Leaderboard

Hey guys. I'm the the guy that started this thread 10 years ago. I haven't been on this site for quite a few years but this thread was always in the back of my mind and I thought it would be nice to finish this story. It's a good ending to a very bad situation. I still feel badly that I even posted this at all. Dumping my problems on others is not typically my M.O. but without the help and generosity of the guys on this thread, I honestly don't know if I would even be here today. With that said, there is a happy ending. I stuck it out in Oregon until 2011. I stayed until my daughter graduated high school. I raised her as best I could and she turned out to be an awesome daughter and an incredible person. There were many, MANY times that i didnt know how i was going to keep the lights on. She is in college and will get her degree in business administration this year. She also attended a bible college in California and they liked her so well that they gave her a job and is now an employee at the retreat at Murietta Hot Springs for the Calvary Chapel. She met a great guy there and just got married there on December 10th. What a fantastic person she turned out to be and I couldn't be more proud although it saddens me just a little bit that there is now a man in her life that is more important than old dad but it's all good. I'm so proud of her. Anyway, I kept that old Bayliner bass boat until 3 years ago and it served me well. I had to get out of Oregon or I would have just sucked on an exhaust pipe and got it over with. I moved to Arizona in 2011 and that old Bayliner came with me. I needed some warm weather and sunny skies or I would have gone crazy so I am now in east Mesa (about 30 minutes east of Pheonix) and things have gone extremely well for me. I live near two incredible lakes. I'm less than 20 minutes from some great fishing. Saguaro Lake is 18 minutes from my driveway and Canyon Lake is less than 30. I'm working again. At least they can no longer keep me from working any longer. I've worked hard and payed off all my debt and now I was even able to upgrade to little bit nicer boat. I sold the old Bayliner for more than I had into it and I ended up getting a 1995 Spectrum 17 foot aluminum walleye boat that I love. It suits me well. It's not a Ranger but it was affordable and it does the job I need it to do. Mom is still around. She just turned 90 in November. She ended up moving to Arizona as well and had her own place in a 55+ retirement community until 2 years ago when I finally moved her in with me. She is still in good shape and can almost take care of herself with just a little help from me now and then. Anyway, I suppose I've said too much already but I did want to say thanks to all those that participated in this thread. You guys played a big role in keeping me sane in a horrible situation. There are a few guys that went above and beyond with their support and generosity. I don't know how they did it but they sent stuff directly to me to get me back on the water. A big shout out to Fishsticks. He sent a trolling motor that he was using as a back up. That was a great trolly. That is still on the Bayliner and I never had an issue with it. I talked to him quite a lot and he was a great guy. He just had a baby daughter. She should be about 11 years old now. I hope he is doing well. Also, I received a bag with all kinds of lures, a REALLY nice bait caster and whoever sent that even threw in a 100 dollar bill for my daughter. I still have and use that stuff. I'm guessing a guy named fishfordollars sent that stuff but being the great guy he is, he would never confirm that although he didn't deny it either. I see that he hasn't posted anything since 2011. Does anyone know what happened to him? I was blown away by the generosity of the folks on here and I'll never forget it and that's why I'm posting this now. If it wasn't for the people on this site, I don't know where I'd be in life at this point and can't say thank you enough for the help and kindness that both my daughter and I were shown by total strangers right here on bassresource. I did finally start catching some bass and my daughter and I have many fond memories on the old Bayliner and now on the Spectrum. I love my life now and I have you guys to thank for that. Getting through those few years in Oregon, I don't think was possible for me without your help and support. You guys can never know how important your support was to this guy and my daughter and I'll always be forever grateful.

Fenway & Tucker took me for a walk the other day ~ Afterwords, Tucker told me I did good . . A-Jay

Well...like I mentioned in other post I was out with buddy yesterday in ten degree's with wind blowing. Reels were freezing....had just lubed my small curado and it froze solid....well...until I dipped it in the balmy 45 degree water and then it worked!! Guides had to be dipped every second or third cast...had to put my hand warmers in my boots and start a couple new ones. Boat ran ok....but we didn't go far (too cold) Saw two other boats. Fish were biting quite good and had one dandy largemouth about five. Would I do it two days in a row.....no.

Not exactly what I was after but this fat Saugeye must have liked that black back and white Berkley Bad Shad I was throwing. He weighed in at 7.28lbs and put up a nice long fight. Man are they delicious eating.

My 8 year old rescue girl. Hard to believe its already been 7 years since I brought her home. Best choice I have ever made.

Our 13 year old IG, doing his favorite thing

I'd rather throw different types of plastic over any one specific type of hard bait. I'll cycle threw the whole bag if I have too. So in keeping with your question, I caught the most fish last year useing a Rage Cut R and a Fat Max ribbon tail. But tomorrow it could be something different. Mike

That wind chill puts a whole different spin on things.

I don't understand why this is such a highly debated topic. If you like high end stuff and can afford it...get it, use it, and be happy. If not, just don't buy it. What's the point of telling others "they're wasting money" or "it's not worth it" or "I can catch more with my $20 rod than you can with your $400 one." To answer the OP; the Legend Xtreme is an incredible line of rods. There are few others out there that are on par with the build, strength, and sensitivity. They're also backed by a pretty incredible warranty. So are they worth the price tag? I'd say yes.

Trip to the Rose Bowl fell through at the last minute, so I decided to take my dad out for a quick trip before the big game. Pretty awesome morning... Lots of chubby 2-3 pound spots and a beautiful 5 pound hookjawed rainbow...

Well I tried looking through the forums, as i swear I saw a thread about showing off your animals. Needless to say I could not find it. I wanted to post a picture of my boy, Silver. He is a 135 lbs Cane Corso Mastiff, and he was not thrilled about this picture. Feel encouraged to show off your pets.

PLASTICS !?

My Great Pyrenees Hank. The unemployed guard dog. LOL

There is only one my friend . . . . The good ol F L?

Wethinks beagle/basset on the left (male named bo). Half Pyrenees on the right (female named Cori)

At least he had the lake to himself. Hunted geese the other day at -1 degree. Last spring out on the kayak in 40 degrees and rain. I always feel like people see me out there are thinking "look at this idiot."

11-11 Green Bass ~ ^^^^^ a 7-5 Brown Bass ~ ^^^^^^^^ and a 35lb Striped Bass ~ ^^^^^^ (not a PB but real sweet fish) A-Jay

About 4 years ago around my place we had an old fashioned true winter, I was out with my son for lakers, and with my power auger I just barely made it through the ice, it has a 48” long auger on it so I guess you could say we were pretty safe to walk there ?

I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year! May the bass bite more and be bigger than last year! May God Bless you all and keep each and everyone of you safe! Here's to a great and Happy New Year! ?????

I purchased three Kastking Speed Demons and three Kastking Royale Legend reels in mid-November. As a practice, I always tear down a new baitcast reel to check components, clean and use a synthetic lube for bearings, buff metal drag washers and lube gears. During this process I found the drag tension spring washers on all six reels improperly installed. While I had the reels apart I took some photos. I notified KastKing US and China support of this issue. After they researched, the production manager in China admitted they have been making an assembly mistake(see correspondence screenshot). Since Kastking has not posted anything in regard to this issue that I could find I decided to contribute. It will only take 4-5 minutes to check your reel and correct. Just flip the position of the spring washers to the proper alignment (see misalignment schematic). The correction should add quite a bit more range in drag tension.

The "north end" for me really would be Canada!

I guess the cold isn't the only thing that's bitter in Knoxville. GO DAWGS!!!

Perfect pack rod for these things. You could also throw some wacky worms, and even rig a bobber and live bait for crappie if you like.

I'm not too far from the line, and other than WWDs, gotta have an auger right now. I'm talking the Admiral into 2 weeks in Costa Rica, shouldn't be too hard, but if that falls through I have my "the Keys need our $s right now" speech ready to go.

@12poundbass, our half Pyrenees only guards against other dogs, she loves people. She was an oops baby....... @A-Jay, my phone took a minute to load and that middle picture was cut off at the bottom......i thought trucker was licking your face while you were standing straight up! Those dogs are still huge but I thought it was wolf sized until the picture loaded

That's easy...Topwater!

Definitely a rage craw. I can flip/pitch, punch, dead stick, swim and buzz it.

I live 10 miles below the line and it's 0 outside with a -8 wind chill this morning. I'd keep driving South, maybe to Tennessee and try there...lol

SEC rules!

I will fish single digits after ice out and before ice up if I feel the need. As long as it's not windy, its doable.

Tennessee river system was good to me last week. Also some dude caught a 14 lb bass in chickamauga last week! There are probably locations closer to you with open water though.

You can find a Tatula 7' MR at Sears for less than $90 with free shipping and a Tatula 6'10" MHF at jet for $93.28 and I believe shipping was free (I bought one from them). You can find a RH Tatula CT at Walmart Online for $89.95, a LH for $89.74 with free shipping on ebay. I seriously doubt you will find a better set up (new) at that price. If you want to spend a little less, look at the Fuego CT on ebay for less than $70. If you can add a few dollars more, look at the Tatula SV for less than $135 although I have seen one go for just under $125. EDIT: These are the original Tatula rods that list for about $150. You won't be disappointed.

I'm supposed to be getting the 7 foot 4 mag heavy by the end of the week I'll give my review of it

4,627 total fish, mostly largemouth, but also some other species as well. I also caught 4 of my top 5 biggest bass this year, and my pb flathead of 45 pounds, on an 8 pound mono leader no less.

Wow, this thread is still going on! Almost makes my eyes bleed. Regardless of cost, it is cheaper than therapy!

Your 1st paragraph, IMO, nails it. There's a subset of fishermen who want to be able to deride folks who can afford high end gear and choose to buy it. There's another subset of fishermen who want to be able to deride folks who settle for lower priced gear. Both groups are, IMO, worthless. Sorry if that offends, but if you look in a mirror and you see yourself in either of those groups..ask yourself why you're there... The whole concept of fishing...for fun, or for $$$, is a cost/benefit proposition. Do what works for you, what you can afford and makes sense for where you are, right now...and blow off any Gomers who tell you you're wrong. They've got no idea where you are in your life and have no business telling you what's right or wrong.

in times like these, i’m glad that i’m retired from the city water works. ☝️ carry on

Use whatever line you want. Just fill it up 1/8th of an inch from the top of the spool.

Not sure if it's been mentioned yet, I didn't read through everything, but ndyakangler is an awesome channel. He's a (mainly) river kayak fisherman who targets smallmouth. There are a few LM vids and some stray pike and musky too. Easily my favorite channel. He's not just another gear review enthusiast, or purely technical and educational. If you wanna watch a dude who knows his waters, catches tons of smallies.... he's your guy.

Guides on the rods freezing is the least of your worries at that temp. You can soak them with wd40 and it will delay the freezing. The major problems are steering cable, impeller, starter, and launching your truck into the river. I have had all these things freeze on me but I still haven't dumped a truck in he river yet. Came really close twice and have seen it happen twice. My steering cable was frozen once so I decided to be a he-man and turn the wheel. Well that broke it. Had to fish all day using a paddle on plane to turn. I'm still pretty dumb but at least I was younger then. I have been putting off changing my gear lube here recently. I try to change it frequently because some seals are busted and water gets in. The two days after Christmas my lower unit was frozen stiff, finally changed the lube with the aid of a space heater the other day. I was getting a warning beep even after it warmed up and the impeller was peeing

I love bass fishing but there is no way I would fish at 9 degrees.

-4* smoked butt

PB smallie at 7lb-6oz & PB largemouth at 11lb-2oz.

Rage Tail Menace on the outside arms, Rage Swimmer in the middle.

Catch a limit in a tournament.

Win a tournament and have fun doing it!

YouTube? Most is regurgitation I've learned & have been taught more by members here than YouTube! What's in store for 2018? I know who holds the future & he doesn't have a YouTube channel

Spots were loving good ol' Ned yesterday...

Yes it in fact it does! But the bass on the south end still feed where they live. I've caught big bass in the coldest water around, in the shade behind high bluffs with tall pine trees blocking sunlight. All the bass do not swim to the north end ?