SirSnookalot

The point is the drag power should not exceed the limits of the line.

Grass carp are not carp, they are White Amur and are the largest member of the minnow family I believe. In Florida people use ficus berries to catch them, I've caught only 2 on artificial lures in 10 years and thousands of casts.

The amount of drag applied should be relative to the strength of line being used. If one's reel has a max drag 10# and spooled with lighter line I don't see the need to try and improve the drag capability, as long as the present drag is working fine. When a fish is pulling drag the chance of the line being snapped is greatly reduced, hopefully your reel has enough line capacity. Where derekxec and I fish winching them in doesn't work, landing a good sized fish quite often requires pulling up and reeling down, applying additional drag by holding the spool briefly as you are pumping up then letting go as you reel down without having to manually tighten the drag. My drags are never tightened down for any kind of fish.

Exactly the same. B/C aren't real popular here, have seen maybe 6 of them in the last 10 years, don't see many conventional with level winds either.

I'd try changing equipment, sounds like the way you are holding and gripping is putting pressure on your wrist and fingers. I personally feel nothing is more comfortable to fish with than spinning tackle, and for me any rod without a foregrip is rod I wouldn't own. I cast with my hand on the foregrip, not only is it more comfortable but I can set the hook with more power and less effort that way. I can understand why one would get sore gripping a b/c reel, especially with a larger fish when the reel can torque a bit, that doesn't happen with spinning gear. I don't own a b/c and I don't get sore or tired, I fish the same Florida canals as well as saltwater.

Beautiful !!

Knowing the length of my shoe, if it's a nice fish I just pace it off and use a chart weight, close enough for me. Only time I would put a tape on fish is if I'm going to keep it and need to make sure it's legal.

Yep.... I'll take open water fishing over anything else, whether it's a bass or one of my favorites, a permit.

Outgoing tide for the most part later this week. Today may be good as we have a calm west wind and tide will be coming in at about 6;00 am, I won't stay until noon for the change. Days like today and tomorrow are some of my favorites as it's snook on the outgoing then toss for cuda on the incoming. The mullet has been very thick coming thru the inlet at about 5:30 am the last few days, the run lasts 10 minutes and it's and it's done, not a lot of fish around as the greenies haven't showed up yet. This has been the slowest in the last 30 years for me on artificial lures, I may take a bait rod today for the first time this year.

I use an ordinary clinch knot with any mono or copoly line (floroclear being one of them), when targeting larger more aggressive fish I'll use an improved clinch. The key is just to tie it correctly and don't fish if it isn't.

I would think this accident is covered under the building's insurance policy.

Off Quantum's web site about troubleshooting line twist, nothing that has not been mentioned before. http://www.quantumfishing.com/CustomerService/Troubleshooting.aspx?KnowledgeID=2778 http://www.quantumfishing.com/CustomerService/Troubleshooting.aspx?KnowledgeID=2774

If you don't mind I'll give you a few tips on catching them in an inlet, myself and about 6 other friends have been casting for them nearly everyday (when possible) for the last 10 years. Catching them with live or cut bait isn't too difficult, we fish for them using surgical tubes, we all make our own as they are superior in quality to store bought, doesn't make them more effective. The warmer the water the better and we are coming into the season for them, best conditions when fishing an inlet with artificial lures is clear, calm incoming tide with a west wind. Barracuda like the tide change and usually start to appear about 45 minutes before the tide starts going out, the last 5 minutes they may be hunting like a pack of wolves, then it's over when the water gets dark. What I described is the primo time but we catch them other times as well. The tubes do not attract smaller fish, don't get many under 35" and most are over 40", but it's a slow go that takes a lot of patience. IMO there aren't many fish around here that strike like a cuda, it's awesome and for me and my friends it's well worth the wait for them, at times I don't even see one for weeks. This is a pic of how I make my tubes, theory is a resemblance to a needlefish.

I have a few Walmarts close to me, none of them have any real deals. The only items I buy there are Poppa Dogs, Mirror lure twitch baits and xraps. For bass fishing I'll pickup Zoom flukes and hooks. The fishing departments have really shrunk in these stores, the positive is they are open 24 hours.

It sure does sound like cottonwood. I would be fishing different water if it was that annoying.

Probably using a rod spike and not setting them down in the sand. Seeing as I don't bait fish when I'm fishing the beach it's 1 rod and it never gets set down. Heading out to catch the last of the tide in a few minutes, haven't snook fished in a few days. Had monster tarpon hit me yesterday, glad it spit the lure, would have spooled me faster than I can type this post.

I own a number of spinning reels produced by most of the major manufactures, including 3 supreme mgs, a medalist and an arbor. Only my Pfluegers have never seen a repair shop or even cleaned, I cannot make that claim for any other manufacture. If there is a negative it would be the drag on the supremes, a bit on the weak side but excellent performance and fine for bass fishing. Of all my Floogs my arbor is my favorite and most used, I have 50, weighing only 12 oz with good line capacity and a superior drag, not to mention as smooth as any reel I have ever owned, reel strictly used in saltwater.

Shimano does make a nice spinning reel, but so do other manufactures. In my neck of the woods the most popular Shimano spinning reel is a spheros (not the most popular of all spinning reels), they are built to take it. You won't see too many other mid priced Shimano models as they are reffered to as sand magnets. I think the stradic is a fine freshwater reel, I limit the use of my 2 stradics for jettie or sea wall use only and I like them. I won't use them on the beach for fear of sand or getting dunked or offshore use, just have seen too many reels no longer function well in those environments, those reels are just not built to take it. There is more to a reel than smoothness and a good drag, durability under harsh conditions is also very important in my book. High end Shimanos are probably as good as it gets, but I don't put mid priced ones on a pedestal. Not knocking the product just saying there is a time and place for them.

All my reels are spinning except for 1 offshore conventional reel. My freshwater reels have never been serviced and have been in use quite a few years. My saltwater reels get service when they need it, which isn't that often, I fish year round, usually 7 days a week so my stuff gets a lot of use.

Several years ago I had oiled my Spheros 4000 with an oil other than Shimano's. Some months latter I sent the reel in to Shimano for warranty service and was denied, reason was I didn't use Shimano oil. At one time we had a Shimano rep on this forum, no need to mention the name, and claimed it wasn't true, he was totally wrong. Recently I replaced the knob on one of my stradic 4000 fi, the rubber was wearing off. Before ordering the part I did an internet search, I was not the only one with this problem, one guy in fact had 5 stradics with this problem. The very same Shimano rep chimed in on another forum claiming the problem was due to a chemical present in some sunscreens, no one on that forum used sunscreen or insect repellent including my self, just another misrepresentation and not fessing up. As I was ordering my knob I noticed how many stradic parts were either not available or on back order for quite a few months, I don't care how good their products may be out of the box, their service makes me want to shop elsewhere and I have been.........

Any line is going to twist on a spinning reel, even braid to a lesser degree, swivels help somewhat but will not eliminate it. The type of bait being used and how it's rigged and retrieved also help in keeping the twist to a minimum. IMO you need to start with the basics and that's spooling the line on right. I first condition my mono or coploy by putting the spool in warm water for about 10 minutes, then spool up but not over fill, before fishing troll your line out. As I use lures that rotate 360 degrees constantly the line twist gets bad, no compromise on this issue, the line gets trolled out at the end of my outing each time I fish.

Haven't been snook fishing in days, only cuda fishing. Barracuda may be one of the hardest fish I fish for to catch, need the right kind of tide, water condtions, wind direction and a lot of luck. This week we have had those perfect conditions, doesn't mean they show up (a couple of days they didn't) they may follow my tube and not strike, or strike and miss the hook, or get hooked and cut you off in the pylons. I will cast for 1-3 hours and maybe get 1 actual strike, yesterday I had a bunch of strikes, 2 hooked one which instantly cut me off in the pylons and 1 on the deck. A low catch rate, but this is about as exciting as gets for me.

Get well soon !!

As much as I like my supremes and I'm going to use them until they die, I'm in love with the Daiwa Lexa. If I were in the market for a bass sized reel or as light duty inshore reel, the Lexa is at the top of my consideration list.

With many lures, flukes and very often hard jerkbaits I do not reel the the lure in, I move them with an arm sweep then reel up the slack. I know we all catch bass on spoons, buzzbaits, spinnerbaits and cranks, contrary to speed I believe I catch more bass (snook too) on the pause or drop. I think a fish almost always will go after the easiest target, that's a bait that is not moving fast, fish spend less energy. I'll fish this technique to my grave. Agree with 00 mod about speed retrieval and line twist. Keeping the hook centered is very important, I kinda stretch the fluke a bit so it has a slight humpback, if I can I would much prefer fishing a fluke on a 1/8 or 1/4 oz plain jig head.