Johnbt

I've been using an XL Drake blind bag I got in '93 iirc and then my stepson and family gave me a very large Cabela's fishing bag that holds six boxes. I try not to take too much stuff. The Drake bags will hold some weight; they're made for boxes of shotgun shells.

What one dealer said to me. I've purchased rods from a place in the midwest and never had a problem. The rods come in a heavy cardboard tube. And then, a couple of years ago when I ordered a Conquest 844C, the tube was completely broken into two pieces and half-heartedly taped back together at an odd angle. The rod was somehow undamaged. Still is fwiw. I called the shipper to let them know and during the conversation the owner said, "We've tried PVC tubes, but I think the shipping company employees see them as a special challenge."

Turtles and bald eagles have to eat, too. "Sixty to ninety percent of a bald eagle's diet consists of fish. The birds generally scavenge dead fish, although they will catch live fish as well. They will take an occasional heron, crow, grouse, duck, gull, or small mammal, especially if fish are not available." - National Eagle Center

I'm still using Invisibraid www.tacklewarehouse.com/Spiderwire_Ultracast_Braided_Line_Invisibraid/descpage-SUBI.html Been using it since it came out ages ago.

2 New Packages-Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Flat Worm-Goby- What's the problem, I easily found some on line. Only $72.00, but shipping is free.

So far TW has been predictable. They said they'd ship the first order 2 weeks after I made it and they did. Two weeks ago they notified me they'd received a Loomis rod I want, so I ordered it along with a few more things. It is scheduled to ship tomorrow according to my order page/tracking/etc. And that takes care of the gift card my wife purchased just after the first of the year during the sale. Now if the 12" Chinese trailer tires and wheels I ordered 12/2 will just come in at this other place... They have an M rating = 81 mph. My current tires are good for at least another year.

The ones that came with my father's Gillette Safety Razors. Heck, there's even one - the lure - for sale on the web for $9.99 plus $4.90 shipping so it must be a classic.

Looks like water temps might finally come up a little. It will be in the mid-80s today and 88 Wed and Thur. before a little rain comes in Fri. I was at Pocahantas State Park Friday and the water temp was 61.5 to 62. We caught fish, but it was slow.

"I can pee further than you" Anybody probably can. Don't get me started on the problems of advanced age. Otoh, when I was a little kid growing up in a rowhouse in Baltimore I could pee farther and higher than almost anybody. Of course by fourth grade I was a head taller than the other two dozen kids on our end of the block so I'm not sure what it proved.

Don't get me started. I love food and can cook, but my wife really likes to cook. There are two Wegman's here, but on the other side of town. Old people don't eat as much even if I'm still 220. I'm 70 and she's 65. And there's always https://belmontbutchery.com/ to take my money. She was in UVA's aerospace engineering program when she got sidetracked. - "Tanya and her shop have been featured nationally in Bon Appetit, Saveur and Food & Wine Magazine, where she was named a “Maverick Butcher” in 2008. " - "In 2017, Tanya appeared on The Food Network’s CHOPPED. Her episode focused on indoor grilling, and the chefs only had use of 2 grilling griddles, a pot of water and 1 open burner (no oven or fryer!). When asked, Tanya explains, “I did very, very, VERY well.” (Season 34, episode 9)" Otoh, before Christmas we took my wife's son, his wife and two kids, 2 and 5, to a nice steak and seafood place a couple of blocks from the river downtown. It was his birthday and this has turned into a yearly thing. We had a couple of drinks and 2 bottles of cheap wine. The bill was $900. Plus tip. Heck, and only the birthday boy had the surf and turf. Great food. Beautiful 20-foot Christmas tree. The owner takes pictures of your group if you like and has nice equipment. The 5-year-old ate the first calamari appetizer and some of the seafood platter appetizer and then ate his dinner. They're here now. We're having homemade lasagna.

"I don’t use them because they are not worth the price." To you. I use them because they are worth the price. Otoh, I'm not impressed by people who brag about how much they spend on food every month. Meanwhile, two weeks ago a got a Dobyns Champion 705cb I like a great deal so far and last week I ordered a long-out-of-stock Loomis IMX-PRO 845 CBR. They may end up being chatterbait and spinnerbait rods. Who knows. Now if I could just get a Conquest rod for crankbaits.

The two guys I've largemouth fished with the most over the past 40 years are fast. But deliberate, too. I would prefer to fish a little slower, and do when we're in my boat. The one who taught me to bass fish convinced me early on that when spinnerbait fishing the guy in the back of the boat will frequently hook the big fish after the guy in front has thrown 2, 3 or 4 times to the same spot. We fish a lot heavily stained water fwiw. We don't know whether the noise calls them in or you have to hit them in head a few times to wake them up. Probably some of each. Maybe the best story was from 15 years ago. My buddy took a neighbor fishing on a private 100 acre lake. There's one small patch of pads, maybe 10' x 15', that sits about 4' off a tiny point that protects a tiny cove that would barely hold a large bass boat. Barely. My buddy wanted to retie his spinnerbait, so he stopped the trolling motor and his friend put 3 casts into that little gap. Meanwhile, my buddy didn't like his new knot so he cut it off and tied it once more. His friend made casts #4 and #5 into the same spot. Still nothing. Just a hot summer afternoon. So my buddy of course made a cast into the gap and caught a 12-pounder. One cast. They were using the same kind of spinnerbait, too. That little patch of pads is still named for his friend.

The best time to go fishing is when you can.

Friday was a good day, for last week. We agreed to meet at the lake at 8:30, so at 7:30 I loaded my gear in the truck and at 7:45 I scraped the heavy frost off the windshield. It was 34*F. It warmed up to 60 by mid-afternoon and the winds were down to 10 or 15 on the small lake.

"I have had 3 Conquests and the finish was great on all of them." I've had 4 for a few years and I've never looked closely at the wrapping. The guides are still solid and the rods feel great and fish even better. I don't think I've ever looked closely at the wraps on a rod in the 65 years I've been fishing. They're just tools. If they do what I want I keep them. Well, that's not true, I did look hard at every detail of the first 11' surf rod I had Red Drum Tackle build on a Lamiglass blank way back in the old days. I'd never had a rod built that would throw 8 ounces and bait.

Can you switch one of the 3 banks that have completed charging over to the battery that hasn't charged? Maybe that one bank is bad. Or maybe it's the battery. I have a 3-bank MK PC fwiw.

"containers" Must be where my 3 12" trailer wheel/radial tire combos are that I ordered 12/2. Good thing I have another year left on what I driving. Every 3 weeks or so they push the due date out another month. I want M rated 81 mph tires and not the usual unmarked High Speed 65 mph tires everybody sells.

Sure, I've been guessing the weight of every fish I've hooked for 50 years or so. Just the other day I set the hook spinnerbait fishing and there wasn't much there. Then it pulled a little for an instant and I thought 2 pounder. Then it took off and I knew and it circled halfway around the boat pulling against a MH rod. I missed hitting the citation length for a pickerel by one inch. It was only 23" and 3 pounds.

"You all have sponsors, don't you ?" Does Social Security retirement count? Just kidding. What's left after federal withholding, Medicare premiums with IRMAA penalties, and setting money aside for state income taxes every month I don't think they qualify as a sponsor. Well, maybe a cheap sponsor. (SSA won't withhold state taxes fwiw.) At my age I can't afford to wait too long between upgrades or I might not be around to enjoy them considering the inventory and shipping delays.

"Is there anything Megabass makes that just isn’t better than the similar bait in other brands?" Beats me. How many of the other lure companies have gone out of business because everything Megabass works better?

"You might lose a plug here and there, but you don't burn through them the way I buy them." I have more than enough to last for many years. So what do I do? Instead of trying to thin out the crankbait boxes by losing a lure here and one there, I bought a Frabill 15' lure retriever two weeks ago.

"You aren't cheap. You just like the smell of pepperoni." I'm cheap. You know how some station wagons and SUVs have a retractable luggage cover in the back? My work table cover is the lined piece of dark gray vinyl I cut off of the luggage cover. What makes me cheap is that it's from a 1986 Subaru dual-range 4WD wagon I used for surf fishing for 14 years until the front sub frame assemblies completely rusted out. I'm still trying to get my money's worth out of it.

A friend sent me this one.

If you own a digital scale they aren't estimates. Or you can look them up on one of the weight lists floating around the web. My first rod was 5'5" and made of steel of some sort. It seemed to weigh a ton, but I was little in the mid-50s. The handle was cork and the seat was some kind of pot metal I'd guess from the way it slowly corroded over the decades. Probably from black sea bass fishing come to think of it. Those were the days, one rod and one reel.

"I didnt think you good ole boys used fairy wands" I know what a real good ole boy is, but what the heck is a fairy wand? Sounds like some kind of silly insult. I love all of my Conquest rods because they're featherweight, sensitive and strong as heck, but I'm still big enough to fish my 10-, 11- and 12-foot surf rods with one hand even at my advanced age.