bulldog1935

22" endemic Guadalupe bass hen - 15" in our fast hill country limestone is a lunker - we call these Texas brook trout. I caught her at a bat cave vent, and she got this big eating baby bats that fell in. This is the only bass species that can retreat into the aquifer to survive our droughts. There were no C&R records in 2005, and submitting a record for this species then would require killing her for a liver biopsy due to genetic dilution by introduced smallmouth. However, her blue sheen (v. copper) is pretty good indication she's all Guad. I released her and told her to go breed. for comparison, this pup is from one of two remaining A-strains of endemic bass, protected from smallmouth genetics by an aquifer recharge barrier (the creek disappears underground). here's where they live this one is clearly a smallie hybrid

my favorite St. Croix is 7'2" MM Legend Glass - my go-to inshore spinning rod. Remarkably light in hand for S-glass, and crisp moderate action. Here starting the morning at a tide pass (stacked with bait) using a wake bait. It also gives just the right action to TSL grasswalker, which is basically a neutral-density, subsurface, dog-walking jerk bait that gets right in the zone in shallow grass. I'll normally fish my MM baitcaster drift fishing a kayak with the wind behind me, but you can count on spinning tackle to be little affected by the wind...

White bass is the freshwater meat fish. Especially on fly fishing forums, you hear people talking about C&R with them - Why? They are fecund, the females laying 200,000 - 500,000 eggs. They live 3 years, and where feral, are found impossible to eradicate. They deplete the forage base for other species. These are all 2-y-o males caught on fly rod in a spring spawning run - I released everything else. Been doing this since I was 12-y-o. Finished my bag limit while I was letting my friends fillet from my stringer. From the coast, I'll add to this that me and my friends would rather eat speckled trout than just about any other fish.

It's not really about effort, it's about jerk - the time derivative of acceleration (2nd time derivative of velocity). Any jerk (engineering term) put into your cast is backlash. I wrote this to a salt-fishing buddy to explain how I could cast 20-lb braid on a Super Duty - he said he was limited to 17-lb fluoro on his Super Duty to prevent backlash: what can I say, I'm an engineer...

The differences between Vanford and Stradic FL - internally, they're identical. The Vanford has composite frame and shares low-inertia rotor with the Japan market magnesium-bodied and benchmade Vanquish. Where Vanford's qualities shine are in UL sizes for feeling the action of light lures and detecting light takes. However, since Vanford is very new, it may be easier to find stock. (Vanford is just a new name for the new version of Stradic CI4+) Twin Power is the Stradic upgraded with metal rotor, and also bench-made in Japan (parts-matching for extra smoothness) The labyrinth seals of "X-protect" are all you need for inshore fishing, unless you plan on dunking your reel. Full seals matter in the surf, where your reel is constantly being washed in sand slurry.

before this thread drops off into infinity, a few select reel porn photos: The ivory grasp on my Talbot Niangua Meek, Talbot, and Jack Welch Heddons share this U-spring clicker design, and these phosphor bronze springs often fatigue at the sweated block. Here's the repair on my Talbot (before cutting my fabricated spring to final length) Since I mentioned Jack Welch Heddons, a 3-15. Jack Welch began at Talbot, and brought his bench skills to Dowagiac, where he built reels of equal quality, in great demand to collectors. Note the main gear oil port and spool spindle oil reservoirs. Meek No. 3 after they were bought by Horton and moved to Bristol, Conn I mentioned the good bushings on early Shakespeare NLW reels. Even this blue-eyed low-grade Leader casts great. Probably the oldest bait reel I own, another quality, though low-grade Shakespeare, the Alamo A very pretty ebonite and nickel silver Abbey reel - this beauty was too easy to sell, but I have the photos This isn't my reel, but a reel I was hired to clean up - rare and pretty valuable - the Redifor X winding plate multiplier - aluminum frame and spool from a time aluminum cost the same as silver. Not very valuable, but kind of cool, a Pflueger trade reel marked Revonoc, one of the house brands of HSB&Co hardware stores (later True Value). Next to it, an HSB&Co Diamond brand pocket knife. I also have Revonoc nesting camp cups. Saw a new thread on DC reels - finally going to say it - if you can cast and especially fish any of these, you will become better with all of your modern baitcasters.

the spools I listed as prime are 1520, which is 200 m 30-lb braid Borrowed these photos from Hedgehog to show you 3000XG spool (equivalent to Stradic FL3000) This is a 1520 spool, but on the mid frame reel. 4000 MHG spool (1520), which is the exact same capacity for large frame reel 2020 spool that is standard size on FL4000 (320 yds 30-lb braid)

Especially for inshore, Stradic FL is the baseline workhorse reel. There's something to be said for metal frames. The FL 4000 has a deep spool, and not the best choice for braid (5000 is the 4000 with even deeper spool). The FL 3000 has a much better braid spool, and the same drag as the 4000 and 5000. https://fish.shimano.com/content/fish/northamerica/us/en/homepage/Shimano_Product_Page.P-STRADIC_FL.html Or if you want to shop in Japan, they offer the 4000MHG with the big frame and shallow braid spool. https://www.jpfishingtacklenews.com/shimano-stradic-19/

@CountryboyinDC Just about every day out is 8 miles - we have friends fishing Perception Stealth, Emotion Fisherman, and yes, many Hobies. Fast (distance) wind-slick boats still have a place on the salt flats. Here's a day on Estes with SW wind - big Aransas Bay on the right. and a different day, coming home on an E wind. riding out a 35-kt gale when a wall cloud squall hit - of course my drift sock is deployed by trolley to stern, which makes this possible, and actually kind of fun. My buddy in his Hobie Revo 16 had just lifted his sock, instant windcock and turtle, and of course, the water is 2-3' deep. yes, I can turn around, sideways with both legs over one side of the boat - the Tarpon is really stable. If I tried that in the Kestrel, it would squirt out from under me. One day, NWS gave us a total lame hourly weather prediction when two fronts reinforced each other. We launched at 16-kt NNE expecting the wind to shift to 10-kt E in 2 hours - never happened all day, and we had to paddle home across 28-kt NE. My buddy's Revo would not let him steer upwind, and he turtled once again on a gust and wave. My T160, and other buddy's Emotion Fisherman, would let us tack and nose upwind to address waves and got us home dry. The Texas coast is lined with barrier islands, and there are 15,000 sq-mi less than 2' deep. Something else nice about kayaks - you can usually afford a different boat for river, lake and salt.

My T160, fishing the salt flats 12 years now. Still considered by salt anglers to be the best compromise between speed (read distance), wind-slick, and good manners in bad blows. Main use is drift fishing the flats with a drift sock. When 8 of us launched for buddy Josh's redfish rodeo in Oct, five of the boats were Tarpons. kevlar Kestrel, 39 lbs - fast taxi to wading water. Can't balance (or turn) this boat without thigh straps, but 5 kts is effortless, glide is infinite even upwind, and it's just plain fun.

The US has no import fees for shipments less than $4000 value - Canada would be a different story.

dealing with surf and sand slurry, part of it is just practical, but I got in my classic with modified Abu CT reels. I began with two 1995 Blue Yonder 6500 C3CT made them light and slick with Akios barstock frames (v. chromed brass), converting one to 5500 width, raced out bearings (all new stainless drives), lighter alloy handles and drag stars (v. steel) and Avail shallow braid spools (200 yd and 300 yd 30-lb braid). The spools make an amazing weight and inertia difference compared to 250 and 400 yds 15-lb mono on deep-flange spools. and Avail internally adjustable mag that matches the spools (spool cog is also BB) I've fished the 5500 on the 8' rod and it more than doubles any of my other baitcasters with the same lure weight. Lawn casting 1/4-oz lure the first time, accidentally put it in my neighbor's back acre. When I began, set out to make a better Talbot...

If you noted in my OP, the very first rod I posted, FE Thomas Mahogany grade bait, doesn't have trigger. Many rods then did have a trigger brazed to either the reel seat insert or the sliding band. all I can say is you may get used to it. My recent surf rod, 8' for lures, came from Rich Hedenberg with a split-seat trigger. In this case it makes sense, because it's really a one-hand rod. But I'm planning to follow up with an 11'er for two hands and spider weights, and trying to decide whether I want the low-profile trigger, or none.

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perusing this thread a little, saw this reply to AJ. Decades ago, wading Fence Lake (barrier island skinny salt flat) with some buddies, one commented on my relaxed style and use of the camera while fishing. Honestly, I think taking the camera out keeps you cool and alert to fish sign.

I mentioned above every fall or so, a gang of us will rent a canal house somewhere up the coast or on Arroyo Colorado in far south TX - and sometimes even a fishing shack if we don't bring women. The pantries are usually loaded with left behind spices, and the refrigerators with left behind condiments. Seems every refrigerator we open at a fishy house has a half-dozen varieties of horseradish sauce. I get that because mentioned I like Remoulade sauce on my fish tacos, though with perfectly fried fish right out of the ice water bowl, really don't want to mask it with anything. Greek, Italian, Mexican sauces and fish preparations are also really good. A Rockport trip for us automatically means a trip to Los Comales for Mexican seafood. Oils from garlic and onion naturally permeate the fish and bring whatever spices with them - a good creamy sauce on top... and don't confuse S. Texas Mexican food with anything found north of S. Flores Street.

here we are on the 3rd page without a photo Since I mentioned the anti-backlash (ABL) mechanism on the Brit Easicast, here's where they got the idea - South Bend. This is a SB/Cross Doublebilt cane bait rod with a SB 1131A, their first ABL reel from 1911. The line goes under the bail, and slack on the line guides a spring-loaded wool pad into the spool arbor. The knob adjusts the pad stand-off. With proper end-tension and ABL adjustment, this is an absolute no-thumbs reel - you only need your thumb to release you cast and the spool will stop with the lure. A note, South Bend reels were made by Shakespeare, which allowed them to sell models that also included Marhoff's LW before it expired in 1928.

a friend on FFR recently posted take-down and rebuild of a Heddon 282 with hopelessly brinnelled pinion gear. This is what happens when we push our reels to too-big fish, and I did on my Mitchell 300. The gears, though is where those old Penns shine. It was the rotor bushing I killed on my Penn 4400SS with king macks. The moment arm spinning spool spindle applies to both gears and bushings is outrageous, and one thing they've worked into computer design.

yes friend, those spec fillets came right out of the ice water, too. I really don't like frozen fish, and usually bring home just what I want to eat, with ice floating over it. On extended fishing trips, camping, RV, canal house, we grill a lot Here, my buddy poached redfish fillets in a cajun sauce - all my fishing buddies happen to be great chefs

Thanks for the great story, and a tremendous question that takes us to the truly esoteric. On fly fishing forums, people talk about lawn casting - IMO, they're just reinforcing bad habits. The antique bait reels we've talked about on this thread are hands-down the most fun to take to the back acre for Casting. While the Brits have imported our multipliers back to the '30s, their primary baitcasters are under-the-rod - they call them spinning reels. What they do is called a Wallace cast. In the early 60s movie Saturday Night and Sunday morning, Albert Finney and his bud ride their Raleighs to the local creek and you can see a little Wallace casting. In my quest for between-the-wars Redditch fly reels, I've also worked up a pretty good catalog collection. This is from Farlow's '33. They basically let the reel spin and apply finger brakes to the spool. The esoteric part, along the way, I picked up an Allcocks Easicast and split-cane Stephenson 7-1/2' under-rod spinning rod (small agate guides). This combo will cast 3/8 oz to 150'. It has a built-in casting brake that thumbs the spool for you. As the line goes slack through the bail, the shoe moves to apply spool rim brakes.

That $20 from the '50s is $200 in today's money. Here's a very useful tool for a tackle history buff - it calculates the purchasing equivalent in today's money Another thing that's really cool is searching/reading the old outdoor magazines on google books - both the articles, and especially the ads. After WWII, fishing tackle is aimed at the masses, because they had time for sports entertainment, earned vacations, and had a bit of disposable income - Popular Mechanics, Field & Stream, Boy's Life.. Here's a page from the 1951 Ward's catalog And yes, they didn't carry Supreme or Medalist because of their blue collar market. What you find as you go back in history, fishing tackle was aimed for a more affluent market, since they had disposable income and leisure time for sports entertainment. You find it even in Field & Stream. Before WWII, fishing was aimed at a professional class - doctors, lawyers (Hemingway's dad). Outside magazine, 1917. the 1918 Pflueger Supreme in my OP cost $22, which is $380 in today's money. If you read articles in outdoor magazines from the 19th century, fishing is aimed at the wealthy, and fishing articles appear next to articles about yachting. A good many of the fishing articles will be written 1st person about fishing with The President (of the US).

At my house, if the fillets are big enough, grill (15" grill sautee pan, and a slot snook right out of the ice water - this is the only snook I've ever eaten, but had to try One, and everything written about their perfect flavor is correct) a lot of my friends leave the skin on their redfish fillets to grill Smaller fillets, speckled trout, I sautee them in butter on the stove for fish tacos of course pico de gallo, but I also love a stripe of remoulade sauce on the fish might be different if I could fry fish like Susie - then I just like to squeeze lemon or lime and black pepper

You can see it in my avatar, the lacquer and foil bulldog on a Pflueger Golden West fly reel

on a fly rod, especially for nite-lite dock fishing, tiny whistlers and bucktail hi-ties tear them up.

Hi AJ, there's a photo of it in my Introduction thread - it was really skinny in gin-clear flagstone eating mostly nickel-size crayfish, dime-size minnows, the occasional bluegill. But I will never forget when his mouth flared on my cats whisker. Saw him in a pod cruising down the river, and cast way out front for stealth, letting my fly slowly sink and just moving it enough to keep it off the bottom. The fish ran twice into my backing and I had to keep him out of a stand of watercress. Pretty good witnesses, I had a half-dozen friends with me - at the time I was running a fly fishing life group from my church, and we fished every other week. The rod was Vince Cummings glass, and the reel a 1930 Medalist. I'm 6'3" The photo above isn't a short-focal length, but cropped out of a long-focal length photo. This one kind of shows its length better - going after my cats whisker my best rainbow in the Guadalupe tailwater is about the same size my best speckled trout bigger redfish, though Gonna need a bigger net