Junk Fisherman

1) TW Gift Card 2) Soft sided cooler I plan to take on weekend tourneys when I fish as a nonboater and don't want to take my big cooler. 3) Battery-operated water compressor/cleaner that I'll use to wash my boat and truck

Thanks Scott for the reply. I just realized that Daiwa is going to be at the Schaumberg Fishing Show in a couple weeks. Hopefully, I can get to feel these rods and add some questions before ordering. I do like the Hook Up videos. This guys's video is pretty good too. As someone who has a lot of Dobyns rods, Steez's sensitivity is on another level compared to Champion HPs and definitely XPs. My Steez spinning 761 is a much lighter, sensitive rod compared to my 741 and 742 Dobyns Champ HPs. I've been slowly replacing my Dobyn rods over the last couple years.

So I've gotten the new rod itch and have been thinking about upgrading my casting rod arsenal. Currently, my best casting rod is an 843 GLX (not the 2024 model) that I use for pitching plastics and 1/4 to 1/2 oz jigs. So I am considering either the Steez Utility Player (7.3 MH) or the Steez Bottom Contact Rod (7.5 MH). Does anyone have either of these rods and if so how do you like it? What applications do you use the rod for? Is there another high end rod you can compare it to? Thanks for any info.

For actually fishing, I wear latex gloves and put a hand warmer in the palm. I've used both the disposable gloves or ones a little heavier duty. I can still cast and pitch lures wearing these gloves. I don't ever fish if the air temp is much less than 35 degrees and the latex/hand warmer does the trick down to that temp. I do have ski gloves that I will wear when running the boat but they come off when I start to fish.

I keep misreading the title of this thread.

After doing line inventory I realized I needed some 15 lb fluorocarbon for pitching plastics. TW: 200 yards of 15 lb ArazX on sale for $20. Added the bulk pack 2.75" TRDs which were on sale, some big TRDs, a mini Chatterbaits, and Berkley's Dark Sleeper knock offs which were over 50% off. All told a little over $50 to hit free shipping. And I even had a gift card.....

My Dad remembered every deer he killed and big buck that he saw in great detail. We'd drive the gravel roads in southern Illinois where he lived and he'd tell the same ole stories year after year. It kinda annoyed me as a teenager and young adult but I gained an appreciation for them as I got older. I'd give anything to go on one of those rides right now.

My rods aren't technique-specific however I end up primarily using a small number of presentations on each rod. For example if I just look at my spinning arsenal: Daiwa Steez 761: Primary: Neds Secondary: Hairjigs, Hover strolling Daiwa Steez 761: Primary: Neko Secondary: Wacky, tubes Dobyns 741 HP: Finesse swimbaits and underspins Dobyns 742 HP: Primary: Dropshot Secondary: Free rig, shakey Dobyns 702 XP: Primary: 4" swimbait and ballhead jig Secondary: All-around Except for the 741 which is a light action rod, all of those rods are medium light action which are the most versatile spinning action and handle 80% of my spinning needs. The Steez 761 has a ridiculous 1/16 oz to 3/4 oz lure range so that covers everything I'll throw on spinning gear. Except for a few instances, if I need heavier than a ML action spinning rod I'll go to a baitcasting outfit.

Great stuff A-Jay. Thanks. I'll have to add this to my arsenal.

Hey A-Jay. How often do you throw a bladed jig versus a spinnerbait for smallmouth? What dictates when you throw one versus the other? I gotta be honest- I rarely ever throw a chatterbait for smallies (only spinnerbaits) and am probably missing out. Thanks for any advice.

This past year I lost a pair of Costa Del Mar sunglasses. I was running at plane and turned around to look at something and they flew off my head. Feels like I've done that before without losing glasses. Didn't have a life jacket secured this past spring and it flew out. It was a nice NRS Chinook life jacket. Several years ago I lost a nice spinning combo on a reef in Green Bay. A buddy hooked a good fish. I grabbed the net and layed down my rod without reeling it in. We had spot-lock on so maybe a fish pulled it out but it was gone once I netted the fish and went back to pick up my rod. That's it in about 35 years of fishing from a boat. Edit- After going back and reading this thread, I remembered that I too lost a wedding ring. It was always a little loose and I caught a fish and was wiping off my hands together and I flicked my ring right off into about 14' of water in Mill Creek Lake (IL). Like others have said, it was pretty cheap to replace. Now there's another wedding ring I launched into Lake Michigan but that was intentional and felt fantastic!

This thread is going to cost me a couple hundred dollars!

You have to check the difference in weight from the 2500 to the 3000. The 3000 Vanford is only 0.1 oz more than the 2500. For a Talula it is a 0.4 oz difference. I'd rather have the bigger reel since the larger spools is better for casting distance.

Same here. Plus, Ive caught bigger bass on the Chatterbait since adding a swimbait trailer.

Those are fantastic boats with an incredibly well-designed layout. Tiller boats overall are a little underated IMO. Removing the console opens up so much room. I completely understand how a 17' tiller feels bigger than a 20'er.

A crankbait rod is perfect for smaller topwater baits with trebles. Definitely jerkbaits as well. Gary Dobyns created their Champion 704CB rod specifically for fishing a Staysee 90.

My last wet cell Duracell Batteries from Sam's Club lasted me 7 seasons. I was so pleased with these results that I replaced them with the same batteries rather than going to AGMs or lithiums. I think the key is maintaining the water levels and constantly leaving them fully charged. I check mine every month or so and refill. I have a buddy who never checks his water levels and replaces his every year. I didn't get as long on my starting battery- maybe 4 years. I did replace that with an AGM. I've always heard that 3 years was the benchmark for wet cell batteries but I've always gotten more years than that.

Rarely But I almost always use a trailer hook

Advantages 1) I have a multi-species boat that effectively fishes like a bass boat. It has all the amenities of a tournament boat with FFS. I also have a 9.9 motor I can put to fish HP-restricted lakes. I also own a non-pedal, fishing kayak. 2) As a teacher, I have a lot of time off to fish compared to the average working adult. 3) I have no family or financial concerns that impact my fishing. Within reason, I can pretty much fish anytime I am off work. Disadvantages 1) The water around me is heavily pressured with tournaments on most weekends. I keep a spreadsheet of all the local tournaments and avoid them at all costs. I have a couple small sleeper lakes I'll fish on the weekend but I need my kayak for most of those. This has become a much bigger problem over the last 5 years. I'm not a fan of the "Grow the Sport" mantra. 2) This is more of a "me" problem but I don't have any close fishing friends. All it takes is one good fishing friend to help inspire and motivate you. My dad would always go with me and listen to my stories but since he's passed I am always fishing solo. 3) Living in the Midwest, my fishing season ends around Thanksgiving and doesn't start back up till March 1.

My plans for 2025 are shaping up quite nicely. I decided to rejoin my bass club after a 2-year hiatus. I plan to fish the majority of the tournaments. The club made a couple changes that made it a lot more attractive to me; #1 Travel tournaments only consist of a Sunday tournament. This is great since I don't feel the need to necessarily take Friday off to prefish. #2 Our state man team will be determined by our top 6 events not the entire schedule and all our meetings. In the past, if you knew you were going to miss a couple events and meetings, you knew you had no chance for the state team. Now, you can overcome that if you do well at the events you fish. Besides all that, I have a great schedule lined up with club events (great schedule), a spring break trip to southern Illinois (there are actually some good lakes in Illinois that fish great in the spring), a week-long, summer trip to Door Co, WI for smallmouth, and all my local fishing where I have done very well the last few years. I don't plan on taking a trip to Grand Traverse Bay in June as I've done for the last 10 years due to be very busy with club events and a family vacation. I do have a small window I could squeeze it in if the weather forecast is perfect but that is probably unlikely. And I'm really looking forward to fishing locally. I often do better fishing my local waters during the week than I do when I drive hours away to some hot lake that I don't have much knowledge of. In terms of fishing, my plans are to be more focused and prepared with a well thought-out gameplan. I've been winging it the last couple years just fishing confidence baits and the spots I've always fished. I haven't really learned any new techniques and don't really feel that I've gotten much better. Fishing tournaments again will force me to prepare more and actively try to learn new techniques to gain an advantage on my opponents. I don't have any specific goals about big fish or placement in tournaments. If I am prepared, focused, and give 100% while on the water which are things I control, then the results are just part of the process. I can't control the results.

I always keep an empty plastic coffee container in my livewell. It works for a variety of functions.

When I compile this list, most of it is due to changing from being a weedy lake largemouth fisherman to a Great Lakes smallmouth guy over the last 10 years or so. Wacky Senkos (I have started throwing a heavy Neko a lot though) Swim jigs Pitching plastic (Used to be my most preferred fishing style but I fish for smallies so much that I have gotten away from it.) Topwater (Topwater for Great Lakes smallies just isn't much of a thing. Used to be a main part of my fishing, especially buzzbaits, when I primarily fished for largemouth.) Shakey head (End up throwing a Ned, Neko, or dropshot instead) Tubes (10-12 years ago all my big smallies came on tubes. Not anymore. Still throw a Stupid Tube in the weeds for largemouth)

Thanks. I haven't thrown a tube that much in the last few years. It used to be a staple for me. I'll have to give it a shot next year. Thanks for the tip.

1) Dropshots and Neds continue to be my best techniques. I've started throwing spinnerbaits more often both burning them for smallies and in the wind for largemouth. Neko rigs especially in deep water are becoming a bigger part of my arsenal and one is always tied on. 2) This is the problem with my year- I didn't branch out and try many new techniques. I definitely need to prepare and have a better gameplan next season. 3) Overall, my season was average to below average. I didn't take my spring trip because of poor weather and actually had to replace my trailer in the spring so I was limited to my kayak for most of April and May. My trips to Michigan in early June and July were disappointing. However, I did well locally and had some excellent days.

7'6 ML for Neds and M for DS My main DS weight is 3/8 so I go with a little stronger rod. I definitely prefer longer rods. 7'4" to 7'6". 7'6 MML Daiwa Steez (The One) is fantastic for both of these applications along with most other smallmouth spinning techniques.