no one else around you does. The other people are there for the cheap USB cables in the same bin not aware of the gem they passed on. (Like they even care right?)

 

Anyway, my first frog. I've been wanting one. Deep fast water on my lake. Not many froggy areas like weeds.

1 hour ago, DanielG said:

When the Bait Monkey bites, I love it when I can bite back.

 

Here in Maine we've got a series of stores called Mardens. They scour the country buying up water damaged, hurricane, going out of business, etc store merchandise. It's semi organized but they purposely know people like to hunt to see if they can find that next big thing on sale. Usually it's marked down 30% off the original price tag. 

Now, it's funny that some categories of items are often marked down a lot more. Fishing stuff is one of them. Today my eye caught this 70% off Lunker frog in a bin of USB cables. In the past I've found a bunch of KVD shad and other crankbaits, Superslick 8 braided line. The 30 lb green braid on my spinning reel was 300 yds for $13.95, and Lot's of hooks and sinkers.

This frog today says $7.95 but I snatched it for $2.39. A little thing but it's fun to grab it and think you know something no one else around you does. The other people are there for the cheap USB cables in the same bin not aware of the gem they passed on. (Like they even care right?)

 

Anyway, my first frog. I've been wanting one. Deep fast water on my lake. Not many froggy areas like weeds.

They get bit. The legs are fragile in my experience. But they do catch fish.

20 hours ago, kayaking_kev said:

Any suggestions on a reel cover for the Catalina?

I have a normal LH Tackle Warehouse cover on mine

I'm one snowflake away from transferring my wish list into a shopping cart, and one driveway cleaning away from pulling the trigger on it.  

 

It looks like early March might bring Spring-like weather, or at least lows above freezing.  I need all the help I can get to make it there!

42 minutes ago, rcjoutdoors said:

I have a normal LH Tackle Warehouse cover on mine

I tried the one that the Tatula 100 came with from TW and it wouldn't fit for me.

Don't tell anyone, but yesterday I stopped in at ProTech Fishing in Toano, Virginia and picked up three Frittside crankbaits.

49 minutes ago, Sam said:

Don't tell anyone, but yesterday I stopped in at ProTech Fishing in Toano, Virginia and picked up three Frittside crankbaits.

I am hush.  I spent almost 1000 dollars in the past week.  I thought I was pretty good for the year...I didn't think I really needed anything.  I THOUGHT I left the monkey locked up in the garage.

 

As soon as I get the last reel (coming tomorrow) I will post a pic.  Or, pics.  Sigh  

58 minutes ago, kayaking_kev said:

I needed a Hawg Trough and also got my first Jack Hammer to help fill the order for free shipping.

 

The excuses we tell ourselves to get free shipping!  LMAO

15 hours ago, Sam said:

Don't tell anyone, but yesterday I stopped in at ProTech Fishing in Toano, Virginia and picked up three Frittside crankbaits.

Oooohhh. Never heard of ProTech, gonna have to check them out. That and Hooker Bait and Tackle.

Ok, so I got the final reel today - the updated Lexa HD 300 in a 6.3:1 ratio for swimbaiting.  I was really looking forward to this overdue update!  Anyway, I am still trying to figure out how I blew my budget away for the next few months in a week... lol. 

 

I am excited to use the Tatula 150p, a 5.5:1 ratio crankbait reel.

 

 

 

 

Btw, not pictured which I also got was 6 more rod socks and some line.  

3 hours ago, HazeRVA said:

Oooohhh. Never heard of ProTech, gonna have to check them out. That and Hooker Bait and Tackle.

Please do.

 

See Lin or Daniel. Lin owns the shop and he has some fantastic stories. Ask him to do a G-Man impression.

 

Daniel is a great guy, too.

 

Small shop in Toano but outstanding items from Japan that you can't get anywhere else.

 

Have fun and bring money!

@JediAmoeba
 That's a beauty haul MFer haha, I'm interested in how that milliken fishing rod performs. He's a good dude but his click bait titles are brutal. He's either quitting YT or fishing or YT is deleting his account. ??‍♂️

@JediAmoeba, you sir deserve a bulk discount 

I know I was bound and determined to become a lurker on the site, just looking for the sales only and of course watching this thread. 
 

But I owe a huge thank you to @ABart61 for pointing out the xcalibur XC 200 square bill is back. I was down to like 3 and was honestly a bit afraid to fish them because the lure fishes so big, aggressive action punches a big hole in the water, that big musky and pike love them too. This was/is one of my special cranks. 
 

I now have some back stock and will likely add more on Black Friday. 

After meeting with Dan and the staff over at Headwaters Kayak in Lodi and demo’ing a few kayaks me and the wife ended up with a good deal and got 2 new Slayer Propel 10’s. Living in San Francisco it was just ideal for ease of transport and storage.