A

Welcome to the Salt Strong podcast disrupting fishing entertainment as you know it. Prepare to laugh, prepare to get to know fishing legends in a whole new and unfiltered way.

B

And on occasion, you might even learn

C

a thing or two about fishing.

A

Here's your host, Joe Simons. Like diamonds, Best fishing rod for weight fish. And we're talking about weight fishing for redfish, speckled trout, trout, snook, flounder. Luke's actually out on the water. Got. We'll have to do a little tour of your, of your boat. You got a pretty interesting setup with an umbrella there above you and I believe some fish in the, in the live. Well, of course I got waiter Dave back, the Wade fishing guru himself.

D

Dave, thanks for, thanks for having me. I appreciate it. I always enjoy spending, you know, 45 minutes to an hour we're talking to you guys about fishing. And I remember the very first time we did a podcast, you asked me, did you think I could talk about weight fishing for an hour? And I said, I don't think that'll be a problem. So I remember that one.

C

We asked you two questions and it was an hour and 15 minute podcast.

D

Yeah, yeah. Off to the races. I think I told you you probably don't have to ask a lot of questions. But anyway, so I'm going to leave the question asking you.

A

Yeah, we wanted to do this because you have been around this saltstrong ecosystem for a long time and you've tried a lot of stuff and you tried a lot of rods and I know you have kind of a new favorite which we'll talk about. And Luke, before we do that, do you want to give a, give a quick little tour of your boat set up there. We gotta, gotta see what's happening. Explain to people listening as well.

C

Yeah. Since it's starting to get hot out, I, I was bringing the, I was on a trip with the wife and daughter. I was, let me go ahead and bring an umbrella out on the boat just, you know, so they don't get hot. And the. It was so high that they actually didn't come out. I said let me just go ahead and set the umbrella myself and so I can actually stand up underneath the umbrella while I'm fishing. And it's amazing. So now like summertime, no wind is no problem. It is surprisingly comfortable. You know, I used to have a. Yeah, I started it with the umbrella was in the, the rod holders on my cooler and so I just. This is my first trip out with the umbrella stand. Okay. Proper umbrella stand out here. So so life is good, you know,

D

if you get out and if you get out of the morning like, like the rest of us this time of year, you wouldn't have to worry about your umbrella. You know that. Oh, it's true.

C

That's true. That is true. I like my sleep. Yeah, I got a one year old in the house so this the sleep. Sleep comes first.

D

I gotcha.

A

You caught some fish.

C

Yeah, yeah, it was a good trip. I'm exploring some new territory and the, the nature coast and got some good sight fishing in. So a fun redfish action. Got one of the live well for dinner. So successful, awesome, successful day.

A

What, what lure or lures?

C

The prawn junior got most the action and then the last one, the biggest one was on the tweaker, the black, the new black tweaker. And I had an oversaw red that hit and I, I, I ripped it right out of his mouth. Still upset about that one. But yeah, fun, fun time. And I was using the rod of at least my personal favorite rod that we'll talk about here in this, this podcast, I'm sure.

A

Well, don't break any slapping it back on your new umbrella there either. So be careful. Be careful. Well, Dave, you're lucky we don't have Scott Ray as much as we love having Scott Ray. That was such a fun episode. But you know, we, we can't at least poke fun him since he's not here that this is not about bait casting rods. And I, I will say I ran into one of my buddies here who's been on the, the tour, the bass fishing tour, off and on. You know, he's considered a pro and a pretty well known guide in, in Florida for, for bass fishing. And I was asking him about and he, he mostly uses bait casters like a lot of the bass guys do. But I was like, what if you were just trying to go distance? And he's like, oh, if I were distance, like if I was going, you know, fishing flats or even said weight fishing, which made me think of it. He's like I'd use spinning all day long. He's like if I need distance I, a lot of the bass guys will tell you they can outcast spinning maybe in the perfect world with the lightest, you know, line. Like what Scott kept saying, well, if we did this and this and this and this, then maybe. But he's like in general, if you got wind and just all the stuff that happens naturally and you're just trying to get as far out as you can and still be accurate I'd be spinning all day long. So, all that being said, this will be a podcast about the best Wade fishing rods, and we're talking about spinning tackle. So floor is yours. Dave, you got. There's one question. You know, this is the only question of the whole podcast, and now you have to talk for at least 30 minutes, so.

D

Yeah, well, let's see if I can do that. Well, so I think the, the genesis of this was, I think Luke and you and I are what, two weeks ago, I guess it was fishing. Started fishing the beach, and I actually had two slam sticks with me rigged with the Otis 2500, which anybody's been listening to me. I've been a real fan of that rod. I think it's, you know, I've really been pleased with the performance and everything else. The price. I think, especially for anybody that's kind of a. Anywhere from a beginner to maybe, you know, medium advanced angler, it's really a good rod and maybe not a bad choice, but, but what really stood out was that Luke was outcasting me and I just couldn't stand it. And so I was trying to figure out what, what he was, what he was, what he was doing differently than me. And I think we did discover he was using 8 pound braid versus my 10. But he was still, I mean, he was throwing it, I mean, significantly further than I was. And it turns out he was actually using a lighter lure than I was as well. So I had, of course I asked him and I knew what he was fishing about. So what are you using there? And of course he says, well, I'm, you know, I've got my, my slot machine on there. And so, you know, he was telling me about the fact that he loves it, obviously, and I know it's a great rod. I actually have two of them as a result of that trip that Luke sent to me shortly afterwards to try. And I've been fishing with it now for, I guess about two weeks. But for me that's probably about, I don't know, three months worth of fishing for most folks because I'm out, you know, typically at least once a day, if not twice a day. So I've got a lot, a lot of casting in with it. And I'll tell you what, it's, it really is, it has moved up the ladder and is now my, my, my go to. And as much as I really like the, the slam stick and all that, it's. It's really tough to go back to it now. That's the only Downside, I've, you know, I've kind of. Now it's like, you know, if you've been driving a, a Rolls Royce and someone gives you a Chevy, even though that Chevy was fine when you were driving it, didn't know any better, you get net rolls. It's really tough to go back. So. But it's just, it's extremely light, I guess is the first impression I got. I was really surprised that how much lighter it was than this slamstick, and quite honestly, even, even lighter than the St. Croix average that I like to use a lot as well and have been kind of right up there at the top of my stuff. So it's definitely light. You know, the other thing we always, you want you think about is, is, you know, casting distance. And I just talked about that, but there's no doubt that, that this thing casts further than, than any other 7, 6 medium action rod that I've, fast action rod that I've used. And you know, I think, you know, we were talking a little bit about it and the reasons why and it's, you know, this was created for inshore fishing, right? Using 2500 and 3000 size reels. So it was, it was created for exactly what I do when I'm out wade fishing, right? So the other rods that I've used are really, I think more multifunctional. Probably look at, do appeal to or appease maybe a larger group of fishermen, people that are using larger reels that might be efficient from boats or whatever it might be. But for me, the most important part, first of all is distance. When I'm weight, when I'm weight fishing, and we talked about this when we were doing our, you know, bait casting versus spinning gear. And I think, you know, I think even, even our friends in Texas will admit that we can cast further with the same type of lure with the spinning rod than we can with that. So, so distance is, is, is king. And this is actually king of the spinning spinning rods that I've used. So that first and foremost would be almost enough just to make me, you know, say, hey, that's my rod. But, but then you combine it with how light it is, and again, I'm typically out. If I'm on a charter, I'm out fishing for six hours, right? And, and you know, weight fishing. So I, who knows how many casts I'm taking over that six hours. But if you've got a heavy rod, a rod and reel combo, it'll wear you out. And I mean, I'm doing it every day. So it's not as big a deal for me probably because I'm in great fishing shape. But a lot of my clients aren't, right. So, you know, it, it really will. If they're using a heavier rod or heavy rod and real combo, they're gonna, they're gonna, they're gonna wear out. So the length, you know, casting distance, the, the, the light and then too is just really the accuracy. And that's the part where kind of I think really was the biggest difference. And I think, you know, I've seen some of the reasons why and because of the high modulus graphite and all that stuff, but you don't get as much balance right when I'm casting that thing. So that rod isn't going like this. At the end of the cat, if you watch in slow motion, almost any other rod, you can see it's bouncing up and down, right. So every time it's doing that, it's hitting the line, it's shortening the cast. But I also noticed that it's got some of that side to side stuff too. And, and that obviously is going to impact your, your accuracy. And so the slow mos I've seen of, of the slot machine, that thing has, you know, and again, I'm not sure, Luke, what the right term for that is, but it doesn't have as much of that slap after you cast, right. So it, it stops really quickly and there's almost none of the side to side. So you know, it's going to help you with not only your distance, but your accuracy. And as much as I talk about, you know, distance being king out there, waiting, there certainly are times when, when you're going to need to be accurate as well. And maybe you're chasing, tailing redfish, you don't want to plop that, that lure on top of them or your line on top of them. Or if we're fishing a mangrove edge, right, we want to be able to, you know, hit it into pockets or skip it underneath. So this thing definitely does a better job of that. So, so, you know, again, I don't, you know, really other than that and I guess we'll have to see, but you know, it's got the quality Fuji Alkanite guides. We've got. One of the other things I really like about it is I like that that the butt is, is relative. I call it relatively short to compare to a lot of the other rods that I, that I, I fish with. And in fact, you know, I've got some of the TFO tactical inshores. And, and they all have such a long butt. And, and maybe it's because I have such a big belly, but when I'm out there position, I'm constantly hitting myself in the stomach with that, with that rod and, and it becomes really irritating. I can hear, you know, against my shirt doing whatever. But this has got just the right, you know, the right length of a butt. So it's not, you know, hitting me. I can hold it where I want to hold it and still get the feel I want without having it, you know, get me or have to hold it off to the side. So that's been a real big, a real big advantage. The other thing I really noticed was just the balance. And I, you know, I'm using a shimano Twin Power Real 3000 reel with this one right now, and I had the Otis on the other one, but they're both, I noticed, I mean, they are balanced almost. If I didn't know better, I would say this thing was made for that Shimano twin power reel. Just because it is, it's balanced so well. Right. It's not, it's not top heavy or it's not butt heavy. And so, you know, there's really, if I had to have, I guess any, I don't know, I'm necessarily negative, but. And I know Luke and I talked a little bit about is that the, the, the hook holder on there, which I know, Luke, you fish a lot of weedless, you know, rigged baits. I don't tend to use as many as you do, so it's not a big deal for me to have to have that on top and slip in there. But, you know, I guess if I have my preference, I like to have the hook holder on the bottom. But that might be the only critique I have of the rod. And I've been looking hard, believe me, for it. But, but it, it's, you know, it really. Again, like, I, I don't know much more, I say. But I was, I was looking through the reviews. I think it gets like a 4.9 rating on salt Strong. And, and despite what most people think, I found that the ratings on Salt Strong are really pretty critical. So maybe even tougher than I find on, like, you know, other manufacturers websites where they're, you know, posting their own reviews. So I look at that and it had a lot, a lot of really, really good, positive reviews. You know, I do know that with a high modulus rapid, you've got to be careful. They're definitely more, I Think fragile perhaps things like the slam stick. But you know, again, in my opinion, it's worth, I guess, the risk that I may damage or whatever. But, but you just have to take, you know, take good care of it. You know, if you've got a, a rod sleeve distort in that, that's helpful. You know, the worst thing I see is people just throwing them in the back of their trucks. So the, you know, the butts down at the bottom and then that every time it hits a bump, it's bumping against the, the tailgate. I see that all the time. And I'm like, oh my gosh, you know, I sure hope that they're not using, you know, high modulus rod. So you got to take some care and make sure that you're, you're treating it right. You know, you obviously want to wash it down all whenever you're done. But, but really, as I said, I think just, you know, that remains to be seen. So. And I'm rough on my gear, you know, and I'm, and I'm typically taking charters out. I haven't, I have not offered this up to my clients yet. Only because I, Yeah, well, I mean, so typically if I'm taking out clients, I actually have been using the slam stick a lot because it is durable, it's a light and you know, again, and it's kind of in that price range where I think a lot of the, the, you know, maybe, you know, beginner or intermediate experienced fishermen probably have a better chance of, of not damaging that rod than maybe, maybe this one. They take care of it. But, but, but I will tell you, in fact, I've got a charter on Monday with an, an experienced angler, salt strong insider. And he was, you know, telling me all about his G. Loomis rods and all this and that. And, and you know, I, I said, hey, that's great. I'm, you know, and he spending 5, 600 bucks a piece, right, for some of these G. Loomis rods. And I said, listen, I'll tell you what, I said, I'm going to bring, bring the slot machine with me and let's give that a try on money. So he was really anxious to give it a try. So I'll be curious to see what he thinks of it. But here's a guy that fishes, you know, again, five $600 rods regularly. And so, you know, at, I think we're what about three. I think it's 367 or something like that. For insiders. Yeah, it's, it's a little pricey. But if you're an experienced angler, you're, You're. You understand what, what it takes to, to take good care of a rod and treat it the way it's supposed to be treated. You're. You're going to, you're going to absolutely love it. And you know, I, I think people been watching me now doing stuff on. On with you guys for, gosh, almost 10 years now. And you know, I, I don't, you know, I, I'm not a. I, I fish other stuff other than salt. Strong stuff. And I say when I love it and I say when I don't. And I can truly say I really like this rod. So the only. And thank goodness you gave me two of them, Luke, because I, I was, I was gonna finally got one. I would have ordered another one. Not good for you guys. But so the next, really, the last test for me is just really kind of trying to understand the durability issue with it. And they said, so far, so good. I mean, I, I, you know, drove all the way over to Mosquito lagoon last week and had my rod holders in the back of my truck, which to me are the equivalent of carrying a rod holder in a boat. And, you know, no issues whatsoever. And as I said, it's just, it really is. I don't want the right word.

A

You ever had a. Ever had a rock chip up just like it would chip your windshield or have you ever had that issue?

D

Not that I'm aware. I guess I wouldn't know that. I certainly get enough rocks in my windshield, let's put it that way. But so I, you know, I do. I have it. So it's slanted down a little bit, so it's not quite straight up and down. So, you know, maybe it's. Maybe it's three feet above my, you know, my, My cab on my pickup, but I've not had that. Had that problem. But you know, part of what the test for me was treating it the way I treat my other rods for the most part. And I try to take, you know, good care of my rods. But. But the real test will be getting in the hands of some of my clients and, and see how it, how it, you know, it handles. Because that, That'll. That'll become the, I guess the real test for it.

A

You did say something.

C

Yeah, yeah, I was gonna say, Dave, when you were talking about people put. Just laying the rods in the back of the pickup truck, I thought you than jab at me because that's exactly what I do. And first, first of all, it's easy. But number two, I, I actually want to see how durable they are. And, and I've been, I've been putting that. This is the slot machine rod that we're talking about. The, the, the, the highest in one that we have. It is, it is light because we made the walls as thin as possible and we didn't put any paint on it, both of which obviously add weight. And so this is, this is more brittle than most other rods. But I still, I actually, I broke one, so I, I put them in the back of my truck. The only one I broke. Joe, you were actually with me. We were coming back from a chapter meeting in St. Augustine and we went through a hailstorm and, and then the next day I was making a cast with the, with the half ounce of the, with the prawn junior and a half ounce jig head and the rod snap. So I think uh, just the ice must have just, just chipped it. But, but yeah, this, this rod is durable. I, I'm, I'm now totally comfortable just putting it in the back of the truck when I, when I go places. High sticking is, is really what kills, what kills it and other, other odds that I talk to people who, who have broken them and, and almost always they're fighting a fish right next to the boat, particularly redfish. They're, they're known to go underneath the boat and it's instinct to pull up to, you know, to get the fish out from under the boat. And all that does is put the rod in an over 90 degree situation. And that's going to break it. Yeah, but as long as drag set properly, anywhere from, you know, up to 15 pound line is what or up to 17 pound line is rated for, then it's, it's, it's almost impossible to break it as long as you're not high sticking and as long as you don't go through a hail storm or something. Crazy.

D

Yeah. You know, the other thing. And again when we're, when I'm weight fishing, you're right, high sticking is, is, is not uncommon, especially with folks who haven't done a lot of wading, right? They, they, you know, they finally catch a fish out there, but they've never landed one while they're waiting. And so the first thing they want to do is they want to reel it in almost all the way to the rod tip. Right? And as I took them, no, I want you to hold that rod straight up. I want the line long enough so that fish is still in the water. And then you can grab the line, put the rod under your armpit and do it right. Avoid the high sticking. But, but, you know, I always see people that, you know, they leave a foot out there, then they're trying to pull it up and grab it and, and that's that. So that'll be, that'll be the challenge. Which is probably why I won't, you know, I'll probably continue to use a slam stick with my kind of beginner and maybe even intermediate weight fishermen. And then, you know, as I get to more experienced folks or folks that have learned how to, how to properly, you know, land a fish while you're waiting, then maybe we'll do that. But, but, you know, it's a good incentive to learn. And then, and I was actually joking, I was talking to another insider the other day. I said, I mentioned I got these rods and they said, well, you'll let me use it. I said, well, I don't know. Well, you may have to earn that. Right? So we might start, might start you with the slam stick. And if I, if I see that you're progressing and not worried about it, then we'll, we'll get you on there. But, but then you're never going to want to go back, believe me. So that's, that's the problem. I guess it's not a problem for you guys, but it might be a problem for those that, that weren't planning on spending, you know, another 350 bucks. But, but anyway, I, I would say at this point, it's compared with other rods out there that are that much and more. It really is a good value. Yeah.

A

And, and so if you're new to this conversation, this channel, whatever, and you're wondering, all right, what's the, why is it so important to be able to cast a little bit farther, even if it's just 10ft? Luke, you know, you've used that in football field analogy. So let's just say you got guys like Dave and Luke who are both very experienced anglers, great casters. David mentioned just a couple weeks ago, Luke's out casting him. Let's just say it was by 10ft. And every hour they're both doing 60 cast. You start doing the math. I mean, every cast counts. Every single cast counts. And now Luke's hitting 10ft farther away from the two of them. That should be a better opportunity zone in general. Like, meaning fish are going to be less likely to be spooked to know you're there. And he's doing that time after time after time. And it doesn't take very long at 10ft at a time increments when you've covered an entire football field of the best distance that the other person's not even getting access to. And that's a compounding effect over time. That is huge. Over a day, over a week, over a year. It's. It's massive. Massive, Massive distance.

D

Yeah.

A

And. And. And once again, massive opportunity zone of hitting areas that fish are more likely to be in than not. It really is huge.

D

Yeah, well, and because we do a lot of blind casting, that distance becomes important. But I will say this again, and the point I brought up earlier is that the accuracy on this is maybe I may be as impressed with. Or more with the accuracy than I am even with the distance, because it really. And again, you know, we're not always casting as far as we can. We do sight casting. We have opportunities, or maybe it might have to pitch a little lower, you know, 10ft from you. But. But this thing is. Handles all that without. Without any problem. So I think the accuracy part is. Is not unimportant even when you're weight fishing. And certainly, you know, again, the.

C

The

D

combined with the weight and then again just the sensitivity. In fact, you know, one of the things that, you know, I think, Luke, when we were fishing the beach the other day, you know, you were talking about the bottom, and you say, yeah, it's. It's shell and all that. I'm like, well, how do you know that shell? And he said, well, I can feel it. And that's because you were using that rod. Right. I knew there were shell there, not because I necessarily felt it, but because I had actually gone out there and was diving to see what the heck was there that was holding all those fish. So, you know, that's what it was there. But the sensitivity and feeling the hits, there's no doubt that I've, you know, and being able to tell the difference between, you know, getting a nick in the top of the grass or. Or getting, you know, hit, whatever, it definitely got more sensitivity there. And again, that comes with the high modulus blank. And, you know, again. And. And, you know, the spacing of the guides, too, is really a little bit interesting. I noticed that the first guide is a little higher on the rod than some of the others that I have in my. My arsenal behind me, as you can see there. So. So I think I've got, I don't know, maybe two dozen. I don't know, maybe. Maybe 12 or 14 rods in there. I think I have five of these racks. So I have a lot of. A lot of rods to. To test with. But, you know, I like the rest. I'm always looking for the next best thing, right. Whether it's a lure, whether it's, you know, line leader, but rod is. Is probably, at the end of the day, the most important thing of all. And probably the one area where we're making an investment in quality gear is worthwhile.

C

Yeah, for anybody throwing lures. And the reason why this slot machine just does feel better for really. For distance and feel and accuracy is the fact that just everything was done to make it as light and sensitive as possible. Again, no paint. Most rods have paint that really protects the rod from high stick. It protects from kind of newer anglers from breaking the rod, but it adds weight. And. And I guess worst of all, that weight on the tip. Now, that called a snapback. When you make the cast, you want that. You want the rod to snap back into form as quickly as possible. And this rod comes back to form quicker than any rod that I've ever felt. And that helps for distance and just for feel. There's less. There's less. You flex up, there's less flexing of the rod, I should say. And you basically have full feel of it. And then when that line shooting out, you don't want the rod to be doing this because that's slowing the line down. You want it to release and stay. And yeah, this rod just does it better than any others. I tested a bunch of blanks when we were building this, and as soon as I felt this one, I was just like, wow, this. This is noticeably better than anything else I've ever used. And the fact that we have the butt a little bit shorter than most, than most butts. You can see it looks kind of normal, but it's. It's probably about an inch shorter than. Than most production rods. Sometimes, like the star seagus rod is a rod that I used to really love. And it's like 2 inches short. And that rod, the butt's very long, so it wouldn't get caught in my shirt, like way to Dave was talking about. But this thing. Yeah, never gets stuck in the shirt. And the little bit shorter. But on a 7, 6 rod, all else being equal, that means that there's more casting section of the rod, which means more tip speed, which results in more distance, and most importantly, more distance with less effort. So, like, I've been. I've been fishing for five hours a day, and it's it's definitely. It is a noticeable difference when you're making 100 to 200 casts. It is just, just even an ounce. Like this rod, the 76 medium is at 4.4 ounces. And that, that includes a full cork grip and most other rods. You can look at the specs, even rods, these $600 price point, they have a split grip, which, which number one I don't like at all either. But, but even, even with the split grip, those other rods way more because they have the paint, because they have thicker walls that those manufacturers are terrified of having a bunch of returns. We, you know, we designed this for more advanced, you know, intermediate advanced members of our club, we educate on how to not break rods. So we made this rod all about performance. And I guess we're more aggressive on performance than the production rod companies are.

A

Have you been playing a sir mix a lot out there on the boat loot?

C

Maybe this is not coming in good.

A

No. Luke like short butts and it cannot lie, you know.

B

Come on.

D

Well, I'm with him there. What can I say? So I'm a little slow. Yeah.

C

I sat here right behind this island on purpose and then the wind totally changed directions. I'm perplexed on what happened on the wind. So sorry. I'm a little slow, Joe.

D

Funny you mentioned that though, about the, the. And as I mentioned with the butt, but you know, I was comparing with one of the tf, the TFO tactical and stuff. You got. So you got a seven, six blank, but you're losing the advantage of that. Right. Like you said, if you've got the, that reel a couple of inches higher up on the, on the blank, you. You basically are, you know, at a seven foot four rod. Right. And you know, maybe, maybe it's not a huge difference, but if it's a couple of feet even on every cast, right. It, it, it definitely adds up, especially if you're fishing four, five, six hours. Right. So you're going to cover more water. You're likely going to. You're likely going to find more fish. That's. I mean, that's the reality of it.

A

So looks like Luke's coming back with more rods.

D

Yeah. What do you got?

C

Luke?

A

He kind of froze up there for. For a second. We'll let him get back into. Into gear. What, what city did he say he was in?

D

Bayport. Really?

A

Bayport. Okay.

D

Yeah.

C

Yeah. There's not a whole lot going on in Bayport, including cell phone towers, apparently.

D

Is that right?

C

But, but yeah. So, I mean, here's I have the medium heavy also and same thing. It's, it's, now we're a little bit heavier. The medium heavy is, is, it's like 4.9, 5.0 ounces which is same thing. It's, it's much lighter than, than any other rod that's rated for 10 to 20 pound line. That's 7, 6 including split grip rods. And, and this thing is awesome too. Again, it's just, it's really sensitive and, and you know, I just wanted to show the butts where it doesn't look, it doesn't look like it's short. It's, it's just, you know, it's just like an inch, half an inch shorter than most others. But that does make a big difference in the whole scheme of things. And the, the medium one does have a slightly longer grip, but it's still, it's still just long enough to be able to, you know, comfortably fight a big fish, but it's short enough to not get stuck in your shirt, which is incredibly frustrating.

D

Yeah, no, and again, I, I, I like a full court grip. I, I don't have, since I don't have, I have very few split grip rods and that's an imperative for me. I won't buy a split grip rod. I just, I really like the full court grip. But this thing is, it's short but I still have plenty of room to have my hand down at the bottom so I can cast two handed, you know, to get that leverage that I need. And, and so I'm not sacrificing anything there, just getting that extra little, little bit of length on the, on the blank that I wouldn't otherwise. So I think that's you know, part of the reason. But you again you think about the weight. You know that thing weighs the, the same as a quarter pound a hamburger patty. Right. It doesn't weigh a lot. So it, it's, it really really is pretty amazing. So I, I do have one. In fact, I, I, I, I've talked to a couple of folks wanting to know and I, I'm gonna put my, on my wish list here. How about a medium light version of the, of a slot machine? Is that any, anything in the works for that?

C

Yeah, we actually, we have that going and we have a seven foot version that's in the works. That'll, that probably won't be till the end of this year, more likely early next year. But because again we, we basically put these through a lot of testing, still don't have the first prototypes Yet. So, yeah, both those are in the works, and a bay cast version of it as well, with the same premise. We're gonna go. We're gonna go lighter and more perform. Performance focused than any other. We know who's buying them. We educate them. And those bigger companies, again, they're terrified of having a bunch of warranty claims. So they make the walls thicker than they really need to, and they put that paint that sometimes adds up to half ounce, at least a quarter ounce. So, yeah, that'll all be coming up in the near future. One extra bonus, too, about being light, and I've experienced this where I was on my paddle board with this cooler, and some waves came and the cooler fell off. And when. When you have a lightweight rod that has a full core grip and at least a reel that's fairly light, it floats. So. So basically, the cooler fell in the water with two. Two of my slot machines. And I had a pair with the. With the Otis 2500. And I was able to recover them even though it took me a while to circle back around on that paddle board with rough. So, yeah, these rods, they're so light that they float in the water for. I know a lot of kayak anglers are getting them. They, you know, bottom put those little swim noodle things on the rods that just look terrible and obviously way more. And so, yeah, no. No flotation either. They. They float on their own.

A

Well, the nice thing about weight noodle and put it on your bait casting rod.

D

Yeah, well, nice.

A

Have at least some. Oh, go for Dale. I think there's a delay here in the. In my joke.

D

Oh, sorry. No, I was gonna say, at least one of the advantages of wade fishing is if I happen to drop my rod in the water, even if it doesn't float, I can. I can usually get it. So that is a bit of an advantage. But. But I. I did notice the. The mine was. Was actually floating as well. So I. I don't like to admit that I actually dropped it in the water, but. But I did, unfortunately. So. But anyway, so, no, again, I really haven't said I'll continue to use it. And the biggest issue for me is just to really get a feel for the durability and then start getting my clients using it. I love getting their reaction to it again, especially the, you know, the advanced anglers to see if they have to thank. So, you know, I'll be sure to pass that on. So we'll see. See how we do with it. Yeah.

A

Looking forward to hearing how the. A Fellow insider member, like you said, an experience when going out next Monday with you. Likes it because I, I, yeah, I, I believe because we've heard this before where people who were buying custom made rods or, you know, 600g loomises use this. They're just like whoa. For half the price. I can get this. I can't tell a difference. Sometimes even like it better. So I'm, I'm interested to hear what he says.

D

Yeah. In fact, you know, when I first got it, Luke, when I found it, I, I thought, honestly I thought it was a medium light rod. And because it is so light and you know, the other thing too is that it, it does, you know, I know it's rated for, I think an eighth ounce is kind of the, on the low end of, of the weight. But you know, I was tossing just some soft plastic actually the tweaker was just a, you know, worm hook, no weight at all to it. And, and that thing was casting it a mile. It really was. So I think that, you know, you certainly can, you know, fish a 16 ounce or even just a, you know, unweighted soft plastic with it and be really surprised with how much, how much distance you're going to get on that thing.

C

Yeah, that, that's why medium light isn't, isn't huge on the agenda list because yeah, it does handle the lighter lures very good. The tip is, is soft enough to handle those, those, those lighter weights, but the backbone is, is strong enough to get a good hook set with weedless lures. I, I almost always use weedless. So that was, that was definitely a big thing. And, and yeah, the fact that like I've been, I've been throwing even the, the 1000 size reels like I, when I went ultralight of this past winter when the fish got really spooky, I just, I still use the medium power slot machine, but I got a 1000 size, a little fuego and I put six pound braid on it and it launched it. Like I put the tweaker with an 8th ounce jig head and it was scary how far it casted. So but all I did was just lighten up on the drag. And so this rod, even though it's medium power to me, in my opinion it can, it can do all the things that a medium light rod would normally do while still having the backbone to similar to a medium power rod to handle the bigger fish with, with soft plastic. So, so yeah, it's been a, if you want to do the ultralight stuff.

D

Yeah. And it handles the big fish. I did, I did, I did land a 32 inch snook over in Mosquito lagoon last week right up against the mangroves and thing took me right in and you know, I mean I was pulling hard on. In fact I forgot which rod I had almost and then all of a mike, holy cow, I hope I don't break this thing. And no problem. I pulled that thing right out of the, right out of the, the mangroves and without, without an issue. So didn't have any problem with that. So I mean it's got plenty of strength but again it just kind of you can handle. And I keep looking up and if everybody's wondering, look, I actually have this rod. I sleep with this rod now so I have it with me at all times. But anyway, so yeah, and even, and

C

like you said too, even the medium I hooked into about a 80, 90 pound tarpon on the medium heavy slot machine on the beach. And as long as you don't overextend it with the high stick I land in the tarpon I leader touched it at least in under 20 minutes with the medium heavy slot machine I put a ton of pressure on it. I just made sure to keep that rod at about a 30 degree angle. So I was fighting it with the butt, not the tip. So I think as long as again, that's why the advanced people, if you're, if you're just good at not high sticking a fish, you can get these very lightweight, extremely sensitive rods and pull in some really big fish. And most importantly, while you're doing all the casting, it is, is effortless. It is definitely the most effortless casting rod, both the medium and the medium heavy that I've, that I've ever used for those categories.

A

Yep, try them out. You can get it only@fishstrong.com and of course members a hundred dollars off. So you know, The Insider Club is 97 for the whole year. You buy one rod like the slot machine that we've been talking about. You've already covered your membership plus three bucks. Just could pocket that.

D

Yeah, yeah.

A

Pretty wild.

D

100 off.

A

I'm going to share something funny. I was dying laughing right before we started. Surprised you guys didn't see me still tearing up laughing. So one of my buddies, actually an insider, he, I was chatting with him beforehand and he was telling me he had bought a family member, the older family member, one of those digital photo frames, you know, that's tied in the cloud and you can upload, you know, photos in it and it's up on their man. Like, they're super proud of it. A little bit older, don't really know how to use it. And so he kind of helped set it up. And he's the ultimate prankster. And he's been putting in appropriate pictures and things even from. From them that he's found of them, you know, smoking and drinking when they were younger and. And they still haven't noticed. And this is up on their mantle. That's to everyone. And he was showing me some examples and I was just crying, laughing. I was like, that is a pretty good. Pretty good prank. And so he still has access because he helped him set it up and he's just slowly inserting inappropriate stuff. So you guys are looking for a good prank on someone. That could be a pretty good one.

C

Do they happen to live in my neighborhood maybe? That's hilarious. That is awesome.

A

You knew exactly what I was talking about.

C

Yeah. I'm gonna have to go over there and say hello.

A

Gosh, I was dying. I was dying. Well, Dave, thank you so much. Always a pleasure to have you on. Thank you for the kind words because I know like you said, you're. You're not getting paid to do this. You like our stuff. You like other stuff. I mean, for even that course we did with you, you were only using St. Croix and that was your thing at the time. And you know, we try to put stuff in your hands and you're quick to say, hey, I like this, or I don't like this. And thanks for helping us become better.

D

Yeah.

A

And for the. The ideas on. On some other versions. I didn't know about the bay caster Luke interest. So it. No color. It's going to. We're going to make it like an embarrassing color. So people have to feel a little bit embarrassed.

C

Have the big premium rod should not have paint on it. We are not putting paint on the premium. Well, you know, maybe I guess the thread.

D

So. So, Luke, maybe the way to. To market this is to let people know if. How people in Texas can cast. As far as people in Florida using a bait casting rod. And that's with the new. With yours. So the new slot machine, I still

C

think they should go to spinning. But for those throwing bay cast.

D

And it isn't, you know, I'm actually surprised I haven't received any death as a result of that. I got a lot of feedback. Comments. No, it was. But almost anybody that responded with a comment, it was obviously all about bay casting. I said, well, you know, I didn't tell me where they're from but it was pretty obvious that most of those guys were all from Texas. So that's how I would frame my responses. Where in Texas are you from sir? And you know some of them didn't quite catch on. Well how did you know I'm from Texas? Well I think I got a pretty

A

good anyway well there some of them apparently just like to not not they like to ignore science and real data but you know you gotta have confidence in what you use and if that's bait caster then they do catch.

D

They do catch a lot of fish there that's for sure. So.

A

Oh yeah. Amen.

C

Yeah. I just think they like the extra challenge. It's a really really good fishery over there and so they they don't need to make it. They kind of need to have a little extra challenge to make it interesting. They had a good spin rod. It would be too easy I think.

D

Yeah. There you go. Anyway Sounds good. Anyway.

A

Cool. All right guys. Well thank you so much. Go to fishtron.com get a slot machine try it out. Obviously if you're a beginner or if you are just dead set on putting it in the back of your truck and and you're used to breaking rods maybe not the best rod for you but if you want something really high end that is going to be hopefully an outperformer of anything else you you've ever used and you're going to catch more fish, reach more fish then try out the slot machine at Fish Strong members save a hundred dollars. So if you're not a member you'd be crazy not to join just for that alone. And you can join@saltstrong.com Dave thank you. Keep us posted about that next trip that angler and Luke, good luck.

C

Yeah and actually one last thing too

D

that we thanks guys.

C

Yeah, I'll say one last thing too is actually made in Texas. We didn't we didn't talk about that. So we you know we have a lot of members in Tex I like like yeah this this rod is made in Texas and and for the bait cast I'm going to be having some more members in Texas test it out too. So it's going to be going to be good but that'll be early next year. No. Let's go. Go. Got to get that done. Where the pro where the big cast efficient are

A

cool. All right guys we appreciate you. We'll talk to you on the next next episode. Thanks Dave.

B

Passed down to me from the days ago find us on the water. If there was a way said my pa he wrote the book on catching big reds and 20 pound shout I wish I knew all the things he knew today for he's the reason why we are this way and he put fish in our souls to stay.