Eric 26

Awesome fish?? I’m very jealous of your dock, my family and I visited your lovely state last Christmas and although we were in tourist areas we took the time to hike one day and it was breathtaking as is your dock and hickory trees. I’m sitting here watching your “favorite team” putting on a clinic? I know I sound like a broken record but man there are some just gorgeous fish in this post? I don’t know if it’s due to the season or everybody getting really good at photos but wow it’s awesome to see and making me super jealous.

Beautiful fish?? Love the deer in the water picture, so cool when you can be a part of something wild when you’re not expecting it? All I’m going to say is WOW!!!!!

I’m not a round reel guy but d**n that’s good looking ?. When I was much younger probably 14 years old I bought a red round Abu Garcia reel (don’t remember the model?) to bring to the annual Minnesota fishing trip/vacation, stopped fishing 2 years later and always argued with my brother as to who bought it?.

I’m going to throw out my suggestion for a 13 fishing “fate black” rod. I have the 7’-1” med.light which is used primarily for 1/16th oz ned rigs. They also offer several other rods in your price range both full and split grips. They have a fantastic warranty/customer service which I’ve thankfully not had to use and are pretty well liked by several members on here most notably @bulldog1935 who has a heck of a lot pricier options available to him.

@bowhunter63 looking forward to hearing how you enjoyed the reel and maybe seeing some fish photos from the weekend. Best of luck.

@AlabamaSpothunter the bass in that picture is beautifully marked, and that crappie ain’t so shabby either??

? @ol'crickety If anyone has the moxie to pull it off it’s you. I say go for it and post some pictures when you’re done ?

In fisherman television (I believe)has episodes of them targeting channel cats both through the ice and in the rivers in fall/early winter. If not in fisherman tv I know I’ve watched it on another show. Hopefully this helps.

First and foremost ?? for a speedy recovery for your mom. I’m fortunate in the fact my 82 year old father still lives at home and does pretty well by himself. My mother in-law at 76 is a different story and my wife who is an only child and I just had this conversation about her (wife’s)mental health. I find my mental recovery in fishing and walking my dogs, unfortunately there is only enough time in the day/week to one activity daily?

Although I’m not nuts about BPS I usually take advantage of their spring classic trade in sale, I’ve also purchased from Tackle Warehouse and other big tackle outlets. But as I mentioned in a similar post and as @MidwestBassAttack has pointed out we’re pretty lucky here in the Chicago land area and I’m blessed to live within a 1/2 hour drive of 3 of the shops he mentioned. Anglers Outlet is my favorite and one cool thing is the owner will buy your gear at a fair price which he then resells which I personally find pretty cool as you never know what you’re going to find. Also his staff are all avid anglers and definitely willing to share advice along with the fact he utilizes every inch of space in his store.

10 lb Suffix Advance Monofilament (copolymer) is what I’m using.

Totally agree ??

Katie I don’t know what I look forward to more, reading your posts or seeing the photos of the fish you catch?. Both are absolutely stunning to say the least. You and many others on here including but not limited to Alex @AlabamaSpothunter & @bulldog1935 make me green with envy at the amount and size of the fish you all catch. Again your way of painting a picture with your words is a gift upon itself that I look forward to every time I log in. I couldn’t help but notice you referencing Stephen King quite a bit lately and although I don’t get much of an opportunity to read these days he was one of my father and brother’s favorite authors that they then passed on to me. Seriously looking forward to your next post.?

I won’t add a comment on the rod itself, but is it to late to exchange it for another rod you would be happier with?

This reminds me of when I would take the Metra train from Joliet Il to the LaSalle Street station in downtown Chicago for work and walk to the lake front for work. I was 30 lbs lighter and fit as a fiddle.

Although I don’t follow a whole lot of people on you tube if it helps I’ll follow your buddy. I’m going to send you a personal message for his channel.

Saying “Hello” from Illinois.

@ol'crickety I ran out of time yesterday to comment on how beautiful your work is ? I guess you can count me in as one of the men who would comment on that being a lot of work ? Your paper maples description brought back memories of my mother’s favorite tree from the house I grew up in, it was a white paper birch. When my parents moved if there was a way me and my siblings could have had that tree transported to there new house we would have tried our best to have made it happen. As I said about @Blue Raider Bob both of you have an eye for detail I just don’t possess, in my relationship I let my wife plan it out and either I or both of us will figure it out as we go. As far as my building days go there was a time many years ago when I didn’t mind being on a 8/12 pitch roof or working in open elevator shafts 10 floors open in a high rise but now looking at @TnRiver46 pics from his trapping forum I get shaky just seeing them. Which reminds me I can’t compete for the talents of any of you guys?

I could write a novel on how awesome your dock is but all I’m going to say is, That is freaking awesome!!!!! As a former framing carpenter I really appreciate your time and eye for detail ?? As far as your otter story I’m glad I wasn’t drinking anything when I read that as my phone would be covered?

I’m with @JMac603 on looking forward to hearing your thoughts, I believe you purchased another St.Croix panfish rod earlier this year for comparison ? my apologies if I’m wrong/out of line. As someone who also loves catching panfish and am also hoping to get ahold of that exact model next spring i’m thinking of pairing it with either a Daiwa Legalis LT on the low end but ultimately I would love to pair it with a jdm Shimano Stradic. The reason for jdm is the 5 speed gear ratio vs the usdm 6 speed, the other reason is the smaller spool capacity although the jdm 2000 is the same body but slightly more line capacity which I learned about on this forum and was sent a really cool article/press release from @bulldog1935. My reasoning for the reel choices are wanting to put together a higher end panfish combo and also I’m a real sucker for a good color match ? P.S both domestic models weigh 6.5 oz in 1000 size. Jdm Stradic is the same weight for both Stradic’s also.

I’ve got quite a bit of his music in my Spotify rotation. When I was younger I was only into 2 bands Kiss and Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street band. Thank god for my older brother and his friends opening my ears, my real epiphany came when one of my brothers friends turned me onto 93.1 WXRT?

Sending prayers your way ??

Nice fish, even nicer photo of the sweet looking pooch who appears to be saying “hey dad look at what I see”.

@fishhugger Glad to hear it’s working out for you ??