Im in the same boat and just bought the 44inch light and now trying to figure out a hard case for it. Anybody converted a plano gun case to fit ice rods? Saw they make a 48 inch plano rifle hard case might be worth a try. I had otter case but that is no where near long enough to fit this rod.

I Like the Jt Custom rods. I would suggest the the 7’3″ mag light is the rod your looking for. Great finesse rod. Ive used it for live bait rigging, light jigs, ned rig and hair jigs. Great all around rod that can be used for lots of techniques.

Id like to know the answer to this too. I have a 150 optimax as well and it seems everything I researched the battery needs to have at least 800 cold cranking amps. I want to get a deep cycle battery to run my all my accessories instead of a starting battery. Not sure if I could fit a Group 31 AGM in my compartment though to get enough CCA.

I’ve never tried on the bass pro shops bibs or jacket or looked into the quality of the fabric. I did a lot of research and read lots of reviews and everyone seemed to have and overall good review of the Simms stuff. Lots of pros running the Simms clothing. When I was trying to decide seemed like most suggestions were the Cabelas guide wear or Simms. I”m gonna just get the bibs for now and probably look at getting the coat later. Seems like I’m always shedding my coat first but end up keeping the bibs on all day. I really like that they feel more fitted instead of a bulky ice suit.

I just got the challenger bibs this year to have something besides my striker suit for spring fishing. The bibs are super comfy and flexible.I like how they are not bulky and should provide adequate warmth and wind protection with layering underneath. The quality and fit looks to be really good. I like how warm my striker climate suit is but it can be bulky and uncomfortable for being in the boat. We will see in a few months if it was worth the purchase. FYI i got my bibs on amazon for $150.

Daiwa tatula hands down. You can get them on amazon or ebay for around the $150 mark and they retail for $190. Great drag very smooth and super light. Got rid of all my pfluegers and abu garcias for daiwa reels. I do have two daiwa ballistics as well if you want to bump up to the $200 mark that i really like as well.

I am also curious as to your thoughts on how the grizzly has held up and how it was to fish out compared to the otter. I just sold my otter lodge and taking a serious look at this flip over.

I looked into this just the other week and could not find any options smaller than a size 6. I did however remove some of the feather trebles off my clam blade spoons and put them on my tingler and tumbler spoons since they were a smaller hook. They turned out good. I did order some number 6 vmc feather trebles and they will work ok on the bigger tingler and bigger vmc rattle spoons. I talked to Brett Mccomas about his video he did and where he got his hooks from. He said he bought them awhile back in bulk in the smaller sizes but cant find them anymore. He did mention maybe talking to his contact at Rapala and hinting at getting some smaller sizes of feather trebles for the ice lures.