4 hours ago, GoneFishingLTN said:

Interesting so these are not the elite rods but just tatula I don't know if I've seen them look like this 

Right. I think they're like the regular $150 Tatula's that have the full grip (casting). Those are sweet rods for the money, but I like these split grips on these.

13 hours ago, FishTank said:

 

I would go with whichever is lightest but you got some good choices there. 

Thats the idea, one I get the Cardiff, I am going to weight all with line on them.

You need a boat!?‍♀️

Tom

I’m pretty skeptical of the aliexpress tatula rods 

Well I bought the tray to separate my flat side cranks from my lipless box lol, then I went down the color rabbit hole again yay. That’s roughly 5 different stores to find the colors and different flat side cranks. I know the dt are not flat sides but I have heard that the 6 is subtle compared to the 4 we will see.

Rained out again today, so took a little trip to Palmetto State Armory…

Picked up some Coleslaw spinnerbaits for next month, along with a 16' x 16' YakAttack BlackPak Pro, Might Mount for my net, 12" Might Mount XL for behind my seat and a 3D printed rudder handle. I need another x4 YA Tether Tubes, x2 on the side and x2 at the back to really flesh it out.

 

Managed to get x11 3600, x1 3500 and x1 Double Deep 3700 tray with a bit of room to spare. The DD 3700 will go under my seat, filled with safety stuff, license and tools. Really looking forward to getting on the water this year, just need the weather to act right.

5 hours ago, Cbump said:

I’m pretty skeptical of the aliexpress tatula rods 

 

Daiwa makes some different rods/reels for China and other Asian countries (that Japan doesn't get). You can go on Daiwa's site, click on 'region' and then China and you'll see different stuff.

 

They have a Daiwa Salamandura line which is their version on the Tatula I think. Pretty much same reels, just different cosmetics. Besides the color, there's a Salamander logo on the side plate and tension knob instead of the spider we're used to. And they have the clicking drag like the Zillion...or at least the SV TW 70 does. So that's kind of cool.

 

 

I don’t know what Ali Express has to do with anything, but that red reel is freaking sweet. 
 

I’ve seen $2 knock off jackhammers on aliexpress so I don’t trust stuff from there. 

27 minutes ago, Cbump said:

I don’t know what Ali Express has to do with anything, but that red reel is freaking sweet. 
 

I’ve seen $2 knock off jackhammers on aliexpress so I don’t trust stuff from there. 

Because there's legit Daiwa and Shimano products sold on Ali Express. Ali Express is China's Amazon. The pic I posted of those Tatula rods you commented on are from a reputable seller on Ali Express. And these red reels are on there as well. And as I said, Daiwa makes different stuff for China than what we see here. 

 

And those knockoff Jackhammers likely didn't say Z-Man Jackhammer on them. There are companies that make knockoffs, for sure. But they don't use the same names as the name brand. They're their own brand. Like this lol.

 

18 minutes ago, NorthernBasser said:

And those knockoff Jackhammers likely didn't say Z-Man Jackhammer on them.

Correct. They say Jacky Hammer?

12 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

Correct. They say Jacky Hammer?

yep lol

 

 

 

59 minutes ago, Cbump said:

I don’t know what Ali Express has to do with anything, but that red reel is freaking sweet. 
 

I’ve seen $2 knock off jackhammers on aliexpress so I don’t trust stuff from there. 

 

I have heard some good stuff about Ali Express and some bad stuff. Any negative purchases/scams are enough to ward me off. 

On 4/21/2023 at 8:01 AM, a1712 said:

Check out the Ray's DIY Carbon Fiber Handles, I have them on 20+ reels. It's nice that you can select length, retainer, nut, retainer screw, and post colors, they also come in black or silver CF. <$30 SHIPPED TO YOUR DOOR. Brian.

Do they take proprietary knobs or do Daiwa knobs fit them?

They accept  factory and aftermarket knobs. The axles are to factory specs for Daiwa and Shimano respectively. Brian. 

5 hours ago, FishTank said:

 

I have heard some good stuff about Ali Express and some bad stuff. Any negative purchases/scams are enough to ward me off. 

Lots of great stuff on AliExpress.

dark sleeper

swimbaits like keitechs

mini cranks

 Cranks

Getting ready for cranking season this year -

 

• Megabass DX Free (casts a mile)
• Shimano World Rush Squarebill with Flash boost
• Megabass S-Crank 1.5
• Bill Lewis ATV 
• Lucky Craft 1.5
• Megabass Griffon SR-X

 

Swapped on Owner ST-35s on a lot of them, now the water just needs to warm back up!

34 minutes ago, TheBaitMonkey said:

Getting ready for cranking season this year -

 

• Megabass DX Free (casts a mile)
• Shimano World Rush Squarebill with Flash boost
• Megabass S-Crank 1.5
• Bill Lewis ATV 
• Lucky Craft 1.5
• Megabass Griffon SR-X

 

Swapped on Owner ST-35s on a lot of them, now the water just needs to warm back up!

Those are gorgeous

On 2/28/2023 at 3:04 PM, bulldog1935 said:

ya gotta have a place to put all this stuff...

I've been buying Meiho lure boxes with just about every Japan order, because they're astounding space-efficient.  These two are the same 1200NS box, only 1" thick, and arranged for different lure types.  

 

But I ran out of places to stack these, and began looking at Meiho tackle boxes.  

Here is my VS7080 box arranged for last week's coast trip.  

The white bottles in one side tray are the Procure flavors, the front tray are the packaged titanium leaders. Two rod holders on the end.

Inside, the overflow box for used plastic bodies and the keeper box for used titanium leaders.

There are places all over the box to grab the top trays (keep tools, etc), and stable enough, you can stack more lure boxes on them.   

Below that, the bottom space exactly fits Meiho 800 boxes in the narrow direction, and 1200 boxes in the long direction.

The three thin boxes are lure boxes, the max-thick 1200NDDM boxes are packaged plastic and other terminal for this trip.  

My buddy Stevo called it the Swiss Army Tackle Box.  

Easy to change up for different trips.  

 

They make plenty of other add-ons, including baskets for spinnerbaits.  

I bought this size because it exactly fits in the sternwell of my small 10' river kayak.  

Also discovered I had picked up some 30X0 lure boxes along the way that don't fit as efficiently in this box, so my newest Japan order will be a Bucket Mouth 5000 for stashing the rest of my Meiho boxes.  

 

Meiho has a US importer with a website, but good Japan shopping can find these for 40% of the US price.  $20 for the base box above, lure boxes are $4 to $7 in Japan, the rod holders $15, the small outside boxes $5.  

Not a latest purchase, but a review of sorts.  

I have an update on use of my Meiho VS7080 modular tackle box - from last Saturday's kayak trip, where I found it just as useful as the skeg on the little Redfish 10.  

I picked this box because it exactly fits in the little sternwell of this boat. 

Two rod holders in back (and my Scotty rod holder in front).  

There are all sorts of inner and outer add-ons, rod and drink holders, outer pockets, tippet and line-spool dispensers, inner trays and baskets.  Places on the outside of the box to securely hang the add-ons, inner trays, etc. 

This size box exactly fits Meiho 1200 lure boxes in the long direction, and 800 boxes in the short direction.  The lure boxes come in 3 thicknesses, NS (25 mm), ND (40 mm), and NDD (60 mm).
The different boxes can be arranged to efficiently hold everything from packaged plastic baits and popping corks to micro-jigs.

For this trip, I needed three 800 lure boxes, and the inner basket for spinnerbaits and for quickly hanging swapped-out lures.  There's room for two more 800 boxes laying flat (or lunch if I had better provisions to pack).

Well....I only have 2 quality rods - the St. Croix Avid-x  (6'6" MLF) rods paired with a Vanford 3000 and Procyon 2500 LT and loving that setup for ned type fishing.  Incredible really.  They recently stopped making the avid-x so I started to look for something similar....3 higher quality rods would be best...

 

I only fish in 1 private lake about a mile long and up to 40ft deep - upstate NY.  Loaded with only and mostly smaller SMB.  They range from 7" to just over 3lbs (only a few of those bigger ones).   Can pick up 100 in a weekend, so it's action packed and amazing.

 

So....I really "needed" a topwater rod to hit the hatch when it comes up in the summer.  Amazing to witness the hour of splashes as the birds/bats/fish/me go after the smalleys rising to the surface to destroy the bugs as they attempt to dry the wings on the surface.

 

Shouldn't have.... but found a deal on the tatula lt 2500 and added an ALX JPS (Jerkbait/Popper/Shakey) spinning rod (6'8" MF).  Both arrive this week....

 

Looking forward to using this mostly unnecessary purchase, dedicated for the early morning and late evening surface fishing.  Haven't used a whopper plopper ever, but picked up several - 60,75,90 to use for the mostly the evening mayhem on this new setup.

 

Can the weather please cooperate soon?  Still some upper 30's at night where I fish...but was in the 70's a couple of weeks ago as the highs.  As the saying goes...I used to be a doctor but I ran out of patience/patients.  ?

Final arrival from my order - same one the crappie lures came in a few days ago, just shipped in multiple packages.

 

Couple more crappie jigs and plastics, then a couple 3/8oz bucktail jigs for bass as well as some line...small purchases lately.

Got a new mold last week. I enjoy slab fishing so this was a no brainer for me

 

I grabbed a few more things to try out, all this talk of swim baits had me itching to try a new idea. I fish a pond with a lot of carp so I figured a carp gantral jr couldn’t hurt and I wanted to try the small s waver also. I have a experiment for the black and blue plastics this weekend if the weather cooperates lol.

 

Black and blue plastics are

rage scournbug 

midsize rage bug 

rattlin rage craw

bandito bug

 

d bomb is bayou flash

1/8 tungsten for the shallow weedy waters I fish

3/0,4/0 rig n hooks

3/0 owner jig rig hooks 

gantral jr rat carp

r2s s waver 168 yellow perch

1 spro 30 size rat in brown, wanted a bigger one but they didn’t have any ?

 

hopefully the weather cooperates ?

This weeks, and last week's visit to the monkey shop.  Bought the C Rigs for components after thinking better about the pre rigged ones, stupid lol.  

 

Going through these D Bombs like water, only get about 5 fish on them, but they're magical and worth it.  

Rounding up some final purchases before the season starts next month. Waiting for a bunch of stuff to come in. Still need another two reels, jerkbait rod and a few more rod holders. 

 

12v 18ah Dakota Lithium LiFePo4 battery, charger, wire clips, shrink tube & all the fixings

Borika TRK150 

3600 Plano Tray 

Roboworm Straight Tail Worm - Oxblood Red Flake & Morning Dawn Hologram

Megabass Spark Shad 3" - Sight Killer Pink & Sight Chart

Raid Head Swimmer Libero - 7g / Pink Trick & Ice Black

Megabass Magdraft 5" - Sunshine Gill

Megabass Magdraft 6” (Bassmaster Classic) - Aurora Shad (SP-C)

Duo Realis Crank G87 15A - Pumpkin Craw & Ghost Minnow 

Berkley Money Badger - 6.25CM - Firetail Green Craw, Ghost Morning Dawn & Special Red Craw

Berkely Dreger 20.5 HD Perch

SK Tour Grade Dbl Willow Spinnerbait - Golden Shiner

Power Pro SSV2 10 LB X 300 YD Moon Shine Braid& 40Lb X 150 Onyx