bp_fowler

That would be ideal. I’ll contact them and see what they have to say. My concern is that since it wasn’t damaged during shipping nor was the rod defective and I already used them they might tell me to go pound sand. That being said it’s good to have options if I have to DIY.

Recently I purchased a Daiwa Tatula 7’ Medium Regular Model TTU701MRB. On a recent trip I believe I developed a loop in my braided main line which wrapped around a guide. On the cast it ripped this guide out and took another two with it. (The last three guides before the tip) All of the guides were cleanly pulled free of the wrappings. My question(s) is this can I repair this myself? If so, is there a specific kit or epoxy anyone could recommend? Anything I need to be aware of while completing these repairs?

No too bad. Fishing slowed down a bit here after the last of the blue gill were done spawning. About mid July it started getting too hot to walk the bank for hours grinding for a hand full of dinks so I resorted to night fishing. Not all bad news though as I did catch a new PB. Also, I Just returned from a trip up north where I had some success. This week will be cooler but next week we’ll be back into the 90s. I recent discovered that a nearby river holds smallmouth so I might pick on them for while before the fall season starts.

You should go anyways. You won’t regret it.

Well with three folks in a small boat we had been doing a pretty good job avoiding each other’s rods on the back swing but my dad caught the tip of my MH with the tip of his musky rod and my rod lost that battle. 😅 The cranking stick however I’m not really sure. My theory is that my braid developed a loop and when I went to launch my crank bait, that loop caught on the rod guides and managed to rip three of them out.

Okay last one. Unfortunately I did manage to break both of my new Tatula Casting rods during the trip. My grandpa used to joke the if you left me alone for too long with an anvil I’d find a way to break it. Honestly though I was upset, I didn’t really miss them all that much since I only caught a handful of fish, cranking or with other power techniques. Most of my damage was done with Medium and Medium Light spinning setups. Particularly 3.5” stupid tube and 3.3” Keitech. Here’s the part where I have to eat some crow. Previously on these boards I’ve been open in my disdain for the Ned rig and the Drop Shot. Mostly because the Ned rig is a nightmare to fish in my typically weedy home waters and until this trip I’ve never caught a single fish on a drop shot. However when conditions were tough I leaned on these techniques to catch fish and in fact a few of my best catches of the trip were with them. I guess you could say I’ve seen the light. Here’s some more drop shot/Ned fish

A place called McGregor Bay, it’s kinda between the North Channel and Georgian Bay on Lake Huron.

I was going to make a separate post for these but unfortunately I hit my limit for pictures on that one also. So instead of making 3, maybe 4 new topics I’ll post the remaining pictures here in this thread. Now, where were we… Day 4 My Boy caught his biggest of trip this day. Day 5, some more exploring, some more fishing. There were a couple patterns we started picking up on. The first were flats with mixed cover, either a rocky bottom with some patches of isolated weeds, or weeds with some patches of rocks both with adjacent deeper water. The second was shear rock faces/bluff banks the were getting hit by the wind/current or in the shade especially during the middle of the week when we had a run of warm sunny days with bluebird skies.

This is my summary of our trip to McGregor Bay ON, from 10-16 August 2024. My Pops, my Boy and Myself made the trip up from Ohio. My Pops has been coming with his Fire Department buddies for almost 25 years. This was The Boy and my first time there and if you’ve never been the area is a labyrinth of bays, coves, inlets, channels, islands and rocks. It’s dotted with cabins and small cottages, some folks use them as summer or vacation homes, some rent them out to people like us, and some folks are fortunate enough to call this home year round. After arriving at camp that afternoon we settled into our cabin. It was raining off and on but everyone was pretty excited to get out on the water so we decided to use what day light was left to do some fishing since after all that’s why we were there. The first place was a sheltered cove accessed by a narrow inlet. I hadn’t yet set up any of my tackle besides one of spinning outfits with a Keitech tied on. Within a few casts I hooked a dink LMB, my first Canadian Bass. After a few more minutes I got another bite, then another and another. All large mouths. Although I was happy to be catching fish right off the bat I couldn’t help but wonder where all the Smallies were. I didn’t have to wait long. My first Small Mouth Bass. And another one on the next cast. And on the cast after that. Pops got his first shortly after that. Not to be out done The Boy got caught one and got the skunk off the boat. Not long after that I got one fought like no fish I had ever had on before. When I finally got it boated I was stoked, it was a pretty decent fish too. I got one more LMB to end the day. Day two we had some more rain. But we explored a few different places. The fishing stayed good and we caught seemingly endless numbers of dinks with some decent ones mixed in. And of course the random LMB The Boy caught a more than a handful with is trusty tube. Including this beauty. Meanwhile in the back of the boat… Speaking of pike all of managed to hook a few but fortunately not too many and the I only lost two baits to them thankfully. Okay no more snot rocket pictures, I promise. Now we return to our regularly scheduled programming. Day 3 was a lot like day 2 except even rainier. Which is fine when you’re catching fish but it was dink city for the first half of the day. Fortunately it cleared up and some bigger fish started to bite. And we added a few more LMBs to the tally as well. Alas, I have hit the limit on how many pictures I can upload for this post, so I’ll have to post a part 2. Edit: instead of making another topic I posted the of the pic in the latest cast thread.

I’m sure I’m in the minority but Catfish all the way for me.

I’ve caught no shortage of dinks in my time. This one on a swim jig And this one on a crank bait.

Yes but I do change some things during the summer months. Firstly I tend to use heavier (for me 1/2 oz and up) and slow roll them bumping along the bottom. Usually close to breaks. I like white and white/chartruese. I don’t always use a trailer for this method but when I do I like a split tail grub. Second thing is I fish a big single Colorado blade at night with a paddle tail trailer. Always black and blue. I like to target shallow cover and flats adjacent to deeper water. I have been catching fish on a Spinnerbait since February and I just caught a new PB with one a few weeks ago. So I have a lot of confidence in the technique.

3/16, 1/4, 5/16. Which one I use depends on depth, water clarity and the fish telling me what they want. I do use lighter 1/16 and 1/8 weights for swimming worms which even though they are technically a Texas rig I don’t think they are the subject of this conversation.

Is there an all of the above option? Seriously though I use many of the stuff folks have already listed: rage swimmer, bellows gill, curly tail grub, Zako, spilt tail grub. I’ve also used nothing at all. All have worked for well me.

Rod just arrived today. Daiwa Tatula 7’1” MH/XF Now my Tatula Reel finally has a home. Another Tat reel for my recently ordered cranking rod.

Stocking up for my Canada Trip next month. 🇨🇦

Got my new reel today. My first foray into nicer equipment. I really like how it fits in my palm and can’t wait to get it on a rod and put it through its paces.

Thanks! Definitely outside my comfort zone. But you can’t get better only doing the same old same old.

Ontario side of Lake Huron, place called McGregor Bay. While I’ve been told there’s both LMB and SMB I will be targeting predominantly small mouth since I’ve never really fished for them before. My Pops will be going for Muskie though.

Right now I’m in the midsummer grind. The bulk of the fish have moved offshore out of my reach. Earlier on it very productive as I had developed a pattern that was broadly applicable to most of the places I fish. That being targeting shallow cover near bluegill beds that were also adjacent to deeper water. I’m sure that is pretty elementary to most folks but it was new to me and more efficient than the prescribed “make long casts parallel to the bank” method that had been my primary focus for most of my time as an shore angler. Now that the dog days are upon us my focus has switched to night, or fishing during low light periods albeit with mixed results. Also have been spending time and money upgrading gear and organizing tackle for my fishing trip to Canada next month.

Got out to the Crappie Hole with my boy for some birthday fishing. That was a great present in itself but as a bonus I caught a new PB.

Went out today for a few hours. Didn’t much want to drive to a bigger bass fishery or deal with the logistics of night fishing. Went to the old reservoir and braved the midday heat. Water was down a bit and the water has cleared up a lot. Caught 6 burning the UV speed worm along weed lines and over grass beds. Nothing special but I still had a good time.

Shore: 6/10. This is my bread and butter. I like to cover water as a bank angler and I’m pretty good at catching numbers. I’ve been upgrading my quality a bit but still have a long long way to go. Canoe/Kayak: 0/10. I tried this for the first time a few weeks ago and it was an unmitigated disaster. I spent most of my time fighting the kayak and managed to lose the only two I hooked. Despite this I hope to purchase a kayak soon and the good news is I have nowhere to go but up. Bass Boat: 1/10. I haven’t done this much. Mostly fishing out of the back of a buddy’s boat. I caught my fair share while beating the bank or working shallow cover but the further away from the bank we got the more lost I became to the point where I was just casting aimlessly and randomly.

I have the Nexave 2500. I love it. The only thing I would change is that it lacks an AR switch.

For me fishing from the bank at night or hours of darkness, here’s what I do… I usually carry multiple light sources. One is a headlamp with a red light setting. Obviously this is for when I need both hands like when unhooking a fish or when I need to retie. As others mentioned the red light doesn’t wipe out your night vision as much. Another is your standard flashlight. I use this mostly when I’m moving between spots. As a rule I always move under white light no matter how well I know the area. Lastly I also carry a small batter Powered lantern. I will set this up several yards from the bank and will cache my extra rod(s) and equipment. Serves as a beacon of sorts so I don’t lose that stuff in the darkness. Normally when fish in the light of day I’m constantly moving down the banks or changing spots. However during the night time I slow down a lot. I do fish mostly the same lures that I fish in daytime. The colors may change though, usually darker. The only exception to this is that I don’t fish anything with treble hooks. As far as safety, I fish alone and I know thats probably not the smartest idea but I make sure someone knows where I’m at and when I plan to be back. I have my cellphone fully charged. I’m usually in fairly remote areas so my chances of running into roving gangs of criminals is pretty low but never zero. If I were fishing the Scioto in the south end of Columbus at 1:00 AM I probably would take additional precautions and use the buddy system. In either case know your environment, what’s normal, what’s not. If you’re aware of your surroundings you can avoid most problems before they start.