SirSnookalot

I guess everyone has their own thoughts. I'm not a trophy hunter and the chances of me catching a 15# bass is slim, however I have caught many 8#+. I'm doing just fine using lighter plastic swimbaits, not only am I not spending $20, 30 or more on a lure, I don't have to use a heavy rod for an 8# fish, which suits my fishing style.

I make my rod decisions based on a few factors, boat or bank use and if it's bank like in my case the sides of the canal are pretty high. I take into account the lures I plan on using and how tough the cover is, and lastly how the reel feels on the rod, IMO the reel is less of an issue than the rod. For my high banked fishing I'm using a salt water inshore rod 7 med' 8/17, both rod and reel are light and the balance is near perfect, I use this outfit 90% of the time for any lure or technique. Pond use is a 6'6 med (fishes more like a ml) 6/12 with a reel that balances well on it. With the gear that I use my bass fishing is the most comfortable kind of fishing I do, the combos are effortless to cast and retrieve. Using equipment any heavier would negate the enjoyment I get from bass fishing.

I understand why they are doing this. Being on their web site they are hoping items are bought on impulse like checking out at the cash register at a drug store or market.

Got my new on in the mail today, I wasn't surprised what was inside as a got my BPS offshore angler a few weeks ago. Many of the rods and reels no longer list the specs, just a quotation to visit the BPS web site for more info. Looks I will be restocking my lavatory library with some new literature.

The welders out in my scrap yard always wore those flapped hats......, those hats seem to be a tradition in the junkyards, lol.

This is how some local bait and tackle stores stay in business for decades. I was having a bit of trouble with one of my abu sorons, it felt a bit " sticky" This past Sunday, I took the reel into my local shop. Jack, the owner, pretty much just comes in and works on reels and does some stock ordering, he has a rod expert coming in on Saturdays for repairs. I pick up my reel this morning(Wed) at 7:30, that's 3 days including Xmas day. All that was wrong was somehow a piece of line got wrapped around something inside, as long as it was apart he cleaned and lubed it, the beauty was NO CHARGE!, in addition to lighting fast service. Rods are even faster, providing his man is not on vacation, I can drop a rod off Sat. morn at 6:00 am and pick it at 6:00 am Sunday.

We don't celebrate xmas and no longer exchange gifts for Chanukah but all the grandchildren get gifts from us for the holiday each one celebrates. Every year and this one being no exception my wife buys a couple of dozen gifts for needy children and drops them off at a local toy bank all gift wrapped by her.

Love that lure

Good for you Addicted !! A man's most valuable asset is a good wife, glad I have one. She is there for me everyday of the year, that's enough of gift for me.

Other than my 1 rod and few lures for freshwater all I have with me is a pliers and I wear a pair of socks for ant protection. I do wear a fanny pack for my inshore fishing still only 1 rod, with more than enough lures, some swivels and leader line, pliers and a flashlight I wear around my neck and sometimes a pier net.......that's it. I didn't always fish this light, the years have taught me that I catch as many fish now than I did when I was lugging all that stuff around, so I keep it simple. In all fairness I'll have some other rods in the car, I fish for a variety of species but I usually know my target before I leave home, which is predicated on tides, surf height and wind direction. I will have med spin rod in the car for a little bass fishing on the way home. When I'm offshore in the ocean I take 3 rods (2 of which are always in the rod holders on the bimini top out of the way), as we mainly drift with live or frozen bait I have an ample supple of hooks, king rigs, and terminal gear, a few spoons, jigs and lures for casting and trolling.

Some of the DOA jerk shads I buy are glow in the dark, never saw anything to it. I don't fish for bass at night, but snook in the dark almost everyday.

Some years ago I was eyeballing a Quantum Cabo 30 in the showcase at Sports Authority that had been on close out for months at $79. Great price at the number but I called the manager over and said " what do you really need to move this reel out of here", I paid $60 and reel has been perfect.

If the guide is solid, insert in place and there are no cracks in the metal outer ring of the guide, don't worry about. I've got a cracked guide and haven't had time to take in, put a little duct tape on and it's been good for weeks.

I'm in Palm Beach County and the canals are pretty high banked here, guessing 6-10 or maybe a little more. Quite true in summer it's hot everyplace and the bugs can be bad, but not this time of year. It's comfortable, the fish are biting and I've become to prefer the higher banked canals, I feel a bit security between me and the gators and snakes, watch out for the ants. I fish 2 canals the majority of time, each about 3/8 of mile long, being that high up fish do not get spooked. I've yet to be skunked and have caught fish up to about 8# and fish daily. There are plenty of fish in these canals, just a matter of getting hit or not. I never knew what easy fishing was until I started fishing Florida canals, literally shooting fish in a barrel compared to a larger lake.

This is the page I saw, but now I see it's available in a clam pack. http://www.cabelas.c...ng-reel-1.shtml

IMO unmatched by anyone, I still watch his videos. I don't watch too many shows, but enjoy Bill Dance's lay back sitting down approach, editing aside of course. I've seen him on his saltwater series and as guest with others, this man knows what he is doing. Every now and then I'll catch " Seasons on the Fly", I love their enthusiasm and those trout are beautiful.

There are dozens of videos on line showing step by step procedure. I always put a strip of masking tape on my spool first, I either tie some of the above mentioned knots or just place the line on the masking tape and put a second piece of tape over it. Nothing wrong with using a knot but it isn't needed for bass fishing, you will never get spooled down that far and the tape avoids any slipping. I personally am not a fan of backing, I just don't care for a knot in the middle of the spool, but's perfectly ok to do it.

It's sold out and would have been a very nice buy. The new Sahara FE has a graphite frame and would be ok for me for freshwater use. Shimano products, Sahara and above are excellent, I'm less impressed with their lower priced reels. For the sub $60 reel I'd be looking at Pflueger or an Abu cardinal. One of my supremes is just starting to wear down after about 3 years of year round fishing, bass and snook, that's a lot of use and I have gotten my money's worth. For me it doesn't pay to service it, I'll be replacing it very soon with a new symetre.

See where the flex point is, middle is pretty much med power and the closer the flex point is to the tip the faster the rod is.

Your level wind should spool your line on evenly, we don't use level wind reels we use our thumb to evenly distribute the line. Step 2 for me is to always troll my line out, for both conventional and spinning, I'm getting any line twist out, getting my line nice and limp and getting it tight on the spool.

When it comes to bucktails I've been using them for 60 years, bluegill to billfish and just about everything in between, IMO there is no better lure that will catch more species. Is there a difference between a bucktail and a bass jig, probably not so much really, they do pretty much the same thing except the construction is slightly different. I don't use trailers too often with bucktails but when I do it's just a plastic worm, very effective on bass, snook and tarpon. Depending on my water and current I'll either swim them with a bit of an eratic motion, jig them or just float them in the current. For bass I like a "flats jig" and some come with weed guards, bucktails with a worm trailer will slay stripers. This is just the top of the iceberg, they can be used with cutbait, livebait, casting, trolling and drifting. If I could own only 1 lure a bucktail would always be my choice, a bucktail is a bucktail, dont' care who makes it, none of them last long anyway.

I use braid and spinning gear for 100% of my freshwater and inshore saltwater fishing. My freshwater probably gets changed about once a year (we have a 12 month season and I fish every day), for some reason I get more than my share of windknots, probably from throwing lighter flukes. I don't encounter too much in the way of my line getting abrasion, due to the kind of water I'm fishing. My inshore fishing uses up a lot of line, get cut off on rocks, coral, barnacles and the kind of fish we catch, most of the time I'll add line using an alberto knot. Only fresh spools for offshore use, don't trust a connecting knot out here.

I pretty much only fish canals in and around Delray, the bite has been very good with fish up to about 8#. The last few days the bite has considerable slowed down, only 4 Sat and 2 Sunday, in about 2 hour outings and nothing with any size. I probably had more short strikes the last 2 days than I've had in 6 months, fish are not too aggressive.

Glad everything is AOK, K_Mac, keep up the good work. I've been scared once, the night my wife had a stroke at age 49. Luckily ( I''ll spare the road to recovery) things turned out well. She is my concern, glaucoma, high blood pressure, high cholestrol and a few other problems, everything is under control with medication and eats a perfect diet, problem are genetic and not lifestyle. I had a stress test some 10 years ago, read the report and started to write my will. Saw a specialist had another stress test that indicated I was fine. I've become a diabetic, fairly under control with medication, however I had to recently change medications as my diabetes is advancing. My dad died from diabetes complications, I don't fear death, but I do fear being a burden to my wife. At present my cholestrol is 118, b/p 117/67, weight near perfect, but 3-4 packs a day will probably bury me. I had a moose walk thru my campsite in Hawk Junction, Ontario, nothing ever scared me more than that.

@ Alex, if there were only 1 fish on my bucket list it would be a Grand Trevally down in your neck of the woods.