Logan S

I'm not arrgoant enough to think all of my big bass were because of my outstanding skill at catching them....Or even the majority of them. I think for every big bass you catch there's a ratio of skill to luck, because even with things like FFS or sight fishing, you never REALLY know what's going to happen when hit the water that day. I can feel good about a handful of big bass I've caught that were much higher on the skill side of that ratio...And it also feels good when I just happen to bonk my jig on the head of a 6lber on the 87th dock I've skipped that day.

It's actually the most correct answer to this thread.

This was originally about aesthetics, IE the overall look and style...Not about thread work or finish. The overall, general look of Loomis rods is fairly consistent and many people who use their rods appreciate that I'm sure. I'm a rod builder, I've repaired many Loomis rods. I'm aware of their issues with threadwork, but they are not alone in those issues...Most mass production rods have something or another you can nitpick at, just how it is with high volume products.

A lot of people appreciate some consistency. Most normal fisherman will add a small number of rods to their lineup each season and not 20 at once. If someone likes to stay with Loomis it's nice that they generally keep the same aesthetics and ergonomics over a long period of time.

Well yeah, this is a thread about a tournament in the forum about tournament fishing. A large portion of the overall bass fishing narrative is influenced in one way or another by tournament fishing.

They limited FFS but it's still all anyone is talking about. Use it or don't use it, like or don't like it.... Regardless, it's completely taken over the narrative of bass fishing.

November won't be 'cold water' yet, should be some good fall fishing. I'd expect the rivers to be low and clear, they all are around here in the fall unless we get a major storm around the time you're coming. Not an expert in that specific area but I grew up fishing the upper Potomac both wading and from a boat. Generally speaking the upper parts of these rivers are known more for quantity than quality. A 3" senko on a weedless head will catch em, as will most other finesse techniques. It's true river fishing, so lots of rocks and lots of current, even when the rivers are low. Hope you enjoy your trip to the area.

I have an NFC IM SWB 806 on my bench to build, CCS measurements are 925g/70deg - so a Heavy/Mod-Fast...Feel like it would fit the bill for that. I am building it for someone who wants to throw smaller glides. I think a Chad Shad at about 2.5oz will be the biggest bait that would be appropriate on this blank. Not sure how well it'd handle big cranks, but the measurements lead me to believe it might be a decent fit for like 8XD type oversized cranks.

If you buy a license that's for a fixed time period, like Jan 1st to Dec 31st, and they don't pro-rate it based on your actual purchase date....Didn't you technically 'buy' all of the days in that time period? Or put another way, a fishing license exists so that the DNR or whatever organization gets money to do all the things they do...If you buy it for a fixed interval - 1 year, 3-day, whatever - There's a cost per day. If a person pays the full cost for every day of whatever period it is - Does it matter when they actually paid for it? DNR gets all their money either way right? Obviously if your state does it by time of purchase it's a different story, since that's technically a pre-pay for the days ahead...But for fixed interval licenses that's always a funny little question I've asked myself. I checked out of this story...But given the talk of licenses and when they are bought, etc...It reminded me of this little thought experiment.

I personally use Daiwa. But really there's only a handful of scenarios where the reel actually has any impact on your fishing....And even then it's nuanced and more of an "optimization" than an actual advantage or disadvantage. The trend since the 2020 wave of newer anglers has been toward "premium" gear and baits and Shimano and Daiwa definitely fit into that...But there used to be just as many "cool guy" JDM Abu reels as there were Daiwa and Shimano. About 10 years ago I got my buddy a JDM Revo Aurora as his wedding gift, he got asked about it every time he fished. He still uses it and it's still cool. There's plenty of reasons someone would prefer to use Abu, they make good reels. Only thing I care about other anglers is how much weight they drop on the scales 😉.o

Many years back I caught a 6-3 in a CWR tournament and a buddy of mine also caught a 6-3. After weigh in we joked it was the same fish, then got to talking...Same point, same depth, same bait - about 3 hours apart. Compared pics and sure enough, same fish. It was July, so it wasn't a bed fish situation, fish was in about 18' of water and we both caught it on a 1/2oz jig on the end of a popular point. We both tied for lunker in that tournament and funny enough it held up all year so we also tied for the lunker-of-year award that season 😄. I think it happens more than we realize. Its one of several reasons I consider CWR tournaments fundamentally different than traditional tournaments.

A longer rod will generally be more sensitive than a shorter one....Lots of caveats in that statement, but could be part of the difference if they are otherwise similar. As for a good jig rod blank for bigger jigs - I really like the Point Blank 73HXF and the NFC HM MB709. They are both close in power and will handle a 1/2oz jig very well. The PB would be good if you prefer a faster tip, the NFC would be good if you like the traditional mag-bass, mod-fast type of tip. Based on what you posted about liking a stiffer tip, the NFC 709 might be the one to try.

Good news - Hopefully they all go that way in the next iterations. I think the 'big 3' - LS, AT, and ML all still use the box though.

FFS consists of the FFS transducer and the 'black box' which houses the brains of the system. The FFS ducer connects to the black box, which then connects your unit. You'll need a unit compatible with the FFS system you get. If starting from scratch like you are, it seems that Garmin is the most affordable for a unit and FFS setup combo. Look for an LVS 32 or LVS 34 setup and then pick a unit that is compatible. I personally run Lowrance's flavor of FFS, but the generalized components are all the same.

Sounds like you guys have it figured out, case closed I guess.