fishwizzard

I like it when it works, but I hate that I will waste 30 min throwing every lure I have on me at a bass that could not care less when I really should just move on and come back to her later.

I hold a spinning reel with all my fingers in front of the reel stem, so the reel 100% affects the balance of the combo.

I am an enormous fan of the MBR rods and $175 is an OK/Good price on a IMX MBR 844 if the condition is good. If the store will go down to $150 I would go for it so long as all the guides are ok and the cork is reasonable. They only offer the MBR tapers in the EX6, GLX, Conquest lines now, so the IMXs will dry up at some point.

I do the same but just wrap it around my pinkly. Once it starts to hurt a little I back off a click and that's my setting.

I am trying braid/mono leader on my topwater rod and last night as the light was fading I got a tip-wrap and cast off my favorite PopMax. The wind was gusting hard but not steadily and due to the failing light I was having trouble keeping track of my lure as I was following it around the pond, waiting for it to hit the bank. I lucked out that a very very understanding DNR officer, who arrived to chase us all out of the park, used his I think 100m lumen flashlight to spot the lure and was kind enough to stand there with me for 10 min while we waited for it to make land fall. It was my fault for not checking for the wrap given the conditions, but I suspect the mono I had been using on that combo would not have almost cost me my fancy lure. I understand the advantages of braid and use it when it make sense, but I will go through a lot of other line options before I give in and use braid.

What has changed between the ones you had a few months ago and these new ones? I believe I called it months ago that the hot lure for 2019 is going to be tiny jigs!

http://www.productolure.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=170&product_id=346 Producto Tournament Grub, 20 of them for $3.50.

Glad the 1/8 Dredges are back, I was going to bug you about them later this spring.

There used to be a huge Cabelas' in Hamberg PA so I would stay up there. The wading below the dam on the Schuylkill River is really nice and there are some cheap hotels like a 5-6min drive from the parking access. You can also access the river from a park intown, I would get up at dawn and fish the river until the diner in town opened up for breakfast. Green Top has a good section but their prices are insane, like well over MSRP in some cases. It's worth a stop though as they do have stuff I have never seen the the chain stores. SFT is worth the trip just to see it and bask in wall to wall tackle every once and a while. My rule there is that I can only buy what I can carry in my arms, no cart, no trips to drop off at the counter.

Sit down, I have some bad news for you..... There used to be a place called Anglers Express in Cockysville, but I think it recently closed. Other then that I have never found a decent "bass" store, saltwater fishing dominates around here. If you want a nice weekend trip, Susquehanna Fishing Tackle in Columbia PA is like 2-3hours from most of MD and is an amazing shop. There is enough good wading access and cheap motels up there that I make the trip once or twice a summer and make a little mini vacation out of it. I hope to hell that someone chimes in with an amazing store that I have never heard of, but I am not optimistic.

If you are not picky about frame color and style you can find Costas and Smiths for great prices at some of the outdoor discount sites like Sierra Trading Post.

I have an FMJ and while a 5” senko will load the tip, it’s not ideal. A 6” one works much better. I also would not even try a jerkbait on it, it’s far too long and heavy for my liking. I have fished a frog on it and while it would not be my first choice, it has the power for them in reasonable cover and the rod’s taper really helps keep them pinned. All your other uses are right in it’s wheelhouse.

You become a full Tackle-Sith Lord once you have a reel where the aftermarket parts cost more then the reel it's self. In a sequence of events I cannot really explain I ended up trading into a 884c *and* having a TD-Z without a rod so I did the needful. I am really happy with the combo and cannot wait to spend some more time with it. I got a great deal on the reel so the ZPI PG spool cost like $10-20 more then than it and that is before the grips and color parts.

It’s not in production anymore, but the Daiwa Alphas sv105 can still be found NIB for around $200. I have two and wish I had bought two more when they were on clearence.

If the price was good enough I would roll the dice. I don’t think I have ever though to look at a seller’s rating before though.

I do as well, a pair of them even, Fenwick SM Elite MH/F. It's rated for the same weights and almost the same line as the Muse 6'5". It's 4" longer but I don't know how much it matters. I love the Fenwicks, but I don't find them great as frog rods, so I am still thinking about the Muse.

I was ready to hate the Steez CT due to them not using a "normal" 31mm spool, but that thing is too tiny to stay mad at. I am going to get once once prices stabilize.

This is not super helpful, but have seen tackle like that from one of the JDM companies. I wanna say it was Decoy, but I cannot remember more specifically. If you have the time, find an ebay vendor who sells Decoy tackle and start looking through the rest of their stuff, I know I have seen a package of those swivels with the long dropper wire on ebay when looking for other stuff.

I guess I am going to have to be the guinea pig then. The only other rods that seem like what I want are all non-USDM and so far I can't find an overseas shop to ship them too me. I also think they will be too long in the butt for me, so I think the Muse is worth rolling the dice on.

I have been looking for a short frog rod for a while now and just stumbled on the Muse Black 6'5" H/F. I want it to use on my kayak for walking frogs while seated and to use as a GP heavy cover rod when hiking into more remote spots where a 7'6" rod is going to be a pain to manage. It's main use will be walking hollow-body frogs but I will also throw some buzzbaits and swim jigs with it as well. I am not super concerned with sensitivity but do want something with a tip suited for walking. I would also love to know where it's balance point is. Has anyone used this rod and have a strong opinion about it one way or the other?

On top of what everyone else has said, my advice is to know your limits and don't get cocky. Dial the brakes up a little and don't make risky casts until you get some time in with it. Even half a spool of Tatus is still enough money to sting when you backlash it all off the reel trying to get fancy with a cast. Voice of experience here.

I have an enormous melon head and they are pretty snug. When I let my beard hit the full-hillbilly stage it looks like I’m concealing a giant goiter under the mask. They aren’t great quality, but for that price it was worth buying a couple to stash in my car, my hiking pack, and my tackle bag.

I have timed myself and at this point I can tie a good solid Trilene knot in about twice the time it takes me to fuss with a clip. So if it takes me 30 seconds to tie a knot and 15 seconds to use a clip, that’s a 15 second savings every time I swap out a lure. Even changing lures 10 times in a day of fishing is a lot for me so I would be saving 2-3 minutes total out of a full day. Not worth it to me.

Take a look around the grocery store at the tupperwear food container aisle. I have found some great tackle storage boxes there. Those ones sized to fit a sandwich would be perfect for spinner baits an will take up very little room in a pack. When I am going out with a very light load I clip a climbing chalkbag to my belt and use it to hold cranks with treble caps and spinnerbaits with wine corks pushed over the hooks.

MB Addermine, it's maybe the best spinning reel seat I have ever gotten my hands on. Although the stubby little Loomis TN handle that the FJ 1000 is on has really grown on me over the last year. The seat on the other Loomis is like something out of Hellraiser, I keep thinking about getting it removed and replaced with a TN handle as well.