SirSnookalot

I agree with War Eagle, I get winds knots all the time, must have 6-8 or them in a couple hours yesterday. I've never had a wind knot with my stradics, spheros' and daiwas. Despite other issues I have with Shimano reels, I'm actually leaning in the direction of a new stradic 4000.

I had seen circles hooks substituted for trebles on fishing shows, some companies are starting to sell them that way now........Yozuri sashimi

I've seen Capt harry's on TV, heck of a place, he is 60 miles from me. I've been to Lott Bros in Palm Beach Gardens, authorized repair center for quite a few brands too.

My wife falls down on the tennis court yesterday, skins one knee, the other one swells to the size of an orange, thumb on one hand is bent out of shape and pinky finger on other hand is fractured. I need to be home every couple of hours to wrap those digits after icing them, do the laundry, shopping, cooking, etc. I was just getting ready to head down to Miami.......lol, peas will still be there in a few weeks.

Last week one of my buddies stepped on my tierra 3000, the bail assembly breaks. Not really too involved but I gotta have the part. I check with Daiwa and Mikes reel repair, the assembly is about $38 plus shipping. My friend feels bad and he is going to get it repaired for me, takes it to our local tackle shop, who has been fixing reels 60 years. 7 days later I get the reel back, total cost $20, where he got the bail I don't know, no doubt he knows who to contact. I have not had the same experience with other "locals", both from the standpoint of expertise and limited downtime.

If I were buying a truck, I had many diesels both new and used, smartest thing you can do is take a mechanic to evaluate the vehicle. A qualified mechanic can spot problems before they arise, an online description does not tell the entire story. Mechanical things can be fixed or replaced, undercarriage rust is problematic and not always noticeable by the untrained eye.

My sincere condolences, be thankful he lived 84 years as many don't make it that far.

I don't like them for bass fishing, seems to take the fight out of the fish and if you can't set the hook, where's the fun? Only good in saltwater toothless fish, cuda, mackerel, kingfish, etc, will cut you off almost every time, the shank is too short. Wire with them is ok, but you have reduced your chances of strike these fish are very line shy. Fish saltwater with bait, 2-4 j hooks, that's a king rig.

All of the above, try using little heavier lure too, keeps the line straighter coming off the reel.

I think you would do much better in the canals and residential ponds.

@ keninaz, you can't take the lack of interest in stripers or any other species too serious or personal, first and foremost this is a freshwater bass site. I do believe a good portion of the membership has had little or no exposure to some of the other species, they focus on the fish they have in their local waters, witch is mainly lmb and smb.

Can't say I never had braid wrap around my tip but it doesn't happen to me very often. I don't notice any significant casting difference between 10-15 and 20#, maybe a little bit. These windknots can be a nightmare and I got a lot of them. Less in saltwater and my theory is I'm using heavier lures (exceed the max rod wt. all the time), I do believe the line comes off the reel straighter and doesn't hit the first guide as often, that's where the windknots happen. Don't forget braid still gets twist on retrieve by being wrapped around a fixed spool, that can cause the knots too. I agree with 0119 about the abrasion from fish, rocks, coral, cement pylons, etc. I do lots of respooling, I like braid so it's worth it to me.

There isn't much I've come across like a jack, except a permit, amberjack and trevally( haven't caught one) but they are in the jack family too. I've caught 30 pounders that needed to be chased down in a boat and it still took 30 minutes or more to land them. Is it any wonder why I spend so much time hunting these kind of fish?

Simple criteria for me, ample foregrip and longish butt. I've been posting pics of 5+# bass, 30# jacks, 40# cuda, 20# snook and tarpon, been doing most of it with medium spinning rods. My rods have been going strong for 7-10 years, they must not be too bad. My Redbones cost $89 and my Star rods cost $99, have about 10 of them. Each of these rods cast a good distance effortless, I'm always using lures heavier than the rated max. The only thing that matters is the fish, and the bigger the fight the better is. I'm not on this super sensitive or super light bandwagon.

I wasn't on fire yesterday, I was skunked in saltwater and no peas. I was at a place, they allow me to fish there and there peas there for sure. One of the workers showed me a pic he caught of a 15# clown knifefish he caught there recently, they usually only hit live bait, caught his on an xrap. That was the most awesome catch I've seen in years, my jaw dropped.

Francho posted at one time that lures are cheaper in the long run compared to soft plastics, I whole hardly agree. He's a smart guy and knows his species and what works for him. The caveat is needing a little luck, as it's just as possible to have a lure last for a year or so, or to lose it to a snag or cutoff the first day you own it. The latter is not a deterrent for me, I want to use the lure that's going to catch fish. I never fish defensive, meaning I don't like wire, if I'm not mentally prepared to lose a lure I shouldn't be using in the first place. The cost is another issue, as a rule my limit is about 10 bucks, I'm not convinced the extra expense produces any better for me. That said I much prefer using a hard lure, it's more exciting for me. I do more saltwater fishing and many of the same lure types are available and I do use them on occasion, but I am 100% convinced nothing catches more fish than a fluke on jig head, bucktail jig (crappie jigs destroy fish here, everyone uses them) and a spoon. But there ain't much to compare to getting smashed on a top water lure, it's worth the risk of a losing it.

Don't care as long as it's not thick vegetation, lily pads and muck. I dislike having a tug of war with plants or pulling up a 2# fish with 12# of salad or slime attached to it. A lily pad doesn't take out drag.

I'm in Florida as well, I use nothing but braid with the exception of 2 saltwater setups. I mainly use original PP with no real issues, I've tried other brands as well and the same story. At present I have 1 light set up with PPslick, 10# test that I use for pond fishing and peacock bass, it seems to work just fine and windknots do pull thru much easier. If anything about braid regardless of brand is an excessive amount of windknots for me. I actually get more in freshwater fishing, I do have my theories on why. Frank W, I see you are a fairly new member, people that have read my posts know I use spinning for 100% of my fishing both fresh and salt and, heaviest braid I use is 20#.

I have a razr max and my wife has razr m, they both work well with excellent battery life.

Never found anything better, not only is fast but puts a "bead" on the end, an aid in reducing pull thru.

If I didn't love fishing I wouldn't be doing 7 days a week. A lot of things I love about it fishing, one aspect in particular. I like hard fighting fish not too big maybe 20#, sight casting to a busting school off the beach where you may have only 1 or 2 casts before they have left the area. You may not get a hook up, but if you do having to chase the fish down on foot with a med spinning rod is pretty awesome for me.

The Walmart's around here have nothing special. I do buy their Eagle Claw 3x and 4x trebles in the 20 pack, very inexpensive and work well. I won't use anything but 3x in fresh or 4x in salt, I do buy 4x VMC's as well, I don't care for a 2x hook.

I let out nearly all of the spool too, reel back in thru my fingers. I've done it with a swivel from the bank, it works ok. The nature of spinning with the line wrapping around a fixed spool will always cause line twist, it's normal. Spooling the correctly in the first place is a big help, even so I troll my line out before it's used, and before or after each outing. I soak my line in hot water, whether it is the filler spool or the reel spool, limps the line to avoid coiling. I've used KVD, I prefer the water method, keeps my wallet thicker.

One of the few sites that I welcome the emails from. I've ordered quite a few times, always goes as planned with quick shipping and a thank you. As with any site I take my time going thru it, some offerings are so so and others are really good, like Krocodile spoons and some of the other saltwater lures I buy. I've bought $10 lures for a $1.99, like atom top water lures, just saw xrap sub walker 16 for 8 bucks.

Never knew that was there.