J Francho

I don't even think its over 4. I get truly irritated by ridiculous claims. It totally diminishes the true lunkers.

Suffix Siege has served me well steelhead fishing streams in winter. Many 10 lb.+ fish brought in on 8#. For bassing, I use copoly, braid, or fluoro.

Flipping heavy mats, 3/4 oz. Outcast R.T. jig with a Zoom Super Chunk. Grass, 1/2 to 3/4 oz. Outkast Pro Staff jig with a GYCB Twin Tail Grub. Pockets, anything in 1/2 oz. with a rage Chunk, Paca Chunk, or Chigger Chunk. Deep rocks, 1 oz. BPS Enticer Football with GYCB Flappin' Hog.

Cover, structure, and bottom composition dictate rod/reel/line combo. Use the lightest stuff you can get away with, but don't skimp out if the cover is nasty. I've fished thick pads with a DS 10" worm using flipping stick loaded with 65# braid, from shore. I generally use a M/XF spinning rod with 15# braid and 8# fluoro leader for most of my DS fishing.

I've fished 10"+ worms since the early 90s, and a 5/0 hook has worked fine for me. With the Anaconda on a standard t-rig, I am using a 5/0 Owner Wide Gap Plus. I've even hooked a few dinks with them. For swimming the bait, I use a 6/0 weighted Owner Beast. No problem with dinks there as well. I suspect your "short bites" and misses have more to do with the wrong species of fish....i.e. blue gills and sunnies.

Actually the latest generation of Daiwa Mag-Z and Mag-V braking systems are centrifugally activated magnetic brakes. Centrifugal force draws the spool hub outward, where it can be influenced by the magnets. The magnets are actually two short cylinders that surround the metal hub, concentrically. Making adjustments to the brakes alters the polarity of one of the magnets, increasing or decreasing the amount of breaking force. Mag-V is for lighter baits, Mag-Z for heavier. The magnetic brakes on just about all other reels, including the STX, simply change the distance of the magnet to the spool. The Daiwa system is much more linear, and more effective. Some have run into issue with this system, myself included. I am one of the more brakes/low spool tension types, and perhaps this mixture just doesn't work with these reels. That said, there is something to be said for the simplicity of typical centrifugal braking systems, especially those found in Shimano. The faster the spool, the more braking force applied. Once you find your groove, just adjust the spool tension for the weight of the bait.

I'm with you, man. Not really willing to shell out for Extenze, LOL.

A FW rinse won't do anything to clean them off. You simply must let your boat dry completely. Clorine solution will kill them in the areas that won't dry. Its pretty much a non issue up here, since all of the Finger Lakes, Great lakes, and attached bays have them.

See what you get in a Z-9 for 47K, basically a tugboat disguised as a bass boat, LOL. I just built one on the site that was $67,645, sans the power pole and a few other things....

Braid + zebes = fail.

That and the folks hurt in the explosion. It was a pretty nasty scene from what I saw on the news here. That sucks even worse. I didn't see any footage. Thoughts and prayers....

Set that hook! Or try an open hook jighead.

And more importantly, more stable.

Not sure exactly which one you have. The two schematics for recent Cardinal 101 reels aren't showing a badge on the rotor cover. I'm thinking there's a screw behind that badge. If you cannot get it off, use Reel Scrubber (wear safety glasses and chemical gloves in well ventilated area) and blow all the old grease out. Replace with good grease and you should be fine. Here's the one exploded diagrams I found on Abu's site: http://www.abugarcia.com/product_schematic.php?search=Cardinal&id=&search_submit=Search+%3E%3E# See the "C100 Series" on this page: http://www.abugarcia.com/product_schematic.php?search=Cardinal&id=&search_submit=Search+%3E%3E# For grease, oil, and Reel Scrubber, use the Reel Mechanic: http://www.***/main-b.html

This just in....Jack Link spotted leaving the scene of the fire, cackling madly..... Seriously, sucks for the people whose jobs are affected.

Not really, but a local biologist can probably give you estimate age based on location and size. I'm wondering how this information would be useful, though?

Yep! The last "young" guy I knew that had sudden "back pain" died of a heart attack a few hours later. Seriously, call the doc!

Never heard of "STF" but i have heard the term Sea Surface Temperature (SST) on marine weather forecast sites. I generally measure it at the transducer (its built in), which would be pretty close to the surface.

3-8.

Its actually an ideal rig for shore fishing.

Visited Irondequoit Bay again yesterday afternoon. I really don't like this area, but its literally walking distance from my house. I knew boat traffic would be heavy, but I was really surprised to see just how heavy. The wind combined with all the waves from pleasure boaters made for a rough day on the water. I spent most of the afternoon in 2-3' chop - no biggie, but it made standing on the yak quite the test of my balance, LOL. What is it with pontoon boats that makes people goofy? I had one follow me all day long, cutting between me and shore, anchoring right on water I was fishing, and just generally being loud and obnoxious. They actually drowned out the ubiquitous whine from all the jet skis! I did get a kick out of their fishing gear - about 10 grown adults fishing with Snoopy and Barbie poles. Anyway, water temps were in the mid to upper 70°s, bluebird skies with a very occasional puffy cloud, temps in the lower 80°s, wind from the N-NNW about 5-10 mph. I started out with two fish real quick on a spinnerbait, right off the side of a fresh laydown. Water was very muddy, due to waves crashing into the shoreling, which is basically a bluff. With that quick catch, I thought I might be off to the races, but the next two similar situations yielded nothing. Decided to do some exploring of some "old" spots that I haven't fished in so long, they are "new" spots, now. Crossing the bay at its widest point, about a mile, was a little harrowing with all the speed boats. This is exactly why I bought a BRIGHT YELLOW yak, LOL. Turns out all I got for this endeavor was an upper body workout. I went back to my bread and butter spots back on the "left end" and went to my fall back: cranking deep ledges. I picked up a couple of short fish, and thought I'd slow it down. Four more 2-2.5 lb. fish on a t-rig Anaconda, popping it through the outside weed edge, and letting it tumble down the drop to about 18 FOW. By then the sun was setting, and I had to head back. No pics, but 6 legal fish, all dinks in the 2-2.5 range. Despite my personal best largemouth coming from here, I still have not uncorked the secrets to the big fish in this water. I catch big ones here, but they seem to be only during transitional periods. I guess I should spend more time figuring it out, but I am just not a fan of the "City Dump." ;D

I would not go any higher than 8# line on spinning gear. If you think you need more strength, move to braid. I like 15# Power Pro with a fluoro leader for my spinning gear. This is a very strong set up.

Its not a Paca Craw. Considering the date, was probably a Chigger Craw, possibly with a trimmed body.

Its more likely that the best spring scales up to 20 to 25 lbs. only measured in 2 oz. increments, a la Chatillion. One thing to note, just because its a digital scale doesn't mean its more accurate than a spring scale. Accuracy and resolution are two different things. I have spring scale that is way more accurate in cold temps than the digital, though it only resolves to 1/2 pound increments.

Thanks man. That dude didn't ruin my day at all. I just didn't understand it - why mess with a guy on a kayak? I didn't give him the satisfaction of giving in or sitting down, I just stood there, and kept fishing like he wasn't there, LOL. Since I didn't get any pictures, here's a couple of me on the yak from last year: Unless you're a bass, not very menacing ;D