West Coast Angler

1) I have a chance to get this exact Aldebaran Mg7 for $245 shipped to my door. And while it's not really "new in box" anymore, since pictures needed to be taken, it's pretty much brand new. I see some floating on ebay in "used" condition, pretty beat up with or without boxes for roughly $140-200 plus shipping, which is usually $20 on top of said price. Is $245 a fair price for it? Would you pay this much for one if you were looking for one? 2) I'm deciding on what rod to pair it with, right now I'm leaning towards G.Loomis, but the question is, which series? IMX-PRO / GLX / NRX, not sure if I should just bite the bullet and get the top dog. What are some differences between these rods for those that own them? I am a huge fan of the lifetime warranty, hence the reason why I'm leaning this way. Dobyns is also looking really good with their prices and warranty, but have heard mixed reviews for the most part, seems like a love or hate thing with them.

Of course! I'm enjoying the read on all these stories, and if it takes even one of you back down memory lane, then I would say I did a good job asking! It seems for a lot of you, that first (or that one) fish experience really influenced you to become fine fishermen. Thank you fellas for sharing your stories!

What, when & where was the first fish you caught? What setup were you using and what lure was tied on? Feel free to tell a story, I'd love to read them! P.S. Your pet goldfish and fishtank don't count ? This can be interesting, I'll start. 1 lb~ largemouth bass 2014 bank fishing Sycamore Island (San Joaquin River) - Madera, CA $40 Shakespeare Ugly Stik SPL 1102 from Walmart ZOOM wacky worm I still have that Ugly Stik I bought in 2011. I plan on buying a Shimano Stella for it in honor of catching my first fish and in hopes of it catching me my first double digit largemouth bass ?

The DX743 would be great for the weights you've listed. I have used the DX743 plenty of times fishing the lure weights you plan to use it for. I've used it for 1/2 oz. jigs/chatterbaits with full trailers on them as well. While it doesn't have much of an issue doing so, there are better rods out there for that, like the DX744. If you plan on adding 1/2 oz. lures to your tackle, you may want to look into the DX744. It has more power to handle 1/2 oz. lures, especially 1/2 oz. jigs/chatterbait with trailers or punching. It can handle 3/8 oz. just fine. I also throw weightless senkos on it from time to time. I don't mean to talk you out of the DX743, it's a great rod, but can be somewhat situational. Having fished both, I would take the DX744 over the DX743 for "all-purpose/1-rod-only". It's more versatile. You'll be open for more lure options. You can just buy a cheap spinning finesse setup down the road for dedicated 1/4 oz. fishing if you wish. Peter

I am late, but I have arrived.

It seems to me a decision has been made. I see many rods in my foreseeable future. Thanks guys!

I'm fairly new to fishing. I have no boat access and strictly fish off banks and shores. One day I may be at a pond with lots of trees and brushes, another day I'll be at the lake with sandy beach shores. My tackle mostly consists of 1/2 - 3/4 oz. lures (jigs, punch rigs, plastics, chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, crankbaits and jerkbaits). Right now I am fishing jigs, punch rigs and chatterbaits. I have come to identify these as my confidence baits and will primarily fish these lures, but will transition to the others eventually. A close buddy of mine is moving out of state early next year. He is the man responsible for getting me into fishing, and has given me a parting gift: one of his G.Loomis Conquest rods. He has both the 844C and 904C of this model. I am free to pick whichever one I want. So for you experienced anglers out there: which length rod would best cover most (if not all) of the lures I use (and plan to use)?

Thanks all for the warm welcome!

Hello all! My name is Peter and I am a rookie angler! I'm glad to be a part of this community! My motto is to catch and release! I look forward to being the finest angler I can be and I am on a quest to find that monster bass! A little bit (or a lot) about my fishing experience! My first time fishing ever was nearly 15 years ago in my early teens. I was invited to go on a fishing trip with two of my cousins. I didn't care much about the fishing part, as I've never fished before, but went anyways just to have good quality time with them. Of course we didn't catch anything and I didn't think much of it. I had no clue what I was doing, lost a lot of floaters and came home with no desire or even a thought about fishing again. Fast forward to the early 2010's, I became friends with a co-worker who happened to enjoy fishing (he is now one of my closest friends). He would always invite me, so I would go once in awhile, and even invited my cousins (they all became mutual). It wasn't until 3 or so years later that I caught my first fish ever, a rather small largemouth bass. That still didn't pique my interest for fishing. In that stretch of time (early 2010's up until a few months ago), I probably only went fishing a total of 10-15 times and caught a grand total of 3 fishes, and quite honestly never really knew what I was doing. I met some new people through the years from my friend and became mutual with them. Up to this point, I only fished because I enjoyed the company of my friends and family, and not so much fishing itself. I was convinced that it just wasn't my thing. A couple months ago, I was invited to fish with the same friends, and I went just to enjoy their company (as usual). This was during the notorious California striped bass "striper boil" season. My friend would lend me his spare setup and we went for a month or two on a regular. Catching more fish in that time alone than I ever did my entire life, I started to notice a trend; I was asking my friend to go fishing instead of him asking me. I soon found myself doing research online about different types of rods and fishing lures just out of my curiosity. I finally caught my first legal size striped bass just less than a month ago and it was a very proud moment, but I think my friend was more excited for me than I was for myself! The excitement it gave off was rewarding enough to warrant myself buying my own setup. My friend told me if I cheap out on the setup, it may hinder my fishing experience and naturally I'd want to upgrade to something better. Not wanting to have that in the back of my mind, and being the hard lesson learner that I am, I went big, just in time with the Black Friday sales! I've quickly noticed that while striped bass fishing is fun, it's less rewarding than largemouth bass fishing, for me personally. A largemouth bass jumping out of the water is just so iconic, even I knew what it was when I had no experience fishing. I've since been exploring local ponds for the past 2 weeks, figuring out the forage and cover/structure to fine-tune my arsenal and technique. My personal best has only been a 2 lb bass (rough estimate) from the 2 weeks. I understand it's not the season for bass, but I've been practicing to get better on every trip to better prepare myself for the spring. I am still a rookie as I've stated, it's still hard for me to identify a bite when I am fishing bottom contact, as my main technique right now is jig fishing. I'm hooking bass in an odd way, so getting as much repitition as I can is my focus right now in anticipation for when (not if ?) I catch the big one. I look forward to being the finest angler I can be and I am on a quest to find that monster bass!