New Equipement Put to the test this Year

[inTHERAPY]

accurate boss 270 from charkbait at 200 bucks. without a doubt the finest reel I've used. maintenance free all season. silky smooth drag with plenty of capability, not bulky big large enough not to get lost in my hands. downs: if you love a lever drag for its adjustibility thru-out the range, this one is not it. took a bit getting used to engaging the lever drag after the hit because it's tucked in close to the frame and the handle is pretty large.

Seeker clb708 blank, acid wrapped, using the Al Goldberg recipe. very nice live bait rod. Far from state of the art but a great tool.

the best: JAWS ji7601 rod blank. Acid wrapped, bottom fish killing machine. so sensitive and powerful for a 10-20 pound blank. super medium action bending down into the reel seat on the big tog, fluke, sea bass. if I did not have so many damn rods already, i would buy a new 6' light 12-30, 7' 15-40, and 7 1/2' 30-60

[Renegade6]

put a full season on my ZB-27 (1st gen) that i got in the fall of last year. Im more impressed with it now after more time. amazing. smooth, consistent drag with never a stutter - from small to high 30's fish.... worry free after much swimmng , banging, dropping, etc... i dont care where they build them, blah blah, whatever else - for the kind of fishing i like to do - it does it very well and has needed no babying.

Afterhours needles - great build and superior finish..... for some reason I had not used any of Don's needles over the years - but this year they outfished every other needle in my bag by a wide margin, in many different areas and conditions.... super durable finish.

Sebile stick shad I was as skeptical as everyone else - but had nights/mornings at the canal when nothing else was inducing hits, but the sebile was a fish almost every cast. undeniably expensive, annoying to have to change hardware, but if you were to rate it by " number of fish hooked per number of casts factoring in price" it was still probably the most efficient lure i threw.

Samurai braid i know others have found it to not hold up well to abrasion while jigging, but i have not experienced that ( i dont fish the canal as much as other places) - and i love this line for plugging.


St. Croix Legend 10.5 foot, 2-6 oz amazed by this "do it all" rod so far. have yet to put alot of time or a good fish on it yet, but it makes me a much better caster than i really am, is extremely light and responsive. a pleasure to throw all night.

bite-sized Snickers the perfect thing to stick in a PFD pocket or plug bag pocket. wrapper stays water proof, just the thing for some fast delicious calories in the middle of the night. a pick-me-up when fishing is demoralizingly slow....

[chrisjoe13]

New to me this year:

NB plastic: these things work
Sharp Eye swimmers: these things also work
Orvis Mirage flourocarbon: I love this stuff, so easy to tie a good knot.
Hyperflex Flow 4/3 wetsuit: very comforatable and was warm enough up until last weekend (SAT night I froze).

Korker torrents: so-so. They are comfortable but you need to walk very carefully in and on the rocks (no support). Gonna go back to high top boots for next year.

[basswipe]

Other than a Salty's darter I bought nothing new this year.