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Well, I managed to stick two decent fish this week. On Monday, I stuck a 4lb12oz fish on my new Bucca Trick Gill. Today, I stuck a 5lb3oz fish on my new Bucca Trick Shad. I would say these two are going to be real winners for me in the future! I can only imagine how they’ll perform for me from my kayak . Cheers!

Hit up the river bend by my apartment after work to get some fishing in with the last hour or so of daylight. Pulled a couple little <30” followers on a glide, but none would commit so I switched to the Nekosogi DSR and second it cranked to the bottom this fish tanked it! went 34”-35” long on the tape and 16.13 lbs on the scale. Pretty high-average for length but an exceptionally healthy egg laden female which puts it two pounds short of my PB. The longest pike I’ve heard of being measured in here was 52” 34 lbs which was a floater collected on private land. A 52” fish with a girth like this 34” is a creature to fantasize about.

Rough weather in northern IL today but I've been on this 3-day weather pattern the last couple weeks (fishing the 3rd day of warm day/warmish night trend) and today is the target day. I decided to send this Gantarel KO (it's a super-slow sink, not a floater) and got lucky with my new PB! Went 20.75" and 5.77lbs. Water's less than 2ft visibility, off-and-on drizzle with 10-20mph NNE winds. I was using a moderate retrieve with pauses every three handle turns or so (reel, reel, reel, pause...let it glide off to the side and stall a couple seconds, then reel, reel...) She hit it right when I started reeling after a pause. She didn't TANK it, but it was a good double-tap. Thanks for reading! God is great!!!

After catching my first two swimbait fish earlier this week, I was lucky enough to break my personal best today! I'm in law school right now, so I don't get to fish as much as I'd like- I probably fish more than I should already. That being said, spring break is upon us! My buddy and I have been hitting our local lakes and ponds hard this week with water temps steadily rising. Last year I had caught my previous PB, a 6lb 13oz fish on a wacky worm that came out of this pond in April, and I knew there was some serious swimbait potential here. The bank holding the concrete pad splits in the center with a dock going out about 30 yards. I had blown the side we came in on by walking down on the pad, and knew if there was a fish on the other side, I'd have to be a little sneakier. I positioned myself high up on the bank above the pad, made a few casts under the dock, and slowly inched my way forward. With the angle I was at, I only had about 10 feet of fishability before I had to swing my bait up the bank to avoid dragging it on the concrete. As I made my way forward, I pitched my TK on the other side of a branch sticking out of the water, where the depth was probably around 2-3 feet. I had been burning the Tiny Klash all morning with little success, so I slowed it down. Twitch, twitch, twitch, pause... and BOOM. She came out of nowhere and sideswiped my bait HARD. The whole event happened in about a second, but watching it felt like minutes. I set the hook in disbelief and yelled at my buddy to get his ass over here. I should NOT have landed that fish, that's for sure, but somehow, I did. My hookset was late, and she shook her head hard. Finally got her to the bank with one treble pinned in the corner of her jaw. This fish beat my last PB at 7lbs 3oz. SO close to 8, I'm almost mad about it. Almost.

Kazki Hotta (known as KZ, a DRT field staff in AZ) just posted on his story about using low viscosity acrylic cement to seal cracks etc. in ABS baits.

You should be stoked. Congrats. PS. Luv the gantarel just hate that well designed welded ring with a flat side. It is necessary but tricky to tie a knot so flat side sits against the bait

Currently I have two setups, A Dobyns Fury 795 and a LDC SI XH. I thought these would cover everything I fish but I'm leaning towards another rod in between these. Now here is the question. I also travel for work a significant amount all over the country and usually end up with some time on my hands. I was thinking about picking up a travel rod that I could use to bring a couple baits with me and fish. Does a travel rod that fits in between these two make sense for travel and home use? The kind of baits I am thinking about traveling with are TK, K9, mid-size 2-3 oz glides, Gantarel, etc. I was looking at the MB Valkyrie World Expedition 7'11" XH. Is the "up to" 5.25oz rating pretty accurate or overestimated like a Dobyns? Is there another travel rod I should take a look at that breaks down to a similar size as the MB? Is this a poor idea to bridge the gap between my current set ups with this idea?

https://hiroshimacustoms.com/collections/all

Every preorder I’ve gotten on it’s usually been about 3-4 weeks. Last preorder he did late November I got my 10.5” and 11” in about 3 weeks….

Yeah, for sure she’s a solid frame for that length! I love bass, but the big spring gators are a whole lotta fun too.

Couple nice ones!

What perfect timing! I went to do the super glue/baking soda fix last night, but my super glue had thickened up too much over time and I was going to have to go get some more before I did that. Just found this Testors product online with a precision tip applicator. It will be here tomorrow. Thanks for posting this!

I have been fishing mine for several weeks now. It's the XH but build should be the same. Very light and excellent workmanship. I would absolutely consider another.

There’s a thread over in the main forum. I was hoping to get some updated feedback myself on the 8’ Heavy model.

Solid ones right there! Well done.

Also 8.5 hardtails

Thick healthy fish - congrats

Congrats brother!! Just started catching and already sticking a new PB--big baits catch big fish right?? What a tank, the head on that thing is humongous. Great, detailed write-up too, felt like I was there with you!

Leviathan makes their “The Daily” 3 piece travel rod which would definitely cover the lure range you’re after. They also offer a travel tube or a really slick case (that could also hold reels/baits. https://www.leviathanrods.com/shop/1swimbait/daily-travel-swimbait-casting-rod/

Put the lure in the freezer for about 10 minutes take out and put in a bowl of warm water the leaks will show

learn to do it urself. I'm 16 and tear down my reels every 6 months for a deep clean and every other month I lube and regrease. take pictures!!! lay out the parts in order as you take them off!!! look up a schematic before you take anything apart (or find the instruction manual with parts list and diagram. go slow and be patient. also try to practice a few times on a cheap reel before doing anything on high end gear I'm able to keep my reels running smooth and having the knowledge makes installing upgrades much easier

The title says it all! My swimbait journey started last fall with a flipping rod and a dream- had a few eats but the stiffness of that rod pulled the hooks every time. I upgraded to a Dobyn's Fury 806 and a Shimano Cardiff around Christmas-time and fished HARD. I didn't have any Hudds to drag on the bottom, so I fished glides all winter. Kept at it, skunk after skunk, knowing that getting that first fish would take time. Fast forward to today; I had just gotten a TK that I traded a Deps SK for (shoutout to Joshua if you see this; thanks bro!), and had already had two follows in hella muddy water. My buddy and I hit up a lake we had only been to once or twice before, and after about 5 minutes of casting, I watched the smaller fish eat it at my feet. AT MY FEET! After boat flipping it to the bank, I felt like a huge weight had lifted off of me. I've always said, you might not catch a fish every time you go, but sometimes, you catch a fish when you need to. I also found out today that my mom would have to start legit chemo after taking it in pill form for the last several years- it's almost like everything lined up to catch that first fish- I needed it for sure. The second fish- a bona fide 4 poundah came about 30 minutes later while I was giving the TK the ole Bill Dance (think- twitch twich PAWS) and BOOM. Smoked it. Choked it. Swallowed it whole. Learning to fish swimbaits all winter has finally paid off, and damn does it feel good. Hopefully the rest of the week will look like today, or better! Thanks to everybody on here for sharing y'alls knowledge and experiences! - appstlhd

That’s awesome. An 8.6# would be the catch of a lifetime up here!

7lbs 5oz caught on the Baitsanity Chimera Shad this morning. CA

Gully has been servicing my reels for years and has always been a super solid dude. We all know that things come up and life happens. Sometimes a little understanding and patience goes a long way especially in this community. We don’t always have to jump on here to drag someone’s names through the mud, that isn’t the best way to resolve anything. Obviously everyone’s experiences are different and you can have their own opinions, but all my experiences with gully have have been nothing but positive.

I’m going to throw some ufo wakes tomm night and see how it does with hard baits.

I threw a citizen 7 for the last 2 days and this rod feels super nice. Have it paired up with a Tatula 300.

For those of you whom have never seen one of the rarest unicorns ever made by the 3:16 Lure Company: The Hate Bait…..

It handles soft baits really good