Dwight Hottle

The lodge accomodations & food are all good. Updated bathrooms & modern wall a/c's in each room. If your wife doesn't fish she will be limited to other activities because there are none except chilling, reading or just taking it easy. The lodge is semi isolated & located on a steep hill top overlooking the water.

72 more days & then the adventure begins. For an old guy who doesn’t show a lot of emotion I gotta say I’m getting excited.

Buying a more expense bait that works well is a lot better than multiple cheaper baits that don’t work. If a suggestion is out of your expense range don’t buy it but be appreciative of a good suggestion.

Dane the math goes like this. 8.06 divided by 13.14 x100 equals 61.33. One ounce is .06 not .1. You have to divide the ounces by 16 to get the equivalent number in tenths.

Quote from Cal over at TT regarding someone else saying it's a pyramid scheme. "More like a ponzi-scheme ... there are not multiple layers to the Edge/Northfork business. It is just those two entities.. NFC for blanks, EDGE for built rods."

Billy Westmorland, the smallmouth GOAT, Them Ol’ Brown Fish.

Well here is my take on this subject. I have been a Gary Loomis supporter since the 80's. Mostly IMX & NRX models. The warranty back then was overly generous & many people took advantage of it. The quality & value for the dollar was excellent. I purchased several rods from Kistler rods using NFC x-ray blanks. Once Kistler quit using NFC for blanks I looked into Edge rods. Since the transition to NFC & Edge rods I have purchased 8 rods from Edge waiting mostly 3-6 months. I understood the deal regarding wait times & have been very satisfied with the product. On July 10th 2025 I ordered a SWS HSR 7600-1 (Gary Loomis Signature Series) rod to use specifically for smallmouth with hair jigs & spy baits. The signature series rods were limited to a few blanks & included carbon fiber guides & other promotional items. I was quoted 3-6 month wait time. I patiently waited until Dec 12th 2025 to inquire regarding the build status as I was hoping to have the rod for an April trip up north. They replied they were currently asking production to get the blank & send it to rod build. They estimated 8-9 weeks at that point. In May 2026 I reached out asking that the rod has been in rod build since January & is that normal? They replied that it had been an unusually busy year & it has been crazy with the amount of orders and trying to get caught up keeping parts in stock for the builds. I decided to give them more time. "On June 26th I sent an email requesting a resolution to my order placed July 10th 2025. You solicited me regarding the Gary Loomis signature series offer & I have been patient for almost one year. I would like a refund if you can not complete the build within one year. I'm 78 years old so waiting longer is not a good choice for me." On July 13th after not receiving any reply from Edge rods regarding my email I have filed a dispute with American Express to get my money back from the credit card charge. Needless to say I am done doing business with Edge rods. I loved the product & was willing to wait but more than a year wait for an old guy is just too much time. The business plan is failing.

Great baits for the price. I like the bone & shad colors. You can wake them, slow retrieve them & speed crank them all effectively. I caught a big five lb largemouth on my first cast using one.

Well it sinks much faster than a trap so fishing it around or over vegetation is problematic. But it shines for probing deeper locations either horizontal casting letting it hit bottom before retrieving or vertical jigging off bottom. It’s a fantastic bait for summer deep water bottom hugging smallies.

Welcome to BR.

That's a great recovery story.

Well tubes don’t have any claws & they get bit all the time. Other than a gobie they do represent a crawfish.

“ Up your nose with a rubber hose” Welcome back to BR.

Owner.

Cleveland & Miami are in the mix along with Golden State. He doesn’t really care about the money at this point just the potential for the right chemistry.