Sphynx

Better man than me, that frog would've been coming home on impulse if I'd seen it lol, I have generally been pleased with the quality of Zman's products, and I'd be open to giving a frog from them a shot.

I've heard some folks say that a Colorado blade thump more closely resembles a bluegill, and a willow is more like a shad vibration, it sounds reasonable to me but of course I couldn't prove it, I generally find that anecdotal evidence from waters that aren't very similar to the ones you propose to fish are 50/50 at best, and while I enjoy reading/watching reviews on all sorts of stuff related to bass fishing, after a while of fishing an area consistently you begin to have a lot of first hand experiences to compare to what your being told, I really feel that this is where a catch log/fishing journal has some value, now if your trying to assemble a "will work anywhere" arsenal you'll want some of each, but you'll notice a pattern if you consciously pay attention or track with other things like spinnerbaits that one style of blade or the other gets you more bites, alternatively you might find out that it makes little or no difference at all. As a side note, because I am lazy and I don't remember the thread or feel like searching it up @A-Jay has a theory about blade shapes that mostly related to the speed at which they can be effectively and properly fished, I believe the gist of it was something like willows give less resistance so you can burn them back faster without it turning sideways on you, but that is of course subject to his (or anyone who wants to look it up) correction.

Lol, I have a stepdaughter who was all girl when she was younger, if you can, imagine the depth of horror a father might experience when he comes walking through the door after coming home from a deployment and his first sight is his little girl playing on the carpeting in the front room of a rental home with about 50 different containers of glitter...I nearly had a coronary.

Never done anything but sharpy with any blades, interesting concept that I'd like to know what the durability ends up being, also have to say it's a brave man who will keep glitter in his home, that stuff is what nightmares are made of if it spills.

This thread has me thinking about trying it once or twice this year just to see if I enjoy it at all, I don't see it being the sort of thing that I am apt to enjoy, but then, I didn't think I would enjoy listening to classical music or basketball games on the radio either and here we are.

Yeah, I only own I think 2 rods shorter than 7ft, but I'm not sure that even my 7'11 swimbait/arig rod is long enough to make a useful flipping stick from the shore, in theory it can, but for a bank guy unless your fish are dirt, dirt shallow you can flip most of the day and not really be fishing where the fish are, little different when you can move to the places fish are at, considering you can effect nearly soundless and glass smooth presentations I think it would be a pretty effective technique, it just doesn't work most places I fish.

I dunno about mid April, but I'll be fishing in Alabama next week, and I have it on a local fisherman of some repute's word that I ought to do well with a buzzbait and a lizard, I am betting a search of commonly used spawn/post spawn techniques would get you in the ballpark though.

I think your best bet for a long term solution is to get your dogs and this guy familiar enough with each other to be on friendly terms, you clearly seem to be the kind of guy who isn't looking for conflict, but avoiding conflict and actively seeking compromise aren't always synonymous, ask the guy if he has any objection to working on a solution you can both live with, make a gesture in good faith and see if he'll meet you half way, he's not been overtly disrespectful or run foul of the law, so whether you like it or not there aren't many options you have to compel him to stop, but he just might be willing to spend a bit of time making nice with the dogs if you ask him to and make him feel comfortable doing so, in a strictly legal sense, if you can't/won't do something along those lines, this falls into a "Your problem" category and isn't likely to have a resolution you are happy with.

One of the phenomenon exacerbated by the advent of the internet is it becomes even easier for people to not do any research or provide proof of what they claim...you know, exactly the opposite of what we were told would happen. I am positive that Kistler rods has shipped a bad rod, for that matter so has Loomis, Shimano, Megabass, Daiwa and every other manufacturer, QC issues happen, damage in transit happens, not notifying the manufacturer and giving them an opportunity to make it right before you jump on the internet and start trashing their reputation is a very poor way of convincing folks that these companies make bad products, so is making these claims without any photos or evidence to back it up, the manner in which a company resolves instances of QC failures is a far more realistic manner of judging the company's quality, they have warranties and claims services for a reason, it isn't their fault if you won't avail yourself of them.

Guilty as charged boss, I need to pick up a 3600 terminal box and 4 3600 sized flex boxes, maybe another box or two for other things, but these things are great, glad I went with them.

It's the healthiest way I have found to pass the cold season, and while I don't quite qualify as old, I've been blown up 4 times and I don't remember things as well as I should anymore, in addition I work 70+ hours a week so anything I can do to increase the efficiency of my off time means I get to spend my precious small amount of it fishing rather than looking for lures or hoping I have this or that. I also cannot afford to both support my hobbies and pay for therapy, one of them had to go and I wasn't about to agree to stop fishing lol.

Jasper also isn't ungodly far from Lake Fork for occasionally changing things up, given the choice of which half of Toledo Bend I'd live on, it'd be the TX side no doubt about it, I haven't looked into properties there, but I imagine there's land for sale somewhere on the Lone Star side of the Bend, that puts you in some of the best fishing lakes in the region, some pretty excellent perks other than fishing (No state tax, who in their right mind doesn't perk up like a dog hearing their owners car come back down the drive at less taxes?) To sweeten the deal, I suppose it's only fair to point out there are some downsides, weather ones mostly, but I expect if you've lived in the south you'll know all about that, definitely an area I would consider if I had your list of requirements OP.

If your chasing smallies and they are on that chartreuse kill mood they'll try their level best to rip that rod out of your hands with a white/chart bait tied on

My favorite MF rod is a St. Croix Mojo Bass, but I am definitely biased and own 7 or 8 of the rods in that line, so it's fair to say I'm pretty well sold on it.

Just remember the next time you go fishing and go to pull out the perfect lure for your situation and get that sinking feeling in your stomach because you realized that you forgot to add it to your tackle order and haven't got any more, then you'll remember our strange little spreadsheet mania and perhaps think more kindly of it ?

6th Sense jigs are my all time confidence jigs, need to order some of the punching and California swim jig models, but other than that most of my jigs are 6th Sense, great products!

No, Oregon is pretty brutal on newcomers for fishing licenses, but it's the sort of price you stop thinking about when you go on a single trip and land a steelhead, a Chinook, a smallmouth, a walleye, a catfish, and three other sorts of fish you have to go look up the names of, if your a fishing nut, it's worth it, K falls can get some pretty rough winters too, so covered storage for a project boat is well advised.

How far west are we talking? Snoqualmie is getting pounded this year, so anything around there you probably can't get to for a while, but my basic rule is as long as there is no legal conflicts, if there's open water, it's a great time to be fishing.

I fish in too many states to keep up with where live bait is and isn't legal, safer to just avoid it so I don't get myself in trouble, furthermore I don't have to feed, aerate or otherwise care for my artificial baits, it's no skin off my butt if somebody wants to use live bait, hope you enjoy the heck out of it, it just isn't a good option for me.

I kind of feel like a bass (or any other fish for that matter) size is relative to the size of other fish in that region, I would feel much more accomplished catching a 10lb bass in Oregon than in California, for example, because no fish has ever hit 10lb in Oregon, but you have a lot of 10lb fish in California, the larger the average fish in the region, the larger it would have to be in order to be a truly impressive fish to me, on the other hand, anyone who is devoted enough to take the time to locate large fish areas, spends the money to go, lodge, license etc in order to catch one is a bona-fide bass nut in my estimation and has earned the right to brag a bit, nothing wrong with it at all...y'all just remember it was thiiiiiiiiis big.

I'd be likely to do more flipping if I had a 14' rod, using rods half that length means you have about half the range/utility, I'd also probably do more of it if I was on a watercraft of some sort, but as most of my fishing is done from shore it's not nearly as useful to me as pitching is, which constitutes one of the absolute must know skills for an accomplished angler, the difference effectively being able to pitch and present my lure that subtly was one of the most revolutionary moments I've ever had as an angler, might be the easiest way I've found to go from no fish to one, or one to several in a day.

Well, considering it illustrated my point as well as anything else would have yes, I do consider it a good analogy, and I don't interest myself in what rich old men spend money on in pursuit of women, I just drink with their women who pay for the whole thing while the rich old guy is too busy making that money to notice or care, as to your second to last sentence, that's what we've been saying, vote with your wallet, if you think Kistler is charging too much, go buy a competitors rod, if they can offer a rod just as good or better I'd be happy that you got such a great deal, I have no interest in arguing, or name calling, I just don't think it's fair to single out a manufacturer for the pricing they choose to set unless there is some good reason for doing so.

I don't own any JDM stuff, from what I've heard they make what could arguably be the best stuff on the market over there, and to hear the scuttlebutt it'd be a pretty short argument, but there's a premium price associated with premium products, and the day you see me fishing JDM reels and 4 figure combo's is the day you'll have the option of putting me on your fantasy fishing roster, because you had better believe somebody else will be paying for it lol.

Riprap from the bank is a great time for balsa wood squarebills I have found, they float well enough that as long as you don't try to cross the boulders eyes you stand a fair chance at salvaging the lure if not the cast, also if you can, try to figure out the exact topography your working with and modify your line diameter and rod tip height to just tick the tops of the rocks most of the time, the closer you get to shore the higher your rod tip goes, but the reality is you'll still lose your favorite Bluegill pattern KVD 1.5 if you fish it enough times, I think you can figure out why I'd know that... Excellent stuff as usual Glenn, getting that itch to get back out in the worst way, soon!

Lol, that makes perfect sense actually, everybody who didn't maintain/have maintained during the off-season overloads the repair centers with issues early on and as other reels have issues it just compounds the problem, your friend is a smart fellow. Can't help ya there man, I don't have toothy critters like that most places I've fished, I'd love to find out what it's like some day, but no luck so far, you also have the option of braid to a leader, which might help some, but you'd have to check with some of the guys who have experience with those big toothy monsters