Spectrum

Ended up with a couple of decent fish Saturday and Sunday after way too many hours on the water. Fish shut down, switched off, couldn't stay on them. I don't know. The way it goes I suppose. Nice fish Don. When I watched the videos I swear I thought you fouled the bait and were bringing it back for another cast. Never been able to get them to eat it on a straight burn. That's awesome. I've been convinced to share the video of the one that kicked my ass earlier this week. Watch it in 1080p if you can.

So I wasn't planning on getting back out until Thursday afternoon, but managed to take both the exams I had this week today. Then went straight to the lake. First cast stuck a dink 2.4lbs. Third cast, got bit at the side of the boat by a fish that straight kicked my ass. I'm comfortable saying she was 13+. Grabbed the bait and pulled line like I had loose drag and in a moment of stupidity trying to turn her, broke her off. After some screaming, cursing and throwing ish, I checked and my drag was locked down. Couldn't get another click out of it even. Stayed almost 5 more hours without another bite.

We had to talk David out of buying a rod twice, after we had already ordered the rod. Hell. Colby OFFERED the exact rod David was looking for (867), up for sale/trade, right in front of David, and traded it to someone else, hahah. We guessed on the specs of the rod, how he'd like it setup. Then a few weeks later, David got a hold of Ben and put money down on a XXH Parabolic. So Ben got exactly the specs David wanted, without giving anything up. And, since Ben took his deposit, David didn't have that cash on hand to go buy another rod, which made all of our lives a little bit easier, temporarily at least. I also had told David I'd buy the BA he put up for sale, but couldn't meet him for a few days to pay for it. Just so happened the first day I was able to pay for that BA, is the day the rod showed up at my place. I never had any intention of buying the bait, but didn't want him to sell it and then get the rod a couple of days later. The whole thing couldn't have worked out any better than it did. Really glad to be a part of it.

One bite. Dumped it. Didn't get a real good look at her but bent some hardware haha. Probably won't get back out until Thursday afternoon.

13lb 0oz

CXX gets pretty gnarly after a short time fishing. I used to use 20 and 25lb CXX. Harder, stiffer, more abrasion resistant than PF for sure. Been using 25 and 30lb PF for a year and a half now, and have quit trying new lines. You get a lot more use out of a fresh spool of line on your reel. Most of the time I'm only changing my line because it gets low and hurts casting distance. With CXX I was changing well before that point because of the memory. I've never been a fan of line conditioner. Felt like it made CXX, and fluoros worse, but after a buddy said how much he likes it with PF I tried it again, and I will say it helps get even more time out of a spool of line. Abrasion resistance with PF is still really good in my opinion. I fished 3 days on Falcon with the stuff, both up shallow banging around in timber, and out deep fishing an old flooded town. I was a little sketchy about it and thought about picking up some CXX just for the trip, but decided to just see how tough the PF really is. I'm not lying when I say I had to force myself to retie. Only once did I feel any abrasion on the line. I did break off a couple of hudds out deep. One, a fish got me wrapped up and played tug of war until I sawed through the line. The other, we had to put the TM on full in reverse to get the line to break. Basically, PF is thinner, softer, lasts longer, than CXX. It's less abrasion resistant and not as strong, but that doesn't matter to me at this point. 30lb CXX can probably pull double duty as a tow strap and a hack saw if you ever needed it. But I have no fear of throwing PF in grass, rocks or timber. Tie a good knot, check your line, and retie and you shouldn't have any problems at all. But if CXX has worked for you and you have confidence in it, why change?

We've been getting so much rain, I don't know that I could even trust any weather forecast at this point. I'll just have to fish when I can, and make sure to bring the anchor and rain gear.

Yea that's my bad, I had to write the code on a post-it and hold it, so last months code is still stuck on the scale. Probably because of the way I cropped the photo, it's easy to miss the new code up there in the corner.

Sorry man, I was just getting the photos cropped and uploaded when you posted. Kind of feel like a dick posting right after you now, haha 8.22 lbs. Randalls new super slow sink Gizzard Glide LDC Production Heavy Curado 301DSV 25lb PF

I don't know. I think you'll have to incorporate Annual angling hours per license, and licensed residents as a ratio of the states overall population. That'll do a better job factoring out the guys who buy licenses but only fish twice a year...

The issue I see with these every month is that not many people put up fish. I get it that not everyone can even get out for a couple of hours each week, and at times schedules don't line up with the last week of the month SU tourney. If any change actually made people more involved with these things, I'd see a reason. But to change the rules or format, and not get any more entries... If guys aren't posting fish because they expect to be beat, or are holding fish smaller than what's already posted, why not put them up anyway? At least we'd have an idea of how many people are actually involved with these tournaments. If you don't want to give away your spots, or don't want to post pictures of small fish that's obviously fine too. The % state record is one way, but I don't think that makes it any more fair. Just more complicated. It would basically flip the bias. I'd be willing to bet it's harder to get a 12 in Texas than it is a 6 in Minn... In the end I don't really care if anything gets changed or not. I'm going fishing anyway, and will still sign up for these things, and still post fish.

In

I don't know if they're actually lighter. I only have 2/0 and there are no 2/0 56s to compare them to. The 2/0 58s are like 4.25g off the top of my head. The 2x gammies are a good bet too cause of the longer shank they weigh a little bit more than an owner.

Yes the 58s are 3x hooks. Thats the way Owners numbering works. The difference is what Evans said. The 58s are a different alloy than the 56s. They're supposed to be 3x strong, but lighter weight and thinner than the typical 3x because of the different alloy. I've only used the 2/0. You probably won't bend one, because they break before they bend.

Team black cloud.

It's going to be interesting for sure. NorCal, Austin and Evans, haha. I don't know about a weight advantage for someone winning more than one month. It's enough of an advantage to try to limit the competition at the end of the year. Sean wins 4 times, and keeps himself from having to compete with 3 more guys at the end of October. If y'all want to limit it to one win a year, I wouldn't be against that either. It's all in fun after all.

In.

old bass wake from Mickey. think they were made for japan only but dont quote me on it. if you dig around here you can find pics of them.

Bought two baits off of me. Easy to deal with, quick to reply to emails. Paid quickly. Nice guy, shouldn't have any problems dealing with this guy.

This thread got away before I had a chance to reply. I was going through some hooks, and had dumped a few of my bent hooks into my box of trebles. Took a couple quick pics. 2/0 ST-36 1/0 ST-41 1/0 ST-46 1/0 ST-36 I've broken one STX-58, ST-41s, and bent some ST-56s. Most of the time, they come back with a rolled point. Other than that, pulling on a fish that is buried up in thick grass, and I've had a couple just kick my ass.

Got one more quick this morning, so here are my two... 5 lbs even LDC Custom XH, 401TE, 30lb PF, Deps 250 7.16lbs LDC Custom XH, 301DSV, 25lb PF, 8" Mission Fish