VolFan

Never had problems you speak of with any grade of ammo as long as it was stored correctly. An occasional primer fail on cheap stuff, sure. But what you're having is almost certainly mishandling or a big bad batch of ammo.

I know several people who use several different lines of Cabelas rods, and none of them have the problems I had with my Prodigy. I didn't want that to sound like an indictment; I really like most of their rods.

I have rods from the Prodigy and MagTouch lines. I wholeheartedly recommend the MagTouch. The Prodigy....not so much. Poor build quality and a much slower action than advertised were my issues with the Prodigy.

I have had several of the Pappy line, and all are worth the price of admission.

Yep, I think the Army 10 Miler was last weekend and the Marine Corps Marathon is this weekend.

I need to come fish with you! I like the cut of your gib.

Pick a pflueger or shimano in your price range for a reel. Pflueger Presidents and Shimano Saharas have long and loyal followings including me. For a rod, cabelas has their MagTouch rods, as well as Shimano Clarus on sale right now for $79.99. That should get you a very capable combo for under$150. If you want to go less money, their Tourney Trail rods are perfectly fine at $39.99. For normal largemouth bank fishing, a medium or medium heavy will be perfect.

Kiss arise. Spellcheck/filter got me...

Sleepy Happy Dopey Doc Sneezy Shimano

The river's been high and muddy. I fish jigs or creature baits around the big rocks up there. Watermelon w/blue or green pumpkin with some red or orange. The largest seem to like to be in cracks or under over hangs, and you never know what's going to bite up there. Oddly, I haven't seen the shad back up the creeks yet.

Forget that. Chain saw. Then take them hand to hand like a man.

Electric or gas? Moisture's a little more of an issue with gas. I have gas and stick a spoon in the door for drying fruit and sweet potatoes. It drops temp by about 10 degrees. I'd try that if I were you, and open a little more/less based on what the meat does. If it goes grey, open the door a little more. If it goes too slow, close it.

Might be a little tingle, yes...

If you can get the temp right, no. If you have to go warmer in the oven, it should take less time, but the texture may suffer.

Duct tape yourself with claymores! jjust make sure you have them pointed the right way.

Yeah I also refer to 4mr as "The Runs", for obvious reasons...

Niiiiiiiice, I caught one that size in the spring right at the airport in 4mr on a small spinnerbait. Those cats in moving water stay a little more svelt, and boy are they fun. I find blues tend to run while channels just spin. One of the reasons I love the Potty is you just never know what you're going to hook. It's probably in the 40+ # range, but it's so hard to tell from photos, especially fish that size.

Yep, I think he is.

Straight branches with few to no twigs coming off. You need a blank considerably larger than the final product, especially if you're going from raw branch to bait. Dowels from a hardware or hobby store might be a more consistent way to start.

Are you familiar with Google Maps?

Go when they're letting water out. White 3" grubs are good for whatever, as are jerk baits, both hard and soft. Spooks are good but can be hard to work in the current. Anything shiny that resembles a shad can do some damage on any given day. I had a 30 lb striped take me fo a TN sleigh ride in my kayak. I hooked her right next to the dam, and ended up a couple miles downstream. Lots of bass, stripes and cats I. The tailgaters. Lots of bass and hybrids over off Topside.

Below the Ft Loufon and Tellico dams down around Lenoir City is usually great, either fish the current or there are several pull -offs between and just past the dams. Don't overlook the backwaters down there. Nearer to Knoxville and the Campus, Topside drive and the area where Topside meets Alcoa highway were good to me in college. I also did Second and Third creeks on occasion, but wash your hands if you do that.

I lol'd.

Go to the Flea Market and offer JTJ $150 for his slightly used Chronarch 50E. You're not going to beat that.

What Rambler said. If that didn't work, I'd switch to a white fluke style bait (sluggo, jerk shad, etc), cast into the whitewater, and twitch back. Vary speed based on the day. Don't be afraid to go as fast as you can with strpers and hybrids; they'll catch up.