Turkey sandwich

Take it to your own shop and do not accept what they've written up. If you were to have put it in as a collision claim, they'd be on it for everything over your deductible. You have insurance to protect against this nonsense. I have no idea how insurance works in OK, but I've had to fight insurance companies here in PA to not get screwed.

The Avid might be a bit long for jerkbaits if you like working them by snapping the tip down, otherwise not bad. With the Avid, even if you don't live it as a jerkbaits rod, you'll likely find some use. They're great rods. The Veritas, should be perfect. I have a 7'6 MH/Winch Veritas that chucks anything up to DT-16S, and 6XDs a mile and 7' Med Winch for shallow running cranks . I'd imagine that stick being a good choice for the huge crankbaits. I'm a big fan of Veritas Winch and feel like they make fantastic crankbaits rods for the money.

You earned those fish!

I mean, if none of that helps, there's always Soylent... https://www.soylent.com/products/

I've had a similar experience. I broke a Rage, my fault, and not due to defect. I was able to upgrade to a Legend Elite for essentially the difference in price between the two rods and it arrived faster than they'd expected. They were super pleasant and professional and worked to match me up with the rod I wanted in time for a tournament just a few weeks later. I could not be happier with the service or the quality of the Legend Elite.

A magnetic release is almost mandatory on a wading net.

Tilapia is bland and generally not the healthiest farm raised fish. and carp.... well, not a whole lot of folks enjoy eating carp.

I have nothing bad to say about native carp species. Asian carp, however, are a different story. I can speak on them, but only poorly. Anyone here who regularly fishes the Mississippi and it's major tributaries can probably provide a lot more insight. The best I can tell, there are major issues with them out-reproducing native species and consuming a lot of vital vegetation and native invertebrates that make up the food chain.

The mass hysteria over evil fish that breath air is absurd. Bowfin are a valuable part of healthy ecosystems where they're present and have been for forever. They are the opposite of invasive. Further, the idea that having multiple predatory species is bad for a fishery tends to be short sighted. Even snakehead, where found have shown to have little to no impact on bass populations and the majority of folks who pound their chests about them also tend to be the guys who camp next to stocking trucks and and pride themselves as master anglers... For the first two weeks of trout season. The biggest exceptions I can see being justified are invasive species like carp, and lampreys that actually have documented negative impacts.

A big thing in winter is finding water with little current and protection from predators like osprey, eagles, etc. This is why slow, deep stretches can be good. Still, don't overlook points and oxbows that will maintain depth, even if water levels drop. These spots can hold tons, and tons of fish and a wide variety of species.

I had no idea.

which lake?

The crayfish trap is the way to go if you're really driven to figure it out. It's cheap and easy to make. Digging out those tunes can be a nightmare - some crayfish will dig DEEP. Also, understand your results aren't going to be totally conclusive. Most bodies of water have multiple species of crayfish, eating different things, and thus lots of different colors. If you keep with the basic crayfish patterns, you'll likely be good.

Huge props for being in that kind of shape at 58, A-Jay. I'm noticing now that at 33, it's a lot harder to maintain weight/fitness than it was 5-10 years earlier. Through my 20s I grappled between 165-175lbs with less than 10% body fat. The combination of work and back problems jumped me as high as 215. I'm currently at 204 and working my way back down. The hardest parts, I think, are diet and consistency, but I've seen a lot of progress this year after finally healing from back surgery and hope to be back around 190 by the Summer. Good luck to everyone else trying to get healthy and in shape.

It's not uncommon to see Ike or Pete Gluszek on the Schuylkill or Delaware right in or around the city. Neither is known for producing anything spectacular in terms of largemouth or smallmouth, but the Schulkill has become a pretty big deal for guys fishing for flatheads and the Delaware has awesome shad and striper runs and it's pretty common to see lots of boats out between Philly and Trenton come spring time.

I generally feel the same way, but I do make a few exceptions. I'll generally take legal walleye, 1-2 stocked trout, and a few bass and panfish over the course of a year. The only fish I'll actually go out of my way to take are walleye and perch. Anything else that I'm taking is generally a fish that I know isn't likely to survive. To me, it's kind of a catch 22. I don't like taking most game fish for all of the obvious conservation reasons, but do enjoy eating fish and hate everything about how most fish farms are run. (To everyone not familiar, think everything about the worst industrial farms, only much, much worse)

The irony is that 10+ years of grappling didn't do it, getting rear ended leaving the gym did. At least I can still say I never really took up golf

@WRB It really is a process. The injury eventually forced me to stop training and teaching BJJ/MMA/wrestling and totally changed my lifestyle. I may be able to get back to it at some point, but I'm in no rush to go through injury nightmare again. The hard part was the very depressing realization that competing on the international level was out of the question after so many years of training. It really hurt to see that go away. And while I may never deadlift 450lbs or grapple in tournaments again, 2 years after surgery I do feel good most of the time. I try to get in the gym 3-5x a week and spend a lot of time stretching while I'm there. Now, the hardest things for me are the bad days when it still takes a while to get out of bed, drastic changes in weather, and long days on the water. Casting and spinning gear isn't too bad, but throwing streamers with the long rod will cause some really nasty fatigue and spasms (I also have herniations in my thoracic and cervical spine). Having a comfortable seat in my kayak is very important, and paddling has actually been a very beneficial workout. Still, if I do consecutive days in the kayak, I'm feeling it on the second day. Other stuff worth doing for back neck pain: Neck: shrugs, lateral raises, neck strengthening exercises (yes, the neck harness really works), nerve glides Low back: front squats, deadlifts and variations with sensible weight and GOOD FORM, core strengthening exercises, yoga/stretching

I think you were just looking for an excuse to take your shirt off. When did they start letting jacked dudes into the Coast Guard? kidding aside, pull up variations and dead hangs can be awesome for decompression.

I agree with WRB in that you definitely want a good read on MRIs and X Rays for any major back problems to make sure PT doesn't make things worse. I herniated a total of 7 discs in a car accident and I've had L5-S1 fused. I have good days and bad days still 2 years after surgery, but I have experienced a lot of relief. I think it's important to remember that you need to maintain your condition. As much as you can hurt yourself being over aggressive with physical activity, you can also make a ton of problems worse by sitting around and getting fat. Figuring out that balance is kinda the tricky part. I have no familiarity with the technique in the first video, but there are a lot of good variations off of the bird dog stuff. Also, any kind of decompression and iliopsoas stretching tend to be good ideas.

lol

that looks really well kept! hows the motor/electric?

no problem, man. Embrace the. jig!

The upside about moderate action rods is that you don't need to spend a fortune to get a pretty good one, and that you generally don't need the kind of sensitivity in a crank bait rod that you'd want in a jig/T-rig/C-rig? etc rod.