Micro

Simon, what color did you use to catch that smallie? I'm going to Pony Pasture tomorrow and will be using grubs (among others).

Wow, that is a nice smallie - for anywhere. OK, I can't wait until spring. My son and I will be heading to Pony Pasture in the morning. We got our light spinning rigs outfitted with 6# mono. I'm taking a selection of small Blakemore Roadrunners with various twisty tails, small flukes, some Marabou jigs, spinners, small spinner baits. Truck is already loaded.

I never had any luck using braid with a fluoro leader. I must be doing something wrong. I was attaching the two together with a surgeon's knot. Just about evertime I would cast the knot would bump inside one of my guides throwing my cast off.

I love snakes with a passion. I go out looking for them as much as I can. When I'm fishing, I'll drop everything to catch a snake. Here are some pics of snakes I've come across (not necessarily hooked)while fishing. I caught this big Black Rat Snake during a fishing trip. I saw him come off the shore and swim towards the center of the lake. I used my trolling motor to come up behind him and I snatched him from the water. I brought him home and teated him for skin mites and a stuck eye lens, then let him go in a nearby National Historical Park. This is a Northern Water Snake I came across while fishing. Naturally, I had to poke it with my rod. It went into the water and made several mad dashes for my boat. After awhile, I lost sight of it. That's because it attempted to climb up my outboard into my boat. That's where I caught him. Here is a cute little fellow I caught by a foot bridge near a favorite fishing hole. Gotta be careful of this guy, he can ruin your whole summer. Find me if you can! Here's another Northern Water Snake I caught a few months ago. Snatched him outta the water, too. Nippy little bass-turd. It was a Bite-And-Run. And a cute little Eastern Ribbon Snake on the same trip.

...and never drink the distilled water if you get thirsty...

I have two of each. Both have magnetic brakes. The SX has 11 bearings, comes in a low and high speed version, and a left hand version. The SC has 9 bearings, and is high speed only. I haven't noticed any difference in performance. There are some very minor cosmetic differences - dark chrome amenities on the SX, but basic black on the SC. (these differences aren't apparent and I had to look for them - they do not affect functionality). At $79.99 I think the SC is a better value but it wasn't available when I bought my first two SXs.

I don't know much about the NEW Curados, but I had a Curado SF for some time (if that counts). It came highly recommended. It was a decent reel. My problem with it was that it was noisy and 'whirled' when it was cranked. The side plate had to be removed to adjust the brakes. The little tab that had to be folded down to remove the side plate felt very flimsy. I was never able to get long casts out of it. I currently own 2 Revo SXs and 2 Revo SCs. The SX (and SC) is much smoother and quieter than my old Curado. I'm able to cast it much further. And I can adjust the brake without taking the sideplate off. I'll never say Shimano doesn't make good reels - I know they do (I love my Shimano spinning reel). But my experiences with baitcasters (1 Curado and 2 Cardiffs) were not positive. The reels were adequate, but I felt they were overpriced for the features and performance they offered. On the other hand, my Revos perform so well that I might have paid more for them. I also had the opportunity to deal with Abu Garcia customer service when I admittedly buggered up a screw on one of my Revos, and they had a new screw out to me in a few days for free. They were prompt and professional - which made me feel even better about my Revo purchases.

The definitive book available on Black Bass is: Black Bass: Ecology Conservation and Management American Fisheries Society Publication http://www.afsbooks.org/x54031xm.html Not cheap, but definitive works usually never are. I don't own this book, but I've seen it and it will tell you more about Black Bass than you thought there was to know. My other interest is snakes. I collect books on reptiles and I will tell you that investing in the best work(s) available first is the best way to start a book collection. Peruse the titles of the American Fisheries Society... http://afsbooks.org/ind.html

Tackle Tour said $259. So they made it a little lighter by removing the ball bearings from the handle and using more aluminum. Can somebody explain to me why the $50 increase in price. Because someone will pay it.

Otherwise, you could just break the rest of the guides off and play swords with it.

Here's something a lot of people don't consider: liability coverage. The liability insurance coverage that protects you in the case where your dog bites someone, or you drive a golf ball through someone's window, or you run over someone in your boat - this coverage comes from your homeowner's or renter's insurance. Most homeowner's or renter's policies put horsepower restrictions on the boats they will provide liability protection for. Exceed that HP rating and you will not have any coverage if you do damage with your boat. You will need to buy a separate boat owner's policy. Read your homeowner's or renter's policy carefully and make sure its a risk you want to take. (My qualifications: I'm an insurance adjuster for 15+ years licensed to adjust liability claims in 5 states)

The Revo Premier IS available now at Cabelas (on backorder). I don't think the others will be available until 2008. I don't understand why the Premier is more expensive than the STX. Sure, it's lighter (and lacks some of the asthetic amenities of the STX), but why pay $60 more for that? I'm sure it's a fine reel, I just don't understand the economic part (or the real differences between the STX and Premier). The MAX series looks really neat. I hope they are as good as the current line. What I'd like to see next is a BIGGER Revo with more line capacity. While I love my 4 Revos, there is a need for higher capacity reels.

I like the In-Fisherman as well. I especially like their species-specific and seasons special editions.

Here's a pic of my son's friend (and fellow Webelo) with his first bass. Caught on tackle (rod, reel, line, hooks all donated by Walmart (enough rods, reels, and terminal tackle for 20 kids).

Nice pics! Here's a few more: My youngest with a big bluegill, and my oldest with his first white perch (aka bait ).

I was going through my albums today and found my two favorite fishing pictures: #1 is my son Brandon (in 2005) with his first bass. Caught in a children's pond on Cheatam Annex, Yorktown, Virginia. Caught during a Webelos camping trip. He was using my rod and caught the fish ona Blakemore Roadrunner with a watermelon colored twisty-tail grub. #2 is my other son Collin (in 20060 with his first crappie. Caught in Chickahominy Reservoir, New Kent Co., Virginia. Also using my rod. Caught on a Strike King Bitsy Pond Minnow.

I went to a place called Pony Pasture on the James River in Richmond, Virginia today. This is a section of the river that has a lot of rounded rocks big enough for sunbathers, some minor rapids, and is great for taking a dip on a warm day. Me, the wife and my two kids went there for a Labor Day cool-off (not to fish). When I got there there was a man standing on a rock in the middle of the river with swimmers all around. He had a brand new St. Croix Premier spinning rod and a Shimano Symtere reel. He was casting a with marabou jig with a spinner attachment. He also had a c-rig weight on it about a foot up the line from the lure. He cast and cast and never got a bite - all while telling to his kids to stay out of the rapids, or be careful on the rock. I was watching him from about 30 feet with a guy who was netting fish for his aquarium. We went over and talked to the fisherman who told us he had never fished there brefore and had just bought his first rod and reel since he was a kid (He looked to be about 40). Bought it from Dick's and loaded with with 10 lb mono. The other guy I was talking too turned out to be a fishing guide on the river. He started to tell the fisherman that he ought to take the spinner attachment off, and cut the c-rig weight off, and just use the jig itself. I walked away from the conversation to sit with my wife and kids in a shallow area near where these two guys were talking. Last I heard the guide was telling him how to tie a palomar knot. Anyways, those two guys chatted for a few minutes. Then the fisherman began to make a few feeble casts to an eddy with his new underweight jig. He could only cast it about 20 feet or so. On his third cast he whipped it into the shallow pool me, my wife and two kids were just sitting in. You could see a little look of disgust on his face. He reeled it in quickly. When he got through about half his retrieve, damned if he didn't hook a 10" smallmouth that was in the pool with us. As soon as he hooked it he yelled, to no one in particular, "I got one!" He reeled it up and just held it for a few minutes with a big smile on his face. I walked over and admired it with him. Pretty fish. He pulled the jig out and let it go. He then said he was going to go out buy a light spinning rod for the river, and save the one he was using for ponds. Thus, a fisherman is born. True story - happened today. I though it was kinda neat.

I thought it was, "that ain't no cottonmouth."

That's the color I picked up.

I have a 55 # thrust motor on my 1548 jon. It's plenty powerful for such a small boat. But since most of the time it's generating only a fraction of that thrust, I have problems tracking in wind. I never pull my main motor out of the water when I'm using the bow trolling motor. If I do, I'm blown around in circles with even the slightest wind. I think if you leave your motor down you will see significant improvement.

I consider my equipment good stuff. Not the most expensive, but not cheap either. I want to fish with good tackle. It enhances my enjoyment, and to a certain degree increases my success. But for me, there is a limit at which expense starts to detract from enjoyment. If I were to fish with a $350 rod or reel, I would spend an inordinate amount of time tending to it and worrying about it. Each little bump would require an inspection. Everytime it tapped my gunnel with a rod tip I would cringe. I don't really do that with my current equipment. I mean, I take care of it, but its not so expensive that I can't go out and replace it if I damage it. I spend more time worrying about fishing than I do my equipment. I draw a parallel to my experiences with my hunting and my guns. I have owned, and do own, some very high grade firearms. My highest grade gun was a custom Mannlicher-Schönauer with a custom made quick detachable Paul Jaeger scope mount and Zeiss scope. I hunted with it several times and spent more time flicking dust and pine needles off of it than I did looking for deer sing. This nice rifle actually detracted from my hunting enjoyment. I ended up selling it and bought several Rugers and Marlins. I use them, I take care of them, but I don't worry about them. For me, it's not all about the equipment. It's mostly about the sport. But I would have a hard time enjoying fishing if my stuff was so cheap that I did not feel it was doing what it should be doing. By the same token, if my stuff was too expensive, I'd be worrying about damaging it. With the stuff I have now, I have hit a mark where it's not too cheap and not to expensive. I can take pride in my equipment and enjoy fising with it.

Every battery I've ever bought went on the charger before first use. And all them required quite a bit of time to charge up completely. You may be unpleasantly suprised if you go out with a new battery without charging it up first.

I use them (the smallest ones) and catch quite a few crappie and bluegill on them. They work well. they sink pretty fast and they pick up a lot of grass if you let them sink into it.

True. Neither did this guy. He inherited it from daddy. Wonder if he would adopt me.

They are supposed to be reelased in 2008 http://www.tackletour.com/reviewabugarciapreview08.html