Ham

Fished the White with Stein and his buddy Dave yesterday. We split the day with the morning in my trout boat and the afternoon in kayaks. The morning split was very successful. Got started fishing before 0800. A nasty Thunderstorm was predicted for 10:30 or so. I told the guys we needed to keep an eye out for it. The high humidity levels kept the morning fog on the river the whole time we were there. The temps were very nice, but I often had to take my glasses off because they were all fogged up. After a fight with my Merc, we got started on TM power. I caught a nice fish first cast. With trout, that's not a jinx. Pretty soon afterwards Dave got his first Zig Jig trout. A couple of minutes later Stein got his first Zig Jig trout of the day. Whew, I had nothing to worry about. They could jig fish. Apparently, I'm a slow learner. Everybody I show it too picks it up faster than I did. They did great and I appreciated it. After the first extended drift the Merc decided to cooperate and fired up. Ran fine after that. We were fishing falling water which everybody seems to hate, but the trout were biting ok. Not great, but steady. We lost quite a few which is often because of the way the trout are biting, but that's also part of the barbless deal. You lose a few, but so what. I wanted to catch a few more before we took a break, but the weather decided to force my hand a little bit. For a change, I did the right thing. I hustled back to the ramp and got the boat on the trailer before the rain hit. We got gear swapped and were rolling away when the bottom fell out. HEAVY rain and frequent lightining. We met up just after noon and did a yak float on the lower river. I was a little disappointed with the fishing. The trout had not consolidated as much as I would have expected. We all caught fish and we all had some nice ones, but NO giants and no Browns. it got a little warmer, but the water was very brisk and you can get cooled off in a hurry. I never felt like we were rushing an hopefully the guys didn't either. I got off the water on schedule and zipped home to grill some chicken.

The ones I'd like to ditch are the full size not the Jr's .

it's like you're teasing a meth addict about his bad teeth. I can't help it. I love the spy bait concept.

I'll trade you Lucky Strike RC STX's for spy baits.

I think I'm going to display a little will power (rare I know) and hold off buying any. Still trying to get bit on my Spro rat, well... I got a bunch of curious bumps, but no fish tried to EAT it.

my mom used to cut up fresh peaches and freeze them. I think she put a little sugar in there with them as well. They were great to eat as they thawed out on a hot summer day.

I apologize for the party foul. Here is the only photo of food on my phone. It was a summer salad from a favorite ES restaurant that has closed down.

Toying is a bit strong. I picked a photo that was hard to bust on for extraneous background junk. Regardless, I don't think it was worth posting three times.

Just a abstract photo of a pretty little flow that is wall to wall smallmouth that would love to be caught with a fly rod.

Just for you Marty. It's not food.

how did all that shingle grit get on your hotdog?

OK. I would think they buy all their split rings from one vendor and use the same rings across their entire line of lures. I will visually compare the two lures and swap out stuff as needed.

Mitch, I probably am not Pro level with my hook sharpening, but a few quick strokes with an EZ Lap diamond sharpener gets them sticky sharp. I test mine the same way you do. Almost any hook is going to get dulled after banging around on rocks. I try to NEVER fish without a hook sharpener.

maybe Tackle Warehouse online is a better option for you.

Well then. I'll take some time and swap out rings on the Lucky Strike RC STX. Bill , What is your experience with the Lucky a Strike RC square bills? I use a lot more of them than I do the STX. Again, I have not had an issue, but would rather swap them up front rather than lose fish. Mitch, some hooks are obvious crap, but I don't swap everything just because. I do think that's overkill, but I certainly don't mind you swapping all that out. I sweat details that nobody else cares about. I have swapped out round rings for ovals because of my knot wanting to rest in the gap where the wire ends. I have added rings to the nose of top waters and hook hangers on old baits, but almost never have had to replace split rings because they were failing.

There a only a couple of Bass Pro hard baits that use. I've never had a problem with their split rings. It might be I cut them off when replacing the hooks. Not a fan of the stock hooks. I'm not a fan of RC Stix, but in my limited use, I have not had hook/ring issues. The WP ring thing is not one bad batch or bad luck. Those are going to fail. Sooner or later.

I suggest that you Write a polite business letter to them and explain the situation. Include a phone number and an email address. Offer to provide photos. Offer to mail in the lures that failed. I would expect them to replace the broken ones at a minimum and likely throw some extra goodies as well. I've never liked the War Eagle hook, but I can't say that I'm sure that it's costing me fish and I dang sure have never had one fail like that. That is not acceptable.

I can't imagine that you could find worse split rings than stock on the R2S.

That's exactly what I'm worried about.

Man, the devil is in the details. Note to self, study photo composition carefully and crop the crap out prior to posting.

well heck. I have several rods at the crib that meet that category already. Braid will come in handy around grass. I rarely get to fish places with grass, but I do. I was think something a little less than XF to help the rod load and pitch a little better. I would think with the braid punching set ups you would want a more moderate rod speed. I will want a new reel. maybe a beefy daiwa or shimano is in my future down the line. 17 lb fluro or 20 lb co-poly for the first go round of playing.

I use line from 6-10 lb on spinning reels so that's all good. I really struggle to walk the dog with spinning. At this point, walking the dog is second nature for me with a bait caster. Sorry I misunderstood.

Why 8 lb XL? I throw 12-15 lb on baitcasters on creeks. I don't see an advantage to the 8 lb line on baitcasters. I'm not concerned about line slap. at all. Maybe others are.

without a doubt, the worst split rings I've ever seen on a lure. At this point, I swap them out before I ever cast a WP.

I feel a trip to Kansas coming on.