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How's your GAS lately?

514K views 1K replies 83 participants last post by  joetrain 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I'm GASin' bad...not even Tums can help. As I mentioned in a previous post, my gear acquisition syndrome has been in full beast mode since late fall and I've acquired everything from a new tackle bag (barn) to a fish finder for the yak and everything in between. Here are some of my spoils...I went feather treble crazy on my hard baits and it's been good to me, especially on the suspending jerkbaits, gives it this realistic action. Also picked up a heavier combo (Lexa 300HS w 7' Mojo Bass HF) to throw larger baits up to 1.5 OZ. It adds to my Mojo/Lexa lineup handsomely =D

... now if it was only spring ...

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#879 ·
Yeah, when my son went to college our grocery bill went wayyyy down. Then when he graduated, moved out and got a job, and got his own health insurance too $500+ a month back in my pocket!). Woooot! Thought I was gonna reap the rewards and be able to get all kinds of cool stuff- Well, momma bought a new vehicle and crushed my dreams. :lol: :roll: Oh well.

FWIW- my last two GAS acquisitions I was sucked in to have been a bust so far, so I feel I'm in the hole again anyway.

.
 
#880 ·
Just stopped at Henry's on 31st and Canal for some trout bait and tiny hooks. Ended up walking out with almost a whole 1500 yard spool of 14 lb. Fireline Crystal for $50. Apparently Berkeley isn't making it anymore? Anyway they have spools in other sizes on clearance too, 6 lb, 8, 20, 30, others. Some full some a little used. Trying Powerboat for the first time for the opener tomorrow.
 
#883 ·
Ryguy83 said:
that is one giant sperm... i thought you didn't like the zako's?[/quote

I couldn't find any white Strike King Blade minnows and after missing 1,237 fish on a Zako I figured out how to rig them shallower in the body, leaving enough gap, so I no longer have any hook up issues. Always liked the chubby side profile
 
#886 ·
I'm sort of embarrassed to post this but it relates to deGASSing, ReGASing and why I'll continue to shop at Cabelas - at least until they disappear into the darkness that is BPS.

A few weeks ago my brother & I made a late season trip to my favorite small stream in No. IL. Hiked most of the day - he took pictures while I fished. I got skunked - a first for that stream. Not only that, I didn't see any fish - another first. So after a few hours I broke down my rod and stashed it in my backpack.

When we got back to the car I found that the top section of my rod - a 7' Cabelas ProGuide UL had fallen out somewhere along the way. Can't figure out how it happened but it was gone. Too late & I was too tired to go back looking for it. So shit.

Last week I took the butt end to Cabelas to see if I could get a replacement for the top. They said there weren't any spares & that they stopped making that rod (a terrible tragedy - it was a great rod). They asked if I had the receipt which I didn't & then said they'd give me some credit for my loss. This blew me away since I admitted I had lost it & it was my own damned fault. The credit wasn't much - $6.00 - but as I always say, 'better than a sharp stick in the eye'.

I put the credit & some Cabelas points toward the purchase of a 7' UL Fish Eagle. Nicer handle and seems to have better action. Time will tell.

My point is that Cabelas could have told me "tough shit" and they would have been completely justified in doing so. Says a lot about how they view customer service.

It reminded me of how when I was a kid my dad bought almost all of his tools from Sears. One reason was because the old Sears on Lawrence Ave was a 10 min. walk from our house. But the main reason was because every time a Craftsman tool broke or stopped working all he had to do was take it to the hardware dept and they'd give him a new one.

Years later Sears discontinued this practice. Now Sears is about to be discontinued.
 
#887 ·
Rambler said:
I'm sort of embarrassed to post this but it relates to deGASSing, ReGASing and why I'll continue to shop at Cabelas - at least until they disappear into the darkness that is BPS.

A few weeks ago my brother & I made a late season trip to my favorite small stream in No. IL. Hiked most of the day - he took pictures while I fished. I got skunked - a first for that stream. Not only that, I didn't see any fish - another first. So after a few hours I broke down my rod and stashed it in my backpack.

When we got back to the car I found that the top section of my rod - a 7' Cabelas ProGuide UL had fallen out somewhere along the way. Can't figure out how it happened but it was gone. Too late & I was too tired to go back looking for it. So shit.

Last week I took the butt end to Cabelas to see if I could get a replacement for the top. They said there weren't any spares & that they stopped making that rod (a terrible tragedy - it was a great rod). They asked if I had the receipt which I didn't & then said they'd give me some credit for my loss. This blew me away since I admitted I had lost it & it was my own damned fault. The credit wasn't much - $6.00 - but as I always say, 'better than a sharp stick in the eye'.

I put the credit & some Cabelas points toward the purchase of a 7' UL Fish Eagle. Nicer handle and seems to have better action. Time will tell.

My point is that Cabelas could have told me "tough shit" and they would have been completely justified in doing so. Says a lot about how they view customer service.

It reminded me of how when I was a kid my dad bought almost all of his tools from Sears. One reason was because the old Sears on Lawrence Ave was a 10 min. walk from our house. But the main reason was because every time a Craftsman tool broke or stopped working all he had to do was take it to the hardware dept and they'd give him a new one.

Years later Sears discontinued this practice. Now Sears is about to be discontinued.
Amen, to customer service. I broke a Cabelas rod, walked in told them it was my fault and they not only replaced it but due to a sale I was able to get the next model up in their line. As for Loomis's Expeditor service, I'm about to replace a rod that I originally bought in the late 90's and have broke this same damn rod at least 3 times since the first one...well, now 4. One of these days they're going to say "Nope, not gonna do it this time" and I'm going to say "Yeah, don't blame you" Idk why I break this one particular rod so often. Some rods I never break
 
#888 ·
HEDDONFROG said:
Amen, to customer service. I broke a Cabelas rod, walked in told them it was my fault and they not only replaced it but due to a sale I was able to get the next model up in their line. As for Loomis's Expeditor service, I'm about to replace a rod that I originally bought in the late 90's and have broke this same damn rod at least 3 times since the first one...well, now 4. One of these days they're going to say "Nope, not gonna do it this time" and I'm going to say "Yeah, don't blame you" Idk why I break this one particular rod so often. Some rods I never break
If its the one I'm thinking, you technically didn't break it :lol:

Rambler, BPS customer service isn't half bad themselves. IDK if you remember, but a couple months ago I posted that I went fishing and snapped one of my favorite rods on a hook set. This was the 4th rod I broke this year, so I felt a pretty big sense of doom. My fiance and I went to our wedding venue to talk some stuff over with them (in Wadsworth) and on a whim I asked if we could take a look at BPS and see if they'd replace it. Walked in without it, assuming they'd tell me to pound sand. Approached the counter and talked to a teenaged or barely 20 guy. He asked if I had a receipt...yeah def don't have that. He knew the rod was released earlier this year and BPS carries a 1 year warranty so he told me to grab another rod and we'd get this done. I was even offered to swap out the reel (bought as a combo) but didn't wanna lose the line on it, plus the reel worked just fine anyhow. Like you guys both said, they could have laughed in my face but actually made me quite happy.
 
#889 ·
I picked up one of these today at Crabela's and some soft plastics. I also brought in one of my half empty spools of Power Pro and got the reel spooled for free.

Pflueger® Summit XT Spinning Reel
$34.97
SAVE 50%



They had a decent stack of them in stock on a table in about 4 or 5 sizes. I chose FRappie-size. :mrgreen:
 
#890 ·
^^^Another good reel buy Ron. Bought one late last year. Only issue has been with line (20lb braid) getting caught between the line roller & bail seat. The fix is to tighten the shit out of it before each use.
 
#891 ·
Rambler said:
^^^Another good reel buy Ron. Bought one late last year.
I'm liking the Pfluegers. They take an dunking and keep on thunking. I took it out today and landed 18 crappies on it in the cold and it was smooth and performed really well.

About 10-15 years ago, most my reals were Abu-Garcias. One quick dunk of a second or two of an Abu reel and it would stiffen up and barely crank. Then with my Dick's bucks, I picked up about half a dozen or more Okumas that were proprietary models for Dick's for basically free. Great reals...9 to 10 bearings...and great quality and they really could take a beating. 8-10 years of heavy use and they are now wearing out. The Okumas Dick's now sells are pretty crappy.

I've been replacing the Okumas with the Pfluegers and am impressed so far. I often accidentally dunk them while kayak fishing and notice no impact from being submerged. The drag is nice and they are real smooth. :thumbup:
 
#892 ·
Yep, Pfluegers are the bomb. My main reel used to be an Abu Garcia Cardinal 862 from 10 - 15 years ago too. It dated from before Abu got bought up by Pure Fishing. Had a dalliance with Lews (really good reels too) but have gone mostly to Pluegers. I never really considered them until I talked with a sales guy at Cabelas who really talked them up.

Pickep up my 1st President XT a few years ago & now have 2 XTs, a Summit XT and a President UL. All really great reels. As mentioned above the Summit gave me some problems but has been great since I started tightening it every time before going over to the DPR - I use it with braid for pike.

And my favorite fly reel is a Pflueger Medalist 1492 I bought in '74. Still works like a charm.

Still like those Lews too.
 
#894 ·
big jay said:
I picked up a 8" triple trout and 8 & 6 inch bull shad's and a travel swimbait rod.
Oh, so now you decide to come back around and post, Mr. Winter poster guy. Have any decent fall outings? Not that there was much of a fall. I had one good jerkbait outing this fall and only discovered it with about 2 hours of daylight left. I know you like jerks from last winters conversations, so if you haven't already, you've got to pick up some Vision 110+1's to try and some regular Vision 110's too. You can get them in your favorite "Pro Blue" color. I actually think they offer 2 versions of Pro Blue. They are sooo much easier to work for long periods of time Vs KVD's, especially the KVD Deep. The +1 won't go quite as deep as a KVD Deep but with the action of the Vision, I don't think the fish have a problem coming up an extra foot or two

Mike_son has piqued my interest in big swimbaits for next year. It scares me to think how bad it might get financially if I really get into them ;)
 
#895 ·
This is shockingly the whole of my Black Friday gas. I actually almost made it the whole day without looking or buying anything...until I get a text late in the day from Mike saying "Hey, Dicks has MegaBass lures on sale" that damn mike_son of a... Didn't even know they started carrying MegaBass. Oh, well. Can't have too many pretty jerkbaits and I actually took 2 out of my basket...so I actually saved $40. Yeah, I like that logic :D
 

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#896 ·
HEDDONFROG said:
This is shockingly the whole of my Black Friday gas. I actually almost made it the whole day without looking or buying anything...until I get a text late in the day from Mike saying "Hey, Dicks has MegaBass lures on sale" that damn mike_son of a... Didn't even know they started carrying MegaBass. Oh, well. Can't have too many pretty jerkbaits and I actually took 2 out of my basket...so I actually saved $40. Yeah, I like that logic :D
I think mine got mis-delivered if you got yours already :roll: Tracking says delivered to "dock" and signed by "Dorris" (neither of which are at my complex).

That was too good of a sale to pass up. 25% off and free shipping got me 2 of those and a lipless, $56 in product (not including tax) for $45. Moot if I never end up getting em.
 
#897 ·
HEDDONFROG said:
big jay said:
I picked up a 8" triple trout and 8 & 6 inch bull shad's and a travel swimbait rod.
Oh, so now you decide to come back around and post, Mr. Winter poster guy. Have any decent fall outings? Not that there was much of a fall. I had one good jerkbait outing this fall and only discovered it with about 2 hours of daylight left. I know you like jerks from last winters conversations, so if you haven't already, you've got to pick up some Vision 110+1's to try and some regular Vision 110's too. You can get them in your favorite "Pro Blue" color. I actually think they offer 2 versions of Pro Blue. They are sooo much easier to work for long periods of time Vs KVD's, especially the KVD Deep. The +1 won't go quite as deep as a KVD Deep but with the action of the Vision, I don't think the fish have a problem coming up an extra foot or two

Mike_son has piqued my interest in big swimbaits for next year. It scares me to think how bad it might get financially if I really get into them ;)
I know I don't post a lot but I'm always lurking around. I had a great fall bite on jerkbaits and lipless cranks. I have some 110's I only use them in certain water don't want a hammer handle pike bite off's. And when I want to go a little deeper I use a lucky craft staysee 90. Maybe this spring you can come up to Wisconsin and I'll take you out on Geneva and you can put your jerkbait skills to the test with the smallmouth.
 
#899 ·
big jay said:
I know I don't post a lot but I'm always lurking around. I had a great fall bite on jerkbaits and lipless cranks. I have some 110's I only use them in certain water don't want a hammer handle pike bite off's. And when I want to go a little deeper I use a lucky craft staysee 90. Maybe this spring you can come up to Wisconsin and I'll take you out on Geneva and you can put your jerkbait skills to the test with the smallmouth.
I'd totally be down for that, it's been years since I fished Geneva. I've also been really itching to night fish Delevan. I just bought my first Staysee but did not get a chance to use it this fall. Regarding hammer handle pike running off with your expensive jerks we've had the same issue for years and only this year started using leaders. For jerks the one that dampens the action the least but still protects your bait had been an inexpensive Eagle Claw Micro leader in the 5" 12lb model (Walmart 2 bucks for 3) The 8" 18lb works but does limit the baits action some. There are times in early spring where the bite on my lake is literally 5/6/7 pike to 1 bass. Several guys here can vouch for that. I've only lost 1 jerk this year to a bite off while using the 5" 12lb and it was a big pike that came from behind and inhaled the bait up past the leader. Watched it happen.

That's a nice group of swim baits & wake rats/baits Jay. I'm hoping I don't catch that illness, lol
 
#900 ·
Those LiveTarget swim a little too stiff in my opinion. The jointed (which you have plenty of) seem to work the best. I totally failed on swimbait season this year, got myself hooked to the chatterbait and frog and didn't use much else in the warm months.

and I'll be one to vouch for what Heddon said. The short wire leaders have little to no effect on the action and immensely help in keeping your lures. my only jerkbait losses this year have been from hard backlashes and I never lost a single one to a bite off. The 5/6/7:1 ratio is a fact as well, bass were my enemy apparently the first couple times out there. So I've caught a fair share of pike to know they work.

The ones I used I found at Cabelas and are a thinner gauge with the same weight (different metal I assume?). They cost a bit more, but the ones Heddon mentioned seem to only be in select Walmart stores as I never saw them in the few I checked. There's always the interwebs, though.
 
#901 ·
Woohoodude11 said:
my only jerkbait losses this year have been from hard backlashes and I never lost a single one to a bite off
Never forget the triple-whammy :clap:
 
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