fishwizzard

Yea, one more price drop and I would have been unable to resist. Let me know if you ever want to sell it. Yea, with the guts and spool being a Pixy I am inclined to call it a Pixy but I think it's a toss up. Maybe it's a Pixhas? Alpixy? Plphas? I got an Airy Red Pixzilla from him as well, can't remember if I posted it though. It's now living on a P3 Criffhanger but I don't have any glamour shots the combo yet.

I use mine for 1/2 chatters and spinners and it casts them very well but I do think I am going to buy heavier ones of both as I replace lost 1/2oz ones. I like the 72H a lot better at the lower end of it's range then at the higher, it casts the lighter stuff quite well but still has a lot of gas in the tank. About the heaviest thing I throw on mine anymore is a s-waver 168.

I started 2019 with one Pixy, now I have my fourth on the way to me. Same reason as above.

I live in a very tick heavy area and use a combo of treated clothing and Picardian spray. It seems to work far better then DEET and is a lot less gross feeling and smelling. I don’t do long pants though, my hiking shorts are as close to 60’s basketball shorts as I can find. I check for ticks on my legs every time I move spots or have to cross brush or tall grass. With pants I end up with them latched on to me, with short shorts I rarely have one on me long enough to bite.

I live in a striped bass obsessed area and it blows people’s minds when they find out I don’t ever really fish for them and when I do I mostly target schoolies on UL and rarely target keepers. I love it though, trophy season starts April 20th and I will have most every freshwater spot all to mysef for a week or two.

I wanted to use 50lb PP to throw 68Specials and decided to test it with some equlivent weight Big GZs on weighted hooks and boy am I glad I did. After littering the pond bottom with three of them in a single day I gave up using braid. After the first one I was really trying to be mindfull of dig-in but it’s so easy to get a single loose loop that ends up in a cast-off. I didn’t really believe it would be such an issue until it happed.

In your situation I would look for a double-duty frog/swimbait rod. A heavier and more moderate frog rod will be great for an S-waver 168 and I have to assume that you have some good frogging opportunities in Alabama. The 168 only weighs like an ounce and a half, so it's very doable on a non-swimbait rod. I didn't see you mention a budget, but if you can do around $150 an iRod Fred's Magic Stick is worth looking into. I have had one for a year or three now and I love it for both frogs and smaller glidebaits. It's got a lot of power but will still cast a frog very well. The handle is bit long for my tastes when it comes to walking a frog but it's well suited for it other then that.

Oh, I didn't realize your M/XF was a casting rod. I have an Avid M/XF casting rod but don't know if their casting and spinning rods are 1:1 in terms of power and taper.

A 783c was my first fancy-pants rod and I still love it. It's my all-purpose pond-hopping rod and it sees more use then most of my other combos combined most months.

I was looking at the 6'3" SC rods, both the M/XF and the ML/XF for senko use. I bought my "ultimate senko rod", a MB Addermine, this winter and while I love it's power/action, I am having a hard time getting used to a spinning rod that long, most of my other ones are right around 6'. If you had to pick one for both t-rig and wacky, would you go M/XF or ML/XF?

I agree but I still keep buying more rods. If I had cut down to a few they would all be MBR taper rods. I think a 783c and a 844c would cover maybe 75% of common bass presentations.

I fished these for a season and really like them, can’t remember why I never restocked when I ran out. For fishing in current I would rig them on a tiny 1/16oz shakeyhead, the little bit of weight really helped me steer them where I wanted them to go.

L&L is like cologne, a little goes a long way and too much is worse then none at all.

The Yamamoto D-Shad is basicly a fluke-shaped Senko. It’s a little more durable then a Senko but far more fragile then a Zoom Super.

Thanks for this, stocked up on some smaller Dark Sleepers, got them for like $5.20 per.

I tend to follow the “If they don’t want me to launch there would be a sign” system and have never had a problem. Down where you are I would more more worried about the gator population then getting a ticket tgough

The easiest way to get a feel for when a rod is loading propery is to do the following: 1) Find a lead sinker or really anything that weighs at or just above the rod’s upper rating, then tie it on. 2) let out like 12” of line and with the reel handle still engaged, make a 1/2 speed sidearm cast. You will be able to feel and see the rod loading on the back cast. Do this for a while 3) Cut the weight off and tie on a bare hook. Try the 1/2 speed cast again with the handle engaged. The rod will not load at all. 4) Now add a plastic and repeat the 1/2 speed cast. It will not feel like the sinker, but you should start feeing the rod load up. If not, move to a heavier plastic until you can feel the tip load up. 5) Now that you know what to feel for, you can fuss with the reel’s settings until it casts how you want it too.

I rarely throw them totaly weightless, at the very least I stick two small nails in them by the head. It helps counter the tendency for the plastic to spin when it’s not on the hook 100% stright. Moaner Hooks sells a 3/0-1/16oz swimbait hook that is amazing for them as well. It’s just enough weight to let me keep them just sub-surface on a semi-brisk retrieve.

Weightless Trickworms are one of my favorite presentations and the first thing I try when I encounter any shallow cover. I also use Super Flukes a good bit as well as weighless Fat Ikas and Cover Craws pitched into shallow cover. This spring I am going to try larger/and heavier plastics weighless. Things like Magnum Truckworms, 8” Lizards, assorted 6-7’ stickbaits, and Sluggos. I want to be able to use heavier line and tackle for denser cover and to be able to fish further out in lighter cover.

That’s too bad it wasnt what you wanted. The Black Themis is basicly a “ML/XF Spinning rod”, which is exaclty what I was looking for. Do you feel like the BE is far off from the deflection chart?

I feel that way about braid, the sound of it coming through guides is like a very minor version of “nails on a chalkboard” to me.

How is the Elsile? I have an XXX Themis and really like it. The XXX line does not seem very popular over here and there’s not a lot of information about them. The price point makes them attractive for niche/technique/presentation specific stuff.

It’s a big meal but with enough beer and a break in the middle I could probably eat 1/4 of my body weight in one sitting like that bass tried to do.

Some brands "size up" their outerwear with the expectation that people will be wearing layers under them, a quick email to STORMR should let you know about the exact bibs you are looking at. I have two pieces from them, a pair of bibs and a surf top, and both are cut to allow layering, but not to the extreme like a ski jacket could be.

Using a paint pen is more commitment then I can handle.