bilgerat

These are good to have with you period. The full sized ones are like $8.00 at Home Depot and come with a 10 pack of spare blades. They make a mini version also that fits nicely in a tacklebag. http://home.comcast.net/~massbackwards/husky.jpg

I picked up 1/8 oz versions by Strike King and Booyah. I've read that that the smaller ones can actually outfish the larger ones at times. I stuck with solid black and solid white. We'll see which brand sticks more fish. Topwater crush on ultra light....can't wait

I'm old enough to remember when "Made In Japan" meant poor quality (or a Deep Purple album ) My how times have changed....

Half of the battle with small screws is having well made screwdrivers. These are about the best...http://www.amazon.com/Wiha-26199-Slotted-Phillips-Screwdriver/dp/B000NZ5QG0/ref=sr_1_cc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1299289337&sr=1-1-catcorr

Fiskars safety scissors for kids.

I have no doubt KVD, or any pro for that matter, fishes with stock gear from their respective sponsors. But I'd be willing to bet they're not fishing with straight out of the box reels. I'm sure they've been stripped to the frame, lubed and the drags upgraded. With that much money on the line, a tournament is no place to find out your drag is sticky or your reel grinds.

I'd be wondering about the reel seat life shortening too but I guess it depends on how tightly you crank them down as well. I have a habit of tightening mine up pretty good, probably more than necessary, but after watching the Classic yesterday and seeing Todd Faircloth's reel fly off his rod on a hookset, I don't think I'm gonna worry about that too much anymore. I put a few wraps of teflon tape around my reel feet. I also wrap the threads on the reel seat to take up the clearance between the threads and the seat nut. Since I've been doing this I never have a problem with reels loosening up.

Learn the art of light tackle. It works. I'm not talking finesse, that's another thing altogether. Will you catch dinks and other species ? Yes you will. You will also get your share of nice fish. There's an old sand pit I fish that gets hammered by fisherman all season long. Two years ago I lost what easily could have been a 8 to 9 lb. bass throwing a 4" tube. Nobody ever throws tubes there, I've had guys tell me "They're smallmouth baits" Whatever. My buddy is a master of slider worm fishing, which almost nobody does anymore. It's basically a 4" straight worm with zero action to it. I've seen him nail plenty of 5 - 6 lb fish with this. Go to the library here and read the articles about light and ultralight fishing. They're eye openers. Like John J said, when everyone is zigging, you should be zagging. Fishing at night rocks, and fishing in the rain is a must, plus it keeps most everyone off of the water.

I'm not really sold on the scent thing, but one thing I like about Megastrike is the lubrication it gives for sliding through grass and other cover. If the fish holds on a second or two longer, it's a bonus. You do have to be careful with it on tubes and jig skirts as it will clump the strands together if you apply too much.

...got in and blitzed TT's forums ? Seriously, that kind of sucks for them to have two years worth of forum data vaporize into the atmosphere like that. Was it an intentional thing or just a major meltdown ?

The Triumph lineup from St. Croix are well made budget rods. No split grips or bling to them, but they are a good rod anyhow.

I made a rod rack out of PVC pipe. My combos stay together for the entire season. Drags get backed off after every trip and covers go on the reels. They only get broken down in the winter.

I've got line much older than that that is as fresh now as when I bought it. The way you store it is fine. Sunlight is the biggest line killer. BTW, I'll be up your way the first week of June at Big Bass Lake. Some of the best fishing I've ever done has been there

They're only good old days because we were more naive about fishing in general. We fished for fun and and when we unknowingly reeled in a bait the wrong way and it got nailed, we didn't realize that we were on to something. That's why you never see an 8 year old kid with a 14 lb. tackle bag and 7 combos. Then we started to get more "educated" about bass fishing and turning it into advanced calculus. That's when it stops being fun and starts to become work. That's why this season I scaled back and am going back to the basics. Sorry baitmonkey, I've got fish to catch.

This goes against conventional wisdom about sharpening factory hooks, but get a fine file or stone and learn to put ridiculously razor sharp points on those frog hooks. Being that they are heavy wire to begin with, you need every advantage you can get.

That sucks. My Revo STX has scars from when I fell while on a concrete dock. It is still 100% mechanically and that's OK with me. As was said, you have many choices at that price range for a replacement rod. **it happens. You'll laugh about it someday.

Picked up one of these from wally world for $15 : http://cdn.productinformation.net/images/products/146339.jpg It's an Energizer Trailfinder model # CAPR22ODE It's got three light modes. Low / high white and red for night vision. It's water resistant and has the ability to tilt so you don't have to bend your head to an uncomfortable position to tie a bait on. The one feature I like is the clip is made of heavy gauge wire along with a heavy plastic piece that has a sawtooth design molded into it to bite down on the bill of your cap. It's about time they put out a cap light that had a decent clip to it. All of my previous cap lights put out decent light but the cheesy plastic clips never lasted. Watching my last one spiral down to it's death in the water (while still lit ) was the last straw. I was waiting for a 10 pounder to cruise by and swallow it while on it's way down. It's rated at 6 hours battery life on two AAA batteries which are included. The switch is rubber coated so it should help with longevity. Not bad for $15.

I don't own any of those three you linked, but I have the ul version of their Pop R lined up for this year. I've had success with the larger Pop R's for years, I don't see why the little one would be different. One Rebel that seems to get a lot of raves is the crawfish crank. They make a ul version called the Wee Craw. You might want to check it out.

I guess these were the old Renegade brand wally world used to carry ? Anyhow I picked up a bunch of the 4" Twirl Tail worms at wally world for $.75 for a 15 pack. They had solid black, tequila sunrise and motor oil. I grabbed two packs of each. Anyone know about them ? They seem decent enough. They could be that 'sleeper' bait that once I run out of them I'll never find them again.. :-/

In the 70's and 80's it was Dobermans that had the stigma pit bulls have now. My wife and I had a Doberman that was the biggest wussy in the world. Don't get me wrong, he was protective but never aggressive. When my first daughter was born and we brought her home, he took to her immediately. Same with our second daughter 22 months later. By far the best dog we ever had. Eventually (unfortunately) another breed will take the place of the pit bull and the cycle will start again.

Good for her. Watching kids succeed is one of life's pleasures.

Too many feeble minded Shimano worshippers overloaded the site

As health conscious as you are I'm surprised you ingest that stuff

Has he been on a box of Wheaties yet ?

I'll throw this out there... Would you pay an extra $1.00 for a bait if it had premium hooks already on it ? I'm talking Owners or at the least, Gammies. Or would you rather save the dollar and change them out yourself ?