top_dollar

the moderators on OAF are liberal? What libs have been put in place? Also, if you think this is a place strictly for fishing discussions, wouldn't you be cheering on the lib moderators for shutting down threads that don't pertain to fishing? Also, there are plenty of fishing threads, but they are clearly not as interesting or divisive as political arguments, so they tend to only generate a few replies.

That is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you.

Thanks. Do you buy them as 5' 6" inch blanks, or do you buy them longer and cut them down? I looked at the mud hole website, and all of their blanks that were 5ft 6 (that I could find) were ocean rods, or ultralights.

Do you make them yourself? Or have someone build them?

I have noticed that casting rods shorter than 6 feet long are getting very difficult to find. It seems like, these days, a "short" fishing rod is 6ft 6inches. St Croix makes one in their premier series, but that is the only one I can find. Denny Dennis sporting goods in Fenton actually had 1 left on the shelf, but I should probably buy as many as I can find because it is only a matter of time before they nix that one. It is almost embarrassing to ask for them, as "good" anglers probably roll their eyes at such a silly looking little rod, but I really like it for several applications. The last few years I have used a Lews TP-1 med heavy casting rod that was a 5'9" "target casting" rod. I loved it, but I broke the tip off and, of course, they discontinued it. I do have a very old 5ft 6 inch BPS tourney special and I just love, but I don't like to use it anymore because its irreplaceable. I do the majority of my fishing from the bank, or while wading/in a kayak. When I fish a jerkbait, or topwater lure, the tip of my rod is always smacking the rocks below me....hence breaking the tip off that TP1. Because of this, I prefer to use a shorter rod. 5'6" is about perfect for me. Another reason, is that when fishing out of my kayak, the shorter rods do not stick out past the bow of the boat. I learned with longer rods, they get tangled in branches and such as I am navigating tight turns. Plus its pretty rare for me to have to make long casts in a river so I don't need the extra casting distance. The final reason I like short rods, is that when I am at table rock and stockton I jig spoons quite a bit. I like the short rod because, even with my crappy electronics, I can drop the spoon directly under the transducer. I do fish jigging spoons horizontally quite a bit by casting them out, and "yo-yoing" them off the bottom, and in those situations opt for a 7ft 6 inch heavy power mod fast crankbait rod. So....does anyone reading this use sub 6ft rods? If so, do you know of a manufacturer that makes one still? I have never had a custom rod built, but the "kistler" website allows me to build the exact rod I want. Has anyone had experience using that service, or Kistler rods in general? I have mulled over learning how to build rods myself, but I really don't know if I want to invest the time required in learning how just yet.

Here are mine. The white one loves the river and to be outside with me. The Shiba is much more of an inside dog. 🤣

The bottom picture is really great!

That would be so cool. My brother caught a baby one once while walleye fishing at COR. We didn't know what to do, it was really spiny.

I tried to reach the bottom with my paddle, but couldn't. Since they were biting a jerkbait so well I didn't even bother with the worm or something I could count down. I'm guessing that JB was getting down 6 or 8 feet. I think I was using 12# mono, maybe 10. I was actually going to target crappie, but saw so many schools of big gizzard shad I thought I better pull out a JB. The pool I fished mostly was maybe 100 yards long with big boulders along the north bank. I knew it had to be a good spot. My uncle told me the same thing about the crappie...he said there are lots. I caught them in a tree about 3 (length of my arm) feet under a jig. I probably caught 30 or more out of the same area, but, with the exception of a lone 11 inch fish they were all 8 or 9 inchers. The biggest crappie (pictured) was actually caught on an xrap 8.

It is a Jackson Bite. That's is exactly what I liked best about it. I like having 3 or 4 rigged rods ready to go.

Fished the lower St Francis right after Christmas from where cedar creek comes in, down to the hwy 34 bridge. It was my first time on the St Francis. I pretty much fished a shad colored jerkbait the whole time. Had a nice mix of spots, LM and SM. Biggest SM was 18 inches, biggest Spot was 17 and the biggest LM was almost 19. I ended the day with exactly 20 bass. I did find a school of 9 inch crappie and caught a bunch out of the same little hole on a little jig. Almost all of the fish I caught came out of 2 winter pools. I dont know how deep the river gets around there, but the water was clear and the only time I could get bit was in areas where I couldn't see the bottom.

Holy cow man, I have got to figure out how to catch those things. Great job catching.

Thats a good looking box of baits. I have 6 left, but rarely lose topwater baits. That splash back is kinda similar, I like those quite a bit, but have only used it once and didn't catch any on it.

I have a helluva time finding power pro depth hunter in 10 or even 15 # test. Looks like that is already sold, but if not ill buy it. I know you like top dollars, have any of those you'd like to offload?

Happen to have any Norman top dollars??

All since you were done with this thread. You are pathetic. You must be super depressed that there is no more political forum to cry on so you bring it here. Take this bull to 4chan.

🤣 Yeah right. Im pretty sure you cant help yourself because you clearly started this thread in order to air your political grievances.

One thing I do not like about kayaks is the internal storage. I use a jackson bite, which is essentially just a big wide platform, so there is no internal storage, but it has lots of space for dry bags and such. I like the open design because I generally fish 4 rods that are between 5½ to 6 feet long, and they just lay nicely right on the deck in front of me. I suppose you can do that same thing in a solo canoe though.

"A decent solo canoe will do everything a kayak will do and do most of it better." How many rods do/can you fish effectively out of a solo canoe? Do you just lay them down horizontally in front of you? Is lower cost the only reason fishing kayaks are so popular? I have a kayak, and I do like it, and can fish effectively out of it, but it seems like a solo canoe is a better option. That said, almost everyone I see fishing is using a kayak.

This stupid thread is about to cost me a bunch of money.

Well....I fished a creek I've fished my whole life for two hours yesterday. I caught zero bass, and had 3 shake off. Consider me humbled. 🤣

Wow that is serious inside baseball right there! Thanks for the explanation though, that's why you're a professional.

I also prefer heavier gear when throwing a wacky worm. For drop shots and small jigs at table rock though, I use 4# S.O.S line. That stuff is great. I am just curious as to what differences someone would want/need in a drop shot rod vs, a ned rig rod, vs a small swimbait. It seems to me the same rod would work equally well for all three techniques, but a professional fisherman would obviously have more insight than me.

Maybe I am missing something here, or just not that dialed in, but you use a different rod for drop shots, ned rigs, and small swimbaits? Yikes, that seems overwhelming, I use a 6'9" med light spinning rod with 4# line for all three.