Glaucus

Let me dig it out and I'll ship it to you for nothing. You might even be able to completely fix it for close to nothing.

Never fished them, but at that price point and quality, does it really matter and are you really gaining a lot?

Just an observation. Nothing of value in this thread other than open discussion. I hated Fury rods and got rid of the fleet I bought, but fished a friend's Sierra some months back and loved it. Now I have a couple Sierra rods and a Champion and will add more. Alright so we all know Dobyns runs a little lighter than their listed power compared to other companies. They have the Mag Heavy. The Heavy should be a Mag MH, the MH should be a Mag M and so on. That would be a more accurate way to label their rods and help potential buyers. Their rods are in a strange in-between power. Talk away. Or don't. Good being back after a prolonged break due to illness that has kept me from fishing or doing much this second half of the summer. I'm 95% now so all good.

I don't remember if I posted in here yet but we're moving from Illinois to Tennessee come March-early spring. Illinois sucks in every way. Fishing played a part in our decision. My wife's sister is also following.

IPAs are my favorite beers so any bite Guinness has is undetectable by me lol. I call it adult chocolate milk.

Nice. I put away a lot of Guinness lol.

You'll have to wait on someone better than me to help you out. I'm just here to say WOW! You're getting below freezing temps already barely halfway through September?

Yeah, same here, guys. Except I'm not an old timer. Most of my rods are 6'6". A few are 7' because it was necessary and couldn't be found shorter. Fishing a 7'+ rod feels very awkward for me and I stand 6' tall. I describe it as a 3rd grader trying to grip and throw an NFL sized football. It just feels bad. I don't know why. Everyone is different. 6'6"-6'10" rods have never been a problem for any technique I've ever fished. Some say that you need a long rod for this or that. Baloney. I don't fish big swimbaits and I could see needing a long rod for that, but that's it.

Too many variables. There is no typical answer. It's different every time.

6'8" M EWG It would be a spinning rod. I mostly fish rivers and ponds from the bank, wading, or kayaking. This would be best for me. I'd just throw a Senkos, Trick Worms, Ned Rigs, grubs, small cranks, poppers, etc.

There's never a reason to leave a frog in the throat. It's not that hard to get out, but when it does get a little challenging, almost anything around you can dislodge it with a little force. That's a real shame.

Live bait catches more fish, just not always or even usually the target species or sizes.

This Facebook apology by the owner is one of the most pathetic things I've ever read: “No negative comments please as I am dealing with each person individually on these issues. My deepest apologies. Over the last several months 5X3 has gotten a tarnished name and I want to personally take the blame as the owner. I took on to many ventures at once buying a couple other businesses and letting 5X3 fall to the way side. Not intentionally at all. I have said things under stress to customers that I regret and want to apologize for and I will contact them personally to try and make things right. All remaining orders that are backdated are being sent as we shipped almost 200 orders yesterday and I want to offer partial refunds, extras or gift cards to customers with extended delays. Growing pains, oversight, not paying attention....call it what it is and that’s poor business decisions on my part. I forgot our customers and without customers there is no 5X3. I tried to “reboot” the company back a couple of months ago and it didn’t go so well either so what we have done is hired people to come in and restructure the business putting customer service at the forefront. We are placing our customer at top of the pyramid of the 5X3 business model. I am human and have made huge errors and I am making changes to make our customers #1 again. We are going to stop preorder and keep items in house that ship with 48 hours starting in the coming weeks. I have customers and staff to reach out to that I need to apologize to and I will make this priority starting today. Once again I want to thank all our valued customers and look forward to reaching out to people the rebuild confidence and make 5X3 what is once was. My sincerest apologies to all.”

Been sick for a long time and haven't gotten to fish a lot. A few of my best Smallies from the past few short trips I've been able to make. My lungs are slowly but surely getting better so hopefully I can make a full fall out of it.

You'll never get what the company calls max line capacity. They get those numbers in the factory perfectly machine spooled under perfect conditions. Every line also differs in diameter. What a company calls 120 yards of 12lb line is specific to the brand of line used.

Sierra Series doesn't have a cranking rod.

Yes. While you're gone they practice incoming human drills. Similar to fire, tornado, and intruder drills in school. They sit quietly in the middle of the pond holding leaves over their heads so lures don't fall on them.

Some say it's 3/8, some say it's 1/2. 7/16 splits the difference I guess. Basically all the same. Either it's overrated or the WP 90 is. The 90 is supposedly 1/2 and it's definitely heavier than a KVD 1.5.

We move out of Illinois and into Tennessee come March. I can't wait. More fishing, less taxes.

The medium power Lightning rod is a moderate fast action, if that's acceptable to you. Personally true moderate and true extra fast actions aren't something I mess with, I dislike them very much. Moderate fast and fast is all I use. But that's just me. I would recommend getting 3 nice setups rather than 6 ok-ish setups. A M/MF, MH/F, H/F would easily cover most things for you. One of the common things you'll see people talking about later down the line is regret over getting a bunch of decent setups rather than a handful of nice setups. Add more to the arsenal over a period of time as money allows.

Rod tip down helps but nothing truly prevents it. If they're gonna jump, they're gonna jump.

Quite the opposite, actually. Alaska has been slammed with 90* temps and Greenland has melted. Yay climate change with minimal efforts by humans to fix the problem.

I don't hunt for the same reason I don't keep my catch: I have no interest in intentionally killing animals when I can go to the store. If I was starving, it would be a different story. I have zero issues with those who do keep their legal catch and hunt for legal game to eat; those people are actually keeping the natural order of things rather than getting their food from slaughter mills where the animals are severely abused. It would be easier for me to keep a fish to eat than to kill a furry animal to eat. Why? Similar reason as, gun to head, fetus or toddler? You're saving the toddler.

I like your outlook, Tom, but there's nothing like a completed catch where you're holding your fish in your hands and getting some photos for the memories. It feels incomplete and that is a bummer.