SpringCantComeSoonEnough

Cork grip does not equal rod quality. Really? I never would have guessed. It isn't hard to see that most "high end" rods use cork, and that his selection may be limited. :

I'll be trying Calcutta Ultra Braid this year. From what I've been reading, it is made of the same stuff that Power Pro is made from, and possibly manufactured by the same people. (It is Spectra fiber from what I've read, but only 50-50 on being made by the same people) Since I haven't tried it yet, I won't vote until I see how it fares with a few frogs and some jigs.

Most higher end rods tend to have cork grips. I have fished nothing but cork for years now, and I'll never go back to foam. Of course, its all personal preference.

Stradic. I've always felt that the Sustain was an overpriced Stradic with a ball bearing or two more. The new Stradics are particularly nice.

Uh...why don't you go a local shop that carries some of the rods that you're looking at and see them up close before buying? It absolutely amazes me how so many people here can buy rods online, without ever even holding them to see what they feel like before purchasing.

I just have one thing to add. If you do use candle wax, make sure it isn't one of those candles that smells like lavender or something like that. If you're fishing with me and I happen to smell that, and find out that its coming from your rod, your gear's going in the deep end of the lake.

You're really supposed to use ferrule wax, but I guess candle wax would work too.

The IMX and GLX rods stand out to me. Before I got my IMX, I fished St. Croix exclusively. Now, I'd have to say that my lone Loomis is my favorite rod. ;D As for the GL2 and GL3 rods, I'd rather have a St. Croix Avid. The GL2s are nice, but they just don't justify the current price. Back a few years ago when the GL2 was closer to $100 I thought they were slightly over priced, but now... They also make some very nice rods in the Bronzeback series, and I hope to get one some day.

I got it from D&D Sport and Marine, which is a soon to be extinct bait and tackle shop that I live near. Everything is half off, but most of the good stuff is long gone. I was kind of surprised to find this last spool of Calcutta braid. I've heard that it is either made of the same stuff that Power Pro is made from, or that it is actually made by the same people for Calcutta. I'm not sure if that is true or not, but it has a similar look and feel to it. I've never used braid before though, so I wasn't sure if anyone liked it or not. Of course, for $7 a spool, I'll give it a try. Its not like the stuff goes bad just sitting there.

A friend of mine has a white or light grey long sleeve Shimano shirt or two.

Well, I picked it up. For $6.99 I'll try it and let everyone here know how it is. Of course, that might be a little while. Right now, there's not enough ice to go out on it, but enough ice that I can't fish from shore.

Calcutta is a brand of Big Rock Sports, which is a decently large distributer of fishing, boating, and hunting items.

Has anyone tried this stuff, and if so, is it any good? If it isn't any good, what braid would you recommend? I can get a spool for $6.99 which is half off, and I want to try some braid this next season with jigs on one of my spinning setups. Thanks in advance.

Just something to think about. If you exceed the line rating on a St. Croix, you have technically voided your warranty.

As SJex suggested, the Legend lines by St. Croix are very nice. Out of curiosity though, why not G. Loomis?

I used to tie a noose exclusively a few years ago, but I had way too many breaks at the eye. I think it gets too tight after a while. Then I came up with a knot that was similar to a snell, but a little different. I kid you not, I was breaking nooses left and right, sat down for about 5 minutes, and came up with it. Up until about a year later, I had never seen a snell tied in my life.

Palomar is nice and quick.

I'm sure they'll take somewhere between 6-8 weeks. Most rebates that I've submitted on various things usually take somewhere around that long to get.

The Legend rods seem to be top notch, and you won't be sorry. While I've never actually fished them, they are quite nice. Personally though, I don't like the new split grip design on any rod, so I would look for last year's models, or go with a Loomis IMX. Of course, if you like the split grips, then I guess that you'd absolutely love a 2008 Legend Tourney.

You can use a 6 ft med fast rod for pretty much anything, imo. I would say that it is one of the most versatile rod powers and actions available. It probably won't do everything the best, but it'll get the job done.

InvizX is ok. I don't think its worth the really high price to be honest. Lets put it this way, I won't be paying $17 per spool on all of my spools this spring. : InvisX has always been a slightly smaller diameter than equivalent monofilament, no?

Country Sportsman was such a small shop that I saw it coming, but D&D is owned by the people who used to own Frank's Tackle, before they sold Frank's a few years back. They were doing pretty good, but some guy bought the building, threw them out, and now they're done. D&D's bait business was happening. Try getting a parking space between 5 AM and 6:30 AM on a Saturday or Sunday from the beginning of trout season till mid July. It was very near impossible some days. What you say about Basspro and Cabelas is true. The sad part is, D&D's prices were always right there with Cabelas and Basspro. About the only thing they couldn't compete with was anything Berkely sold at Walmart. I don't think they got that stuff for as cheap as Walmart sells it for. :

Anything made by Luxottica should have really good polarized lenses. They happen to be one of the biggest producers of sunglasses in the world. Just a few of their brands are Arnette, Revo, RayBan, etc. Personally I have two pairs of Arnettes, and I like their polarized lenses much better than my Oakleys. I had the Oakleys for about a week before returning them, whereas I haven't returned either pair of Arnettes. That was before Luxottica bought Oakley though, so they might be better now. When it comes to glasses for fishing, I say just go with a decent pair of polarized glasses that fits you well and that you can wear comfortably while fishing. Oh, and I returned the Oakleys because I didn't think they were worth the price, not because I thought they were bad.

I don't know if there's anyone else from northern NJ here, but D&D Sports and the Country Sportsman are both set to be out of business either by the end of this month, or the end of next. Two shops gone in one month. I'm not sure if this will affect anyone else here, but for me it means a much longer ride to get anything for fishing.

If you want to see the most, get green since your eyes are the most sensitive to green. If you don't want wildlife to notice and don't want your night vision messed up, dark blue/purple and red are the best colors.