SirSnookalot

I agree with line capacity being the main criteria for reel size. Both the weight of the reel and the max drags can vary quite a bit from manufacturer to manufacturer for reels of comparable size. An extreme example is an older Quantum cabo 30 I own, line capacity being 160/8lb which is about the size of many 2000 reels, yet max drag is 23lbs and weighs about 13 or 14 oz. which are attributes more associated with a 4000 series reel.

What I do like about this time of the year is changing back to EST, I don't have to wait as long for sunrise and that's when the fish turn on. Also winter time is my bass time and sunset comes earlier, good time to fish.

Best thing about getting old is that you............. made it. Not all do.

Based on the replies so far it looks like it really doesn't make a difference as long as it works. I always use leaders and connect most of my lures with a loopknot. Jigs and jig heads I use an ordinary clinch, braid I use an improved clinch, for my rarely used line to leader connection it's an alberto knot. I do not use any other knots.

I hear ya..............I'm watching the football game yesterday and my walks into the room and says I'm vacuuming, I went ballistic............lol.

Be a perfect time to use a higher capacity spinning reel with max drags in the range of 30# and more, not that much drag would be needed and a locked down drag wouldn't be necessary to stop that fish, just may not have to worry about that thumb. A stella sw, penn torque or daiwa saltiga could be he right tool for that job, little heavy for some but most of us won't have any trouble.

A fish has no idea that a man, woman or child is on the other end of the line, so why not. There are couple of women here that I've seen catch 40 inch fish quite a few times, they throw nothing but lures.

The lure imo has to be extremly light for a spit ring to make a difference. Split rings are measure in grains not grams. Just for something to do I just weighed a few split rings, a 65# ring weighed 5 grains, a smaller one only weighed 3 grains and some I weighed I had to convert to pennyweight and they were barely at .1 dwt. 15 grains to a gram and 28 grams to an ounce. Split rings are pretty light.

BPS for example can put a decent reel on one of their rods, their brand name rods don't cost them that much money, they still make out. They are banking that you may be purchasing other items while you are there, lines lures and asserories. Mail order or on line purchases the shipping can be a bit pricey they make up some money on the extra handling charge built in to the shipping price.

You missed it.............lol. Spanish, bluefish and ladyfish were going crazy last 2 weeks, no exaggeration but I was cut off and lost about 20 lures as of late, gotchas do rule, went to 1 Walmart and they only had 1 left. Have some cooler weather and rough water coming in staring today so they may be back. The ICW was nuts with mullet yesterday morning about 6 am, snook and tarpon busting all over the place, 30 minutes later and not one strike, been thru that one dozens of times, they are just too busy inhaling live bait and don't want artificial. Best way to catch them is a live mullet and clip a fin so they swim different. I'll be back there again this morning, Atlantic Ave and the ICW in Delray. I'd rather catch bass than spanish mackerel, no fight to them. Blues and especially ladyfish are awesome to catch.

Not only were my parents very liberal but all of my aunts and uncles were with my cousins as well. We had few restrictions, except grades and our schoolwork came before anything else. We were encourgaged to keep an open mind about everything but be responsible for our actions, not to say some of us didn't go thru some rocky times as many young kids do. In the end we all came out pretty good, everyone one of us is either a professional or business owner, we are all retired now. My wife and I raised her 2 daughters the same way, they are doing pretty darn good too, and raising their children in the same tradition.

Bass is a different issue, I do not feel they are overly line shy, but I always use a leader, that just goes back to my basic training over 60 years ago fishing Lake St Clair. I have never experienced fish more line shy than fish in the mackerel family, you may catch spanish on wire as they strike during a bait frenzy but kingfish offshore is a different ballgame. Not only do I go out on small private boats but I go on walk on party boats and reserved charters with 10 person max. There is always a portion of inexperienced fishermen that use the boat's gear, standard senators on 40 or 50lb class rod using generic 40# mono and leaders. The more experienced fishermen bring their own gear, generally a bit lighter (but not always) more refined and most use mono lines as braid is not allowed on many of these boats due to the fact that braid tangling with mono is a nightmare, mates cut lines they don't untangle. Have no idea of who is using f/c or mono leaders, but the catch rate for these boats are pertty consistant among the all the fishemen. When I'm fishing a small private boat I have used both mono and f/c leaders many times in the same outing, strike rate doesn't seem to vary a bit. For people that do believe f/c is a big advantage, go ahead and use it.

I use swivel with my leader and keep my leaders about 20" or so, carry a small spool of leader line in my pocket, add leader when needed with a quick clinch knot and a loopknot, works well for me. I do the same exact thing in saltwater with the exception of mackerel I tie line to leader then. I don't find it to be too time consuming, if others do then I'm sure they have worked out their own system. I go thru tons of braid, every reel gets respooled often. Between rocks, coral, barnacles, cement pylons, excessive line twist from rotating lures. I don't mind spending the money or taking the time for a fresh respool.

Not a person I know has a love for the HOA, in Florida it's way of life.

Using a milk jug as a float with a glow light inside is a method used for shark fishing at night.

Marketing............Rod companies know they have a captive audience.

I was confused at putting the line thru the eye..............lol.

I like braid and for me the positives outweigh the negatives. I fish for some of the most line shy fish around, I do not catch anymore with a f/c leader (I always use a leader) than I do with a mono leader. Been stated many times people catching bass with braid using no leader. I don't need to see my line and do a lot of fishing in the dark where I couldn't see it anyway. Braid is the equalizer when it comes to sensitivity, even when I have a bow in my line, keeping your rod lower to the water is going to reduce the bow.

I grew up fishing Lake St Clair, have a good 40 years on that lake, we docked on the Nautical Mile. I understand the need for the heavier rod and the stamina issue with them. Living in Florida now I have no muskie here, but a few other decent fish.

Why scared with any line ? It's only a fish, if your bass fishing in most cases you're at least 20 or 30 times bigger, you have the fish outmuscled. Larger fish don't come around near as often, take your time and enjoy it. If you're a yanker and cranker and dragging those fish in at warp speed, braid is a heck of lot stronger and lot less to worry about. Just do the opposite of what the fish does, it jumps you push your rod down, it dives keep your rod up and put pressure on it. The hardest part about fishing is locating and enticing a strike, the easiest part is landing them. Your own natural reflexes and reaction will make you master of any fish with any line.

That would make 50% of the people above average, is the glass half full of half empty?

Places I fish in Florida from the bank have no obstructions, I can walk the entire distance and cast. I like to keep moving, do not like fishing slow. I'll fan a spot for 3-5 minutes, then walk about 30 feet and do it over again, I over lap quite bit that way. Primarily I fish freshwater bank the same way I fish the beach in saltwater, looking for structure (yes a beach has somewhat of a structure but it changes constantly with the tide) and I'm looking for activity, being birds working, bait, fish or ripples from the fish. I'd classify it as being an opportunist fisherman, yeh I'm looking for the opportunity to sight cast, not because it's better but because I get a rush from it.

I use the figure 8 when I'm fishing for larger barracuda.

I do have 30# braid on 3 spinning outfits, 2 used strictly offshore and 1 inshore. I normally do use 15 and 20# but the capacity of the reel (280 yds of 30) seemed like a better fit. In freshwater I'm using 10# and 12# braid, forget the name of the line we got free and I haven't taken it off yet, when I do I'll go with 15#. I don't own a spinning reel without line twist on the braid, flukes rotate and spoons can spin too, my leaders all have bb swivels and many of spoons I've added a swivel as well. Don't ever troll with braid and a spoon, I wasted 300 yds in about 5 minutes once using a drone spoon, lol. I'm not using spoons quite as much as I've gone to using a jig fish aka sling jig, butterfly type, jigging spoon and dozen other names for the same basic thing. A slender but heavy for it's length with 1 treble on the rear, they wobble back and forth and really help in reduction of line twist, have yet to use a lure that comes close to them in casting distance, and fish love them, albeit I've never used one in freshwater.

My wife says I fish like a girl, keeps calling me a P*****