bulldog1935

If you want the cost-effective version, the closest is Korean-made NS Black Hole Dark Horse UL Rockfish - this 8' rod will also fish 10-lb braid. It's an unsanded blank, still with Fuji guides. The ebay seller is a reliable vendor. Matched with Stradic, not afraid to take this one out on a kayak. This rod got four spec doubles in November.

8-y-o Abby - she's just under 5 lbs - if you're doing something and she can't help, will find other ways to get your attention

I prefer sliders, and think the wake is more effective than the pop - I've actually seen the pop turn fish away

oh, you were going to sit in this chair? I'm sorry, but the sun's coming in here.

Then you better buy it now, because as much as they may tell you they won't mind later - they Will. Mine was UL (y'all can read this how you want). Yamaga Blanks TZ Nano 83 - the only spin/bait rod I ever bought that cost as much as a fly rod. It will throw 1/16 or even 1/32 oz and out-distance any other rod I own. Matched with Vanquish, it's shockingly light in hand. Purpose - winter glass minnows in the salt. In November, it landed a redfish + ladyfish double on tandem rig - natural baitfish were small poecilids, and good thing I had this, because the finger mullet migration was running a month late. Specs under the dock lights can be really tricky. If they're not feeding in competition, you frequently see them in pairs closed-mouth pushing the natural bait to test if it's real. If you want to use the word finesse here, it's on the detect strike end, more so than the cast.

Way to go Paul - thanks for playing. Great reels, and love the yellow on the SB. Back into the previous century, and example reels I don't own, but was hired to preserve. Patina is a term thrown around loosely, and in valuable nickel-silver antique fishing reels, red, green and pink isn't patina - it's active corrosion, and the colored salts themselves are corrosive. Copper-based alloys pit by a mechanism that doesn't produce visible holes or even much surface roughness - when the alloy dissolves in corrosion, a matte of pink copper metal plates back out. The process is dealloying. Valuable reels sitting on the shelf with this active corrosion are gradually disappearing every time the humidity changes. So my job is to clean away the salts, polish away (hopefully) shallow dealloying, polish the surface oxide and salts from ebonite (hard rubber), dress the screw heads as best I can - but too many times, people have already taken tapered screwdrivers to the screw heads, where they should have been using hollow-ground gunsmithing bits. Now the alloy can grow the gold patina it deserves. The three things that attack antique reels are organic acids from decomposing lube, residual salt, acids and ammonia from biological rot of wet lines and leather reel cases. Always remove old lines from valuable reels, and never store them in mildewed leather cases. So after that lecture, here are the cool reels, both valued in the mid-four digits: This is a Leonard Mills bi-metal, patented by William Mills in 1877, and built for him by Philbrook & Payne. This Spalding Kosmic, made by Julius vom Hofe, and patented in 1884, is even more valuable because of a short production run - the Kosmic name was a trademark infringement.

Lou's Daisy is a hit. One morning when we were coming in to the launch at Boerne City Lake (400 acres, no motors), a group of women were launching kayaks, and Daisy was a chick magnet - they all pulled out their phones and took photos. So one more photo.

I fished through most of 1000 yds of Red, probably 500 yds Senshi, a spool charge of Tatsu (broke off a lifetime snook - in all fairness, probably a gill-plate cut), and most of 1000 yds of Abrazx, which is my favorite of the bunch. I still have two reels spooled with fresh Abrazx, and everything else is braid + Blue or sometimes Abraxz leader on UL. I turned to Seaguar 15 years ago (had already been using leader), when dashing off to the airport, my stop only had high-strength Rio fluoro tippet, and that AK trip, broke off three 30+" Kenai rainbows at knots. (It was a work trip, but if you don't have a plan to play when the work is done, Alaska clients get peeved.) I've ended up never getting a larger AK rainbow than at home in my Texas tailwater. Have never looked back from Seaguar since. Knot strength is exceptional. Of course I use a lot of Blue leader in range of sizes, and just got my first spool of 30-lb Gold for surf reels. The Gold was tough to fold when coiling an Allbright knot (tougher than thicker 30-lb blue), trashed the first knot, then got really good results on the next two.

Seaguar doesn't call Abrazyx copolymer, but that's what it is. (so is Tatsu) Many of my salt friends use Sufix copolymer, and I searched it to this Tackle Advisors video on BR.

the reason to fish 6-lb braid and associated lures is partly to match small natural bait, but also so the fish Don't Know - - that you're hunting them. Here's my choice UL use - the biggest fish in this pile is 22" - we were releasing 16", and they're all schoolie males. Also happens to be our favorite winter fishing, and we'll probably go back in Feb.

check first whether the reel has a ball-bearing line roller. If not, it's not suitable for braid.

Tackle tinkering and other hobbies have been a respite for many since April. So "well-off" can have different values. My buddy built a wooden kayak from a kit that cost more than most high-grade PE kayaks. He said 80% of the work was sanding.

Have a fly rod buddy in the PNW who almost exclusively targets tiger musky on his 12-wt (the only line that will turn over his bass-size flies) - they look like gators in his photos. We have a spring creek here with deep impoundments and a wild population of northern pike stocked in the '40s - they're into the high 20+" and forage on the native bass, especially in the winter.

Every thread should have a photo, right? My Tournament Pro with SDS Eva knobs on the stock carbon handle. I'll give an edge to Super Duty G mag brake and clean spool for long casts with 3/8 oz and wind-resistant lures - in 3 years on the water, I've only had one backlash on Super Duty, and that's when I didn't notice my line was wrapped on the rod. But the Tournament Pro is notably lighter, an edge on spool size, and Lew's centrifugal brake is also light and great at preventing start-up backlash.

I've fished 1/8 oz reliably on Super Duty (improved spool bearings and 20-lb braid) with a long Lami ML rod, and the rig I put together just for that niche is a Team Pro SP with improved spool bearings, PE#1 X-braid on my 7'1" Omen ML rod. Agree with others that Scorpion and similar dedicated BFS reels are the way to go for 1/16 oz.

A rod that has my attention for BFS, but limited to 1/4 oz, is Yamaga Blanks Blue Current III 69/B. My 8'3" YB TZ Nano spinner will cast 1/32 to 3/8 oz, but that range is what you gain with longer rods. That rod in bait version and and the newer and more cost-effective 8'2" B covers this range also.

@TnRiver46 it's actually finer than human hair by 0.001"

white bass were a priority, as were speckled trout, redfish, and Spanish mackerel ("smacks") Of course I'm grown here, but this is a fly rod smack and my daughter growing up with specs

Mine is oyster shell

@Logan S I've taken quite a few white bass in trico hatches, both on the river and lake. When they're sipping tricos, can't buy a strike on anything else. Also witnessed a stonefly hatch in a creek-arm cove one day with a thousand bass sitting just below the surface, waiting. I couldn't imitate them, and also couldn't buy a strike. I'll add to this - we occasionally get rhinocerous butterfly migration scourge plugging our radiators. When this is going on, bass will their bellies distended will impale themselves on a red or orange popper.

If you go to that much trouble, I would replace the carbontex drag washers - they're cheap from many ebay suppliers. Make sure you film them completely, including inside and outside edges with Cal's grease - I think it's hprbearings on ebay (or his website) that can sell you both carbontex and a small Cal's tin. (yes, not spinning reel)

my longest-casting low profile baitcaster is Lew's Super Duty G because of its excellent mag brake. Centrifugal brakes are best for defending against initial spool overshoot backlash at the beginning of your cast. Mag brakes are best for defending against mid-cast wind backlash that occurs when your lure is going over the hump, gravity is slowing it down just before it speeds up again on the drop. My longest-cast baitcaster By Far is (custom) Abu CT - it easily more than doubles the cast distance of any of my level-wind baitcasters. First time I cast 1/4-oz lure on this reel, it ended up in my neighbor's back acre. Conveniently, this reel has both centrifugal and mag I also built it with Avail shallow braid spool, and the mag brake is the Avail mag that matches the spool.

I do arbor knot to the same test mono, then as short as possible, tie allbright knot to my braid Also agree with @jimmyjoe you probably don't want to use 4-lb braid on any baitcaster. Jun at Japan Tackle recommends PE#1 line - 0.17 mm - as the smallest to use on any baitcaster. In this X-braid, that's 22-lb test, but would be 10-lb test in Sufix 832. I personally would move that 4-lb to a spinning spool.

The best use of a fly rod is outside of the boat, and in moving water. Usually stalking, wading, and sight fishing. Fly fishing is more effective in moving water than any other tackle, at least partly because there it fishes with less effort than other tackle. Fly tackle can make a stealthier presentation when you're stalking and sight-fishing. Most blind casting with a fly rod is an obstinate way to fish, especially if you can do more with spinning or bait tackle with less effort. The blind casting exception is being on spots and conditions that concentrate bait and gamefish - e.g., tide passes with moving current (that's kind of like river fishing), spawning phenomena that move and stack large numbers of fish (e.g. salmon) - spots with a high strike probability that naturally concentrate fish. Any time you have visible fish sign - jumping bait - that counts as sight fishing. My first fly rod was for white bass as a teenager, because I discovered you catch more of them with smaller lures - a fly rod will get even smaller stuff out farther than most UL tackle. Sometimes, really big fish are eating really small bait there's just no other way to imitate. Allure, mysticism? - no, it's just fishing.

Texas should be 5 states, because it's five different geographic regions. This used to be the capital of West Texas - Vinegarone (vinega-roohn - rhymes with Lorna Doone) - it's the only town in Texas that has a green road sign that reads "Population 0" Everything in the west Texas scrub bites, stings, or spits poison at you - plants and animals, both. An anxious two-mile hike from this mesa finds a striking bluff with springs the size of volkswagens, and the Devils River Fish live here, but they're awful spooky from the bank or wading and the water so clear, the next step may be over your head the best way to catch them is float These photos were taken 15 years ago, when the state leased access and campsites on this ranch at Vinegarone. It was a mecca - you could drive 5 hours and run across friends you hadn't fished with in 5 years. Now, the only way to get here is to float in on a 2-day safari with registered float guides - but triple-digit bass numbers are the norm on that float.