J Francho

"What on earth posseses someone to put a crawling booger in their mouth?" Beer and a dare, lol.

They aren't built by Gary. They are imports. I believe Gary consulted on the tapers used. They're decent rods, for the price point. I'd put them in the company of any SCII rod by Saint Croix.

Just his own, North Fork Composites. G. Loomis was sold to Shimano, maybe 20 years ago. He consulted with TFO to put a bass line together, but he does not build them. They are primarily a fly rod company, so it made sense to have Gary come in and help them.

The bite doesn't shut off because the wind changed direction. People that say this don't adjust, and fish the same spots they fish when the prevailing wind is blowing, usually west or northwest, here. There are biting fish, but you have to locate them. My experience is they are where it's the most difficult to fish. Places I'd usually skip in normal conditions.

So fill the spool with line soaked in hot water.

I have a Dremel 200. Works great for my purposes, and didn't cost a fortune.

What's the point of casting a vertical jigging spoon? Specifically in a bass fishing setting.

Palomar, Uni, improved clinch, when well tied will all serve you well.

Saint Croix Eyecon series has a couple of gems that are appropriate for bass, though they are labeled as walleye rods. I have a 6-8 mlxf that is a good all around spinner. There's also a 7' mf that is pretty sweet too. My son uses a 6-3 mlxf that is very close to my Avid with the same specs, and the bonus is they have a great handle - very comfortable.

Thad, probably because the Avid line contains the widest selection of rods that includes UL trout and panfish rods,musky rods, trolling rods, and fly and centrepin rods. There's a subset of rods appropriate to bass fishing, but the overall theme is a light, sensitive SCIII blank, Fuji components and quality cork. Bass fishing is, while specific, has a wide selection of baits and fishing techniques, and a wide selection of rods to cover the bases. From a marketing standpoint, it's also the most popular type of fishing, so it's easy to organize your products this way. The Avid line seems to be the exception to this. It's geared toward fisherman in general. They do list species appropriate to the rod, so really they're doing what everyone else dies. Even G. Loomis has GLX rods for other species, but they break them out.

Come to think of it, the largest single brand majority of rods in my collection are Avids. They aren't bass specific.

Let me throw out a devil's advocate viewpoint here. It stands to argue that a record fish has passed it genes on, many times over. That it it got that big is more about that specific fish's circumstances than genetics. If it's a line class record, I'm less likely to keep the fish. A NY State record, largemouth in particular, I'm putting it in ice and getting it weighed immediately.

Traps, any size that matches with the rod will show you what any reel is capable of.

I soak the filler spool with KVD L&L, and that's about it. I let this dry before filling the spool. I reapply after filling the spool, and after every trip. Remember, when you remove the spool from a spinning reel, you have to take the drag tension knob off. This also exposes even so called water proof drag systems. It may not be a big deal, but you'll want to let it dry completely before using it. You can achieve the same effect as soaking the spool in hot water by soaking the filler spool in hot water before loading your reel. I've done this in the past.

Bass rods are generally devoid of fancy wraps, elaborate (and heavy) reel seats, use lightweight, quality guides, blank taper is well described with power and action, along with line and bait weights. There should be several lengths and tapers available to suit your style and application. I will say, I've found a few great rods outside bass circles. It's worth a look at the "walleye" rods and "panfish" rods, just to see if there's something that you like. Inshore would be another area I'd look, though there isn't any here where I live.

Swimming deer, bald eagles nesting, otters, even got harassed by a beaver in my kayak. At ice out, there are a ton of unusual looking waterfowl here, probably just making a stop during migration. Once saw a fisher weasel fishing the canal. That was cool.

Competition, the hunt, a new place with promise of a trophy. Last year I all but abandoned chasing green fish to figure out the south shore of Lake Ontario. Had quite a few slow days, but also had some great success locating smallmouth that are supposedly "not there anymore."

I'd skip the braid and go with 12# CXX on the caster, and 6 or 8# Invisx on the spinner. I generally only use braid in heavy cover, and I prefer fluoro or a strong copoly.

Things I don't like…liver, ham, mushrooms, cauliflower. I'll try anything, including the above items, just to see if my taste has changed, but some if the worst things I've eaten are squirrel, chocolate covered crickets, and a live slug.

Never had braid warp a spool. I generally use a few turns of mono to keep the braid from slipping on the spool, and fill the rest with braid.

I'm in.

22 lb. brown trout on a 4 lb. fluoro leader and 8 lb. mono main line.

You need to take that thing sledding, and post some videos, lol.

I see some crazy stuff on Lake Ontario as well. One dude was going out in an inflatable raft - more like a pool toy than a fishing vessel, lol. I asked him if he could swim, of course not. Loaned him an extra PFD, and told him just to hang it on the fence by the launch when he was done. It was there in the evening, so I assume he made it home alive.

Oh, also I use moss green. Get some KVD Line and Lure while you're at it. I put that on everything