SirSnookalot

I always use braid with a leader. Rocks do not seem to pose much of a problem for me, where I fish it's coral, barnacles and sharp gill plates, those are like razor blades. My braid seldom is roughed up or cut, it's the leader that comes in contact with those sharp surfaces, 40# f/c leaders don't always stand up. I don't think the brand of braid has anything to do with it, haven't seen a major difference to make me believe one is better than another.

Congratulations !!

If I understand this correctly you will be using the combo in New York in brackish water. LMB gave an excellent starter combination. I would definitely spool it up with 20 or 30# braid, I'm personally not crazy for F/C main line or leaders for spinning reels.

On this site they will never be popular, they are not the best choice for bass fishing. Even though there are quite a few Florida bass fisherman on BR, Florida probably has more saltwater fisherman. Ugly Sticks may be the most used rod I see down here, with a Penn reel. I have a buddy that still uses his 30 year old ones, all with Penn 704's, without the bails, lol. They cast very far and have plenty of backbone for all species, the newer ones are not near as heavy as they used to be and I did a split grip one recently. I do believe there is a wide variety made these days, inshore, surf rods, offshore, etc. Not really a bad rod at all.

I don't know if it's legal or not, I would think there is a safety hazard that police my frown on. Whether it's crossing on foot to get there or parking your car on the side (after you pay the toll, lol) there is traffic to contend with.

Not enough info.

Shimano tech?

72 Soon to be 69 and don't feel 17 any more, lol. I still feel good enough to fish everyday and looking forward to my next 75# tarpon on 4000 spinning reel.

As far as technology goes I'm not giving up indoor plumbing. There are lots of people that seek adventure in this day and age. I have sister 65 years old, she's been a triathlete, competitive biker, she's into kayaking now and did 5 week river run with another 65 year old woman in Alabama last year. She has back packed the 4 corners of the world over the last 40 years, being a widow at times she had 3 kids in tow. From the jungles in South America to the Andes, Southeast Asia, India, Middle East, all over the USA and places I can't remember. She always has a new adventure she is about to embark on. She could care less about indoor plumbing.

Seen this said a 100 times and still not convinced. I will never use anything to overpower any fish, to do so would remove the "sport" aspect for me. 102# line for a 5 pound fish, and I call myself a weenie for using line breaking at 20#. I'm changing my screen name to " Sir Weenie".........lol.

I'm a diabetic as well. When I first discovered I was diabetic the first thing my Dr had me do was see a ophthalmologist, eyes can be greatly affected both the eyesight as well as eye wellness from diabetes. I hadn't noticed a problem but my prescription had changed, got new glasses. 2 months later I was having trouble with the new glasses, reason being the diabetic medication changed the script again, which was a good thing and normal from what I was told. I have no vision problems to be concerned with and my script hasn't changed in 3 years, eye health is fine too. I do monitor my blood sugar and watch my diet closely. I wear ambers for inshore and overcast days, grey for offshore in the ocean. I don't wear polarized all the time when I'm fishing, depending on the angle of the sun I may see better with out them. I wear flip ups on my prescription glasses. I'm, always flipping them up and down, this set up works well for me. World wide there is only a handful of companies that make all the lenses for glasses, regular and sun. Even Costa, although still assembled in the US, is owned by a French company, Essilor.

I don't know much about b/c, but I do know spinning gear and catching med sized fish. Most of my fish caught are up to 50#, I don't target 5 pounders, I do catch them, lol. I have caught those fish on just about every brand one can think of. I do have some favorites, Quantum cabo being one of them, but that doesn't negate the effectiveness of the other reels I use. Each one of them is smooth on retrieve, the drags can be set precisely and are more than sufficient to handle a fish on the line 10-15 or even 30 minutes. What else a reel is supposed to do is a question I can't answer. Some reels to be repaired more than others, doesn't make them a bad reel, all of them are going to go down at some time. All that matters to me is the fish. I bass fish as well and catch my share of them upwards of 8-9#, I'm in Florida we are supposed to catch them like that. I gotta say the average is probably no more than pound, I ain't gonna rack my brain over a 1 pound fish or one that takes about 20 seconds to land. Don't like a Quantum, don't use it there are plenty of other choices

Many online fly shops sell jig heads as well, or just google jig heads and you will find plenty, both collared and uncollered. I buy most of mine at Walmart, the ones in the fresh water section have smaller and thinner hooks, the ones in the salt section have larger, stronger hooks. They are plenty strong, I use them for snook and tarpon to make up my bucktails. For jerk shads I like DOA and Strike King redfish, I have made bucktails using those as well.

It's not legal to have dogs on most beaches own here, doesn't really stop any one and it's not enforced. Dogs love to chase out into the water after a top water, need to be careful.

Backing and top shot are 2 different things. A common offshore saltwater set up on a large capacity reel may be 400+ yards of braid topped off with 50-75 yards of mono for stretch, then a leader, that's called a top shot, certainly not a set up for bass fishing. Backing is loading up mono first and braid on top as the main line, generally used to conserve using more braided line that's needed.

Using spinning gear the dig in issue is no concern for me. I don't use anything heavier than 15# braid for bass fishing, even when I'm throwing frogs. I don't use heavy line for any species of fish, 20# braid is going to break at over 30#, how much stronger do I need it?

It would depend on how heavy the lures I'm using. Haven't fished for them in over 10 years, but caught lots of them when I lived on lake St Clair. Presently I fish for barracuda almost everyday, size wise my average fish is some where around 38- 40", many of them go more 50". When I'm tube fishing I use 14# copoly with a 30# leader, lure weighs about 2 oz. When I'm lure fishing, mainly 1 oz spoons, 20# braid with 20" surflon leader, I generally forgo the wire not wanting to limit myself, many species won't hit a lure with wire.

Hard to say what my favorite is, so many of them down here I enjoy catching. Inshore and near shore snook are my favorite, for hard fighting fish permit followed real close by jack crevalles and tarpon. For a pure bone jarring strike barracuda caught on a surgical tube, seldom are they less than 38". These are my everyday fish. Offshore are amberjacks, dolphin and sailfish. Any of the small tuna species, bonita, black fin and skip jacks.

I don't eat fried fish too often anymore, both from a health standpoint and I prefer tasting the fish, not the oil and breading. For the most part it's grilled, smoked, baked or broiled. Freshwater: walleye, whitefish and trout. Saltwater: Cod, smoked sable, salmon, swordfish, dolphin, grouper, barracuda.

My dad was in the fish business for 30 years in Detroit, I worked in the back as kid cleaning fish and cooking shrimp. The best selling fish is generally based on the clientele of the particular market, ours was walleye which was referred to as pickerel coming out of Canada. If I remember it correctly most was caught out of Lake Erie. Our #2 popular fish was Lake Superior whitefish. Both the pickerel and whitefish are excellent tasting fish, sorry to say not available in Florida. As delicious as perch are, it was not a big seller with us. We had no market for catfish, but stores with different demographics did sell it, personally I don't much care for it. The worst tasting fish I ever had was finnan haddie, I still have that fowl taste in my mouth from 60 years ago. My favorite is smoked sable. Eat what you like, it's your taste buds.

Not knowing the exact terrain you were fishing from I don't know if this method is possible. I first learned this beach fishing but I've done it countless times bass fishing, that is just walking backwards and pulling the fish up. It's surprising how big a fish can be handled this way, lifting them up with the rod not only do you risk the line breaking but your rod breaking too. There is a time and place to not land a fish but break it off. Having a fish on the line 20 or 30 minutes that you may not be able to lift up anyway (in some cases that may be illegal), sometimes it's best not to over stress that fish, you've had your fun.

A fluke. Catch any predatory fish in any body of water. Can be fished weedless, nose hooked or on a jig head, nearly the entire water column can be covered, nothing is more versatile for me. I like pearl with a red tail.

If you are getting plenty of bites now I'd stick with what you are doing. However if you are seeking a different look you may want to check into making your own. I make my own jigs, they probably do not catch anymore fish than a store bought. That said I get a higher level of satisfaction catching fish from the fruits of my own labor.

The fish isn't the problem, it's pulling them out of cover and for that you may need a bit heavier rod and line. Line is all about manageability and diameter as almost all lines today break well over the labeled number. If one is using an 8# line that breaks at 12#, you are really using 12# line.

I bass and peacock fishing alone, I seldom run into anyone but when I do I'm helpful. I do spend every morning at the ocean, we get kids, vacationers, newbies here year round. My little group of home boys are always giving away lures, if asked show some of the people how to catch certain species. Pretty common for me to hand my rod over when I have fish on the line, let some else have the thrill of something they never caught before. Most of the time I tell people other good areas to fish as well.