PhishLI

Managed to get in a few swings yesterday morning before hurricane winds and sideways rain drove me out. Only landed a few squeakers on this outing, but this little dude made my day. You've gotta admire the ambition.

The beard absorbs the corona then kills it instantly.

This^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

This.

Hey now, those are some very very manly Grease Monkey Gorilla Grip 6 mil gloves, not some girly gloves! My left thumb split from the cold last winter, which is a special type of never ending hell, so...Picking off weeds and algae, and I hold fish in the water to make sure they're right before I release them, so hands get wet and freeze. Those very very manly gloves allow me to take the pain a just a little longer at night when temps are in the 30s with wind, Mr. Smarty Pants.?

Chunks! Congrats!

Here's a quick update on my new Tour S3 I finally got to fish today during daylight hours, which is rare. Since all of my outings up until today have been at night, I was chicken to test the lower limits of this reel. It's a bit of an effort to suit up in waders then trudge to the spots I like. Sorting out backlashes, or overuns, in the dark is unappealing. It's not the time for experimentation. Until today I've played it safe by primarily throwing 3/8oz chatterbaits with light trailers and The Champ Swimmer on an Owner 3/32oz weighted hook which both clock in at 5/8 oz, or 18 grams, and similarly weighted baits. The lightest bait I've thrown is the IMA Bill Lowen squarebill that weighs 3/8oz, and is something any reel can throw. The Tour is mounted on 13 Omen Black ll 7'1" MF and spooled with 15lb Trilene Big Game liberally splooshed with KVD L&L. It's not the ideal line for throwing very light stuff, but I was feeling brave having caught a few already and was about ready to wrap it up anyway. The lightest bait I had on hand was a No.3 Mepps that I'd just rescued from a tree branch down the shoreline and well out of reach of the poor soul who lost it whenever. They clock in at about 6 grams, or just a shad heavier than 3/16 oz. It's aerodynamic, but still rather light. I wasn't optimistic, but Big Game is cheap. I cranked up the brakes, added a dash of spool tension, then began to cast. Each click towards "Free" on the dial the father the lure would fly. By the time I got to the redline I was launching that spinner way out there. Pretty impressive for a deep spool reel loaded with heavy, wirey line. I'm curious to see how it'll do with lighter baits while spooled with a far smoother line like Sufix Advance having a diameter of .011"-.012". So the positives keep stacking up with this reel. It's very smooth on the retrieve. It's a supreme long caster with the baits I've tried. Very comfy to palm, and solid feeling. And here's a bonus: You can lay into a cast as you would with a spinning rod/reel. I'm often casting hard for distance, and make adjustments in my stroke for particular reels I have. This is a must when running zero spool tension and the lowest brake settings. Somehow I can get around this a bit with this reel. I can really lay into and whip the cast when settings are near the redline. Perhaps this accounts for the longer distances I'm getting. So far so good.

LOL! It's called a Tactical Angler Clip. https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/p/tactical-anglers-power-clips-25-pack-16ta2utctnglrpwrcter/16ta2utctnglrpwrcter

Light plastics, 5" Senkos, etc; Powell Inferno 7' MHXF 703 Cex. Lew's Tournament Pro LFS. 10lb Sufix Advance Medium plastics, 6" Senkos, etc; 13 Omen Black II 7'3" MHF. Shimano Chronarch. 15lb Trilene 100% Fluoro Pitch/Punch/Skip; Daiwa Tatula XT 7'3" HF. Daiwa Tatula SV. 50lb J-Braid

Things were setting up nearly perfectly last night. Low pressure, dense cloud cover removing the huge spotlight in the sky from the equation, and rain coming in at 3:00 am were all good omens. The lack of any wind whatsoever was the only fly in the ointment. That didn't matter though because things started off nicely right away, for my brother anyway. A nice little scrapper bit his G2, so he was on the board. About a half hour later a tank smashed his Matt Lures Hard Gill. Joy! Up to that point, and for the next 2 hours, I was in the weeds. Not a sniff. It was 2:00 am at that point, and the catching streak I've been on looked like it was done. I was being hard-heading throwing just 3 baits; A Jackhammer, an IMA Shallow crank, and a Gantarel. The Berkely Champ Swimmer in Perch has been money lately, but I really wanted to hookup on something different. With my gameplan in tatters I capitulated, tied it on, and within 5 minutes I had my first. Over the next 20 minutes I had multiple hits and bagged two more. The last one blasted the Champ and stripped drag off my Fuego CT like nothing. They're really fired up now. Heart pounding. I was sparked up after that one, but the rain came in hard so I cashed out. OK night for the Phish brothers.

I have a 1600. It's a great vintage reel with some cool features like a sic line roller and a worm gear level wind. Between the long spool and the way the level wind works it lays line in a way that allows for super long casts. It's clunky when compared directly with current reels, but if I'm out fishing with it I'm not focused on those things. The drag is great. It's a cool old reel that you can buy new right now.

yes

My parents are retired and living down in S.C. Dad's on the mend after a heart attack and quintuple bypass, but he's finally hitting the banks again. He just sent some glory pics. He was very proud, and made a point of mentioning that he got her on 6 lb test. Seems to be a badge of honor for the old timers. I was gonna bust his onions and tell him that some guy caught a giant great white shark on 6 lb Stren in '72, or some such nonsense, but held back and let him have his moment. Happy for him.

I haven't needed to defrost my feet after the last few wades, and yesterday was the first time this season that I saw bluegill in the shallows. It's about to get real. Last night's Jackhammer eaters weren't bigs, but were very, very energetic.

Moonlight and slick calm water like we had last night is usually a recipe for a ride home with the skunk. The grass is still sparse, and in just a few spots, and non existent near the shoreline. The pads aren't up yet either, and there was zero activity at the surface. I spent the first hour throwing a few baits that I knew weren't the best option, and fell flat. There's nothing like defying the odds sometimes, but it didn't pan out. The area I committed to seems to be a hot spot for yellow perch to cluster in. At the very least it's where I've seen them caught most often, so I tied on a Berkley Champ Swimmer in perch that I'd glued some nice shiny eyes on. It didn't take long before I started getting hits. I pulled in one, then two, then my buddy hearing the tail splashes finally asked which bait I was using. Within 5 minutes of tying on his own Champ in perch he had a nice fish. OK for a short hop. Anything to break the monotony of self quarantine. Also, I'm hearing some nearby lakes have been closed. Gotta get em while I still can.

On Daiwa's homepage they claim reinforced brass gearing. Next time I'm up in the attic I'll pull out the box and check the lit.

Now how am I supposed to get this idea out of my head? Thanks.

I use and like that light also and carry two with me. I keep one around my neck, as shown in the pic, because it's stationary, and in that position it's far better for me when re-tying and rigging. I put the 2nd one on my head just for walking in and out of the lake.

I'd say there's a reason Shimano didn't put micro module gearing in the Tranx. High resistance baits may not be ideal for the Curado. P.S. Daiwa claims heavy duty gearing's in the 200

I have a new Tat 200 and a Tranx 200, each on Dobyn's Champ XP 794s. They both cast like a dream and equally as far with the baits I use. Honestly, I was surprised at how much I like the Tat and how well it performs. I wasn't expecting it to be this nice. It's also remarkably smooth on the retrieve. The Tranx has only a slight edge here. It feels belt driven, even without MM gearing. Butter.

Goof-Off will melt that foam in a second.

Here's a good, or bad depending on your perspective, night fishing treble hook story. The victim is a member of this group. I won't share pics of the incident. He may, but I doubt it. One lake we fish is ringed by trees. You'll find telephone poles laid right at the shoreline parallel to the water where they made periodic cuts in the treeline to provide access for bank fishing. He was alone one night fishing with a big treble bait at one of these cuts. He hooked into a solid 5 pounder. He knelt down and reached over the pole to unhook the fish using both hands. The bass shook and drove a huge treble hook into each of his thumbs. There was no getting out of it. It's quite a long walk through the woods, over a footbridge, through some more woods then back to the street. None of that mattered because it was impossible to to lift the fish which was also totally pinned. Lucky for him he always has a bluetooth on his ear and he was able to call someone nearby. Unfortunately that someone was 40 minutes away. So for 40 minutes he was trapped at the water's edge in the dark hunched over a telephone pole with a 5 lb bass connected to him that would thrash every now and then, and could do nothing about it but wait. When the rescuer arrived he took the occasion to video his walk from the car to the scene including narration. He got the bass free of the hooks, but there wasn't a chance of getting the hooks out of patient X's thumbs. 2 hours in the waiting room at emergency while still thumbcuffed by a swimbait, then horrible needles in his thumbs so they could cut the hooks out. All true. Caught on tape.

I keep both long and short Rapala fish grippers on me. Short for single hook baits and long for trebles. They can get you with a single hook too.

$60 for the 7", but be prepared to wait for the build. Definitely get the 7" first.