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thedonald

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  • Interests (Hobbies, favorite activities, etc.):
    fly fishing small mountain streams and high mountain lakes
  • What I do for a living:
    General Contractor

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  1. I agree. Dave recommended this rod to me a few years back. And it saved my trip one year as I broke my high end custom rod half way through my trip. It's not as light as my custom and it feels a little gimmicky at first but it does the job. It packs down to 48" so works as a carry on until returning from Mexico where they strictly enforce it to be checked baggage. Most times I can talk them out of the extra charge but you never know. For around a $100 you can't beat it. Now if money is not a problem CTS makes an awesome travel rod in the $400-800 range depending if you just want the blank or fully built with Torzite guides or anything in between. I pack this in my suitcase in an abs 3" pipe 32" long. It's like the difference between a high end sports car and the family sedan.
  2. Send me a pm and I can give you a guys email who does the DIY method and has been there several times.
  3. If your interested in a DIY trip then get a hold of this guy. I was hoping to do a trip there this month but things fell thru. I'm not sure if there is any place that is not run down. He has contacts for local guides that you can use whenever to do lagoon or off shore. Diy is around $3000/each and an outfitter is $6000/each. And if money is no problem, yes I would check out Oman or Panama kayak fishing. *
  4. Mexico does not allow any fishing gear in the cabin. So make sure you have room left in your suitcase for your return.
  5. My travel rod is excellent, up to 150 yds with a tail wind. And the telescopic is a little gimmicky but after a few days I had full confidence it it too. It's just heavier so that is noticeable on those hot beaches. I would probably go with a 4 pce 10', something I can use on a boat as well as backup casting. Maybe I should just retire there and avoid all the fuss
  6. I am looking at getting another travel rod that fits in my suitcase. I have one now that does but my backup rod is telescopic and folds down to 48" which I can bring on the plane in Canada but not the return flight from Mexico. My situation is that now I also like to bring back some seafood on the return flight. And for whatever reason, my ticket booked with avion rewards, gives me one free checked bag outbound but not on the return. What I found out this year is that my airline allows for one checked bag free for humanitarian purposes, so no problem heading down. I have a large soft sided cooler that I pack with donated clothes for the trip down. And i can fill it with frozen items for the trip back. The hiccup now is will I have to pay for 3 checked bags on the way back or just two because I have my suitcase, cooler and I now have to check my backup rod? So far I have only had to pay once out of 4 times for the backup rod as i complained and they backed off. And the fee for the 3rd bag is $100/ US so negates most of the savings for cheap seafood. Ideally, with two travel rods and gear in my suitcase, I will have a carry on and a backpack for in the cabin which allows for bringing more stuff like my fins and snorkel and eliminates a potential costly snag at the counter. I am also looking into getting the airlines credit card as I see there are some free baggage benefits as well as cheap companion fares that may be better then the rewards I get from my bank card. But good to hear of different options and strategies for fishing travel as the added fees have really changed in the last 10 years.
  7. Well I only use mine for 15-20 days a year so I don't think I will wear it out. Also I like to stay dry and only cast from the ridges higher up and 10-20 yards further back. Although there is always that one rogue wave that gives you a good soak at least once a trip. In Mexico the sand is usually fairly course so not much gets in. The fine sand is what you have to be really careful with, one year my reel ended up full of it when I used to wade in.
  8. https://www.amazon.com/Daiwa-STT6500H-Saltist-Water-Spinning/dp/B004I36C7K good eyes Bob. I never noticed that there was a difference unfortunately. I bought a 6500h off a guy on SOL and it worked great but it was stolen out of my luggage after a trip. So I thought I ordered another one off Amazon, a 6500. So your post made me check it out and sure enough it's not what I had. It has a 49" retrieve rate and not the 53". But I have caught fish and missed fish going either fast or slow with it so I'm not sure it will make that much difference.
  9. I haven't been but it's on my list. I talked to this guy who lives there and he might be able to help. dhofar He is on this site.
  10. https://www.amazon.com/Insulated-Detachable-Adjustable-Shoulder-Carrier/dp/B07L2SHXW4/ref=pd_day0_hl_468_6/137-6956720-1671904?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07L2SHXW4&pd_rd_r=ef48a2b6-e171-4a09-b3d4-fe83bed54e77&pd_rd_w=Zacvs&pd_rd_wg=zMJpC&pf_rd_p=ad07871c-e646-4161-82c7-5ed0d4c85b07&pf_rd_r=5HQ36FTFPCT42MAABAGF&refRID=5HQ36FTFPCT42MAABAGF I'm looking at one of these. I normally use my back pack but when I go to Mexico in August it's too much to bring. In that heat I need cold water. This year I was able to freeze 2 1 ltr bottles half full and then fill with water and they just fit in my small surf bag. It's a bit heavy for the first hour but then I start pounding back the water and soon one is empty. This let's me fish about 5 hours walking along the beach before I pack it in for lunch and a siesta. For a boat trip, one will last me almost 4 hours. If it's not half frozen, it goes from cold to warm in an hour.
  11. That happened to me once and I am usually very careful with my keys. For me, I was a couple hours out of town, out of cell service, no one else around and no tools but big rocks. So I smashed out the smallest window in my HHR, stuffed a jacket in the opening and drove back. When I got to the glass place I found out it would have been cheaper to smash out the windshield than that window. But it was relatively easy to close off the smaller opening and drive like that. And the glass is tough and almost explodes when smashed. I'm still finding glass bits years later. Kind of a worst case situation but now I triple check for my keys before I lock up.
  12. I have seen similar calendars but they may be for boat trips. Where I go they say it is good from shore for 2 months, this year they showed up mid July but not in big numbers. My first trip was in the beginning of November and we hit a really bad red tide. I think that indicates the leading edge of cold water coming down from the north which will go all the way to the bay in Guatemala. Your best bet for a deal is before November as that's when the snowbirds start showing up but you never know, you might get a deal if some flights are not full. I go to El Salvador mid January for a month or so. The Mackeral come close to shore in December/January there. Also some Jacks and a few dorado. But overall the fishing is slow and they are smaller than Mexico. We also do boat trips from the local fishermen for $70/3 hours. There are regular charters available too. One year we hit many large schools of Bonito which were fun to catch but I only keep white meat fish.
  13. I used 30 lb braid on one trip to central america in January but it did not work well for me. Maybe I had a bad batch but I had numerous break offs. It could have been me because there the ocean is much shallower than where I go in Mexico. So I was getting many snags on the rocks and trying to pull the lure loose. The fish are much smaller there too so I was throwing 1 1/2 - 2 oz stuff. And so I could not tell if I was getting more distance because I was using lighter lures. In Mexico under ideal conditions I get 150 yds with a 3 oz lure and a 11'-6" rod. And I started to notice that on a few days the fish are way out there and some days they are right in close so I don't worry about distance as much as I used to. The 80 lb mono leader is for 2 reasons. First , in Mexico there are many needlefish with long mouths full of small sharp teeth that scratch up the leader and the last knot so it is heavy enough to take a lot of abuse. Second a 6' length stretches about 1/2" so it works like a shock absorber for the main line when casting heavy lures. Maybe not as good as the set up you use but then I don't have any knots running thru the guides so no problems with wind knots. And it is fool proof if I change out the knots every day. Some of my lures cost $30 each to get shipped in so I'm quite deflated if I see one sailing off with no line attached
  14. I'm using Gosen casting braid that I order in from Basil Manning
  15. I just use a 6' 80 lb test mono leader tied to my 42 lb braid main line. I use a 6-9' drop so there are not any knots in the guides. The only wind knots I get are from the line crossing the spool face when I start reeling in. I'm now getting better at checking this each time so now even this is very rare. The key to this method is that I redo all my knots and cut back the main line past were my finger holds it for casting every day of surf casting. I cast 30 plus times an hour so that slowly frays the braid on the top guide especially down to the leader connection. The leader to clip connection gets frayed from the toothy critters so that knot needs changing daily as well. Once my leader is shorter than 4' I change that too. The only break offs I get now is when I get lazy and fail to follow this routine. This is working for lures 2 - 4 oz so anything heavier or lighter you would change the lb test for the leader and main line.
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