Team9nine

As for specific fishing reports and catches, It depends on the species and the situation with me. Most times, all you'll get are generalities from me, especially in public posts. Just enough to point you in the right direction. A few friends will get more, especially if they ask, but I've been disappointed enough times by those who don't respect the info and all that went into it, so I've become somewhat guarded. More than enough "chicken hawks" out on the water these days. Kind of sad, really. On the other hand, on forums like this where questions are mostly about equipment, approaches, experiences, etc,, I try and share as much as possible. I can get you all set up, help you with some baits, how I fish them, and tell you what areas to look for on the water...just find your own spots when you get there

Guess I should expound on my original statement. If you've never fished an xf rod, or perhaps a glass parabolic rod, etc., very easy to think it doesn't "feel" right, mainly because you don't have experience with those type actions. In those cases, "feeling" should take a back seat to how well the rod fishes. Similarly, I have an xf rod that "feels" absolutely great to me. I love fishing with it, but I also know it costs me some fish when I use it with certain techniques because the action isn't suited to certain bait types or presentations. Many days I still throw it anyway, because I like how it feels, and just accept and live with the losses. That's my personal choice, And I'm just fun fishing. But I'd never use that rod in those instances if $$ was on the line - that would just be stupid.

I limit it to 2 jigs per mini bag, both put in in the same direction, and the bag has to be long enough that the hair won't be bent, otherwise I move up in bag size - we all have our tackle quirks

Personally, I'm not a fan of xtra fast rods for the most part. However, 'how it feels' isn't the best basis for judging IMO, but instead, how it fishes. There are some presentations where xf will cost you fish in one form or another. For everything else, it's more personal preference.

Quick pic - nearly 100 hair jigs in mini bags all placed into one sandwich size bag, and fits perfectly into the small side zipper compartment of my 3600 soft bag.

This ^^ Works pretty well, but if you really wanted to, you could buy a bunch of small Z tabs or similar and place one in each bag along with the jigs. All ideas above will work fine, just comes down to personal preference on storage. I prefer compact and consolidated, so a bunch of baggies placed into one space/container works better for me.

I keep a lot of hair jigs on hand, and what has been the best for me has been the little sealable (zipper) clear bags you can buy in bulk at any crafts store. Every size imaginable, but I go with the small bags (2" x 3" or similar) and place 2 jigs per bag. Easy to see exactly what is inside each bag and sort through them, or you can use a Sharpie or similar to write on the outside, things like weight, style, etc. Watertight, and easily adapts to most any existing box style you'd like to use, and never have to deal with 'hook in hair' tangles again. -T9

Spitting is free, so if it works for you, keep doing it. The few knots I ever use are all low friction knots, so I'm saving my saliva for licking envelopes FC and nylon have pretty good heat tolerance, well north of whatever you could generate with an inch or two of fishing line. Improper knot formation will kill most people long before friction ever will. -T9

Go for it! There is a surprising amount of "freedom" that comes with starting over, once you get past the initial grief Just be smart about it. Keep and stock up the boxes and stuff you know already works, then sell the other stuff online, either here or on eBay. Take any monies from those sales and stash it in an envelope and hold it for future purchases, which will eventually come. The future purchases will cost you nothing this way, and you'll be going into them with a new found discipline. Any new baits that don't pan out, sell them and add back to the envelope. If you stay in control you could go years before you ever have to "come out of pocket" for another bait, and to top it all off, you'll be feeling better and catching more fish - what's not to like? -T9

Woah... where are you guys reading this at? Electrofishing only caused 3.7% mortality. The 39.1 percent were tourney caught and held fish. But read this study synopsis with a grain of salt. They are actually discussing two separate studies. One conducted in August in East Texas (can you think of a possible worst case scenario for seeing water temperature based mortality?), and the other was an October study using larger bass that are normally not allowed to be kept. It was carried out to help determine whether exemptions should be given to bass tourneys to get around the slot limit (they weren't approved). The studies were done 18 years ago, they didn't specify if any type of livewell management/treatment protocols were used or enforced, and even the study authors concluded the following (which they left out of the summary); The above quote is interesting because it directly contradicts the results of the first study summarized in regards to length vs. mortality. The overwhelming majority of studies since then have shown that there tends to be a positive correlation between fish size and mortality in most cases. Additionally, the argument could be made that livewell care has increased quite a bit since then. B.A.S.S., Gene Gilliland and Hal Schramm didn't publish their defining booklet on the subject, "Keeping Bass Alive" until 2002. An updated version was again published in 2009. -T9

It probably fits better in the 'blasphemy' thread on another page, but there is some contention that wetting knots is an old carryover from days gone by, back when it was truly needed, because lines weren't as technically advanced as they are now. It's more important to form and draw them up properly, and slowly, than it is to wet them. I know I only wet them less than half the time now as I slowly break old habits - T9

You'll be fine...I told Z-Man to start sending you their defects to slow down your catch rates a little The new ones should work ALMOST as well - lol.

Something is wrong with your overall setup if you're breaking off on the cast. That said, I use a Palomar for everything leader wise, 4# FC and up. No issues at all. - T9

Should have been using braid with a leader, tied with a uni knot

I'm sure there's not a lure made that won't catch a fish, these included. The question is how much faith to you put in all the bells and whistles they advertise. For my money, give me a good Spook, Gunfish or Vixen and I'm happy even without all the secret sauce and flashing lights.

He said, "Pro Sizzle" (uh huh huh) T9 (you can probably guess my opinion of them)

When I use it, Loctite Super Gel here (the blue/grey small bottle - 0.14 oz.). A good push for 20 seconds or so and it's ready to go. I rarely use them, but beavers are terrible about ripping and coming off. -T9

I don't believe in "secret weapon" lures I know, 'party pooper' -T9

Nice fish! ...But I have to say, I don't see any difference between "randomly casting out deep" and fishing every single visible stump and branch. Both are haphazard approaches in my eyes. My suggestion would be to pay more attention to the bottom of the lake so you can focus your efforts in places where you have an increased chance of catching a fish. It wouldn't take a "nice" depthfinder, either. Now days you can get a solid unit for not much over $100 bucks that would give you enough information to locate these type areas. Perhaps you already have one. The old bankline that @roadwarrior mentioned is one great example. Another might be focusing on those cover areas closest to the deepest water, or any place you might have found an inside or outside edge to the flooded cover. Maybe somewhere where a ditch happened to meander through a bunch of that stuff. It would be a much more efficient use of your time until you start catching a few and can establish a more specific pattern. -T9

I know this gets repeated a lot in one form or another on this site, but it's simply not the full picture. If you are comparing straight line strength to knotted line strength, it's braids that are lucky to retain 50-60% of their straight line strength, making them the worst line type by far in this category. Fluorocarbons tend to run 70-75% full strength, while nylons and such are usually 80-85% (when wet). Where braids sneak by this fact is their better strength to diameter characteristic. -T9

Pretty much this... Buy a Boga or a Chatillon, both spring scales, then send it off to the IGFA for certification (you can check locally first to see if it can be done). Expect to drop $100 give or take on the scale, and maybe a quarter of that on the certification.

...and don't ever eat anything cooked in that microwave again

wuss T9 (jk; couldn't let that one pass)

Pic is deceiving and doesn't do the fish justice. If your length measurement was right though, I'd say 6.5 pounds, plus or minus. -T9

Alan is "The Man." Totally legit