| Author | Message | ||
| Atthewall
Bluegill Username: Atthewall Post Number: 101 Registered: 11-2004  Rating: N/A |
Well I finally completed my standup rig for this spring and summer. Shopped around some for a decent shark rod. At first I was tempted to buy a blank, guides and wrap the deal up myself till I ran across a rod I couldn't refuse. Penn Mariner Standup Rod, model 580 (50 - 100lb) solid glass, aluminum butt/reel seat and gimbal. Going to fish a Daiwa 600H spooled up with 1300 yards of 80lb test Power Pro spectra line. I figure if I get spooled with this rig, I can always upgrade the reel     | ||
| Sturm1022
Minnow Username: Sturm1022 Post Number: 51 Registered: 1-2005  Rating: N/A |
cool ! when are you going to wet a line? my fat fingers cant spell | ||
| Atthewall
Bluegill Username: Atthewall Post Number: 102 Registered: 11-2004 Rating: N/A |
Very soon but I need to purchase the kayak first (sometime this or next week). Heck, I'll let you know when I go down if your up to a fight on the coast. With a fishing rig like this, casting is out of the question so...... swim, kayak, Jetski are the only other options. I'm not swimming 300 yards off the beach with a fresh bait in my arms and the Jetski is out of the question. Heck, once your standing in knee deep water, you instantly become part of the food chain I can use the kayak for inshore stuff in the bays (trout, redfish & flounder) plus use it in the lakes around Austin (no gas powered boats allowed) for some spring time bass fishing. Wes and I needed something to use on the Guadalupe River to setup flathead baits this summer, so I'll get a lot of use out of the Kayak. There's a few of us planning a trip to South Padre Island National Seashore (PINS) this June. Everyone is invited. Heck, fishing this rig is a 2 - 3 man operation anyway and when that reel lights off, you never know how big or how long. I have a fighting belt with harness (rod gimbal with clips to the reel rings) that basically connects you to the rod. You can drop your hands to your sides and the harness and belt will support the entire thing as you rest. My other surf rods will go out with the shark rod too. They will pick up smaller sharks, bullreds, jackfish and what ever else will hit (generally 100 lb or less sized fish). I hope to catch a few jackfish around 20 - 30 lbs to use as bait on the shark rod. That's generally how this system works down there. Small (shrimp or lures on bass type tackle) to medium (mullet on surf rods) to large (jackfish or stingray on standup rod).  Here's my son Austin fighting a big bruiser last spring on PINS.  We hooked up for an hour and a half, had 400 yards of 30 lb test mono out before we could turn this fish. We finally worked it to roughly 50 yards off the beach when the line broke (chaffed & nicked the line on seaweed and sand bars). It felt all of 100+ lbs and periodically it would nose it's head right into the sandbars (like an anchor) and refused to budge. The spectra line holds up much better than mono. It's 10 times stronger than steel for the same size and fishing the surf is much like flipping in tree top cover (need a stout and strong line). I'm building steel leaders out of 250lb test seven strand nylon covered material. Hooks will be 15/0 - 24/0 circle hooks and the weight will be a 6 - 12oz spider weight. The leader I had out last year when we lost the big one.  | ||
| Sturm1022
Minnow Username: Sturm1022 Post Number: 52 Registered: 1-2005 Rating: N/A |
are that a garage door behind those rods?!?!?!? before you buy a yak do you have one in mind ? i have a friend who builda a hell of a custom perogue they are wood and light and built to specs. not many people think of a wood boat but i love mine it paddles faster than my bass buster with a 3 hp evinrude ! my fat fingers cant spell | ||
| Bigun
Minnow Username: Bigun Post Number: 95 Registered: 8-2004 Rating: N/A |
Rob or Wes in a pirogue after a case of adult beverages! I got to have pictures. I suggest a kayak! I'll bring my pirogues too you if not! I'm ready for a hog hunt anyway. | ||
| Bigun
Minnow Username: Bigun Post Number: 96 Registered: 8-2004 Rating: N/A |
BTW, Sweet rods! Just leave them home if you come see me. They will not fit in my boat. | ||
| Atthewall
Bluegill Username: Atthewall Post Number: 103 Registered: 11-2004 Rating: N/A |
I can see us on the river now Wade. I'm wearing my life jacket "big time." Sturm yes that's a garage door and the 2nd floor window Here's another view of my surf rods. I go over to a local school and blast casts every now and then. The rod on the left is a 1969 Fenwick EGLass (hollow) blank. The reel is an Ambassadeur 7500 CT Big game spooled with 20 lb test with a 50 lb test shock leader (5 turns around the spool) to take the power of the cast (3 - 5 ounces). The rod on the right is a 1980 Fenwick EGlass (hollow) blank. The reel is a Newell P-338J spooled with 30 lb test. I don't use a shock leader on this guy since the 30 can handle the loadups on cast. The tip on this rod is the largest tip Fuji makes before it goes to a roller guide  The left rod can cast 2 - 3 ounce bucktail jigs or long silver spoons a long ways. When the jackfish, king mackeral and tarpon are running the surf in clear water, that's the pole to use. Blast a cast as far as you can throw and then reel and jerk right through the birds. You never know how big the hook-up is going to be but it's pretty explosive | ||
| Sturm1022
Minnow Username: Sturm1022 Post Number: 53 Registered: 1-2005 Rating: N/A |
do you seriously know the year model of your rods if so then how? my fat fingers cant spell | ||
| Bigun
Minnow Username: Bigun Post Number: 97 Registered: 8-2004 Rating: N/A |
Rob Knows everything. Just ask him! Could not pass that up! | ||
| Atthewall
Bluegill Username: Atthewall Post Number: 104 Registered: 11-2004 Rating: N/A |
You bet Wade but the longer I run with Wes, the more I've started to forget. Sturm. The Fenwicks were a unique blank. Back before the Japanese purchased Fenwick, they were built on Bainbridge Island Washington. The old Fenwick building is now the Sage rod blank headquarters. A lot of the original Fenwick machines are still there (I lived down the road from Sage 97 - 99). Anyway the 69 Fenwick was purchased new in 1970 as a bare blank. The shop that this blank was picked up (by my Dad) was in Houston. Each year a new shipment of blanks were ordered and shipped out of Washington to the Houston shop and the custom rod builders from the Houston and Galveston area gobbled them up and wrapped them up for surf use. The 1980 Fenwick blank was purchased in 1981 in Norfolk Virginia at big custom tackle store by me. I asked the owner when he received his shipment and it feel right in the 1980 build window. There is a different style of construction between these two rods. The left rod is extremely heavy and thick walled. This was the technology of the time (late 60's and early 70's). The rod on the right is thin walled and extremely lightweight (late 70's and early 80's technology). Shipping single blank rods of this size is generally done in batches due to shipping and handling costs. If a custom rod component store doesn't have a blank on hand and needs to order, it's done directly to the rod builders. Generally these big surf blanks aren't stocked up in large numbers even at the rod building companies and they generally build the same model blanks for several days before changing out and moving into a new model number. That run might be 500 blanks of model xyz (depending on the previous few years of sales). They don't make these things in huge numbers and generally once a lot has been run it's done for the year till they can get back to building them again. Big surf rods of this era are very easy to track if you are the original owner of the blank. The rod blank in my profile pic is a Fenwick blank (EGLass) from 1984 - 86. This was after the Japanese bought out Fenwick. I believe this blank was built in Japan and they changed colors of the glass to white or black. Fenwick used to be exclusively Honey colored or Brown (Lunker Stik line for bass fishing). I still have an original Fenwick Lunker Stik worming rod out in the garage. It's circa 1971 - 1972 | ||
| Sturm1022
Minnow Username: Sturm1022 Post Number: 54 Registered: 1-2005 Rating: N/A |
oh, you do know everything. what stocks are in your ROTH ?!?! my fat fingers cant spell | ||
| Atthewall
Bluegill Username: Atthewall Post Number: 105 Registered: 11-2004 Rating: N/A |
 PIMCO TOTAL RETURN SCHWAB 1000 SELECT SHARES JANUS SCHWAB 401(k) EQUITY UNIT FUND DODGE & COX STOCK FUND EUROPACIFIC GROWTH FUND | ||
| Sturm1022
Minnow Username: Sturm1022 Post Number: 55 Registered: 1-2005 Rating: N/A |
no single company stocks? not even walmart my fat fingers cant spell | ||
| Atthewall
Bluegill Username: Atthewall Post Number: 106 Registered: 11-2004 Rating: N/A |
I'm only doing the 401 thing under the Schwab umbrella. I wished I was doing Real Estate more than anything. | ||
| Sturm1022
Minnow Username: Sturm1022 Post Number: 56 Registered: 1-2005 Rating: N/A |
yea im trying to get into rentals but the new wife is spending all my money, lets go fishing my fat fingers cant spell | ||
| Atthewall
Bluegill Username: Atthewall Post Number: 107 Registered: 11-2004 Rating: N/A |
You bet I'm ready! | ||
| Picou
Hybrid Username: Picou Post Number: 617 Registered: 8-2004  Rating: N/A |
Rob, that new rig looks a lot like the offshore gear my dad kept on his 32' Bertram. If memory serves me correctly, I used one similar to land my 5' shark many years ago. It looks really good buddy. I will get after my sister-in-law about her kayak and see if she will make a decision on if she is going to sell it or not. It would definately be a good excuse for me to make a run to Austin or you to come up here to fish. I am looking forward to the picture bonanza from your next PINS trip...  Thank you Lord for my family and the waters I get to fish
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| Atthewall
Bluegill Username: Atthewall Post Number: 108 Registered: 11-2004 Rating: N/A |
What happened to the Bertram? | ||
| Picou
Hybrid Username: Picou Post Number: 621 Registered: 8-2004 Rating: N/A |
Dad went thru boats every 2 or 3 years. If it was not a bass or bay boat it was an offshore boat. The offshore boats were either Sea Ray, Bertram, and one other that I cannot remember the make. I do remember the name of 2 of them -- Sherry I & Sherry II (my step mother's name). He really liked the Sea Ray boats also and had 2 or 3 different ones. The last Bertram was docked at Port Aransas. All other boats were either docked at his beach (canal) house down West Beach or Galveston Yaght basin. His last boat before he passed away unexpectedly was a 22' Ranger center console bay boat -- sound familiar??? When we were at Texoma, it was really neat to be on the water with Dean there and us both have our own boat. I spent a lot of time thinking of dad during those two days fishing. The first boat of his I remember being in was a bass boat on Sam Rayburn and the last boat of his that I was on with him was the ranger bay boat. Two of his boys were on the lake together in those exact type boats. That weekend hit me in the heart and stirred up memories that I had not thought of in a long time. Sorry... kinda strayed off there for a minute... Hey Rob... Nice rod dude... BTW, I forgot to mention he had all his offshore rods seated with Penn reels. Thank you Lord for my family and the waters I get to fish
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| Bigun
Minnow Username: Bigun Post Number: 98 Registered: 8-2004 Rating: N/A |
Sturm, I told you!!!! I want Rob on my Trivial Pursuit team! Especially if it involves drinking. Picou, "You had me at Dad". No, really. I think about my dad's best friend who died of cancer almost everytime I freshwater fish or go to Ks but sadly/strangely hardly ever think about him other than that. He was like an uncle to me and I spent so much time fresh water fishing with him and hunting in Ks with him. It is amazing how you start remembering this stuff giving the right environment. (Message edited by bigun on February 2, 2005) | ||
| Simek
Minnow Username: Simek Post Number: 4 Registered: 1-2005 Rating: N/A |
Rob, where you gonna purchase your kayak? | ||
| Dean
Bluegill Username: Dean Post Number: 106 Registered: 4-2004  Rating: N/A |
Mike - This summer we MUST go catch some Kings and Snapper - for the memories they will stirr! I think of it every time I drive down I-45. Ya know - I must have been in California when dad had his Ranger? I dont remember it! I dont know what has happened to Ranger's bay product but it sure can't be what it used to be! All In A Days Fun!!! | ||
| Dean
Bluegill Username: Dean Post Number: 107 Registered: 4-2004 Rating: N/A |
BTW Rob - Noce Rods! Do you build your own? You must be able to cast them puppies a mile! All In A Days Fun!!! | ||
| Big_p
Moderator Username: Big_p Post Number: 245 Registered: 7-2004  Rating: N/A |
Rob, IS it this weekend we are supposed to hit PINS?  All this big tackle talk is sure getting me pumped up. I got my rods and reels out yesterday and cleaned and oiled them. I am ready to roll. | ||
| Picou
Hybrid Username: Picou Post Number: 624 Registered: 8-2004 Rating: N/A |
Yea, you were in California then I believe. It was 1989-1990 when he had that one -- grey. I will try and make it down there for some fishing. PINS sure sounds like a blast as long as I have some bay or cut to fish in. I just never really got into the surf fishing that much -- maybe because all I mostly caught in the surf was whiting and hard heads. Question for you salties... Can you use the water from the surf to boil crabs & shrimp on the beach? Thank you Lord for my family and the waters I get to fish
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| Big_p
Moderator Username: Big_p Post Number: 246 Registered: 7-2004 Rating: N/A |
Picou, You would be a brave soul to do that. All the hypodermic needles, scrap iron, and just general crap that washed up down there there is no way I would use it. I fugured you of all people knew it wasn't just about catching the fish. My trip to PINS last year was my first hardcore surf trip but it was a BLAST. I will be there for all future ones. | ||
| Picou
Hybrid Username: Picou Post Number: 626 Registered: 8-2004 Rating: N/A |
I firmly agree that what makes a trip like this on is the fellowship and catching fish is a bonus. I have no doubt that it will be a blast and the entertainment level would be unmatched elsewhere. Good point on the water quality... But yet you have no problem eating the fish that come from that same water???? Thank you Lord for my family and the waters I get to fish
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| Big_p
Moderator Username: Big_p Post Number: 247 Registered: 7-2004 Rating: N/A |
The fish filter some of the filth out of the water. An egg comes out of a chickens butt and that doesn't stop me from eating eaggs either. If I was lost on a deserted Island with no fresh water I would boil some of that water in a coconut to drink but where we are going we will bring freshwater so why eve think about it. Ok I am going nowhere with this. I amd one. | ||
| Picou
Hybrid Username: Picou Post Number: 627 Registered: 8-2004 Rating: N/A |
How would you boil water in a coconut??? Is the boiling temp of water lower than the melting temperature of a coconut shell? Oh yea... You don't eat the shell of an egg right... (Message edited by picou on February 2, 2005) Thank you Lord for my family and the waters I get to fish
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| Big_p
Moderator Username: Big_p Post Number: 248 Registered: 7-2004 Rating: N/A |
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| Dean
Bluegill Username: Dean Post Number: 109 Registered: 4-2004 Rating: N/A |
Oh - I get it - To make Coconut Shrimp you would fry the shrimp in a coconut shell???? But where do you get the oil??All In A Days Fun!!! | ||
| Big_p
Moderator Username: Big_p Post Number: 249 Registered: 7-2004 Rating: N/A |
How about Coconut oil? | ||
| Dean
Bluegill Username: Dean Post Number: 112 Registered: 4-2004 Rating: N/A |
Didn't think of that I guess we could use Rob's fishing rods to knock the coconuts from the trees?? All In A Days Fun!!! | ||
| Fishinaggie88
Bluegill Username: Fishinaggie88 Post Number: 207 Registered: 8-2004  Rating: N/A |
LMAO guys, Great looking rods. Love to fish and hunt. | ||
| Picou
Hybrid Username: Picou Post Number: 629 Registered: 8-2004 Rating: N/A |
LMAO Dean... I think this thread has officially made full circle now...  Thank you Lord for my family and the waters I get to fish
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| Atthewall
Bluegill Username: Atthewall Post Number: 109 Registered: 11-2004 Rating: N/A |
Mike a Kayak is a blast in rivers and small lakes and it opens up other fishing opportuties. It will also help develop that upper body (builds big guns) so you can fish in a wife beater tank top during the Skeeter Owner tournament. Wes can wear a long wig with lipstick so you can beat on him periodically when he starts complaining about you bow hogging all the fish. Dean thanks and yes I do wrap my own rods. It was a tough decision to buy a completed standup rod without wrapping the blank this time around. I will buy a second blank, in the future, and build it outright. I need a second standup rod that will support a Penn 12/0 setup with roller guides. Those two long surf rods can cast 130 - 150 yards with a standard overhand cast and a bare 4 or 5 ounce weight. Once you add your bait and leader that distance cuts down to 80 - 110 yards. I wade out to the 2nd bar (rough days) or 3rd bar (calm days) and cast into the cuts. The Ambassadeur 7500CT BigGame holds roughly 300 yards of 20lb and the Newell 338-J holds 500 yards of 30 lb. The water quality at PINS is excellent. There is floating trash (plastic, wood, trees etc.) but the water is clear and clean. There are two currents that meet very close to shore down there hence the debris but it also brings tons of bait fish and top predators too. The surf sands up during rough storms but the overall quality is way better than any of the bays or surf conditions anywhere else in Texas. The Port Mansfield Jetty is the closest outlet in the area and there isn't an agriculture or refinery operation near that part of the Laguna. Heck the entire King Ranch shoreline is hugging the Intercoastal Waterway behind PINS and the town of Port Mansfield is a sleepy fishing village. Very clean and undeveloped in that bay area. PINS is 60 miles long and 135,000 acres big. Nothing but salt and sand down there with a lot of plastic debris (hard hats, bleach jugs from Mexico and a ton of Coconuts). Mike we haul a ton of bottled water when we drive down. I carry a couple of full 5 gallon jugs so water isn't an issue. To add, I freeze twentyfour 16oz bottle waters and use them to line the bottom of my ice chests. It helps keep things cold. As they thaw out they provide a cold fresh drink of water. If you need water for cooking, we have it down there. The best way to steam crabs, shrimp, oysters or clams.....BEER! Just need to find a flat keg somewhere and use that for steaming (learned that trick on the Virginia Eastern shore). We generally smoke and grill wild game down there. During our last trip we smoked a wild ham (with Barnacle Bills magic shake), axis steaks, fajitas, venison sausage, venison backstraps, eggs and bacon. I take a small grill and a couple bags of charcoal each trip. We gather tons of drift wood as we cruise the beach and build a campfire each night. This is a camping and fishing trip all rolled into one and we haven't gone down there yet and not caught fish. Here's one of Dale Moser's buddies from Fort Worth (his name is Mike). Mike bass fishes and never experienced salt water fishing. This was his first trip down last April and heres his first fish caught in salt water  Port Mansfield channel with crystal clear water   Big Shell roughly 38 miles south. Clear water in the surf. A few hours after this picture was snapped we hooked up for an hour and a half.   Fighting the big one as David sips a cool brew.  A coconut tossed in the fire (front lower mid right)  | ||
| Sturm1022
Minnow Username: Sturm1022 Post Number: 59 Registered: 1-2005 Rating: N/A |
when are we going? and there are too many mikes we need to mabye use our last names or something. but on a very serious note, yea, i NEED to go. my fat fingers cant spell | ||
| Picou
Hybrid Username: Picou Post Number: 632 Registered: 8-2004 Rating: N/A |
Growing up I went by PQ because nobody could pronounce my last name right and there are so many Mikes. When I was elected Sgt. At Arms for VICA they used PQ on the open ballot. It drove the teacher nuts... Rob, I should be talking to my sis in law this week and I will check on the kayak for ya. I'll go check out the TRB thread on PINS and see what I can work out for that weekend. I know it would be fun until that moment the truck is packed and pointed in the direction of home. I fall asleep coming home from Wes' place, imagine tacking on 4+ more hours to the trip... Thank you Lord for my family and the waters I get to fish
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| Atthewall
Bluegill Username: Atthewall Post Number: 110 Registered: 11-2004 Rating: N/A |
Picou there are ways to keep you awake. Coffee and No Doze = HONEY I'M HOME! Don't worry about too many Mikes. After we get down on the sand (10 minutes exactly) everyone is named MIKE. Maybe that's the name to have...I know it brings extra luck? | ||
| Picou
Hybrid Username: Picou Post Number: 634 Registered: 8-2004 Rating: N/A |
LMAO... Believe it or not, coffee and no-doze have not worked for me in the past. Ask Wes how long it takes me to fall asleep after a night fishing trip on Lake Fork... I'll take whatever luck I can get when it comes to fishing... Thank you Lord for my family and the waters I get to fish
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| Wes
Moderator Username: Wes Post Number: 46 Registered: 8-2004 Rating: N/A |
3 miles from the ramp is all it took him. Picou is about as close to a narcoleptic as I have ever seen when he is driving. | ||
| Wes
Moderator Username: Wes Post Number: 47 Registered: 8-2004 Rating: N/A |
If you make it down for this Picou, just tell the wife you will take an extra day and we can stop in Seguin and see if the exotics are the pigs are around. That way you won't be driving 8 hours round trip. That or find a friend and get somebody else to drive :-) | ||
| Dean
Bluegill Username: Dean Post Number: 113 Registered: 4-2004 Rating: N/A |
I'll take this opportunity to be lazy and ask instead of research - when is this happening again? I might make it ----- All In A Days Fun!!! | ||
| Audra
Moderator Username: Audra Post Number: 165 Registered: 8-2004  Rating: N/A |
OK, fill the "girl" in...what is "PINS"? I've always wanted to do some salt water fishing, but I have motion sickness, so I don't see me handling a boat in the open ocean. Now, that fishing from the beach stuff looks like my kind of game. Can I do that from a lounge chair wearing a bikini, holding a daiquiri in my hand? "Men and fish are alike. They both get into trouble when they open their mouths." - Jimmy D Moore | ||
| Picou
Hybrid Username: Picou Post Number: 636 Registered: 8-2004 Rating: N/A |
I don't know if having a female in camp would make my wife comfortable... I had to take one of the many open shots that you provided with that post... Thank you Lord for my family and the waters I get to fish
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