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You beat me to it. 200 E7 all the way. Workhorse of a reel. Wish they were still in production.

🤣😂🤣 LOVE IT!!!!! I’m getting old too. My wife, adult children & friends constantly call me “crotchety”. 🤣 It’s all good. There’s a certain amount of freedom that comes with getting older & not caring what other people think. Also, I’ve seen your pics. I think you do catch more bass than the pros. Talk all the trash you want. 😉

This right here. Those are my top 2 follow ups. #3 and #4 for me are a big TRD on a 1/10 oz jighead and a crawfish lure of some sort on a 1/8 oz jighead.

I never use leaders with braid, on spinning or baitcasters. I switched to all straight braid for my spinning reels about 5-6 yrs ago. I have no issues. I use braid for shakey heads, big TRDs and for small poppers on spinning reels. I have spinning set up with 15 lb braid for the poppers. Another spinning reel has 15 lb braid for shakey heads and big TRDs with 1/10 - 1/8 oz jig heads. My last spinning set up has straight 20 lb braid for larger walking topwater baits like Zara spook, etc. or sometimes smaller 1/4 jigs or smaller swimbaits with 1/8 - 3/16 oz jig heads & underspins. I love it. I’ll never switch back to mono on my spinning reels.

Ahhh, didn’t think to check the Ark website. Thanks.

Well, my Grinder rod came in from TW today. Opened it soon as I got home from work. Have to say it’s pretty light and feels good. Glad I ordered it & looking forward to putting a new reel on it & fishing with it soon. Probably gonna spool up with some 17 lb fluorocarbon & start out throwing chatterbaits & spinnerbaits with it. Does anybody know, is this a 100% graphite rod or a glass composite? The description on TW was kinda confusing about that.

I’d forgotten that Stanley got bought out & the Ribbit Frogs and hooks are now made by a new company, called Frog Factory I guess. Glad they’re still being produced. The Ribbit Frog & this hook are one of my fav frog fishing baits. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Frog_Factory_Double_Take_Hook/descpage-FFDT.html

I would say typically, no. I’ve caught some big bass in Feb & I live on the TN/MS border. Right this moment, yes! Major cold front, super cold out, and there’s still ice & snow on ground from couple days ago. 🥶🥶

Thanks to this topic I also purchased one of these rods. Didn’t really need it but I’ll put it to use. Thanks for nothing fellas. 🤣

ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!!! Great work you are doing @A-Jay.

Let us know how it fishes. Just heard of this bait a few months ago & I’m intrigued by its design and proposed action.

I fish both Horny Toads and Ribbit Frogs a lot. Pretty much got one or the other tied on from Spring to late Fall/early Winter. 2 of my fav hooks have already been mentioned: the Gamakatsu superline spring lock EWG hook & the Owner twist lock hook. I like both in 5/0. I use unweighted. Another great hook is a double hook called the Double Take made by Ribbit. It has a spring lock too. The 5/0 fits perfectly on the regular sized Ribbit Frog. It works on a Horny Toad too but takes a little “finagling” to get the double hook to sit just right. Hook up with the Double Take is great. I rarely miss a fish. Again, I used the unweighted. I never use super glue. With the spring lock keepers, the baits seem to last longer.

I had an eye exam yesterday & was happy to see that the optical dispenser has really expanded inventory since my eye appt 3 yrs ago. They actually had about 15 models of Costa sunglasses and about 10 varieties of Costa frames for regular glasses. Problem was the sunglasses were crazy high priced. $324 for green mirrored Tailfin model. I priced same at Academy for $140 on sale. Even Costa website is cheaper, $220 regularly but 20% off right now. I called Costa customer service & got some info. They will put in the Rx lenses but you have to buy the frames directly from them. Think it’ll be cheaper if I buy my own frames & have Rx lenses put in. One good piece of info I got from the customer care rep - You can get the same exact Costa 580G lenses put in by SportsRx for existing Costa frames you own. Gonna reach out to them & find out cost.

Sorry you’re not in close proximity to an Academy. They do have good sales occasionally. I feel over last 5-10 yrs the sales are less frequent & not as good as they used to be. While back it was common to walk into one and stuff would be majorly discounted. And there were always ads with fishing stuff on sale. And seems the fishing depts have slowly downsized, at least at the ones in my area. That being said, Academy’s everyday prices are usually better than Bass Pro & other big box outdoors stores.

I’ve been to 2 local Academy Sports in last couple weeks as well as one about 2.5 hrs south of where I live. They don’t have an official spring sale going on, but all 3 had a section with fishing stuff on clearance.

I can tell you one non-mainstream color that DOESN’T work for me…….. Bubblegum. 🤣 I’ve caught diddly squat on bubblegum colored flukes or senkos. Friends swear by the color & I can’t catch jack on it. Merthiolate not much better. But I will get the occasional bite and fish on this color.

Yeah, could very well be <8”, but my buddy said that’s what weather channel was reporting for Pensacola area. Either way, crazy amount of snow for the FL panhandle! 😳😳😳

My buddy that lives near Pensacola has been sending me pics & videos since yesterday. He’s freaking out. 😂 Think they got an estimated 8.75”. 😳

😂 Funny you mention that. My buddy who I was fishing with when I dunked my Costas, he bought 2 new lanyards for Christmas.

@J._Bricker mine fell off top of my head reaching down to lip a bass. Unfortunately this lake is super grassy & I immediately lost sight of them. Oh well, I got plenty of use outta them in 18 yrs. Think I’m gonna buy another pair of Costas & have prescription lenses put in them. My insurance might pay for the prescription lenses. I’ll have to check.

No snow now, but this was from the approx. 8” we got in the Memphis area on Jan 10th. Took a full 7 days for all this to melt, and that’s even after a couple days where high got in the 50s.

I’d go ahead and pull the trigger on a Li battery now. I paid $300 for my 12v 100 AH Li Time battery 2 & half yrs ago. Last time I looked, they were only $200 now.

I need some new polarized sunglasses. I lost my Costas back in early Fall few months ago. Had them around 17-18 yrs. I had prescription lenses put in them about 11 yrs ago. Here’s my dilemma….. I hate to buy another high dollar pair of fishing sunglasses like Costas only to turn around & have after market prescription lenses put in them. I mean the great lenses are part of what makes Costas expensive, I would think. Thinking of just buying some inexpensive frames & having my eye Dr send them off for the polarized prescription lenses. What does everybody do?

I fell for that gimmicky Dance’s Eel over 4 decades ago & never caught a fish on it! 😂 Not falling for it again. That’s a big hard pass from me!!! 😂🤣

I catch a big one bank fishing every now & then as well. Part of the thrill for me. Never know when some lil pond gonna hold an unexpected giant. 😁 I caught this one last spring on a popper. I had no idea this little pond had anything this big in it. 😳