Darth-Baiter

I just got back from fishing some of the hardest fighting fish of my life..in some of the nastiest cover. I brought two reels with 65lb braid. powerPRO because that is what my shop had right before my airplane flight. my friend brought two other braids. Samarai? ahh..I won't pretend to remember. I fished straight thru, ZERO fray, issues. the line didn't bite into the spool even on the hardest longest fish-fights or snags. cast after cast was stellar and epically far. my friend had to respool on day3...and so did my brother who bummed line from my friend. heavy stuff..I use 65 power pro. light stuff..I use Sufix.

First and foremost, SAVE the receipts when you buy a rod. my entire life, I bought regular fishing rods and just tossed the receipt. that habit kept going after I started to increase my rod-budgets. NOT smart. this was on me. my bad! now I keep everything on a computer file. two computers. work and home. the shop I used was very much more organized than myself. I gave them my last name, and the date I bought the rod. BOOM. Ethan from the the HookupTackle, emailed me a receipt immediately while I was still on the phone. he didn't want to hang up with me, until I got the receipt in my inbox. I am bringing him some beer, when(if) I drive by to Texas this holiday. great CS from Ethan. MegaBass rod warranty. very clear parameters, and instructions. original owner, within the first year - no questioned asked rod replacement. the next 2 years, rod is replaced if I pay 60%. (or if I break the freebie, one year rod). you have to have the receipt of purchase (see warning above). it was easy. online form to vent my woes. they ask for honesty, stating they try to learn from our mistakes (paraphrasing). if it was a car-door, tell them it was a car door. they asked for details. right down to the line, and bait. I was honest. 5 days later, I got an email telling me I was clear to send them the broken rod. they allow one additional cut-down of the rod blank to minimize shipping cost. a Dremel with abrasive cutting disc is like a light-saber to a carbon rod. I shipped the short tube for $40, including insurance for the entire rod. oh, I stuffed copies of the email and approval into the tube for clarity as requested. 4 days later, I just got an email with the tracking # for the new rod!! very painless. except the cutting of the rod, and shipping the rod. minor inconveniences..overall it was easy. I break it again, I ask the question "is it me, or the rod?". it sucks rods break. but this one didn't leave me crying. disaster averted. good, no great CS as well from MB.

I already told management that I fully expect to miss half of my responsibilities unless they clone me.

no additional $$. not happy about any of it.

I am a Bridge Construction Supervisor. my area that I cover is Napa county. any retaining wall, bridge that needs to be worked on, replaced, or newly built, my team covers the engineering. the Marin County boss is retiring. Management feels there is no time to hire a replacement, so they assigned me Marin as well. I squirmed and backpedaled like a pro, but I couldn't wiggle my way out. I have to do this until April, so they say. planning meetings conflict, and I was up front. my own area meetings get priority, to maintain the working relationships (trust) I have developed. I overlayed both calendars, and will miss half of the meetings. this is stupid. and I told everyone this... oh well. I'll do my best, but I won't kill myself. I won't even hurt myself. the commute alone to both areas is darn near impossible alone. stupid.

I'm in California. I fish all winter. biggest headache is the puffy jacket I wear sometimes gets a treble into it. I don't think our waters go below 50(?) cool enough to kill me for sure, so I have my entire senses on a swivel...no stupid stuff, and I tend to stay seated in my kayak more. I have a dry suit when I head out on big lakes. I LOVE not having to wake up at crack of dark to get to the lake before sunrise. I have had some good fish, like one day I called. "6lb Saturday" but it has never been lights out. I work for the fish.

"I was working in profanity the way Leonardo da Vinci worked in oil paint." Dude; awesome!. is this a quote from a Christmas Story? hahahah. great quote, nevertheless. glad you got your reel back. still waiting anxiously for word from manufacturer about my own rod problem.

not discouraging anyone to do what they want to do. just parroting my own thing..my OWN thing.

looking at the picture of the box it says, 10lb = .260mm. (for Model FC) same as Sniper.. sorry, not very scientific.

i send my stuff out. i do use Lucas reel oil, in between.

i know a forum that breaks the boats up BRAND SPECIFIC!! dumb. but there is no denying that a kayak/canoe is on a different spectrum from a powered boat.

get the lightest jig heads you can manage. the entire package gets heavy quickly.

i dont think i have ever gripped a fishing rod and thought...wow.."i could use some more grippiness.".

i like Huckfinns response. some flatsides wouldnt suck in the arsenal.

i've come to realized that there is no right or wrong answer to this question ever, for you., two pages of people telling you how they do it, is of zero value. whatever is comfortable.. not like our dominant eye dictates anything here.

I’m not so sure what rods I saw there. But I did get a pic. Very short rods. 7 power!!! Not five.

i would love a kayak specific safe space. but i wouldnt expect much traffic. i dont know squat about powered boats, and that is where the majority of the population lives and plays from what i can tell.

i'll pm you what i know.

i tried the 5's. one step up in quality. expert? something like that.

@casts_by_fly thanks!! i have been meaning to go and try to match hooks at the shop, but been distracted by life. great tip on cutting the split ring. noted.

next time i step off the plane in Brazil, i will have three 6-foot short Bucoo Peacock Bass Rods. one guy had them, and he was the least exhausted of the group each evening. the boat-rods were heavy sticks. exhausting. i think two 5 powers and one 4 would do the trick.

in Brazil, i had my GoPro turned on a lot. i waded thru and organized the videos. amazing how much dead-air i had. i can only watch myself fast-jerk a giant musky topwater so long. thank goodness for 10x viewing speed. i then went a bought a new Apple computer. and then after i figured out all that stuff, including remembering random passcodes..i got started on iMovie. i'll never be Tarantino in the editing dept, but the software is kinda cool. i had a fun Sunday. what video editing software do you use? i might have my first YT vid up soon. hahhaha...no need to subscribe..it is for friends/family really.

i actually want LESS holes into my hull. my Outback has the big one up front i dont even use..i keep two boxes in the one by my "junk". most of my stuff is in the back box. i enjoy the side twist needed to get to the stuff. some days, it is my only calisthenics. helps me keep my boyish figure.

the Fury 703 is the rod in my arsenal that doenst know what it wants to be when it grows up. i throw chatterbaits on it all the time. a chatter isnt a slack line techique, so i dont worry about sensitivity. it hucks the chatters, and the fish seem to stay pinned. no issues. i'll snip off the chatter and go to a 1/2 jig..well, i used to. now it is backup on jigs. i have a blindspot for that rod, since it was the first rod i bought as an adult.

@Buzzbaiter i think the Mongolian version of that Taimen trip is gonna happen for me before i die. the biggest challenge for me is to figure out how to cast a fly rod