J Francho

Gen purpose - jigs, weighted plastics, traps, jerks, spinner/buzz baits, top props, spooks, poppers.

My HIT has to be a decade old. I've rearmed three times.

We text pretty frequently. I can't imagine he'd ever be hard to get in touch with.

I would say that outdoorsmen are a subset of the typical angler. I do not see the number of angler decreasing as I would say outdoorsmen. I also would not lump hunting and fishing into one group. They are distinctly different activities, though with a good deal of crossover. I don't hunt anymore, probably never will again. It's just not interesting to me, as fishing is these days. Based on the the number of advances made, the cost of much of the gear, and the shear level of online marketing done, I'd say there is growth in fishing. Seems like more and more companies fighting for a market share, and for higher and higher price points. The average guy that bass fishes with any seriousness has as much tied up in their hobby as many golfers. I've watched this shift for the past two decades. A 20' bass boat costs as much as membership to a private golf club, these days.

They need to ban that phrase. It's as bad as "game changer."

If it helps, my filter was installed in the splashwell.

Russian hackers....

If any series fails, I'll never throw a Carolina rig again. That's my line in the sand!

I have some OG HPHs Randall made custom for me, and an old Mattlures Hardgill that are priceless to me.

New members, spammers, bad thread sort options, Google searches, genuine interest in an older topic, are a few explanations. Get back in your dungeon, I mean home gym!

I think it can be. It has to be, especially for young 'uns to get into it. Not all kids have parents or grandparents like us that will gladly supply them with what they need to experience the catch.

Four score and six years ago, someone gambled. Today there is gratitude.

What knowledge do you have of MLF's recovery plan, should one arm of it's organization fail to meet expectations? Or are you just speculating? This whole thread is starting to sound like cable new pundits reporting opinion as fact, lol. That's really all we can do, and enjoy the coverage we like to watch. Or not.

Similar experience, but it took longer. Probably 20 years of throwing baits, with plenty of 5# class fish. Then, boom! A 7-2, from an unlikely body of water, in an unlikely location, on an unlikely cast and retrieve.

You already opened a topic for this. Please refer to that.

Weed guard is a misnomer. It only serves as hang up prevention. It does nothing for weeds, but in your case, this is n't an issue. If I were you, I'd just buy jigs with no weed guard, since it doesn't present a problem. That said, I would have no clue what position the jig is in their mouth, but if I set the hook when I think I detect a bite (and it's actually a bite) I don't miss too many fish, so it must not be an issue for me.

There's a multitude of rigs that work: on an open football jig, stand up jig, DS, split shot rig, but the rig I use the most is with a nail weight in the tail, on a wacky rig hook, similar to how you'd hook a live craw, through the tail.

I tie a bait on and fish it.

There's 8 in a bag. Are you saying you got 25 fish per bait? I use these pretty heavily as well, but I don't that kind of life out of them.

What you say about naturalization is true, but they are still invasive. Same goes for round gobies, Eurasian milfoil, curly leaf pond weed, alewife, zebra/quagga mussels, and a host of other non endemic plants and animals. We're lucky in that for the short term, some invasives have actually improved the fishery. In some ways Giant hogweed hasn't been the scourge as was predicted, but it still isn't what you want to run into on a hike. Same goes for carp most days. That some of us (as anglers) have adapted and decided to fish for them is more about making the best out of the situation - much like the snakeheads down south. Turns out fishzilla isn't ruining the bass populations as was once feared. Interesting to note that salmon (king, coho) and trout (brown, rainbow/steelhead) are non endemic and intentionally introduced to control invasive alewife populations in the Great Lakes. In the overall fisheries picture from a management perspective, bureaucracies place greater value on these salmonoid species than our native bass. This probably is due to the economic influence trout fishing has over bass and panfish.

Rub the branding off with a Magic Eraser and you'll never know the difference. They're very similar, solid workhorse reels. For me, it would be down to what gear ratio was available, and how the knobs felt.

They do, it's called a Super Fluke.

Look up reversing the head on that, and mount it to the bow for a hand controlled troller.

Devil's advocate here, how many $.90 rigs did it take to get you your PB? Don't get me wrong, my personal best is from a T-rig worm as well. I bet I spent well over $200 in worms to get it, though.

Nah, I like carp. I've done a little Euro style carp fishing with boilies on Lake Ontario, and they're fun. They fight like a freight train. What I don't like about them is when they make all the commotion in the shallows during spawn.