Chance_Taker4

That is the exact bag I use.

Thank you.

14# fluoro. I was using 12# mono but was getting really bad hooksets on long casts with it.

I have a system so I can differentiate what line is on what reel. All mono is Green, Fluoro is clear, braid intended to use a leader pink or white and straight braid green. That way when I look down I can see exactly what reel I need.

Firstly I know what most of the posts in this thread will say. I am looking for people who have actually handled and/or used both reels. I'm using this reel for shakey head and weighted ribbontail worms. I also do not factor where a reel was made i.e self production vs Doyo outsourcing. With that said which one do you prefer and why did you pick one over the other?

I had a pair of Oil Rigs that fogged up if you just looked at them. They turned me off on Oakley for a long time. Then I tried the Gascan and loved them. Now I use the Batwolf and they are by far the best glasses I've used but my 2 year old got a hold of them and not they are missing an arm. I was looking at Costa because of all the rave reviews they have and because their lenses have glass in them and are thicker than Oakley. But I don't wanna have to deal with fogging and the new Shallow Water Prizm lenses are amazing.

I'm glad I read this. I am a die hard Oakley guy but in the market for new glasses and was looking at Costas. Looks like I'll be sticking with Oakley now. Never had a fogging issue with the 4 pair of Oakley I own. I currently use the Batwolf frame and love them.

Grande Bass Lake Falcon Craw

I have a Plano bag that holds 4 3700 boxes. I take one full of hard baits, one full of skirt baits, a slim with terminal tackle and a deep for soft plastics. I bring 4-5 rods and a small backpack that has my lifejacket, cull tags, weigh bag, drinks and food that normally I empty when I get to the ramp; wear the jacket, culls go in the livewell, drinks and food into the cooler, weigh bag lays in the floor under my tackle bag.

One thing to take into account that I wish I knew when I first started fishing out of a boat is, remember when the fish bites it will run towards you. When bank fishing he will run away from you. It took me a few outings missing fish and losing fish to bad hooksets to realize what was wrong.

Its funny you bring this up. I was watching an interview with Tim Horton, I don't remember if it was youtube or his show on WFN, but anywho he said that the score tracker scares the anglers and instead of remaining calm and targeting the bigger fish the anglers get rattled and just try to get what they can in the boat and on the board. And honestly watching MLF and BPT he hit the nail on the head. I remember watching a Selects event where everyone started flipping docks and lay downs but Fletcher Shryock who was slinging jerkbaits and buzzbaits along rip rap. As soon as Fletcher started catching them everyone gave up on what they were doing, downsized their gear and targeted schools instead of the big ones. I think if anglers would just remain calm and realize it takes 20 1lbers to get a 20lb bag or 5 4lbers. Its still a weight system not a how many fish can you catch contest. I don't have a problem with the graphs, power poles, rods, reels, etc. I really think should be taken off boats is a Hydrowave. I watched a video with KVD where he was talking about his performance for an event and he said that he couldn't buy a bite until he turned on his hydrowave and it turned the bite on. I friend of mine has one and we were out fishing one day where the bite was tough and he turned his on and bam you could see the fish start moving towards the boat once that thing was one. If you're a pro you shouldn't need that kind of technology on the boat.

This past event I won. I was about 200 yards from the launch and repeatedly trolled the same 50 yards bank flipping the same 3/8oz jig for 7 hours and weighed in a 12lb bag to win. Never cranked the outboard.

Coming from Ohio I have to drive crazy hours to get to any Classic. I really loved the fact it was in Knoxville this year as it was only 8 hours for me. Sadly I will not be making it to this Classic as I was there in 2014 and not interested in making that journey again. I say push the classic back about 6 weeks and bring it to Erie.

Produces big bags and saves you a boat load (pun intended) because your not running all over the place wasting gas.

Last season and this season has been a big change for me. I work Tuesday through Saturday now and don't get a lot if any practice time for events. What I do now is wing it so to speak. I wait until everyone else is gone before I run and usually I stay close to the ramp. I do this because the waters near me are heavily pressured with tournaments and all the fish are released in the same area. Ill do this and just troll shallow water maybe hit a spot I see in the distance and so forth. No real planning ?. And actually I have been more successful this way. I won our last event and top 3 in our AOY race without prefishing a single event. I think it keeps me from over thinking everything.

The Helium 3 is a $280 (can be had for around $236 now) the GLX and Destroyer are $400+. The GLX and Destroyer should and does out perform the Helium. I do in fact love my Helium 3 as I use it for 3/8oz jigs, it is super light, sensitive and has great backbone. It balances perfect with a Daiwa Tatula SV.

About 6 months ago I made a thread talking about CEC selling off their part of Carrot Stix. Well I seen a Facebook post from a friend who has a new rod and was raving about it. I decided to check out there website. The website has changed, pics have been changed and products updated. Lifetime Warranty reduced to one year instead of lifetime. Prices on rods have increase and they seem to have a lot more rods to offer. They now have a Wild Wild Alpha, Will Wild Green Pro, Wild Wild Orange Lite (panfish), Wild Wild Orange Giant (8.5' to 13') as well as their known lineup Orange, Orange Pro, Black, Green, Gen X. I may give them a try once I see more reviews and see if the breaking is still there. My Facebook friend that has one told me that they are still light and are using different guides but you can opt in for the Microwave guides if you want to. Just some food for thought. I'd like to see this brand either get their act together or just ride off into the sunset. I am also partial to the orange rod as orange is my favorite color.

There's not much need to when you can get a gallon for $25 or $30 or 5 gallons for $130. I use Dead On Plastix since BaitJunkys no longer sells it. I thought about trying the Polysol "BJ" formula but I've heard it is not the same as BaitJunkys, gets a lot of bubbles while microwaving. How bait plastics stuff? I heard thats what Dead On used to be until they changed and that is where Bait Junkys came from as well. But I also heard it bubbles a lot

I didn't realize No. 8 was still around. Its a subsidiary of 13 Fishing. They had a lot of issues with breakage to the point 13 rebranded them as ***. It looks to me like its a Gander Outdoors house brand rod. They used to sell the Gander Mountain GMX Elite rod that was essential a 13 Omen Black blank with different components. If it is anything like the old Elite that was sold through Gander it is a great rod for the price. I also looked up No. 8 and they haven't update their site in years. This leads me to believe that No. 8 will be Gander's house brand name now. $119 was even the price of the GMX Elite before Gander went under.

I feel like I need to do a little defending of Kistler here. Yes they had rod breakage issues in years past. However, the rods from a few years ago (Green Heliums, Blue Argons, Zbones) are nothing like the Kistlers of today. Now they outsource all their blanks from Gary at North Fork Composites. All components are Fuji components, grips are from Winn on the Mag2 and Idk about the cork. I to had issues in years past with Kistler like everyone; but two years ago I wanted to try them again after seeing the Feel n Reel KLX. I now own at least one rod from all their lines including the brand new designed 2019 ZBone. I still have rods from other manufactures but most of those rods are sub $200 rods. I cannot compare other high ends to the ZBone as I have never used them and it would be detrimental to you if I proclaimed something that I never experienced.. But it is just as negative to compare a rod that is no longer produced the same way to other rods. (Yes I understand reputation proceeds businesses just look at Carrot Stix for that matter.) Now back to the ZBone. It is light, very sensitive (sensitivity is based on user anyway), and it floats if knocked of the deck (don't ask how I know this ). The only "High End" Rods I have fished besides the ZBone would be the 13 Envy Black (Original), Abu Garcia Fantasia, and Denali N2 and I would take the ZBone over those three any day.

I fish Kistler exclusively (guilty of being a brand loyalist). I started with the Magnesium 2 as it was recommended to me for a jig rod. I was really impressed with the way it balances and lightness of the rod. Now I have rods from every line including the new Argon line which is by far the best sub $250 rod I have ever fished. I'm glad there are more people out there using these rods. I seem to be the only one in my neck of the woods.

My vote goes to the Kistler Z-bone. I have not fished any of the other high end rods on your list but I do have the 2019 Z-Bone and 2 of the older generation Z-Bones. They are light, feel great in your hand, extra sensitive. Balances great with about any reel now a days. Plus the added benefit of using a blank actually produced by Gary Loomis and not just have his name stamped on it. And Z-Bones are on sale through Kistler's website. They are running around $520.

I was a big fan of the River2Sea Bling in Abalone Shad and Terminator T-2. But I tried the Omega Gennisis Ti and they were amazing. They are on the more expensive side but you can build your own in their website. I like the fact that I can bend the wire to make a bigger or smaller profile and it doesn't effect of the spinnerbait performs. I use the double Willow leaf almost exclusively on all my spinnerbaits.

I use a 8:1 Abu Revo SX Gen4. I like faster reels to pick up the slack quicker to get a better hook set.

Keyocera DuraForce Pro 2. I had this phone, it's a smartphone but isn't as refined and feature packed as most phones but I did drop it off my roof on to my driveway, ran it over with my lawn mower and dropped it into my lake (sat in the lake overnight about 4') and still worked and nothing was broken. It did have to sit in rice for 3 days to dry out. But the phone is made to not break and it has a slot in the corner to add a wrist strap or lanyard. I only got rid of it because the internals only have a 3 year life span.