J Francho

Epic. I still would like a better cap. Hope that doesn't get lost in the melee.

Yep, magic eraser. Then wood filler, and light sanding. Seal with U-40 and it'll look and feel good for a long time.

I'd like an easier cap on Megastrike. Hard to start the threads when your in a hurry, and you DO NOT want to leave it on the deck uncapped.

The Premier is a nice reel, but a bit delicate. I've had to rebuild more than two with broken nose bezels, thumbars, worn out handle knobs and other minor issues.

NOD32, and be done with it.

Huh........must be we fish the same types of baits in the same types of places , cause that pretty much looks like my selection too. Go figure, LOL. We should hook up for some fall fishing.

Wednesday...

I think the last time I tested an E7 with dry Carbontex washers, I had somewhere near 11 lbs. Any more will result in broken parts, stripped gears, or worse on hard hooksets, especially with heavy braid. Believe me, I've seen the results: stripped pinion, bent idler gear, stripped gear on worm drive, shattered AR sleeve (probably what nailed some of the brass gears, bent crankshaft, munched AR pawl, and cracked handle side plate. Oh yeah, how did I know it was over cranked? The drag washers were flat, even after the reel was disassembled. There really is no need to alter the drag washer sizes, though I wonder if the bigger washer wouldn't help in better slip in lower drag thresholds, in a wet system. Bottom line, max drag power is usually highly overrated.

I have a Calcutta 200B on my swimbait rod, a 7-9 HF. It's big enough, but after tossing some baits on my friends Conquest 300, I'm thinking the bigger reel really is the better reel for the job.

They stock them for various reasons. Tiger muskies are sterile, so they do not reproduce, and when they're done, they're gone. They keep panfish populations in check.

Max drag is increased with dry installation of Carbontex washers. A wet installation will give you a smoother initial slip. 12 lbs. of resistance will snap most rods.

Something I wrote about meanmouth bass for my club: I did a little research on "meanmouth bass." My current understanding of what a meanmouth is, a cross between a Kentucky spotted bass (Micropterus punctulatus) and a small mouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu). These are naturally occurring crosses that occur especially where the spotted bass is a contaminant species, from natural means or otherwise. One interesting tidbit is the bit about them not being allowed in tournaments. This link explains that it was disallowed due to not qualifying for both size limits for each species. It was a keeper smallmouth, but not a keeper spot, not that it wasn't a "true bass." http://www.catfish1.com/forums/f342/meanmouth-bass-16061.html I did find some hearsay information about researchers crossing smallmouth bass with largemouth bass (Micropterus salmonoides) over 20 years ago, but details are sketchy. There were reports of these fish attacking dogs and humans, and stocks were destroyed. DEC confirms that no largemouth x smallmouth have ever been developed here or released into NY waters, including Oneida Lake. So what the hell is Ron's weird bass? Its not a modern meanmouth, since the spotted bass' natural range only goes as far north as Virginia, which was my original argument. Could it be a naturally occurring hybrid? Maybe, but most people that I talked, and have fished the spawn will tell you that smallmouth and largemouth have a definite spawn site preference that don't really overlap, and the timing for each species' spawn is different. I would argue that last point, since given not so ideal conditions, bass will fulfill the urge to spawn, and I see this all over the bays off Lake Ontario. Smallmouth beds and largemouth beds right next to each other. These two fish were locked on beds on either side of a dock, last year: http://plan-b.smugmug.com/Travel/Port-Bay-w-Burnie/20090522-PortBay-04/544979829_AqgFS-XL.jpg http://plan-b.smugmug.com/Travel/Port-Bay-w-Burnie/20090522-PortBay-01/543369716_wTEhM-XL-1.jpg I wouldn't call Ron's bass a meanmouth, since conventional naming has that reserved for spot x smallie hybrids, but just maybe it is a LMB X SMB. I have a book from college that has identification keys for most of the species of fish in New York state. Below is the full resolution picture of Ron's fish. I'll have to check on what parameters need to collected to complete the key, and whether it can even be completed using the image file, but we might be able to get a few details that point one way or another, or toward both. http://plan-b.smugmug.com/Flower-City-Sportsman/FCS-Oneida-Lake-7252010/13091304_H3WnP#948839603_G7ZJa-O-LB The only observation I made was that the upper maxillary was indeed past the eye when the mouth was in the closed position, hence my immediate largemouth identification. But, I'm willing to dig further. Nothing really important, but interesting, if you are interested. And Brutus, rock bass are Centrarchids in good standing. Centrarchidae, or the freshwater Sunfish family includes pumpkin seeds, blue gills, all species of black bass, crappie, and pygmy sunfish. A really cool link that lumps all species of freshwater fish in New York State: http://pond.dnr.cornell.edu/nyfish/fish.html Another cool site for identifying fish: http://www.wiscfish.org/fishid/frames.aspx See you guys Friday AM for Black Lake!!!!

http://fish.shimano.com/publish/content/global_fish/en/us/index/customer_service0/Warrenty_Services.html

At some point, something that is part of your "primary arsenal" was something you tried for THE VERY FIRST TIME. I have a pretty set bag of tricks, but trying out some new things keeps it interesting. Good post, Bobby.

No hate at all, but this is the funniest thing I have seen on here in awhile! ;D ;D ;D ;D I might make it my new screen name, just to confuse you.

Tuesday....

You can make your own CSS file to use locally, on your end. Kind of a pain if the site doesn't follow a standard.

It depends on where I am throwing the bait, and what bait I'm throwing. If I'm dealing with wood or docks, I'll use the AVC70MHM. For snapping off weeds, I use a fast rod, an LTBC70MF. If the bait is too light to load those rods, I'll use the AVC70MM, or even the AVC68MXF. I realize that's a lot of rods to recommend, and generally, either the AVC70MM or AVC70MHM will do the job, depending on the mass of the crank, but in certain situations, other rods work better for me. The good thing is, any of the "non cranking" rods I mentioned above can be used for MANY different things.

Just fish it as you usually would, and the dinks will come naturally, if there are that many. Keep the dinks, throw the big ones back. Not sure I'd throw beetle spins or inline spinners near wood and pads though.

isn't that considered to be a jerk bait?? No. http://www.rapala.com/products/lures/shad_rap/

You can find quite a few Alphas Type R's for sale, without knobs, LMAO.

LMAO, who is Ronald Martin?

That's what bubba shot rigs are for.

I don't use any of the choices listed. I have four crank bait setups, three have a Daiwa Sol, the other a Daiwa TD-X.

http://www.carrotstix.com/carrot_stix_dealers_search.htm :