Cgolf

I am curious do you use all the rods you take? Having fished from a small boat, I guess I got used to carrying less over the years and have more multi purpose combos. In the boat I have 5-6 bass rods and 1-2 musky rods. In the Kayak I do a M spin and a M or MH BC and just change lures a lot. I know this question goes out to a lot of folks that carry a lot of combos.

Tackle Warehouse just posted to shop early to avoid shipping delays;) Still assuming they are doing a BF sale though, just have expectations low for getting the order quickly.

I have 4, 3 Quantum Accurists that are around 15-20 years old that are solid reels that in the last year I am finally replacing with newer reels that cast further. Only complaint was casting distance, otherwise they still work just as good as the day I bought them and on trips they are packed as backup reels. Other is a 20+ old Shakespeare excursion spinning reel. That was my river bank reel and was used a ton and sat in the hot truck all summer while I was at work. I finally retired it last year and am looking to finally use a second one that I got back then that is basically brand new. That reel has probably caught more fish than all my other reels combined. Fished cranks and plastics with it. It is a little sloppier than other more expensive reels, but 20+ years out of a 20 buck reel is pretty darn good.

Only wasted baits I have are Senkos and the generic senkos. I believe you when you say they catch fish, just not efficiently, time wise, for me. jerkbaits can be rough on me too if a longer pause is needed, but man the viscous hits I get on them are crazy.

Its a fun hobby, but another monkey to deal with lol. It doesn’t really save money, but does let you tie whatever you need and to tweak patterns to your liking.

Yeh I have a ton of nymphs and scuds I tied because they are fun to tie. Then you realize there is no way you can fish all the flys. Zuddlers and clouser minnows too. Then the bunny bugger becomes my Ned fly that catches everything big and small. It’s also a 5-6 minute tie when I am on my game. One fly I really like for trout though is an elk hair caddis, tied a ton of those. Thanks I had some really good teachers. I took some classes through our local Trout Unlimited and they taught me a lot of things I couldn’t get from a book.

Tying flies in the winter is a great way to keep the fishing brain going. I used to tie all the time but the last few years I had slowed down. Hopefully now that I moved my tying bench to a common area I will get into it again.

The bunny bugger has been my go to fly for years and it catches trout and bass especially smallies. Seeing @Eric 26 jig purchase on the latest purchase thread finally got me to tie these up after meaning to for years. Got this pattern off the internet years ago, and it suits my tying and fishing style because I am not a fan of marabou. tail fur off zonker strip grizzly wet hackle rabbit dub 1/16 ounce sized Jades jigs tin/bismuth Ned head. That’s it, and for not tying for a while they don’t look too bad. Think the lighter than lead heads will work well for the jig fly combo. Added one of the original flies for comparison.

I learned that their is a monkey that is the cause of our master closet being over run by fishing tackle and gear!

Last year I picked up a Shimano Sienna 2000, I think it is the FG as colors of reel is the same, for under 30 bucks and I have been really pleased with it. Used it for both Trout and bass fishing this year. It was listed in outdoor life as a best buy. This reel is almost making me think Shimano is an ok brand;)

Another good jig fly to try would be a wooly bugger with a rabbit tail, cut from a zonker strip, instead of marabou. The bunny bugger has been my number 1 smallie fly I just never thought to tie it on a jig lol.

Yup, only because I have my Christmas allowance to spend on Black Friday. I know what I am going to order, but if stuff is a little cheaper than expected I get to add more:) The 20 packs of Rage Smokin Roosters I picked up at Sierra did help a little bit and putting together the cart of needs and wants and how they can change day to day is fun too:)

I have 832 in the green, may fade a little, white and coastal Camo which is a really cool color combo. Spinning reels I use fireline and have probably had most of the colors they offered including the pink. Never understood the issues people have with it, my only complaint is it is a little stiff when new. Once broke in there are no issues.

I am with Crash on this one. I carry one 3700 hydro flow box with a small selection of cranks I know will work, some plastics pre rigged on slider heads and a spin frog and some spare jigs and snaps. Not a whole lot different than what I take in the boat. Rods though are 2 uglies in the kayak. A 6’6” medium spin and I believe a 5’6” BC. Next year though I will be adding a spinnerbait or two to the kit.

I fished the 1/4 ounce head this morning on a swifter current section of the river and found depth control was much better than other spinnerbaits I have used, standard spins and inlines. It seemed to track at one depth and didn’t wash out when you hit a patch of faster water. I probably could have used it as a wake bait even with the uneven current. I really hope they come through the reeds well as the drop bait characteristic is key. Last year a 1/3 of my spinnerbait hits came on a change of speed or a pause. That doesn’t include the hits post bouncing off a reed as I had those too. Time will tell. So far I am really impressed. Not worried about not catching anything yet, because this is bonus time from shore with low historical expectations in these spots.

I don’t think I have a person in general. I grew up, my fishing years, reading in fisherman and fishing facts s the magazines get the nod for me. Mostly being a bank angler I basically fished Midwest finesse and took a liking to slider heads over 20 years ago and for weedless presentations they are about all I ever use. Oddly I didn’t get the slider fishing book till 5 years ago. I am pretty sure my biggest bass came out of a Florida pond at the condo we were vacationing at on a 2” yellow grub. Even 30 years later I remember the feel of the take, but have no clue the actual size. I just know the local kid was shocked and I was too new to bass fishing to document it. so if magazines count that is mine.

Not sure on the secret bait, but I am really curious how the NetBait dagger works. I have had that thing in my cart numerous times only to remove it for something else. You won’t be disappointed in the spinnerbaits. I like war eagles in general now that I discovered them, but the finesse with the wide willow has a little extra something working for it. Only thing I can figure is it’s something different pressured bass don’t see often and they jump on it. The bait is responsible for my upcoming Barlows order that started with a bunch of wide willows but unfortunately or fortunately didn’t end with just those blades:)

While I will say there definitely have been times the *** thing has driven me nuts, but overall I agree this site has the best group of posters and mods around. The part I appreciate the most is that being a semi budget angler my top end price range is respected and not looked down on by other posters. Having dealt with a forum previously, when we were early 20s with an unplanned kid, where I did learn a lot, but people looked down on my gear, ugly sticks and a Shakespeare excursion spinning reel. If you weren’t fishing high end rods and reels and LC baits and averaging 18”+ smallies you might as well not bother. Heck I still bank fish with the ugly stick and reluctantly retired the excursion last year and caught some tanks with it too. So now that my kid is in the workforce and our jobs are much better it is nice to see the newbies on here are helped with great options within their budget. I really think that helps to grow the sport/pastime and doesn’t discourage anyone .

That was the bait I got the two follows on, I think it was just a large Colorado blade that put the thump on it. Honestly even with a Clunn glass rod it felt similar to a chatter bait on the retrieve which at least so far seems like a good thing. Once I get it out more next year I will keep that in mind and adjust them till the fish tell me I got it right. It is a neat little bait that may give new life to the heavy wire spinnerbaits I no longer use. Also this is a tough stretch of the river but a good place to test lures. Haven’t seen a fish the last few times there but do see the occasional pike. Never caught a smallie in this section.

The bit I read online said they are a better drop bait than a standard spin which would be beneficial when fishing in cover like reeds. I could reel and pause it when near a reed. I did notice though that the bait thumped so much on the 3/8 bait that the wire on top with the blade was rotating back and forth hard almost like a chatter bait. Maybe these were the precursor to the chatter bait and the chatter bait has now replaced it?

This morning I took an old 3/8 ounce strike king with too thick wire and a Walmart 1/4 ounce spin and converted them to short arm baits and gave them a go on the river this morning. They had a ton of thump and both tracked very well. Had two nice pike give me a lazy follow. Will be curious to try them in the reeds next year and see how well they come through them compared to a standard spinnerbait. Any specific uses I am missing? Only saw one or two on TW so I figured on my local lake that gets hammered pressure wise they would give them a different look.

Gonna sound like an add for 6th sense, but I really like the Provoke, Quake lipless (both the sinking and the suspending), hybrid swim crank, and the hyper jerk. They can be found for good deals on Black Friday and certain times of the year they run insane deals on their site. I have gotten many of their baits on those sales on their site in the 3 to 5 buck range. Plastics gambler ugly otter and the Arsenal assault bug (holds up better than menace for me) are all very solid. War Eagle spinnerbaits. I caught a lot of fish over the years on other brands, but fishing those other baits side by side with a war eagle I gave to someone they outfish me 3 to 1 at least. That said Humdingers worked well this year and they are economical.

Does anyone know if Barlows tackle does anything on Black Friday, even something like free shipping? I have a guess but thought I would ask before I checkout my order.

You ever made a short arm spinner bait? Looking at the unpainted frames that look like the war eagle head and was thinking of making a short arm spinner or two out of them.

This thread is evil, as I know have a roughly 75 buck order of just different blades from barlows ready to order sometime this month.