PhishLI

95% of my fishing's done at night. I prefer it in every way. It's a much bigger rush.

The season opened here on the 6th and my grand plan was to hit 'em hard at 12:01 a.m., but heavy rains all night put the kibosh on that. My first trip out was a night yakkin adventure with some buds on a new lake. It took me a little time in order to not feel wobbly out there. It was quite dark. My friend was going on about how beautiful the night was, but I had mixed emotions at first! I got over it after a really nice fish crushed the G2 Shellcracker. The water was warm and she was fired up. My pal heard the head shakes and splashes and paddled over to take a picture, but I'd forgotten my lip grippers and so did he. Worse than that the fish was hooked dead center of it's bottom lip by the front treble, plus it was going nuts. The Shellcraker was whipping around. I tried to lift it slightly to grasp the hook with my pliers and it tailwalked up the side of my yak. I felt the hooks scrape my hand and I was done. Tossed her out then I finally grabbed the hook with with the needlenose and let her shake off. That was the end of treble hook baits for the night! Lots of shorts strikes and shake offs, but I managed to land two fish on friendly single hook baits, a paddletail swimmer and a buzzbait. I'm doing it again tomorrow night.

Fun stuff.

Sure, but the question is how well they'll handle it. 6 grams is under 1/4 oz, and here's where the gap in performance while throwing those baits becomes an issue for heavier spools as you know. The 2020 TP has a 10-ish gram spool, which is rather low for the price range.

It's the MGL 50, not the BFS. 8 lb Tatsu. 1st bait was a 7" Berkely Powerbait ribbon tail. 5 grams. 6 grams with a 2/0 fine wire worm hook. TRD at the same weight. The worm is tricky without a bullet or nail as the tail catches air.

It's not that simple, and they're not. Having fished the Alde MGL and the 2020 TP Pro LFS side by side, the TP gives up little other than weight to the Alde. Regarding actual fishability and casting light weight lures, practically nothing. The spool is super light and free. I think I measured mine at 20 grams with a full spool of Advance 8lb including the bearing. Honestly, the TP brakes are easier to dial in. No popping off the side plate and engaging/disengaging brake blocks is a bonus, and not messing with that miserably placed dial of the Alde is a plus. BTW, the sideplate of this particular Alde is at the bottom of a lake right now because it popped off fighting a fish. $111.00 later...I'm not saying the Alde is junk. It's marvelous. The TP Pro LFS is a fantastic performer too, and a different thing compared to typical cheaper Doyo, and at that price its a hidden gem, IMO.

IMA Bill Lowen Squarebill crankbait https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Ima_Bill_Lowen_Squarebill_Crankbait/descpage-IBLSB.html Run nicely at 2 ft, so a tad deeper than a Mann's 1 Minus https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/brandhardbaits.html?from=basres. Both are good options with different actions if a shallow floating minnow isn't interestening to them.

Throw in a S-Waver and a Ganteral Jr and you'll really have all bases covered, but if you're already refreshing the page every 10 seconds on SU during a bait drop....LOL!

If were left to fish with those sized plastic lines I'd have to quit fishing most of the lakes in my immediate area. Even 15lb nylon/fluoro is sketchy here. I'd be broken off 75% of the time in the pads, water chestnut, and veg/grass, which is where 90% of the fish hang out in or near enough to.

Daiwa J8 green 15lb on spinning and 40lb on baitcasters.

Carolina Fishing Tackle. Cool JDM baits and more. Rock solid communication and fast shipping. https://carolinafishingtackle.com/

You might appreciate this then. I worked in a machine shop when I was a kid. One day the boss was boring a 5C soft collet on a Hardinge tool room lathe. That material isn't really soft, but can be cut at low speed with carbide. He needed two hands on the bed dial to control the feedrate. My job was to apply sulfur oil to the collet and cutter. A chip flew out, as chips do, went over the rim of my safety glasses, then melted into my eyelid. It bled pretty good when I peeled it off. The show must go on, so on went the wrap around goggles. The next searing chip flew out, perfectly curled in size and shape, then melted onto my bottom lip, which bled nicely when I peeled it off. This was all high comedy to the grown men in the shop. On went the face shield... Ah, the good old days.

Pricey yes, but worth it. I imagine that getting blinded by, or blinding someone else with flying fishing tackle would be far more expensive all tallied, and would certainly take the shine off the experience of capturing swimming legless lizards. I do way more night fishing than day fishing, so I'm hoping there're safety glasses with treated lenses that amplify low ambient light. I need to start looking. In the meantime the standard issue box store polycarbs do the trick.

Stay away from rods shipped by DSG, Amazon, and a few others, and order only from sellers that ship in a rod tube. It's not worth the hassle.

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Shimano_Reel_Grease/descpage-SHRG.html?from=gshop&gclid=CjwKCAjw2uf2BRBpEiwA31VZj7C9MVAV5buE9uAZwmt9ZombfwZAW8HRjXzbz39hWVs7zlhnCQymhhoCJKgQAvD_BwE

My brother has the SD300. Not a thing wrong with it yet and he's almost 100% dragging big baits. Not a complaint. We also have all Tranx models up to the 400. Nothing's a Tranx, but the 13 Z3 has been fine, he actually really likes that reel, as well as 3 Quantum Monster 300s.

Second set of gears, recently, in my SV and I clean and lube my stuff multiple times during the season. It's the aluminum sideplate, IMO. Everyone has a different set of tastebuds. Who knows what a claim of smoothness or lack thereof actually means or how that translates to what you or I think? Hard to say when there can be differences from reel to reel from the same run.

SmokeS3. I just hadta have more. I like 'em alot. 300 more Quantums and I'll catch up to AJ.

Yes

A few years ago I was fishing a RI Little Dipper just past dusk. I hooked up but the fish spit the lure about 15 feet from the shore and it shot right back at me and hit me directly in the eye. Thankfully it turned sideways when it hit and I took zero damage from the hook. I've rarely been as grateful. Since then I've made it a habit of wearing some type of glasses when I'm out, but have slipped here and there due to loosing them or just forgetting to bring them. Recently I had a real reminder of the importance of wearing eye protection while fishing. I was wading with a pal in a spot that's wide enough for two people to fish side by side. He was to my left, and we were about 15 feet apart. I was chucking a Whopper Plopper 75 down the bank to my right, but couldn't find a bite. I started firing the bait out to my 2 o'clock and had a few swipes. I finally hooked up and it was on. The fish plowed into some veg about 30 feet out, so I lifted my rod tip tip bring her over, but she spit the lure. My buddy was about 6 feet farther out from the shore at that moment, and the WP rocketed past his head and landed in a tree at head level. He actually didn't know exactly what happened at that moment other than he heard the whistle of the bait and felt the spray hit his ear. It was that close. When I told him it was my Whopper Plopper that just missed him he summed it up perfectly: "That could've been bad"

Nah. She gets her stupid Italian pocket books. I get fishing gear. She got another one while we were in Milan that cost more than 10 of my rigs combined. We have an understanding. She's still not allowed in the garage.

If I go out on a one rod only trip I'll have a 7'3" MHF rod rated to 1 oz and a reel loaded with 30lb braid. There's not much in the bag I can't throw effectively from 1/4 oz to 1oz, and I'll even carefully throw a G2 Shellcracker on it.

My wife isn't allowed in the garage?

A few JDM goodies and more.

Are there magic elves in Malaysia and Thailand? There's no way to know where parts are sourced from or which grade of alloy is used or who the QC girl or guy was that day. It's all a crapshoot now. At best one can only project blind belief in how things are actually done day to day based on a nameplate and the country of assembly, then flip a coin. That includes the Big Two. Affordable reels, below $250, fall into the category of "best of the worst". Some will be just fine, or great, and others will be duds, but a dud is very subjective. Most people don't get hung up on the nits that those inclined to post on enthusiast forums do. They simply fish with what they have with a smile, and do just fine. There are waaaay more of them than there are of fishing forum posters. To them a fishing reel is a zero maintenance disposable item. They aren't suffering over the details you or I might, including the specter of obsolete parts. They aren't suffering at all. Fishing reels, like many other things, were thought of as heirlooms by some people once upon a time. That's really not the mindset anymore in the greater population especially where budget gear is concerned, and manufacturers know it. Even fully metal framed reels that appear to be heirloom quality use plastic parts. Most injectable plastics don't exist in a static state, especially in the presence of petroleum based and some synthetic lubricants. They definitely don't get stronger. Oh well. I try not to sweat it too much. What good would that do?