I got the Ugly Stik Big Water rod in the 8 foot Medium Heavy (2 piece) model paired with a PENN BATTLE III 8000 size reel with 80lb Sufix 832 Advanced Superline Braid with a fluorocarbon 130lb Tyrant Leader... and I went to the River!

I have a variety of different setups so took this one down to the River to see what I could catch with it. I actually had some chicken gizzards on the hook and I sat in my lawn chair and had my rod attached standing straight up and after a while I was startled when instantly I heard my line "-ZING!" I made a mistake and had my drag set too loose, went to tighten the drag set the hook...(sigh) I missed him. Probably a carp or channel catfish.

I went a little further down the river at a New spot my friend and I tried and I decided to put on the Perch Whopper Plopper 130 size. I'm burbling the Whopper Plopper over the surface of the water when I see something under the brown river water

-DART AT THE LURE! No hookup though. I kept casting and reeling the Perch Whopper Plopper for another 10-15 minutes when -BAM! A Huge Smallmouth Bass struck out at it and I caught him.

I tied him up to the stringer on a log in the river...only to find something else decided to eat him for dinner... my arc nemesis... The Stealthy Snapping Turtle...well it was still fun while it lasted... Dog Gon snapping turtle. I just can never escape those dudes on the river... here's the pictures...without the snapping turtle.

Oh yeah! The rod was a stud. Not the real…