SirSnookalot

Being in the metals business I bought and sold commodities for a living for 35 years, not futures but physical property, needless to say on my level I had no affect on prices. I don't think energy commodities are too much different than others, prices rise and fall with demand, costs of production, wars, sanctions, disasters and reasons I can't even think of. It isn't unusual for a supplier to cut production when demand is lower to keep the prices up. All commodities are a complex business, there is probably no easy answer to the question of why, all that are involved are going to put on their respective spin. Like Rhino I have seen wide swings in the prices of steel, copper, aluminium, etc, even in a drastic price reduction, I don't see prices of the finished product coming down.

Birmingham, Michigan

My kind of fishing does not require pin point accuracy. Fishing year round I can put my bait where I want to.

Some of my inshore reels take a beating, 2 sorons and 2 stradics are acting up a little bit, this time I'm not going to send anything into service but replace the reels with new ones.

We saw it Friday, it was good, maybe 30 minutes too long, I was happy to see Judy Dench killed off, never liked her character, but I fell in love with the new Moneypenny. Daniel Craig may be be the most athletic bond, but lacks the personalty and British wry humor of Connery (a Scot) or even Pierce Bronson (an Irishman). Nobody wrote Bond like Ian Fleming and it was written for Roger Moore who was busy at the time doing the Saint tv show, hence Connery a former bodybulder. Javier Bardem stole the show, he was excellent and for the most all the acting was good. A little Bond Trivia, in only 1 movie did Bond fall in love and get married, "Her Majesty's Secret Service" with George Lazenby (Australian), his only Bond appearance and thought pretty good too, Telly Savalas and Diana Rigg, one of my Bond favorites.

Retired about 10 years and I don't miss working. When I was in business my last 10 years or so I was a broker working out of my home with some field work. My average work day was about 3-4 hours, I left at 6 and was home at 10. I played golf almost everyday, did some fishing in the late pm or evening.

I went back to my peacock spot about noon and get several more, this time I had 6/12 clarus and 30 supreme and it was big time fun catching a pea that was only about 3#. I did take a photo but with no lure in it's mouth or anything for size reference it's pointless to post it.

Quite true, but using the drag correctly takes a lot of pressure off the line and the knot. Lines and knots in good shape should never fail, unless rubbed over something, then they really weren't in good shape. I've never caught a 19# sm, but have caught 19# and bigger jack crevelles, snook and tarpon with 12# line and an ordinary clinch knot, knots and lines no problem.

Fishing both salt and fresh every day, unless I get skunked everyday is a multi species day. Pretty windy today so I opted to skip the ocean and go to the intra-coastal. No bait around but I did land a snook, a small one about 26", then I hit on 3 jack crevelles, 1 small and the other 2 were around 5#. I stop on the way home and still using my 2000 reel and med spin rod and same xrap I catch a couple of bass and peacock. I haven't been out for my PM bass fishing yet but yesterday I had 7 in about an hour and caught snook, jacks and peacocks in the morning.

I've caught some hefty smallmouth when I lived in Michigan and catch some great LM here in Florida, of the 2 I'd prefer DD LMB. The closest we have to smallmouth in South Florida are peacocks and jack crevelles.

Tying a knot should be second nature requiring no thought at all, if it doesn't look right do it over. I don't care what "fishing knot" is used, they should all hold without issue if tied correctly, nothing is more important than the knot. I inspect my knots before each outing, if they don't look good or the line is a bit frayed near the knot, I retie. My knots seem to last a good while without the need to retie. Catching 20-30# saltwater fish on 15 or 20# braided line is pretty common, knots and lines when healthy do don't fail.

I think so too, not to mention putting in a lot of time. I personally put less emphasis on what baits I'm using as compared to selecting my fishing location. I agree with WRB about fishing them slow, I don't use too many larger swimbaits but 1/4 and 1/2 paddletails have been working well of late, they just aren't for bass.

I put long underwear on @ 70 degrees, I've been freezing in Florida...........and I'm a Michigan man, lol.

Give yourself a warning point.

Too my knowledge I haven't received a phone call from any charity I've donated to as a request by the family of the deceased, seems like a card is all I get. I contribute to some charities direct and I will get a card sometimes. The calls I get are from fund raising companies that are representing charities like the Fireman and Police and the conversation usually opens like this " hey thanks for your donation last year".......fact is I never donated. These charities get nothing , those fund raising companies keep much of the money as administration costs and little goes to the charity itself.

I've got a few of the Rage products, haven't used them yet because they are so pretty, can't bear to take them out of the package.

Nope. As long as my combos are comfortable to fish with, I don't need to upgrade or match for my bass fishing. I don't know about any one else, but my bass don't average 5-10#, I land them within in seconds, how much rod and reel do I really need, imo not very much. I'd be jumping all over a sahara for $49, that is if I needed a reel which I don't, looks like I may have several more years of use added to the 3 years already, a drop of oil every 6 months is as much service as I needed, I'm having plenty of fun catching bass with them too. I do not own a shimano for freshwater, I've worn a few out in the past, I do own 4 of them for saltwater and they are excellent for that purpose, but for me spending anything more than $100 for a freshwater reel is overkill.

Looks like the tubes I saw from a U-2 plane flying over cuba in 1962

Do you plan on using the rod from the surf? The surf is probably the only place I'd be using a longer rod 10' or so, if your boat has a bimini top casting is easier with a 7 foot rod and you can always run the fish down. Stripers can get pretty good size, I would never target them with anything less than a mh 10/20 rod with a lure rating less than 2 oz., IMO that's bare minimum for that species.

Always gets scanned at my doorstep. I get USPS packages from overseas a few times a month, a signature is required, If I miss delivery it's at the PO next day. There have been times when my parcel was delivered but to the wrong address, the tracking has told me of the delivery so it was scanned at that delivery point. A trip to the PO and the information is given to me as who signed and the address is was delivered to.

You know I don't weigh or measure them, but I'd guess maybe 2-3#. Pound for pound they may be at the top of the freshwater fighting list, I never caught anything in Michigan that rivaled them.

2 years after the freeze I finally caught a peacock in Delray, about 2 miles from my home in canal where I used to catch a lot of them. This was a nice fight, I'm hoping there are some more.

Always for me is what I plan on targeting, the rod I'm going to put it on (how it feels on the rod) and the budget. Pflueger president seems to be the initial point of inquiry, I have 5 Floogs, 2 of which I use in saltwater, the freshwater reels get a lot of use. Of every brand I own only my Pfluegers have never needed repair or service of any kind, each one is very smooth. In fairness one reason my freshwater reels have stayed in such good condition is due to what I'm catching with them, that said about any reel 50-$100 should last and perform as well given the nature of fish you'll be catching. Do not use your criteria for catching bluefish or stripers be a guide for a bass reel, it's totally different.....don't get overly hung up in the brand war.

Most of my calls were automated and from the party I'm registered with. PITA but understanding what's it's all about I wasn't all that bothered, caller id was a big plus.

I wouldn't eat anything out of these Florida canals. It's a pretty fish and it was great catching something that I hadn't caught before, the fight was about the same as a LMB of the same size.