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I spent $19 at Walmart for an "indestructable" Rhino rod and $12 for a Shakespeare reel. I have been catching bass using them. What in the heck would you need to spend $500 on a rod and a reel for!?!?!?!? Glad you got it burning a hole in your pocket, not me. Whatever floats your boat.

Cutting the line and leaving the hook in is not the best thing. The old tale about the hook rusting away in several days is not true as per test done and results given on the net. Do a google search for fish hook removal and you will see some excellent techniques for removing the hook from gut hooks. You taking a set of needle nose pliers with you I hope? I keep a set in all my boxes for help in hook removal. Sometimes you get real lucky and sometimes not. Keep trying.

Stoneyman. Thanks for the links to the seat items. The four leg seat frame is pretty nice and less expensive than the one sold by Sea Eagle.

Long Mike. As a result of seeing your Sea Eagle on the forum, I picked up a nice used SE8. It will be a few weeks before I can get the time to get it on the water, but I sure like what I saw when I opened the box and inspected the boat.

Check out the Sea Eagle inflatable SE8 or SE9 with the fishermans package. They hold 950 and 1250 pounds each. Fold them up and put them in your trunk. Tough and well made.

I am always refining my bank fishing set up. I carry a small shoulder bag that has a small two sided plastic box for small things and a single plastic box for longer lures. The soft plastics are in a zip lock bag and a set of needle noses for hook removal. That and a rod are all I take mostly. I am trying to get away from taking two rods. I just got a couple of fishing vests off Ebay and these will hold a heck of a lot of stuff!! Going to put them to use soon. I picked up at a yard sale some neat little pouches that clip on to a belt loop. One holds the cell phone and the other holds a bottle of water. That gets the bottle of water and the cell phone out of the pocket of my pants which gets uncomfortable. My folding knife is on a belt pouch. I would not ever go walking around a lake without a good knife that you can get to real fast. You never know what might come out of the woods or bushes! I have a carry permit, but have yet to start carrying a small pistol, but if I go to a wooded lake I am unfamiliar with I just might take it for obvious reasons until I can scope the situation out. Check the firearm laws out first in regards to the lake your fishing. I also bought a pair of cargo pants at the great Wall of china Mart. They have some nice extra pockets for stuff.

I have an old rod I bought about 1970. The logo on the rod is a large letter "C" with three fish in it. The name of the rod is about worn off, but I can see that there were two words the first starting with C and the second might be the word "Signature". All the writing is in very fine white long hand. It is a spinning rod with a cork handle and the attachment for the reel is only two moveable metal rings, no screw down section at all. This allows you to position the reel at any point you want on the one piece cork handle. Other writing says "5' 6" spinning". It came with a Daiwa 4300 reel. It would have been purchased in a department store. Any idea what this old rod is. I just replaced the broken metal tip and started using it again.

I have learned to read the line more than the rod when having to use a stiffer rod. The stiffer rod poses no problem if you give your full attention to line movement where the line enters the water. If I am working plastics I leave some arch in the line from the raised rod tip to the water after moving the plasic. A bite usually takes up the slack in that arch with a tug and I know that the fish is there checking out the plastic. At night when you can't see the line, then the rod comes into play more. Just my 2 cents.

broke a rod tip about 6 inches from the top. I see that the rod is hollow inside. What kind of easily found solid plastic rod can I use to just insert/glue into one end and then slip the other section over and glue to bring the rod back together and then reinforce over this inserted splice. Looks like this would work.

Got one. Been getting some action on it. Another issue in the pads is the way these fish strike in the thick tenticles of the pads. They strike hard and pull back and just hold it. I have had worms cut in half and worms pulled off the hook several times. They will grab the bottom half of the worm and settle back and wait. Soon as they settle back in there is no dragging them out without some strong line and a stiffer rod. I am going to rig up some worms with a second hook down at the tail and see what happens when they just hit the tail.

This has become my biggest problem. I am fishing from the bank (boat is soon in my fishing future!!!) so I am casting out to the edge of the pads. I get strikes on the edge and the fish heads back under the pads. If I don't get a good fast hook set and raise the fish up and drag it across the top of the pads...I can forget it. Also if the strike is in the pad area itself I have had a problem snapping the line on the strike. These pads are smaller leaves in an oval shape. They virtually cover the water surface with only slight openings here and there. Tough fishing these, but worth it as there are always fish under them and on the edges especially at dawn. I am going to try a rig with 15 or 20Lb test line.

That tool is $80!!

I am getting back into fishing after not having gone for about 35 years. I went fishing just about all time before I stopped, but I mostly fly fished. Now I am into fishing for bass. This forum has been a great help. Most important thing is for you to have a lake or a pond that you can get to very easily and go fishing as much as you can. Find out what works for you at the lake you have the closest access to and work on that approach and master it. Then branch out to other techniques. I started out with drop shoting and got a grip on that and now I am learning weightless worm fishing. Both of these have produced results. I also need to work on my top water presentation. Again, go fishing as much as you can and above all, enjoy it.

I am learning the weightless worm presentation. About 8 to 12 feet of small pads encircle my neighborhood lake I fish from the bank about every day. I have been catching plenty of 1-2 pounders now on the weightless senko type worms, but no larger fish. Surely where there are dinks there are some larger fish. Seems like the routine is just to toss out about 15 feet past the pads, slow retrieve and when the line makes contact with the edge of the pads and the worm starts up toward the pads the strike happens. Do I need to let the worm totally bottom out and lay there for a while before starting the retrieve? I have been bombing them with dropshots from the bank and am use to the line tension with the weight on the end. The feeling of no weight at all is taking some getting use to. I am catching more fish though this way fishing in the very early morning around these pads. Any tips to try to move up in fish size. Many thanks. I have learned so much from you guys.

Thank you Long Mike. Did you use the original Sea Eagle flat seat to mount it on or did you use thicker wood?

Sea Eagle 8 inflatable is on the way! Does anyone have an idea for a lightweight swivel seat I could install in the back.

Found nice looking used a couple of times Sea Eagle 8 Fishermans Dream package on Ebay with a MinKota 28 motor for $255. Decent price. My budget for a boat started out at $150, but I did not factor in the cost of an electric trolling motor so I had to up it a bit. It will take a few weeks to transfer payment and get the boat sent from Pensacola to Atlanta and test it. I will post what I find on the forum. Wish me luck.

How about the one that says if your out fishing and you get bit by a snapping turtle, he won't let go until it thunders. That always bothered me when I was a little kid and it was a sunny day.

If you catch fish that you do not release what do you do with them? Just release all fish, and you won't have a problem. There are times when you go fishing to catch fish to enjoy on the dinner table and there are times when you go fishing just to enjoy catching and releasing. I was just inquiring as to what was done when keeping fish. I have no problem with you releasing all your fish. I am sure you have no problem with a fisherman keeping some of them. The lake I fish at has a 15 fish limit on bream and a 6 fish limit on bass with size regulations. It is regulated by the state Dept of Nat. Resources. If keeping some was not OK for the fish population then there would probably be a catch/release rule. The water and the fish are tested for quality and deemed safe for human consumption.

If you catch fish that you do not release what do you do with them?

Cool box....er CONSOLE! I see some beverage holders there and storage in the box for other items. Very resourceful and very lightweight also. What part of the boat do you clip your stringer to? Is the boat easily paddled one handed after you get close to where you want to be via the motor? I am not talking about using the two oars. I am talking about sitting in the back or the front and using the left arm to slowly paddle and the right to fish. Some situations the trolling motor wound not be needed. Can you sit in a position that will let you easily reach over past the inflated edge of the boat and work a paddle.

Fishing this morning on a 50 acre public lake. Standing on the bank casting a plastic worm. I look down and there about 8 feet in front of me is a 3 pounder staring at a bream. The bream is a nice size very dark marked and has backed up against some old tree parts laying close to the bank. The bass is about 2 or 3 feet from the bream just watching it. Pretty soon another bass joins in and now there are two nice fish right in front of me staring at this bream who has taken a defensive position backed up against some wood. I am reeling in my worm and I work the worm right in front of these two fish. They did not even flinch. I did it about 5 more times even changing worms to different colors and lengths and not one bite. A little later they get bored stalking the bream and saunder off. The bream does the same. I would have done better with a rifle!

Thanks for the link. I actually saw a fellow fishing in one of these a few weeks ago. I liked it a lot. It was a windy day and he was having to compensate for that. I am really liking the Sea Eagle 8 Fishermans dream package. Going to have to save some more money or look for a used one. I need to be able to carry another person also.

Early this morning I went down to the neighborhood lake I fish every day. Threw out a long cast drop shot as I always do and was working it back to the bank where I was standing. As the worm came across the pads that were in front of me, I got a strike about 3 feet in front of where I was standing! Nice little pound and a halfer was laying right in front of me under those pads. I need to learn to fish the pads with a worm. What size do you use? Do you fish on top of the pads or under them or what? These pads extend out about 7-10 feet around at least 80% of the lake. They are of a smaller leaf variety. There is a lot of potential there that I have not explored. Any advice is appreciated.

The Sea Eagle boats look VERY nice and the fisherman packages on the net are nicely priced. I will have to revise my budget if I got one. The package for the Sea Eagle 6 was $399 and the Seaeagle 8 was $499. 15 mins to inflate is not bad and the ability to just deflate and put in the car is nice. That is why I am looking at the inflatables. Smaller lakes, no trailer etc. Any info on other boats would be appreciated.