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2019 Fishing - Bent rods and tight lines


Mac8111

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I haven't really noticed that specifically but I have noticed the quantity of rat reds is increasing. I mainly keep reds when I've launched in LA, I prefer the 17-22" ones that aren't too thick.
I guess that's the difference between LA and texas. Only 50 Miles apart but I havent caught a rat red in 5 years. 24-26 is the sweet spot for us in terms of meat and ease of cleaning.
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11 hours ago, BearSchlong said:
12 hours ago, DCA_HORN said:
Have you noticed the redfish being larger than usual this year? I've had to throw back more oversized than I can ever remember.

I haven't really noticed that specifically but I have noticed the quantity of rat reds is increasing. I mainly keep reds when I've launched in LA, I prefer the 17-22" ones that aren't too thick.

This actually good news.  Bodes well for the future.

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Interesting reel. GH100

This is a Chineses Shimano Aldebaran clone. However, instead of costing $420, it's only $60. It's even less expensive if you are willing to wait 3 weeks for shipping from Aliexpress. There are many videos on Youtube on this GH100 reel, with most all being very encouraging. Many videos showing that it casts great. A lot of Thai dudes fish with this as a BFS rig using L & and UL rods. I'm a die hard Shimano guy but may pull the trigger on this just to play with.

https://www.amazon.com/RONSHIN-Baitcasting-Carbon-Fishing-Shallow/dp/B07ZQDBSMK/ref=sr_1_18?dchild=1&keywords=gh100&qid=1579275542&s=sporting-goods&sr=1-18&th=1&psc=1

 

Casting comparisons

GH100 pulling in a big ass catfish.

 

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I would assume longevity, and part replacement would be the issue.  I still have Chronarchs and a Calcutta I bought in the late 90's that get backup use.  Hell my go to is a MG51 I bought 12 years ago, and that was at the tail end of them (old technology).     Shimano has become like ATT to me, and they are just begging for me to find something different, but they make a damn good reel that will last you a long time.  Now whether they will continue to make parts for it past 5 yrs is another story/rantover.   I also don't believe $4-500 for a reel that can be heavily fished for 10+ years isn't a large expense in the grand scheme.  Hell it takes me $75 in diesel and another $75 gas in the boat to make a day trip.  That said, I'm sure the bass guys that buy 10 rigs at a time find the cost irritating.  My luck the drag would blow out about 10 seconds after I put eyes on a 10# sow. 

 

ETA: the Chinese are sooo damn good at copying things.    If you were a once or twice a year freshwater guy, this might be the ticket.

Edited by fattyflattie
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19 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

I would assume longevity, and part replacement would be the issue.  I still have Chronarchs and a Calcutta I bought in the late 90's that get backup use.  Hell my go to is a MG51 I bought 12 years ago, and that was at the tail end of them (old technology).     Shimano has become like ATT to me, and they are just begging for me to find something different, but they make a damn good reel that will last you a long time.  Now whether they will continue to make parts for it past 5 yrs is another story/rantover.   I also don't believe $4-500 for a reel that can be heavily fished for 10+ years isn't a large expense in the grand scheme.  Hell it takes me $75 in diesel and another $75 gas in the boat to make a day trip.  That said, I'm sure the bass guys that buy 10 rigs at a time find the cost irritating.  My luck the drag would blow out about 10 seconds after I put eyes on a 10# sow. 

 

ETA: the Chinese are sooo damn good at copying things.    If you were a once or twice a year freshwater guy, this might be the ticket.

I service my own reels and buy parts from Shimano when I need to replace. Knowing the Chinese, they probably copied all the part specs down to the nanometer. I'm thinking the spool bearing will be the same 3x10x4 bearings and most all reels. I'm thinking the main & pinion gears along with the worm gear can be replaced with Shimano parts. The stuff that wears downs on reels are the worm gear, the worm gear guide, and the anti reverse bearing which usually rusts after repeated fishing in salt water, and the spool bearings. Hopefully those parts are replaceable with Shimano parts.

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2 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

I service my own reels and buy parts from Shimano when I need to replace. Knowing the Chinese, they probably copied all the part specs down to the nanometer. I'm thinking the spool bearing will be the same 3x10x4 bearings and most all reels. I'm thinking the main & pinion gears along with the worm gear can be replaced with Shimano parts. The stuff that wears downs on reels are the worm gear, the worm gear guide, and the anti reverse bearing which usually rusts after repeated fishing in salt water, and the spool bearings. Hopefully those parts are replaceable with Shimano parts.

Speaking of the worm gear, he appeared to already be stacking line to the right in the vid.  I didn't watch the entire vid but noticed it a few times.  I would assume the gear is still good (new), but the tolerance might not be tight enough.  Similar to when he was trying to dial in the spool tension.  

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4 hours ago, Mac8111 said:

 

 


I fished but not in the tournament and proceeded to get my ass kicked by the wind.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

Damn. I love to fish but would have sat that one out if it was just a regular trip.  That was some nasty Wx.  Did you do any good?  Some friends fished Shoalwater and had good reds but couldn’t get a trout bite.  Suffice to say they didn’t get in the winnings. This year was petty warm for that tourney, last couple of years they seem to hit the only weekend it freezes.  

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Fished Friday afternoon and thought we might get into some trout pre-front. Wind was still out of the south. One 12” trout over at Army Hole as we were making a run back in.

Sat was miserable. Nothing. That north wind was brutal. I called it quits at 11. We were wading and My only excitement was when I was looking over my two fishing compadres to see if they had anything working and I felt a hit on my corky and looked over and saw a damn seagull pick it up. I don’t know where those guys caught their trout that won but it sure as hell wasn’t near us.


I am going to have to invest in some decent wade boot for the winter. I have those Soft Science zip up boots which are amazing light in summer on hard bottoms but they just don’t have enough structure in them to do soft mud without wanting to pull right off my heel. I need something I can tie with laces and get a snug fit.


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1 hour ago, Mac8111 said:

One 12” trout over at Army Hole as we were making a run back in.

I was in the same area today. We fished some back areas off the inter coastal, found some reds. 

#csb - I saw the texas flamingo today. it was a very pink bird, about the size of a flamingo. maybe it was a Roseate Spoonbill ?

https://www.southernliving.com/news/escaped-flamingo-in-texas

 

 

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I saw lots of white Pelicans today, normally all I see is browns.

Caught about 40 trout to keep a limit, and only rat redfish. Got back to the house right when the rain started.

There were no baitfish, and I've never seen seagulls as aggressive as they were today. Lost at least half my shrimp to gulls, hooked one through the beak and had to throw a towel over his head to get him to calm down long enough for me to unhook him. Not a happy bird.

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hear hear.  lotsa words.

2019pics, but my dad is now officially hooked on the fly.  Pulaski, again.  couple kings, my dad with a nice coho.  and a big brown, which made up for not getting any steelhead, this time.  Galvan T8 is a sweet reel.

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Hey cant we just get a mod to change the thread title?



I was going to create new thread but then figured we should just have an all encompassing Fishing thread and let it run year after year. If admin can change the name of this thread, that would be cool. “Fishing: Looking for Big Girls that Swallow”


Fatty - In Regards to freeze out tournament: all the boats that went south, what were they looking for as far as areas to fish ? There more kids//shell down there. Just curious. I’ve caught some fish in the winter with other people but I seem to struggle locating fish when we are out bouncing around on our own boat.


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18 minutes ago, Mac8111 said:

Fishing: Looking for Big Girls that Swallow”

Lol. Awesome. 
 

18 minutes ago, Mac8111 said:

Fatty - In Regards to freeze out tournament: all the boats that went south, what were they looking for as far as areas to fish ?

I don’t know.  I fish the area they were in somewhat regularly and it’s just another area to me.  I usually start further south and work my way back thru Carlos, Mesquite, then the East end of SAB. I know ~5 teams out of the regular 20-25 teams that enter it, and almost every year they all stuff themselves in Pringle it seems.  This year it wasn’t as cold so that might have left some more options open.  My buddy was hitting Shoalwater way when Simmons blew past him heading south.  Another guy we know was late in launch order and ended up in the same area down south.  So at least a few teams had found fish there, or heard, or something.  They said it was an absolute beating crossing SAB.    I will say I’ve really tried to learn that area better. The tournament I fish in POC every April has been won several times over from teams fishing between second and third chains. It’s usually YooHoo water when I try but man if I can ever learn it, it’d be nice and cut another 20 miles off my typical route.   We’re you able to get down there pre-front this week? 

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14 hours ago, Mac8111 said:

 

 


I was going to create new thread but then figured we should just have an all encompassing Fishing thread and let it run year after year. If admin can change the name of this thread, that would be cool. “Fishing: Looking for Big Girls that Swallow”


Fatty - In Regards to freeze out tournament: all the boats that went south, what were they looking for as far as areas to fish ? There more kids//shell down there. Just curious. I’ve caught some fish in the winter with other people but I seem to struggle locating fish when we are out bouncing around on our own boat.


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I was bouncing around "Croaker Soakers and Midnight Tokers" but I like yours better. 

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Seems this is mostly a saltwater group, but I’ll join in from about as far from the salt as you can get in Texas. Tournament bass guy that builds and sells tackle and rods as well. Have cut way back on tackle sales because the ROI when factoring in time is a killer. Anyway, started a 7’6” MH casting build yesterday on an Immortal blank. Doing split grip so it slows things down a bit. Hope to turn the upper cork and glue up the reel seat today —unless I go to the lake instead. 
 

I’ll try to post some high plains bass pics from time to time. 

Here is a limit of dinks from my Saturday effort. 47 degree water and 20 mph north wind made for a fun day.

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Edited by squib
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East Galveston. Bay.
That's where I grew up fishing. Until hurricane ike I had a beach house at Singing Sands and a boat lift/ stall at bolivar yacht club. Some of my favorite places were hanna's reef, moody's reef, big and little pasture bayou, rollover bay, oyster bayou, north and south shoreline, gas well pads in Galveston bay. I remember when you could take the Sun Oil canal from the intracoastal to the bay, its closed now. Fished the humpback wreck east of north jetty, north jetty, and the area near the old civil war fort. 

Where you like to fish?

[mention=4093]squib[/mention] man glad you're contributing, you gotta love to fish if you do it in those conditions.

 

 

 

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Thanks. I'll try to provide the High Plains fishing report along with pics of tournament misery. 

Pumped about this rod I am building. I never build for myself or I would have 50 setups. As it is, I had 23 as of last weekend. But I broke one in the last tournament so I figured I would build myself a high-end replacement. The blank feels really great, but they all change their feel after the guides are wrapped on. I'll know more in a couple of days. 

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On 1/17/2020 at 9:52 AM, crash_davis said:

Interesting reel. GH100

This is a Chineses Shimano Aldebaran clone. However, instead of costing $420, it's only $60. It's even less expensive if you are willing to wait 3 weeks for shipping from Aliexpress. There are many videos on Youtube on this GH100 reel, with most all being very encouraging. Many videos showing that it casts great. A lot of Thai dudes fish with this as a BFS rig using L & and UL rods. I'm a die hard Shimano guy but may pull the trigger on this just to play with.

https://www.amazon.com/RONSHIN-Baitcasting-Carbon-Fishing-Shallow/dp/B07ZQDBSMK/ref=sr_1_18?dchild=1&keywords=gh100&qid=1579275542&s=sporting-goods&sr=1-18&th=1&psc=1

 

Casting comparisons

GH100 pulling in a big ass catfish.

 

I've fished it after my buddy brought one to compare to my Aldy HG51.   They are almost identical, both very lightweight, and the only noticeable difference is it casts lighter lures better than mine.  Mine isn't a bfs model and doesn't have a BFS spool in it though.

As far as materials are concerned (body, spool, handle, etc) I doubt they are the same.  I have plenty of Chinese knockoff BFS reels and while they all cast great, you can tell they're made with dollar store plastic instead of alloys and carbon fiber.  I use them as beater reels for rods you bring out to the ranch or coast house and they work fantastic for that.  

Edited by krevo
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Yea after looking at more videos, the GH100 and Aldebaran are different sizes with different internals. Other than the spool bearings which are the same through all reels, I don't know how you would source parts for the GH100. That makes it a pass for me. I'm sure fishing fresh water would be fine but fishing salt water may break the shit after a few trips.

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1 hour ago, crash_davis said:

Yea after looking at more videos, the GH100 and Aldebaran are different sizes with different internals. Other than the spool bearings which are the same through all reels, I don't know how you would source parts for the GH100. That makes it a pass for me. I'm sure fishing fresh water would be fine but fishing salt water may break the shit after a few trips.

To me the Aldebaran is one of Shimanos best designs if you're someone who wants the lightest setup you can get.  I have one on my NRX MXF and it is my favorite all around fishing combo of the 20 I own.   For regular saltwater use though,  where I'm mostly just casting and retrieving, I'm happy with a tuned Curado/Chronarch,  or  Tatula/Alphas SV.  The cost to performance ratio with the Aldebaran (at least imho) is just that it weighs 4.7oz.  My Alphas SV with the stock spool throws lighter baits better than the Aldebaran and the brake system is far superior on the Alphas for half the price.

Edited by krevo
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On 1/18/2020 at 4:24 PM, BearSchlong said:
On 1/16/2020 at 10:32 PM, DCA_HORN said:
 

Where do you usually fish? For me its Sabine/Keith Lake.

Have plans to fish either Sabine or Keith next Saturday. Current forecast this far out is perfect, which means it should go to shit by late next week and it'll be so nasty that morning we don't even bother launching the boat.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 1/23/2020 at 11:53 AM, Storm the Field said:

Have plans to fish either Sabine or Keith next Saturday. Current forecast this far out is perfect, which means it should go to shit by late next week and it'll be so nasty that morning we don't even bother launching the boat.

Welp, got to go to Sabine after all, but that's about the extent of what I have to report. Boat was covered in ice when we woke up Saturday morning, but the temperature warmed up to tolerable after the sun came out. Unfortunately it was a little windy-er than you'd prefer, and there was no bait moving anywhere and  we never saw a single flock of birds working. Only saw 2 other boats the entire time. Place was just dead. 

Foul-hooked one good 17 or 18 inch trout that was nice and fat but pretty sure that was just random chance of dragging a hook across her. Not a single bite through 3 hours of trying 5 or 6 different spots.

Edited by Storm the Field
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I don’t know.  I fish the area they were in somewhat regularly and it’s just another area to me.  I usually start further south and work my way back thru Carlos, Mesquite, then the East end of SAB. I know ~5 teams out of the regular 20-25 teams that enter it, and almost every year they all stuff themselves in Pringle it seems.  This year it wasn’t as cold so that might have left some more options open.  My buddy was hitting Shoalwater way when Simmons blew past him heading south.  Another guy we know was late in launch order and ended up in the same area down south.  So at least a few teams had found fish there, or heard, or something.  They said it was an absolute beating crossing SAB.    I will say I’ve really tried to learn that area better. The tournament I fish in POC every April has been won several times over from teams fishing between second and third chains. It’s usually YooHoo water when I try but man if I can ever learn it, it’d be nice and cut another 20 miles off my typical route.   We’re you able to get down there pre-front this week? 



I sent you PM with questions.




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Anybody done a charter out of West Palm, FL they enjoyed? I’ll be there 3/2-3/9 with my in-laws (not a bad thing) to catch a couple Stros spring training games. My FIL is an experienced fisherman. I’ve tried my hand at most things except fly fishing (hope to one day), but definitely consider myself an amateur. 

FIL has said he would be interested in bone fish or tarpon, but certainly not just dropping lines on a reef with a group charter (me neither). 

Any thoughts?
 

 


 

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14 hours ago, Spoosner said:

Anybody done a charter out of West Palm, FL they enjoyed? I’ll be there 3/2-3/9 with my in-laws (not a bad thing) to catch a couple Stros spring training games. My FIL is an experienced fisherman. I’ve tried my hand at most things except fly fishing (hope to one day), but definitely consider myself an amateur. 

FIL has said he would be interested in bone fish or tarpon, but certainly not just dropping lines on a reef with a group charter (me neither). 

Any thoughts?
 

 


 

It's been 15 years ago but we went offshore out of Jupiter at an add on to a trip to Disney in Orlando.  It honestly wasn't outrageous and the coolest thing about the Jupiter/ West Palm Beach area is you are about as close to the edge of the Continental shelf as any place in the country. You can be in several hundred feet of depth within sight of the hotels on the beach. I would go offshore.  Usually you have to slog your way out to the blue water, instead it's a short run to the deep water. Think of roughly dropping 100 feet of depth per mile offshore as a fair estimation of how close the deep blue water is.

here is link to pretty good interactive fishing map of that area of the coast

palm shores to west palm beach depth chart

 

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