fishwizzard

A few weeks ago I was wading by a ruined mill. I saw about 3' of a shed snake skin laying on the bank, with more of it under a flat piece of rubble. I wanted to see how long it was, so I flipped the rubble only find the very cranky owner of said skin. I should have expected it, but I still yelled a little.

I have a buddy who works in marketing and he was telling me that in general, the entire Youtube ad revenue model is going to collpase sooner rather then later. He said that companies are not seeing the returns they were looking for and consequently are will to pay less and less to run ads. There is also a huge issue with "bots" being used to generate page clicks and thus far Youtube has not responded in a way that is reassuring to advertisers. He also said that the percentage of times on average ads are fully watched and not clicked through is in the low single digits. I think it comes down to companies wanting to pay less and have more control, which leaves Youtube with less revenue for themselves. The big money makers are video game related content and even in that area the ad revenue is going down. I personaly watch very very few videos, mainly due to being really fussy about audio quality.

I like mine as short as I can get away with, so just long enough to get a fish around the bow. Which in my 10' yak means about 6' ish. Short butts are essential though, the old Fenwick Elitetech Smallmouth rods are perfect kayak rods if you can find them.

Braid tied in a tiny prussic knot?

I preordered one but am super on the fence about actualy buying one. I have never ussd a round reel before and am suddenly worried that i will hate the ergonomics of it.

That is where I have seen them. It's a nice little stretch of river.

Awesome, thanks man! Sadly that renders them more or less useless for me as that is too heavy for most of my combos. Time to start hoarding the 90s in ernest.

I buy them from the ebay seller "shimreels", who atleast claims to be located in America. I love the Decoy heads and prefer them to the Owners for a weedless-Ned.

Hah, nope, I have used Owner twist lock flipping hooks or the XXX stright shank hooks for all my "heavy" needed. I will have to check them out though, I am a big Owner fanboy.

So long as the lure can still move freely, it should be fine. I use a lot of the small Keitechs and they all work well, but take a lot of patience to fish slowly enough when rigged weightless. I also use the smallest size Keitech shakyhead jig alot, its a great head for swimming small plastics and is decently priced for tungsten.

The 2.8 FIs are maybe the most fragile lure I have used, but they are killer. In any wind or current I like to add a small split shot to the line to keep the lure down. I use the Owner Finesse 1\0 twist locks on them as they have a wider gap then the normal ones and they let you get a fish or three per lure if you are lucky.

Keitech recommends some seemingly small hooks, but I have had great luck following their guide.

I switched to a Picaridin baed spray last spring and I am loving it. It works great for ticks and skeeters and feels a lot less gross on my skin.

The Owner cutting point hooks are the same, great hook up ratio, awful plastic life. I use the Trokar worm hooks for Culprits and Trickworms, they are inexpensive enough for it not to bug me, but for like senkos and keitechs I use needle point hooks.

Very nice! I need to get back out there.

I buy them from eBay, if you can't find them shoot me a pm and I can look through my history for the exact seller, but they should be easy to find. What are you using them for?

Thanks guys, gives me a lot to think about. I looked at the SS and the DSR, but had discounted the EMTF as being too long. Even the extra 2" on the DSR worries me, the Irod is the longest rod I have by like 7-8" and it gives me a lot of trouble. My main worry is power, while I really like the CR723, it fishes a lot lighter then I expected. It seems to really top out just a little over 1\2oz and I want the companion rod to let me fish jigs and t-rigs around the 3\4-1oz range. A Ragebug, hook, and 3\8 skirted punch weight ends up being over 3\4oz total weight. I also want enough power to fish pads and other heavier cover. Since this will be a bank rod I want to avoid having to wade in to a marsh (again) to free a fish I couldn't get up top fast enough. If you all think the DSR is a better choice for this stuff then I can make the extra 2" work, but I am worried about going to light again.

Ok, so I have a a CR723 that I bought as a bank walking rod for some of the lovely thorn-choked ponds we have around here. I have had a few reels on it but have settled on a SV105hs. I am using it for 1/2oz total weight Jigs, light t-rigs, senkos, and occasionally light spinnerbaits and 1/2oz RESs. I want a rod to compliment this one, but longer and heavier. I am going to put a SV103xs on it, so I don't mind a heavier rod. I will use this for bank walking larger and more "landscaped" spots. I would like to throw more or less the same lures as the CR723, but heavier. I would still like to be able to toss a senko, but it's not a main use. I also wanna throw some chatterbaits into the mix. I love the full grip on the Loomis and want to give Megabass rods a try, so the TV seems like what I am looking for. My next heviest rod is a Freds Magic Stick, so I think the Tour Versatile would be a good fit between it and the Loomis. The Spinnerbait Special seems too close to the CR723 and the Perfect Pitch too close to the Irod. Is my thinking offbase here?

Anyone here with a XX Tour Versatile willing to answer some questions about it for me? I have convinced myself that I need a longer/heavier general purpose rod to complement my existing CR723. I read a bunch of stuff here and at TT but still have some questions.

Do you have a scale by any chance? I would love to know the actual weight.

Meanwhile, I am buying up a bunch of the 90s. Dick's has them for $10 each right now.

Hey, As others have said, this weekend anywhere that isnt 3 miles from parking is going to be a madhouse. But I would love to meet up sometime. We are about to hit the best time of year for wet wading and there are a lot of good spots along the Patapsco River. Remember, if you are waist deep in water, the ticks can get you!

Had a decent if lopsided day at Centennial. Got there just before 9am to find that it was already getting full, every fishing spot visible from the ramp was full of guys. Fortunately the dam was empty so I hurried over. The wind killed my attempts at the lizard, even moving up to a 3/8oz sinker I could not keep my lure on the bottom consistently. Switched to a Chartreuse Shad spinnerbait and immediately started catching. Got five small ones walking the length of the dam and lost a nice one right in the grass on the far end. I fished all the easy spots on my way around the lake. The lizard got not even a nibble, but every time I tied on the spinnerbait I could get another small bass. I tried a swim jig for a bit but I got more bumps than hits so moved back to the spinner. Ended up with about twelve bass, none of them larger then 14-15" and most closer to 12". My best fish came at the end when I was back at the ramp. I kept getting bumped right in front of the little pier so I went to the car and grabbed a rod with a wacky senko tied on. Caught one on my first cast, which seemed to impress the hell out of the worm-soakers who were watching. Fished for about 8 hours and sadly any exercise was negated by the discovery of the snack counter by the boat rental. Even crowded it's a nice lake. The dropoff is a lot steeper than I thought it would be for most of the shoreline, going to have to drag my yak out there some day, once I get an anchor rig installed.

6lb YZ Hybrid is about as thick as 10lb mono and seems to be about as strong. I have used it on small spinning reels for a while now and it works fine if you use L&L or change it every three or four months.

I did hit a pond on the way to the grocery store. Had one one but she hit right at the bank and managed to jump off before I could lip her. I got a few other hits punching through shoreline pads but could never set the hook. Going to hit Centennial tomorrow right after rush hour. I have never made it past the dam, so I am gonna circle that lake if I have to jog the last half to keep from getting locked in. I find as I improve as a fisherman my hiking mileage is dropping as I tend to fish a given spot longer.