Zachary Scott

The company finally got back to me and I am very disappointed with their response, after a few uninformative back and forths they had this to say: "Hello, Thank you for clarifying, I apologize for the delay in response, I have been out of office and we have been catching up on a high volume of emails. The bladders do look like they are too large, and we would like to offer to send you a new set. Unfortunately, since the item was ordered through Walmart, we are unable to provide you with a return and refund for your purchase made through them." That was the entirety of their latest email. I stated that I'm worried about the safety of using the product (which they never acknowledged) and stated that it was the original components I purchased when they asked, and the company who admits they packed a defective product is saying they won't do anything for me. Pretty peeved at them and I'm going to be getting some consumer advocacy groups involved. This is ludicrous.

Pics that illustrate the crumpled bladder are hard to get but here's one that shows the length of the bladder invading the opposite compartment. Should my bladders both overlap to provide structure to the bow or should I bunch the bladders up at the stern end before inflating so they simply meet in the center of the bow? The valves are definitely not the ones that go on the Cumberland which has given me hope but I'm still concerned because the instructions say to not let the bladder twist during inflation. The bladder goes tight against the fabric but with much folding of the PVC, which gives me pause as I'm worried it will fatigue and break after a moderate number of use and storage cycles. I assume this is the worry behind twisted bladders as mentioned in the very ambiguous users manual. Are your bladders folded at all against the hull while inflated? Are they longer than your hull? When I get home I will measure the length of my bladders, may I ask you to do the same? I don't do well with cold and my season for using this thing is probably done this week. Do you use neoprene waders to fish colder waters in your tube? How does that work for you?

Sadly it only got me one bass before I snagged it on a rock. I got some more Marabou in the mail today however, so it's time to replicate! The guy who got me into fly fishing would fight an 8" trout on a 5wt for a full minute, and talk down to me for bringing them in without a "fight". I wasn't horsing them in and tearing their faces off, mind you, just not prioritizing my fun over this creature's future. He also showed me how easy it is to go fishing for trout but think you are fishing for bass because you've got predator flies. When we fished together this summer, I kept pointing him away from trout lies and toward rock piles but he couldn't break the habit! I suppose discovering the joy of bass with unfamiliar gear helped me avoid that pitfall as everything was new. Perhaps when I get a new rod and replace this fly line (that's older than me) that came with a hand me down reel, I will spring for 6 or 7. That should also be a lot of fun on the San Juan! I'm a little sad about having lost a fly rod and a spinning rod this summer, but it would never be enough to stop me! Just make me be a little more mindful next time (maybe). I look forward to asking so many questions, but first I've got to learn enough to even know what to ask! So it's back to reading!

I've long considered moving to Arizona, and I am finally ready to take the plunge! I expect that I will receive job offers in the next two weeks in Flagstaff and Tucson. I would love Flagstaff, even though it's expensive as heck, because I've got plenty of friends there. I would also thrive in Tucson because I am a heat-loving lizardman. There are going to be a lot more considerations that I take into account, but I'm curious what you Arizona folks have to say about which location would be best if I were only to consider fishing opportunities. Thanks!

A few weeks ago I got a classic accessories Togiak float tube at Walmart, and I've been trying to contact the company to ask them a question but their customer service is horrendous at replying during the pandemic. If any of you have one, I'm hoping you can put my mind to rest. My bladders are quite large compared to their fabric compartments - a few inches larger in circumference, and if I inflate one bladder to light pressure without inflating the other it extends into its neighboring compartment by about 6". Is this normal in float tubes? The instructions say to avoid twisting the bladders but I can't inflate it without lots of rumples and general difficulty getting them to be shapely. I'd love to be worried for nothing, thanks!

In the month prior to my post, an average of two fish per hour was as slow as it got (maybe thats why I fell in love with bass fishing so hard?), but every time I've gone out in the past week and a half - skunk. I figured it would be so because the weather here has made James Brown firing a shotgun at the cops from his bronco seem sane. Today I finally caught... One! I'll take it. I had a number of difficulties related to me being an absent minded fool that lost me my fly rod at the beginning of summer, so I have been using spinning gear in my bass adventures. Though, that's not to say I haven't been using flies! I had no idea what I was doing, I just grabbed the vice and made something big, ugly, and green with attempted lateral lines. I present to you, the first fly of mine that caught me a fish! I recently picked up a 3wt for the small streams around here since the temperature is calming down, finally. It seems as though our waters are very similar, would you fish a 3wt in your creek for smallies, or would that be a liability if a big'un got ahold of your fly?

And I've even read some technical details on fish size relative to their habitat, maybe some day I'll try to use my noodle a little harder. Probably not today. Thanks for all of the info, I have a feeling that I'll learn tons from you in particular the more time I spend here. I didn't have a scale with me, but based on my chef arm being a reliable (if not precise) scale, and looking at pics online of 3#ers, my PB so far was definitely north of 3. If I wasn't already obsessed, that day did it most certainly!

"Trout paladin"... I suspect I'm gonna get a lot of use out of that phrase in the coming years. I figured that the answer would be "just stick em back", but jeez, the patience I gotta have for these fish to grow past 3#... Maybe it's time to start planning a drive to Texas.

Hey everyone! Zak from New Mexico here. My family is vegetarian so I didn't grow up fishing. I tried it out a few times but only ever caught one fish in an overstocked pond in China when I did foreign exchange. When I moved north from Albuquerque two years ago, my roommate put a fly rod in my hand and that was an enlightening experience. Last season was a total waste because of drinking, I'm surprised I didn't drown on my singular outing. I got sober over the winter though, and as a skilled chef my labor is priced out of the pandemic market, so this summer has been only fishing and hunting. Northern New Mexico is a fly fishing trout paradise and I thought that I would have to drive a significant distance to learn about bass. One day just over a month ago in the Rio Grande gorge another angler was complaining that the water was too warm and he was just catching bass. I thought he was crazy and that bass aren't this far north, and told myself this dude didn't know a chub. Mere minutes later I reeled in my first smallmouth, and that was a changing point in my life. Right now there is a severe cold front (90°F on Tuesday afternoon with snow in September that night) and I'm jonesing for a bite that isn't there, so I find myself reading on the internet instead. I'm really excited to keep learning everything I can about my new micropterus buddies, in regards to both catching them and their natural life. Something I've kind of wondered about but never thought about seriously is catch, feed, and release. The bass in the river are I believe a recent introduction as they are mostly under a pound, or perhaps they are just being caught and thrown to the bank as lots of people here don't want bass eating their precious trout babies. Either way, I want this bass fishery to thrive and so my mind goes to jamming nutrition into a fish's stomach so they can fight harder next time. Has anyone ever heard of this? Does it happen? I'm a touch worried that it might effect their behavior, either making them less interested in feeding due to satiety or associating being caught with a free meal, would that happen? Sorry for the rambles, thanks if you made it this far!