galyonj

Yeah, it looks gross, but in my experience this is just how it looks after it rains. And East Tennessee is a temperate rainforest. In Knoxville, we average about 50" of rain a year. And, on average, we get rain about a third of the year. So you gotta learn to live with it. The fish don't mind too much. Last time I was out fishing chocolate milk I caught on a swim jig after failing on a chatterbait, a rattle trap, and a jerkbait.

I'm only going to touch on this because these guys pretty much covered everything else. Wind can easily turn an already-frustrating day of fishing into a nightmare of blown up spools. With 20mph gusts, I'd either go home or find some way (or somewhere) to fish with the wind at my back. I would encourage you to learn to sidearm cast for several reasons, but a flatter trajectory for the lure can help mitigate the wind (to a point, anyway).

Based on my incredibly limited experience, I think you're right, MN. When I tied the one I posted here yesterday, I took a long time -- feeling it out, going a few wraps and then unwrapping it and doing it again, building muscle memory and all that good stuff. What y'all see is the one I was proud enough of to photograph. My experience is that you can't recover a decent knot from one that starts out loose and floppy. If you want it tight when you're done, you gotta start it tight and keep it that way throughout the process. When I did the last tightening step, all I did was grab the main line in one hand, the leader in the other, and try to pull them apart. I didn't spit on it until I did the finishing half-hitches. And that probably was more force of habit than it was truly necessary. Exactly. FWIW here's how Swindle does it. Instead of looping around his pinky finger, he does a slip knot around the reel handle to keep it tight and keep his hands free.

Oh, for sure. I was really, really impressed with the people I worked with over there. I got upgraded to a really nice rod in a situation where I would have absolutely understood if they told me they couldn't help me at all (due to the way it broke). I like the Winn material, but I couldn't tell you why it matters to me, if I'm honest. I choke up high enough on fishing rods that I'm not ever really in contact with the grip material anyway, so it's kind of whatever.

I don't have any dog in the wet/not wet fight, but I want to say that this video made me not annoyed with trying to tie this knot, so thanks for that. Mine's pretty ugly, but it's getting there.

Another member of the braid to leader gang checking in (15lb Powerpro V2 to 6lb YZH). I've never used a circle hook for...anything, now that I think about it. I just about always use some variation of a neko hook. For weighted wacky, I want a 1/16oz jighead like this Gammy, or this Woo!. For unweighted, I want this Gammy, this Owner, or this VMC. And I have complete confidence with any of those hooks. If they take it, I'm taking them.

I think I smell a business opportunity.

I daresay that everybody on this website knows exactly the joy relief your Pops was feeling in that picture. That's a good feeling.

As long as it took to ship last time, I'd go ahead and order a few more if it was me.

Falcon Bucoo medium/mod with a Lew's LFS. Use it for crankbaits and such. Honestly, it's too slow a blank for me now that I have a better idea how I like to fish, and I feel like a medium/fast would suit me better.

I can only speak for myself, you understand...but for me, I use so few different types of terminal tackle that I could just about get what I need by feel alone. In fact, I reckon I probably have. There have been some migration issues in other boxes, but this little 3500 I found in the back of the closet just happens to a) keep everything in the space I've put it pretty well, and b) has just enough spacers to fit everything for which I'm able to articulate a need. It would be awesome to have enough confidence in enough different presentations that I need to create a filing system for my soft plastics, plugs, and terminal tackle, but I have to be realistic. I fish primarily from the bank, and just about every place I fish is really heavily pressured, and the fish have seen it all by now. And I've gotta hump it, three rods, a walking stick, and a bag of sour gummy bears in and out of the spot. So I'm to the point that I'm disinclined to put anything in the bag that I don't have a bunch of confidence in. I don't like wasting my time.

That sounds especially arduous for a Strike King jerkbait. Siebert order came in today. Mostly just refillingmy confidence colors -- junebug and green pumpkin. I did get two flyers, though. A black/blue brush jig and a hot sauce lil man. That last one's real pretty, though. I rigged it up to see what the whole thing would look like.

Those are all totally valid questions. And this took way longer to fix than it had any right to, because I wasn't asking the right questions. We did the testing for both the stator and the rectifier per the Mercury factory service manual for this engine. The stator was out of range, but it was out of range low by 0.1Ω. So that was fine. The rectifier passed with flying colors. Neither test included reading the voltage output, and I just blew it by trusting the manual too much. And your point about the usual cause of rectifiers dying is right on, because the whole reason we were working on it anyway is because his depth finder wiring developed a fault. Anyway I should've checked the voltage, but we got it figured out in the end.

I bet that was ripe.

Oh, we believe you. It's just that this train has run off the rails, built a new set of rails for its own hilarious purposes, and is steaming towards the nearest Dude Wipes display.

I've been using YZH too. 6lb to a 15lb mainline on my spinning setup, and I've got a casting setup with 15lb to a 40lb mainline. And there's an ultralight spinning setup with 2lb to a 6lb mainline.

Thanks! We're finna get this thing done tonight. Soak the flywheel in PB Blaster, fix the power wires for the console depth finder, R/R the stator (and maybe the regulator, but I anticipate sending that part back), and check every fuse and wire in the charging system (again).

It's funny you mention that, because I've been kicking around the idea of a finesse punch rig for a little bit, and I think I've finally come up with something. Probably gonna pair it with something small like a 5lb kettlebell.

The warning kind of begs the question, though. If they're in a cool, dark place...how doth the balls get stinky?

It's worth it just to see the warning to "keep your balls in a cool, dark place."

You got me thinking. I've personally seen largemouth sit and stare at a jerkbait without losing interest for way longer than I ever imagined one would be willing to, and then rocket in to wallop it as soon as the lure twitches at all. We know that bass (and probably every other fish) prefer to consume prey from the end that has the least chance of causing injury to themselves. For example, you always see crawfish pincers sticking out of the gullet instead of a crawfish tail. And vice-versa for other finned critters. But they're not all that bright, so they'll still try to eat it however it ends up in their mouth. So part of me wonders if the back-hook strikes are due to timing, like because they struck or slapped at it and got to the lure to mouth it right as the lure started to dart forward. And because jerkbaits don't really move very far (depending, of course, on how hard you're working it) with each pop, the result is a hookup or foul-hook with the rear treble instead of a miss altogether.

I almost always go with the same size I took off. One thing you want to keep in mind is that jerkbaits, especially, are sensitive to changes in hardware, and that changing hardware (for instance, switching from #6 to #4 hooks) will change not only the depth at which a jerkbait rests in the water, but also the lure's pitch at rest. And neither of those are necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes a slightly different look -- even if we think it looks dumb -- is all it takes to get bit. Another thing that I've seen mentioned here (maybe @A-Jay?) is going to a red front hook with the goal of giving the fish that little bit of color to focus on when they strike the lure.

Princess Bean the Enforcer makes sure I'm not screwing around on the clock. She also made Lily cry yesterday when she whooped her big yellow butt.