SirSnookalot

I keep no records, the year was ok for the most part. I probably fished somewhere around 340 days this past year, been skunked in saltwater, can't remember being skunked in fresh, it may have been only a 6" fish, but I caught it and avoided the schnied. I probably didn't catch more than a couple of dozen fish with convential gear, just about everything was caught using spinning rigs. All the 20-25" bass, snook over 30", larger jacks, tarpon, and my largest fish may have been 180-200#( about a 7' reef shark), were pale in comparison to my permit. Caught the permit where there are none, caught it on as bucktail, they prefer live crabs, ran it down on foot 300 yds so I didn't get spooled, luckiest catch of my life. I don't weigh fish as a rule, but I have marks on some of my rods so I have a good idea of lenght. I ended 2012 with a 45" cuda and started 2013 with a 24" LMB.

Two kinds of trips, one on a charter where the Captain is doing the fishing by picking the water, the bait, the gear and I'm doing the catching. I was in Puerta Vallarta on a charter, started the day with a 100# amberjack, then quite a few snapper 20# + and some bull dolphin, slept well that night. One of my favorites was a 2 day trip with my son in law in the backcountry off Islamorada, sight casting for tarpon, redfish, trout, tripletail, bone fish and permit, nothing has ever come remotely close to that.

Fish a less and spend more time with my wife. That said it's 3:15 am and I'm stepping out the door to go fishing.

I'll save you a little space, wear your pliers on your belt with a sheath and lanyard, can't lose it. I wear one and have 3 back ups in the car and 3 or 4 more at home, all sheathed.

To each their own, but I agree for me it's useless. The A-rig is nothing new, striper guys been using them for ages, even for stripers it isn't that much fun trolling them. The times I've caught 2 bass at the same time using a drop fly rig or a double fluke rig (which I'm not overly fond of either) the bass seem to swim in unison negating much of the fight I may have had with just one fish on. I also do not care to use rods big enough to handle the additional lure weight.

I never go thru my tackle, I buy pretty much the same things all the time and I know when I need to replace them, which is usually on my way home after I'm done fishing. I use freshwater baits, inshore baits and offshore tackle, my replacement procedure is the same for all.

My choice is braid every time. For me the pound test is determined by the water I mostly fish with that particular set up. Fairly open water I prefer 10# braid and for more heavily vegetated areas I go with 15# and I'm using a 20# floroclear leader. The heavier leader is used because I'm fishing some high banked canals, makes pulling them up a lot easier, if I were closer to the water it would be a lighter leader. The set up worked very well for me.

I would Google Stu Tinney, he is one of leading freshwater striper anglers in the country, you may find some useful information. He was living down here in Florida for a few years and I fished with him quite a bit. I've done my share of striper fishing on Long Island and the Jersey shore, I would be using the same set up as I do for snook and juvenile tarpon down here, that gear should do well in freshwater as well. A mh 10/20 inshore rod with 4000 series reel, being a braid man I'd be using 20 lb. should be sufficient for average sized fish, but stripers can get large, that's when the fun begins. Just about any bass lure, spoon or bucktail jigs will work, I might try something different just for the heck of it. Barracuda tubes were first use not for cudas but for stripers, legend has it a fisherman from Maryland was the originator, tubes were created to resemble eels. Great fun to catch fish on a surgical tube, just something else to do for a little variety.

I was only saying I wouldn't use a big stick for a little guy that, but if you need it......go for it. Take a whole 30-40 seconds to land it, that's impressive. When ages catches up to and you can catch a Cobia like this on a little rod, that's graduation time.

I fish spinning tackle exclusively both in freshwater and saltwater, I have caught nearly every popular North American species. As many feel lesser quality reels perform more than adequate for their needs, however better quality reels should provide more durability over the long term, question is do they really. Quite a few people have had their spinning reels quite a few years with a cost of less than $100, with minimal or no problems, not a bad way go to just to replace that reel every 3 or 4 years. Your stella would have to last about 18 years to be as cost effective, not to mention living with older technology for nearly 2 decades, but it still works. Ideally would be buying a new stella ever few years if it's in one's budget. Should the target species have a bearing on the quality of the reel? IMO absolutely ! It's one thing to land a species that may battle 60 seconds or so and pull out a few yards of drag, entirely a different issue when battling one that strips out tons of line and can take 5-10 or 20 minutes to land. The Jack Crevelle in my avatar is probably about the same size as nice smallmouth, I can assure a fish like this will won't be landed in 60 seconds or less even using a bit heavier reel, for these kinds of fish I do use a better quality reel (and they still break down), for freshwater bass I don't think it's necessary, my top price would be $100.

If it's Shimano for freshwater, probably the sahara or symetre, saltwater nothing less than a stradic. For me it boils down to feel on the rod whichever brand or model I buy.

Fishing about 340 days a year may qualify me to be die hard fisherman, I target many different species.

That's true about bass, the like to swim towards you, but I have encountered very few rocks that swim, so set the hook ! I've never fished with a bass fisherman, so I don't know how they react, from my experience I've not noticed any difficulty in detecting a strike. I also do not use bass jigs, whether 1 brand is superior I don't know, but I do use bucktail jigs and fish them a varierty of ways for bass. One of my favorites to use is a bonefish flats jig with or without a worm trailer.

Getting skunked 4 times is a lot IMO. If you can't catch something on a senko, it may just be the water and not you, I'd be trying a different area.

Yeh it is confusing, couldn't tell you what to do. I have some where around 8 or 9 inshore combos, many kind of overlap each other and I could easily whittle that down to 2 or 3. Just keeping them all with good line is an expense I really don't need. That said I'm thinking of buying a new one, lol.

A real man is one that lives up to his responsibilities and provides for his family if he has one. I don't judge a man by his dress, but by his actions, whether he be a layman wearing overalls or a professional wearing $5000 suits.

Not that the fish in the avatar isn't a beauty, but this only amplifies my opinion of not wanting to use a rod heavy enough to handle a 3.5 oz lure for a fish that size.

For some reason I can't explain some of my spinning reels after they have been in service awhile do not stack evenly, they did when brand new. One reason I always respool myself, instead of a tackle shop doing because they take the spool off the reel and it's always perfect, but if there is an issue with reel you are going to know when you're fishing. Sometimes it becomes trial and error adding or removing shims to get the line stacked up just right.

All I got was a bill in the mail for $7300 for my wife's dental reconstruction.

I'm sure that knot works just fine, as do most fisherman's knots tied correctly. My concern with any knot is pull thru, not breaking strength of the knot or the line. If your drag is set correctly a larger fish is pulling out line and IMO that takes much of the stress of line and knot. What I like to do, especially with braid, is singe the tag end and put a little bead on it, does help to prevent the line from pulling thru the knot.

I use moss green. I personally don't need to see the line. One thing I'm convinced of, I may not see what a fish does. I can't see a dark lure in the water at night, but a fish will strike it, even a black or purple worm is productive, and that bait can't be creating too much vibration.

I've yet to own any Shimano that hasn't needed some kind of repair, mine are used in saltwater, repairs aside an excellent performing reel and my stradics are my favorites. My 3 supremes are used i freshwater, never a problem , very good reel but won't buy another, I'm getting way too many windknots. I'm bouncing something else in my mind and may take a shot if I can find one locally, an Okuma trio hi speed 20, has a whopping 18# drag on a 8.8 frame that can be used as a crossover into salt water too. I'm really not committed one way or the other now. I'm buying a 5000fj for my next inshore outfit, decision is made, that will be on an 8' Okuma cedros mh, I really like the metal reels seat and hoods.

If it's BPS I call ahead to see if my item is in stock. I much prefer a small tackle shop because I'm and and out in minutes, even if the item is a little bit more expensive I've saved 90 minutes drive time, wear and tear on my car, gas, and more time at BPS than I really want to spend, the price may be cheaper, but I've spent less money and time the local store. Simple philosophy regarding baits, if they don't have I don't need it, I'll use something else.

The only thing I order from BPS are HOT LIPS jigs, I like them for my saltwater species. They are packed in a 3 pack and I'll usually order 3 to 4 packs, I can't drive down there cheaper than the shipping, not to mention the time. If it's a rod or reel, then I'll make the drive, those items I want to see in person. It's about a 45 minute drive each way, I always take a rod with me and fish someplace, there are both freshwater and saltwater canals in the area.

If it's an inexpensive spinning reel it may not be worth the effort to work on it. I fishing only spinning, down here in Florida my reels are in use 12 months of the year with well over 300 days a year, that's a lot of fishing and a lot of fish. I do next to nothing for my spinning reels and they have been in great shape for 3-4 years. All I do about every 6 months or so is put a drop of oil in the handle bearings and some lube on the spindle. I no longer use oil, A Shimano tech of all people turned me on to "Corrosion Block" a number of years a go, this stuff is magic. Even though this is fresh water the humidity down here can cause corrosion. When it comes to a more expensive reel, professional service is my choice, I get 3-4 day turn around time, cost about $16-$20 and I have recourse if the job is done incorrectly, which has never happened.