FallenKell

I seem to have been one of the lucky ones with the Salt X. I have loved it so far. But as said, lots of people had issues with them (quality control seemed to be very hit or miss). I'm not sure I would expect the Penn to survive a dunking, even on occasion. A good Salt X would survive it, but you won't know you received a good one until after you dunk it and try and fish it a week later.

Yes, I agree, which is why I said it is a tough call.

It depends on the house. As you said, most systems just cycle within the home, but the home itself is leaky as can be with air gaps all over the place (ever wonder why you can see your curtains move when the windows are closed?). Unless the house is fairly modern (i.e. less than 20 years old), or was built to meet "Passive House" standards, you will almost never see the HVAC units requiring a fresh air intake. For these newer home designs (easy to identify as there will be a sealed vapor barrier plastic across/around the perimeter of the home in the basement/crawlspace/attic), the HVAC will have a fresh air intake to pull in fresh air, as the home is not expected to be leaky enough to allow for proper air exchange without it. Just also note that it is a lot easier to deal with the single air intake and filter it than it is to try and filter all the air gaps across the entire home in older homes. And yes, this is just crazy.

Because he could then sell it as unused but no warranty and probably get $200 out of it, which if it was a local sale (i.e. no shipping) would get $50 more back from overall transaction. But that is a risk that he couldn't easily resell it. Its a tough call either way. Automatic $100 loss, vs potential $250 "loss" but owning probably a JSS9202M-S with potential resale value of ~$200.

But the warranty isn't written that way on these rods. It is written that a one time replacement for the same rod can be had for a $100 fee. J&H offered a different rod in that line since the original does not exist and offered it for the difference in cost between the original rod and the offered one, which was $50 difference (so the $100 warranty replacement fee and the $50 difference, so $150 total). I don't think it matters what rod J&H would offer, as clearly Shark Lobster isn't looking for a rod that expensive, and doesn't want to spend the $100 cost for the warranty coverage replacement since that seems to be about how much he wants the rod to be in the first place, and at that point might as well buy a new rod from a different place that might have a warranty (as this replacement will not have one, again, as per the warranty for the original rod, the replacement is one time, and the replacement rod has no warranty).

I'm usually on a 13' Phenix Black Diamond Surf Spinning rod rated for 6-12oz and 40-90lb braid. To say the least, it has a very stiff backbone. Or I am using a 11' 3-10oz of the same line (30-80lb braid) usually with a VSX275. Unless I am fishing for fluke, where I go for a 8' Blackhole Suzuki Inshore Special Light rod paired with a VR75. The 11' is surprising still rated as fast action, the the 13' moderate fast.

I'm 6'3" and weigh just under 300lbs (when dry), 20-30lbs pushing/pulling me wont even begin to start overcomming inertia.

Depends on how you are fishing. If using bait (and depending on your reel), I will first do a tug test on land before I star fighing and tighten it down to something like ~20-30lbs (when using 40-50lbs braid+leader). I will then make 2 full turns of loosing the drag after I cast and put the rod in a rod holder while waiting on a bite (on my reels this loosens them enough that most fish can turn and run letting the circle hooks I use gently set in their lip) and my rod tip is sensitive enough that I can see it bend, and hear the drag clicks on the first movement of the fish after a bite. While I pickup the rod I am twisting the drag back those same 2 full turns and I know I am at a setting good to fight the fish. On lighter tackle like 10-20lb line you might only need 1 full turn of the drag knob (and possibly only 1/2 depending on gear) before you risk removing the drag knob and the spool can come free. For lures, I will set it just like I initially do for bait, but only go down 1 full turn because even if I forget to turn it back, it still has enough drag to set the hook. Once set, I leave it that way and only turn it up when there is a monster fish that I can drag in.

So I am done with the strap that came on the Plano Guide Series 3600 bag. The only issue I see is that most replacement straps typically have caribiner style connectors at the end, but the strap on the Plano actually goes through a ~1.5" nylon loop (sewn into the bag with no metal loop that would typically be there). I really want to put on a Rockhopper replacement strap as I know they fit me very well (unlike this plano strap that is about 3-4 feet too short in overall length). Any ideas? My best thought is to cut a length of 400lb mono and make a tight loop with a crimp (I think it might be thick enough that it wouldnt slowly act as a wire-saw and cut through the nylon over time, unlike thinner 50-100lb line might).

Well, the person probably meant to write "Hopkins" not "Hobkins". If you go read the other topic "what was the lure you caught your first striper on" (linked below), I responded in there that mine was on a gold hammered 5.5" fixed hook hopkins spoon with white bucktail tail dressing. They are still made, but that particular combo is a custom order (usually just a couple weeks, and I think they stopped with bucktail and use feathers now), but they have others that are off the shelf ready that will work just as well (and I would probably get a swing hook now for more action instead of fixed especially if you get feather tail treatment, which is what I typically use now, 5.5" and 3.88" hammered gold(or silver)+swing hook+yellow feather tail, but I also have an exact copy of the original so that I could keep the original on my fishing display and not risk losing one of the few working fishing items that came from my Grandfather). These are very good spoons since they mimic bunker very well which is a favorite bait fish for striper in the DE/NJ/NY area and are killer later in the year in the August/September/October/November timeframe (and still do well in the early spring runs). Edit: fixed a couple typos

There are two pretty good threads that I would look at for some guide to essential lures:

Bucktails and spoons would count for bottom. There are many sinking lures as well, especially some of the articulated swim-baits (just be careful as some of these will not survive a big striper hitting the rear hook). For many of the bottom lures, you want to run them on a rig with a teaser (like a glass minnow (skirted or unskirted depending on bait in the water)) on a drop loop about a foot or two in front/above the bucktail or sinking lure.

You stop when you have a nice wide range of lures that will fit almost all the situations that you like to go fishing during. So get the 3 main depths of water covered (top, mid, bottom), have 3-4 colors/patterns that match local bait (can almost never go wrong with white, gold, chartreuse, and blurple in the Jersey area). Look to augment those chunks of wood with some plastics, Al Gags eels (especially if you are fishing up in the Raritan Bay area and Barnegat Bay at night), and some squid lures (even just a simple Skirted Tsunami Glass Minnow will work for those).

The only issue I have with this way is that you create a bunch of twists onto the braid. I do this for the wraps: But I do like the finish process on some of the others.

For lure caught, it would have been on a large (5.5inch) hopkins gold hammered spoon with a fixed single hook and a white bucktail tail treatment that my grandfather bought back in the 1960's and taught me to fish on in the 80's. I still have that one, but I bought a few replacements (since they are still made, although it is a custom order and takes a few weeks) and keep that original in my display. However my first few dozen were on bait as my grandfather was really a bait guy (like many of that time). But he still kept a few lures (mostly topwater poppers and such, and a quite a few spoons). Edit: Sorry about the pic above, it is a layered image on their site with the "white" space being see-through layered over top of the gold spoon on the right....