Columbia Craw

Amish Uber. Strongsville Ohio.

Boy, was this timely. I retired about sixteen months ago. I'll be 65 in December. I finished 25 years as a police officer/shift sergeant (my second career). I miss the people I worked along side with. I can relate, in that I have a quarter century of L/E experience and it now sits dormant. It seems like a waste. I had offers to become a trainer and an independent consultant but that required more travel than I was willing to endure. The most blaring aspect of retirement is the amount of time I have with my wife. She, nor I were used to being with each other that much. I don't miss the shift work and the shift system I worked was brutal. I don't miss the interactions with the negativeness of the people. I do miss those rare opportunities to impact a person and maybe save their lives or futures and bring some closure to problems. I think I planned well and finances are are not an issue. We live a simple life. Family is everything. I have discovered the simple pleasure of reading. I'm a huge history buff but never had the time to read. I've read 34 books in the last 12 months and love my reading time. Gym time is also a priority. I want to remain healthy and enjoy my retirement. It's taken me a year to figure things out, deal with the financial aspect of retirement and learn to relax. I was diagnosed with PTSD a few years ago, one of the reasons I did retire. It's real. Trust me, it's real. Fishing and interaction with others is therapeutic for me. Now if I can stop looking at every license plate tab to see if it's expired, the rest will be gravy. Doug

When you get older you will wish you had installed a comfort hight. Looks like you spilled your Mountain Dew.

I use both and they work well. I mix it up and let the bass tell me if they have a preference on any given day. I also like the Robo FX Sculpin.

Honey Crisp is my wife's favorite. I can find them at local produce stands for 99 cents a pound right now. My favorite apple is an Ambrosia. Jonathans are second. My least favorite is a red Delicious and a Rome Beauty. Eat up☺️

Seriously, how do you like them. One of my favorite aspects of fall is fresh apples. I love a good apple. I made a run to the farm and stocked up on Honey Crisp, Jonathans, Kings, Prime Reds, Jonagolds, Ambrosias and Fuji. Living in my region is apple heaven. My grandfather told me a story when I was a child regarding how hard it was to get fresh fruit and or vegetables during World War I and when he was in Belgium he found an apple on the ground that was half rotten. He ate it. He said it was the best apple he ever ate I guess at my age it doesn't take much to make me happy and appreciative.

The 705CB Glass is a composite rod and although more moderate in it's action, it has good power. The 705CBMF is moderate in it's action farther down into the blank. There is a following on the west coast for that action of rod. It feels much more like a traditional E glass rod. The 704 CB Glass is very moderate and flexes well into the middle of the blank. It does not have the snap to effectively work a jerkbait in my opinion. It's a great rod for finesse cranks like 1/8 ounce speed traps, Bandit 100 and the little 6th Sense Crush model. Dobyns does not produce a glass/composite spinning rod. Call Dobyns Direct and explain what you want to accomplish and they can clarify what models would be most effective.

The Goby color #242, was available in most models up to about 11 years ago and then was dropped. I know because I scrounged all I find and ended up with 17 of them in Deep Little N. Then about seven years ago the pattern was put back into production, but not in all models. J. Franco was right on, in that PRADCO acquired Normans and the production went from made in USA to Guatemala. So far the off shore baits have not appeared to suffer and work well. The 242 DLN is available from TW. I've caught more smallmouth on the Deep Little N than all my other crankbaits combined. They work.

Stretch is no worse than any mono and I have yet to have a knot failure. Read the evaluation on TT.

Sunline Super Natural. Very soft and manageable.

I just got it so all I have is " yard time" to check it out. It is very similar in size to the CT models. It is under seven ounces. the spool tension came preset from the factory and the spool tension knob is both recessed in a raised collar and very hard to turn. That was not an issue. The reel is very smooth, not unlike my Tat SV or CT R's. The reel's control was set at 6 from the factory. Spooled it was #14 Super Natural. tied up a 3/8 jig only and started pitchin with it. Dropped the control to zero and was really pleased how the line came off. I also like the knobs a lot. moved the Mag Force back to 6 and started long casting with a 7-3 MH and the first cast was a bomb. Retrieve was very smooth. I was really surprised at the distance I could achieve with such little effort. Two things I found to be very positive: The progression of the Magforce setting is amazing. Each click produces a noticeable change in control. I could really dial the reel in to gain maximum distance with control. The 100 is a long caster. The second is the dis-engaging and re-engaging of the T wing. My other T wing models are loud when they engage. The 100 was much less noticeable. Firm but quieter, much more like a reel with traditional line guide system. I have big hands so the reel did feel smaller to me but comfortable to palm. Glad for the 90 MM handle. I'm liking what I see so far. To be frank, I did get a great deal on it, 109.00 so that was nice.

Trying the new Tatula 100HS and it is a caster.

I would love to hear your opinion on this model. I'm contemplating the 754.

That Tiger Craw looks great.

Really good post A-Jay. I compared it to your last season and saw some variance. This year for me was difficult except for April/May. I had a good pre-spawn and spawn season. All shallow. My local home smallie reservoir was lowered and the launches closed until mid July. The upper Columbia pools were inaccessible do to forest fires. Taking care of my mom's medical appointments impacted free time more than ever. My home lake was lowered to flush it out in an attempt to impact algae blooms. Everything, when I could get out, was DEEEP. I drop shot 90% of the time in 22 to 40 feet of water. Tough season. What worked: Black blue jig and Rage Chunk Dobyns 1/2 oz. Spinnerbait Piranha Vibrating jig SK Structure Bug and Rage Craw Senko SK Dream Shot and Robo Worms It was a six rod year.

Now that season is winding down, watch the flea market here. A lot of members thin their stuff out and great deals are to be had.

Glenn does exist. We met last October at ************** Reservoir and had a great chat. Glenn loves this sport and he is passionate about it. He's a regular guy with a wife who loves to fish. Good people. I for one, appreciate his vision for this forum. We are lucky.

I haven't been in my local tackle store for quite awhile and dropped by yesterday. All Cousins rods half off. J.B. tells me they closed up. Being the shopper I am, I got a fantastic dealeo in an IM8 7-3 Heavy. After burning the residual of a gift card I paid $73.00 for a $215 rod. A little Tatula. a little #50 Power Pro and walah, frog rod.

Great place to buy Twizzlers.

I really like the crush 50 and what ever these are.

It has a resemblance to the original Rebel Wee R which was a great bait. They should really effective. No Tennessee Shad or Rootbeer ?

My garage door.

No need to lean further. That's it.

I remember where I was and exactly what I was doing. What I do recall was the feeling that there is evil in this world and the innocent suffer. God bless and continue to bring comfort those who survived, responded, lost loved ones and live with the nightmare of this tragedy. Thanks A-Jay.

Pink or bubble gum. Ain't gonna do it no way no how bubba.