J Francho

Do you have a high idle throttle beside the main throttle? It's been years since I've dealt with a carb'd Merc. Mine have all been EFI.

Palomar weaker with fluoro? Simply not true with a well tied knot. Maybe a poorly tied Palomar. But then again, any poorly tied knot will fail, and fluoro separates the men from boys when it comes to knots. I'm not sure what you mean by "Albright is one of your best options with fluoro." The Albright is a line to line connection knot. What knot would you recommend for a terminal connection?

Your theory violates Newton's third law. Peer review!!!!

Kent put a great thread up in the stickies: Just go shorter by a bit, but stick to the power and action recommended.

One could successfully argue that thrust generated by migratory waterfowl is not weather. I'll start a survey.

Float n' Fly 9' Fly rods (mayfly hatches have happened during tournaments) Swimbaits Cranking sticks Jigger poles Punching/flipping sticks

I use these. Match hook size to the bait.

If it's a real spook, I add a split ring, and use Vanadium Inlines. Otherwise, ST-36 for me.

Oh boy, that trolling topic is a good one. I used to catch a TON of smallmouth trolling. It was the primary tool with nothing more than a flasher, and the giant desert that is Lake Ontario. Find some reasonable breaks, catch three or so in the same spot, and anchor up, start dropping tubes. Oh yeah, the 10' rod thing.... bring it on. Dee just raised a fist through into the air from the grave! Jigger poling!

Perfectly stated. Can't really add to this, other than I like gold on cloudy days, and silver on clear days. There's times, and I don't have a good explanation for this, but chartreuse or chartreuse and white work well for smallies. Seems like a Finger Lakes thing for me.

Walsh. You forgot to adjust all your math for thermals above sea level during a leap year that ends in an integer that cannot easily be cubit. Also, remember it's fall, and there is a slight adjustment for thrust generated by migratory water fowl.

You should be able to see every head style he offers.

Just click on the image, and you get a full screen image.

The Dredge has the HIGHEST hook up ratio of any hook for me. In fact, I prefer that hook when I don't need a heavy flipping hook. There's dozens of threads and several articles about the how to use the different styles of jigs effectively. You might try the articles section, and the long running jig question thread: For articles, start here, and move on the links at the end: http://www.bassresource.com/fish/jigs.html

That looks awesome! I agree - I'll never NOT have retractable buckles.

I fished tournaments with old monochrome Lowrance units and did fine. It's not the graph that wins the tournament.

They should be able to give you test drive then! Do it!

That is from a six year old issue.

I've been in two Phoenix boats. Build is solid, and they're fast. They treated my friend really well, with some certain things he needed in the boat - he's a vet with one leg. The only thing I'd say, is you probably want to have a dealer within driving distance, regardless of make. It's a boat, there's ALWAYS something that needs fixing.

Getting a patent is VERY expensive. Copyright is relatively inexpensive, free if you think the "farmer's copyright" method of mailing something to yourself, and leaving it sealed is good enough. I used to send media files with digital photos in for like $10 a crack. That was back when I worried about such things. Not so much these days, lol.-

It really depends on the line. I use the ICK with confidence tying spinnerbait, buzzbait, top-water, cranks, etc. directly or to a split ring using strong co-poly or mono. For braid, I prefer a Uni or Palomar. Fluoro, the Palomar and Uni get the nod over anything else. If I wanted to simplify, I'd say you can use a well tied Uni for anything, though. The caveat with any knot: well tied.

Here's a pretty good guide to northern species: http://www2.dnr.cornell.edu/cek7/nyfish/index.html

So, this very debate is why the binomial classification system was put in place - to end debates using common names, or colloquialisms when referring to living things. A 'pike" can mean several different things, depending on where the person is from. Up here, it always refers to "northern pike," Esox lucius. But elsewhere, it could mean a walleye, or one a the few species of pickerel. So, if someone calls algae "moss," I'm okay with it, even though up here, we call coontail (Ceratophyllum demersum), "moss." Others might call it "hornwort." As long as we know what we're both talking about...

You can't copyright an object - only text, written works, photos, music, and original art. You can patent it, though I think it would cost prohibitive. They might have a patent on the manufacturing process, though. That's usually how that works. War Eagle does make a similar skirt, though not exactly the same.

Bent rod pattern, lol. Last time I won there, was fishing right next to Jaime Hartman, fishing a state tournament. Kind of had to let him in the main spot, since I knew he was gonna win it. He had 17, I had 16. I used the umbrella. He could not, but ground it out.