DanielG

I've got a Dobyn's fury on my spinning set. It's good. I don't have a negative but it's not special either... but. I've got a Dobyn's champion 735c mh glass. This rod is absolutely amazing. I love using it. stronger and pricier than you indicated but I threw in my 2cents anyway.

The less surface area of the ice block the longer it will last. i.e. if you use two 2 liter soda bottles (2 quarts each) they will not last quite as long as a gallon jug of ice (4 quarts). bagged ice cubes will melt the fastest. A purchased block of ice will last longer. Depending on how much space you need, freeze one or two gallon milk jugs at home first. or a gallon jug and a soda bottle. Whatever works best for space you've got.

If I remember, mine is very adjustable. I'd think you'd visit a place and try it onbutit should fit.

I posted this on another forum topic about coolers. I needed a cooler for camping. We don't often camp in one location for long but sometimes we do. i.e. a bluegrass festival here in Maine, nine days. Regular coolers aren't that good. Better coolers are expensive. After looking at Yeti's I decided to make one. 2" of dense insulation and 1/4" plywood walls with framing lumber wood for the trim. All held together with glue and silicon. Alone it weighs 4 lbs. I use six 2 liter soda bottles with frozen water in them for cooling. After 9 days of camping all 6 bottles still had about 50% ice. A digital freezer thermometer (you can see it via small round window on the side) always registers about 40-43 degrees. refrigerators are usually set at about 40 degrees. Cost: About $40

I have an automatic 'Absolute Outdoor Onyx A/M-24 Automatic/Manual Inflatable Life Jacket'. Automatic and manual inflatables are both good, I opted for the automatic for this reason. On a lake I can tread water for a long time. But, if I'm in the water in trouble, it's probably because I'm in distress, knocked out, or other issue. The auto one will inflate for me. The automatic ones can also be inflated by pulling a tab or even with a mouth located tube that you can blow it up with. On another note, I got it because I was out fishing alone a lot and sometimes in early spring when the water is cold and not a lot of other boaters around. So the auto one was a no brainer. Still another note. I tried on a bunch of jackets all over the place. All of them seemed restrictive except the inflatable ones. Even a Kayak Jacket with it's minimal padding and open arms seemed like something I didn't want to have to wear. With the Onyx I got I put it on and forget it's on. It's great and I think I wear it regularly because of that. Otherwise I might not bother to put it on all the time. A third note. The auto inflates will right you and keep your head above water. Most others won't and you've got to get one with a large bulky collar to find one that will. You might have to pay $100+ for one, but in my opinion it's worth it.

Ah, I see. How do they make a box worm proof? Right now I only have hard baits in mine.

Worm proof? What am I missing here that I don't understand?

Just a note: I got a Champion 735c MHF glass this summer. For most med/large baits I just don't pick up another rod. It's the best (of the very few) rods I've got at this point.

You're right, but it does require a smaller butt! ?

I understand. But, alas, I would be living proof that it is possible. Wish it wasn't. But next summer is another opportunity to try.

My niece had a Tab trailer. It had it's own brakes too. That's a teardrop if you didn't know. You could move it by hand. When she got her Rav4 she purchased an older 6 cylinder one because the 4 cylinder ones that they are all now wasn't recommended to tow anything. She eventually even traded in the 6 for a larger toyota SUV.

Ya know, I'll throw my 2 cents in again. I was the guy who early on said that cranks were my go to bait and I had good luck with them. I went back and reread your post and realized something. On this forum I always see people who say that this bait or that bait is the one they go to when nothing else will work. One of these is soft plastics like worms either Texas or Carolina rigged or just on a hook. I fished a lot this summer and caught a lot of stuff. Mostly on cranks and paddle swimbaits. I got all geared up for soft plastics and read all about them. I gave them an honest shot. I was excited to see results. i.e. using only them for a long period of time. And I kept it up even though not one fish... I usually 2-5 each time out. Often every other day. That's a fairly good for my body of water. But the worms... nada. Is it my lake? How I'm using them? Dunno. I look at all the youtube vids. So, if you don't seem to have any luck on cranks, welcome to the head scratcher club. I don't have any luck on jig worms even though lots of people say their a no fail bait. It may or not be my fault but it's the way it is. I wouldn't fret about it. Just use what works and experiment. No luck on chatterbaits either but I love the idea and feel of them.

Ah, I see. Didn't know the circumstances. Well good luck finding the one you want. I'll be interested in which one you finally settle on.

I don't know much about cross border buying but I went to tackle warehouse and they seem to have all the rods (I looked at Dobyn's) and there is a page (link at the bottom) about international shipping. They seem to accommodate that. Maybe I missed something.

Yup, a nail biter. A violent game too.

Not even online?

I use crankbaits a lot. I've had graphite rods all along but got a Dobyn's 735c mhf glass and it's the only rod I want to use now. It just casts right and fights a fish with me. I don't know if other glass rods are like this too but besides using my graphite with my spinning outfit and lighter stuff now I always grab the glass one. Just don't want to use the others any longer. Who knows, it may change with my next rod down the road some day.

I love the farside. I keep a supply of books in the bathroom. No joke. They're like Robin Williams. He was the only real comedian who could make me laugh. Farside had the only cartoons that were actually clever and or funny. This cartoon is in my bathroom as one of Gary Larsons favorites.

Not to be difficult but weird question. Better put. "If you had to choose one rod, bait combo and reel to use for the rest of your life what would it be?". The end of the world thing makes me think, 'fishing?'

All I have is a Curado DC and love it also coming from exclusively spin casting.... I'm sure any of the ones you mentioned would work well for you. Someone or other here owns some of the others. They'll certainly give you some good opinions. Also, I am often casting from a dock here at the lake I live on. Distance is both important and fun. My casts typically are 100-125 ft. I know because docks are spaced about 50 ft apart here so I can tell pretty closely. Zero backlash. Braided line helps. I hope this helps.

Personally, I've given up on commercial lines and for about three years now I make my own. It's extremely thin and pound for pound, the strongest line available. You can too. Here's now. Catch four, or eight large spiders depending on if you want 4 or 8 strand braid. You know those large black spiders that scoot across the floor and startle you. Go to the department store and purchase the largest twist drill you can find and some superglue. Now, carefully glue the belly of the spiders equidistant around the end of the drill and put it in your drill chuck. Glue them good as centrifugal force is a ***** once it gets going. Now the fun begins. Go down to your local high school football field. Touch each spider's abdomens to the goal post so that they start a spinneret strand. Make sure you are pointed up field. Slowly walk away and run the drill (hopefully you realized you need a battery drill right?). Try to keep the drill turning and your backward walking just fast enough so that the spiders can keep up with their web strand production. The natural stickiness on the strand that catches flies will adhere the strands together and by the time you reach the far goal line you'll have 300 yards of some of the strongest strands found in nature. Using a sharp knife cut the line and backtrack by winding it up on a spool after it dries. In humid areas drying time might take a few more minutes. For the cost of a drill and a little of your time you've got a 300 yard spool of 4 or 8 strand fishing line that might have cost you $35 if it had been purchased from a tackle store, or $18 on ebay. And the best thing is, you can do it again. Another note: If you plan on making this a one off thing, please safely return the little critters to the wild. After all, they did you a big favor and there are mosquitos out there so they can keep helping us out. If you plan on keeping them for future line making, you'll need a good supply of flies to get you through the winter. Just put a couple on your windowsill. They breed like crazy, especially if you've got an uncooperative dog, and you'll have plenty. Oh.... put the spiders in separate jars. They eat each other.... I hope this tutorial helps those out there who are concerned that their fishing lines aren't a consistent thickness. It's very important.

This will be a strange setup for some here but it may help with the motor. I run an 18ft sailing catamaran converted to a fishing platform boat. It runs using two 35 lb thrust minn kotas with two 100 amp 12 volt solar energy storage batteries. I charge them at night and run about 6 hours the next day with usually at least one motor wide open. That's how I get around and troll. Strange I know, I live on a 4.5 mile long lake and make a regular run around about half of it. Point is. These motors have run this way on this boat for two summers and before that on another similar boat for ten summers. They've gone through many batteries over time and they're still going strong. In my experience minn kotas have longevity. I have them wired using my own variable speed controls at the helm.

Hip hip, Yes, I never miss them either. Been watching him since the 60's.

Star Trek Discovery... Ah... I just like Star Trek. Fun fact: There are 726 TV episodes and 13 movies. It's been with us continuously in some form or another for 50 years.

Good question. Since the fishing here has been really bad this fall I decided to put a plastic worm on a hook and cast it into the weeds. We don't have much of that here but I thought that it's where the fish might be. This isn't very heavy. Not sure of the weight but it cast much farther than I anticipated.