ROCbass

99 % of the time I cut the lures off, reel line up onto spool, and put a reel cover on to protect from light. Every once in a while when I'm feeling lazy or know I'll be using the same lure on the same rod the next day I'll put the lure on the hook keeper, leaving enough slack that I can still put the reel cover on without kinking the line. The reel cover only applies to casting combos, as every spinning reel cover I've found has been too bulky for my tastes.

I'm a Bills fan and don't really follow college football too much. Just curious what those of you who have followed his college career think of the guy who I'm hoping will be the first bona fide franchise quarterback we've had since Jim Kelly hung up the cleats.

I've only ever used Spiderwire Stealth and Stren Super Braid. I didn't care for the Spiderwire, and the Stren is discontinued. Luckily right after I found out it was being discontinued I found a bunch of it on clearance at Walmart for $4 a spool and stocked up, so I still have a little left, but the day is coming where I'll have to find a new line.

Baby in black with whatever color flake is handy at the store when I need to get more.

Right now its a $50 Gander Mountain spinning reel on an Acadia Sports rod that sold at 2 for $50 while the company was still in business, So I've got about $75 in that combo. My first baitcast combo was $55 for a Daiwa Advantage I got on closeout for $25 and an Ugly Stik. I still have and use both the rod and the reel, but the reel is now paired with a St. Croix Mojo and the rod has an Ardent c400 on it.

Thanks guys. I was just about to call them when it popped up in my inbox. Mike's looks like a great resource to bookmark for the future even though they didnt have this particular reel.

I'm looking for a schematic for a Pflueger Trion 4730 spinning reel. It's not the current Trion gx-7, but an older one from the early to mid 2000's. The one I have has the button on the handle that lets you fold the handle in. I checked the Pflueger website but they only has schematics for the current generation reels. I sent them an email through the website, over the weekend but have not heard back yet. Does anyone know where else I might find one?

I survived, but my bank account took some damage. Between the holiday sales and my first paycheck from my new job it was the perfect storm for a tackle splurge. Ended up with a new baitcasting combo, a new spinning combo, some swimbaits, some cranks, and a pack of horny toads.

Are you hitting them on the edge of the top of your rod box or bending them against the floor of the rod box when you take them out?

Growing up in Western New York I had never even heard of boiled peanuts, but I moved to South Carolina about a year ago and developed a liking for them. I've made my own a few times and they're pretty good, but I was wondering if anyone had recipes they would be willing to share or just different ideas for spices to try. So far I've just made them with plain brine and brine plus half a bottle of franks redhot.

My brother has cold urticaria (allergic to the cold, breaks out in itchy hives) and he uses Berkeley neoprene fishing gloves for ice fishing.

They just built a new maximum security prison near where I live. Every single inmate there is on death row or serving a life sentence. I heard they're all dying to get out.

Has anyone ever used Berkley Big game on a spinning setup? How does it perform? I've only ever used it on casting tackle, but the other day I saw the Academy near my apartment has it in 8# test, which got me thinking about the possibility of using it on spinning gear.

I considered doing that before I decided to remove the spool, but the thought of poking around in there with pliers made me paranoid that I would damage the spool somehow if I got too heavy handed or slipped or dropped the pliers.

If I saw someone break it off I would give it back no questions asked, without them even needing to say anything or ask for it. If I was fishing in the same area but didn't actually see them break off and they said it was theirs I'm not sure if I would take their word for it, especially if it was a nice lure. However, I'd probably still give it to them just to avoid a potential confrontation even if i didn't necessarily believe them.

Last night I received my Ardent c400 back from getting it repaired and went to spool it up with line. In the past with my baitcasters I've always fed the line through the levelwind guide, wrapped it around the spool, and tied it on. Sometimes it takes a little work to feed the line around the spool, but usually it isn't too bad. Last night, no matter what I did, I just couldn't get the line to go around the spool. Eventually I got frustrated and decided to remove the side plate to take the spool off so I could tie the knot. It was a lot easier doing it this way, so much so that I think I'll do it this way to start with from now on. Just thought I'd share in case anyone else finds themselves struggling with this issue while respooling, and to see which way most people here do it.

Uh oh Reggie. Looks like your wife found this thread.

There's a couple weeedy spots, but as a whole its not what I would consider a weedy lake. Being an old quarry pit, its pretty deep for a lake of its size, and it drops off pretty quickly, so be prepared to fish deep. I like jigs and tubes there. If you can find any wood cover, fish it. When I caught my PB i was working a jig through a tree. I haven't been there in a while so I'm not sure if the same tree is still there. If you want to get an idea of what the lake looks like, look up batavia on google maps satellite view. You'll see three ponds in the southeast corner. The one with the island is the one in the park, the other two are on private property and inaccessible. the water there is pretty clear, which is cool because you can see some points and contours and stuff like that just from looking at the picture on google maps. It's also a fun lake to fish from a canoe or other small boat. the only boats allowed are paddlecraft and electric motors if you ever get a chance to do that. Good Luck!

I love the Vibram Fivefingers. I just bought my fifth pair this summer. I wear them for pretty much everything except for work, and I would probably wear them there too if I could find a more "business casual" looking model.

I'm sorry to hear about your loss. I know it can be tough not to blame yourself in situations like this, but try not to beat yourself up, you did nothing wrong and there was likely nothing you could have done that would have prevented it. If she had been on a leash it would be just as easy to second guess yourself by saying that if you weren't holding on to her, maybe she could have gotten out of the way.

Use it in situations where you are fishing a horizontal presentation and want more weight than weightless, but a traditional texas rig with a bullet weight would ruin the presentation by pulling the nose down too much. paddletail swimbaits or flukes are a couple examples. As far as rigging it if you're worried about the weight being too fat to go through the bait, just poke the point through the nose, then take it off and push the eye of the hook through the hole you just made, then complete rigging how you normally would.

I've never fished one, but the other night I made some Jika rigs with 2/0, 3/0, and 4/0 worm hooks and some split rings and sinkers I had laying around. on the ones I made with the 2/0 hooks, the split ring is a pretty tight fit in the eye of the hook, to the point where the hook cant really move on the ring without forcing it, while on the 3/0 and 4/0 hooks the eyes are slightly larger and the hook swings more freely on the ring. Hook size aside, are there any advantages or disadvantages of having a more rigid hook vs. a free swinging hook with this presentation?

If you're willing to go for a little drive, DeWitt Recreation area in Batavia is pretty good. To get there take 33 west into Batavia and turn left on 5 (main street) and then right onto Cedar street. the park will be on your left. The lake is an old gravel quarry. there's a boat launch and a fishing pier close to the park entrance, and hiking trails around the perimeter of the lake. I caught my PB largemouth there fishing from the bank in a little bay on the backside of the lake.

A while back I read an article, I believe it was in In-Fisherman but it could have been another magazine, which stated that if you were absolutely unable to remove a hook from a fish's gullet the proper course of action was to cut the line, but to cut it 12-18 inches above the hook. The reasoning was that the drag in the water created by the long tag would pull the shank to one side and allow food to pass more easily. That being said, I agree with the others who have said that the hook should be removed if at all possible. I have never been unable to remove a swallowed hook from a bass since I learned the through the gill removal method. Leaving a longer tag on the hook might come in handy when dealing with deep hooked fish with smaller mouths, though.

Hi all, Its probably been over a year since I last logged in so I thought I'd drop in here to get re-acquainted. Been quite busy over the past year. Highlights include finishing grad school, moving from Rochester, NY to Columbia, SC, starting a new job, and getting married. All that stuff was great, but it didn't leave much time for fishing or the forums. I'm glad to be back now, though. Shane