SirSnookalot

I wouldn't be taking a cavalier attitude about this storm, many millions of people will be affected to some degree. It's one thing to have a serious storm in BFE, but another in one of the most populated areas of the country. I'm very concerned about the hanging crane in Manhatten.

Last year my son inlaw took a trip to Venice, La. Sent me the pics, awesome redfish, amberjacks and yellow fin tuna. That's a place I need to go.

I bought one of those in 1969, a Mach 1, 4 speed, biggest engine (don't remember the cubes), dropped the exhaust and put side pipes on. Wish i still had it today, worth a real nice buck now.

Been listening to the news, minute by minute it's getting worse, landfall is expected tonight at at cape may NJ and the storm is working it's way up the the artic circle. I don't if any else had seen this documentary a few years ago on history or discovery as this storm was predicted. Not only are millions going to be affected, but other things as well like the economy and not be be political but voter turnout may be affected. I will say here in Palm Beach county every precinct I drove by had lines of 100's of people in line for early voting.........that's good.

What's the cause of that weather? Can't be from Sandy, can it?

Hit the inlet yesterday and today, big winds and surf still here, a river of mud and a lot of debris so I decided to fish elsewhere. I fished a spot in the ICW where not only the wind was at my back but a building blocked most of the wind, so it was comfortable to fish. Yesterday I catch 2 slot sized snook, daybreak comes and it's some jacks, one jack was around 22", same scenario this morning except a bigger jack. Poor photo quality so picture post, next stop 20 miles north, that's big jack country, breaking out the heavy gear.

I read that too.........awesome! We had about 12 feet here, still have them today too. The guys that have been here for nearly 60 years have said they have never seen it so bad, in some places we have lost 50-100' of beach. My son inlaw's brother lives on the beach, his home was flooded, so much for the high water mark. This is what the storm did to our jettie, no telling how long it will be closed for repairs, gotta wait for the sea to calm down before they can even work on it. This is one serious storm..........

Don't think I didn't realize that.........haha.

I fish all species of fish pretty much the same way with the same type of set-up, rod, reel, lines and leader will vary according to my target. It's spinning with braid and a mono leader, for bass and smaller it's 10# braid, of my 25 or so combos only 4 are freshwater.

I haven't been to lake Ida in a while but I have caught many peacocks there, don't know what's it like after the freeze. My best success for them (fishing from shore) is to park in the very first lot off lake Ida Rd, and fish it back towards the bridge, most of the time it has been weedless fishing. I'm just starting to do some freshwater fishing, the ocean is kind of off limits for a while, I did find a very productive spot yesterday morning in the ICW. I have had little success freshwater fishing, the ponds and canals near my home have been very sub par, but my last few snakehead attempts have been terrible, been all over coral springs. Dropping my wife off at the airport around noon tomorrow, give coral springs another shot on my way home.

You're killing the stripers up there, good job. Florida is a great place, but don't come here just for the fishing, go where you have the best opportunity for you future, you can catch fish anyplace. Louisiana has some really great fishing too.

1st lid..........7 bucks, 1963.

For the record I catch and release for the most part, not debating harvest, trophy fishing or any other reason people may have for releasing or keeping fish. The OP "Catch and Release: an American thing?" The opinions on BR are from bass fisherman, but not all Americans fish exclusively for bass and not all Americans participate in an online forum, that said I don't think the full American fishing picture is displayed. Just looking at it from the sportsman point of view and not the people that are in need of fish to feed their families, so many people do keep their fish. You would be hard pressed to see avid saltwater sportsman not take home a snook, redfish, wahoo, snappers, kingfish and the list goes on and on, I've yet to be on a boat that has no ice chest aboard. Living in a coastal area this is what I'm exposed to. Do I see people, in my opinion, abuse the privledge even though they are in their legal right, sure do and those people don't get the time of day from me.

Clayton, you may think you always see a lot of trucks on the road, but in slower economic times those numbers are reduced, although the average person probably doesn't notice. I've been thru a number of downturns and recessions since 1973, when business slows trucking is one of the first to feel the crunch. Whatever path you take, nothing is easy, if it was everyone would be doing it.

Snook never disappointment me, they will go ariel on occasion too, one of the reasons I enjoy them so much. In South Florida we get hoards of people from the NE corridor (with all their Van Staals of course) and the first word out of their mouths is stripers.........that is until they catch a snook, jack or tarpon, stripers are never mentioned again, lol. If only we had redfish in Palm Beach County, that said we had a rare occurrence about a week ago, 4 over slots were caught off the Boynton jettie on bait.

I've caught a few small pomps by accident in the surf, I think the blue fish may have come and gone, caught a bunch about 10 days ago.

5;am update, looks like landfall is just a little south of NYC now, around Delaware bay, it's still very windy here 6:30 and for me to be home and not fishing, you know it's rough. http://www.weather.com/weather/hurricanecentral/tracker/2012/sandy

Both the Europeon and American models show landfall near Long Island and heading inland. There is a wide band of likely power outages, looks like millions of people may be affected, if I lived in those areas I'd do my best to get prepared NOW.

Being in the scrap metal biz I have driven all kinds of trucks for 35 years, no double or triple trailers. If you can drive and back up a small trailer or boat, you can do a semi, it's easier as it doesn't jackknife as quick. As already said, just from the driving aspect and not addressing time away from home which I didn't do, it's extremely stressful. The most important thing in driving a truck is how the trailer is loaded, balanced, secured, and the proper amount of weight on each axle, a load that shifts is nightmare. These " Ice Road Truckers" have some pretty big cajones, I wouldn't do that for a million dollars a year, lol. One of the happiest days of my life was when all my trucks were sold and I never had to drive one again, I don't miss it all, I don't even want a pickup. What the pay scale is today I don't know, but like all other businesses the big players get most of the trucking and it isn't easy for independents to break in. I shipped loads to Ridgway, Pa. 2-4 times month for 25 years, used many independents, they were cheaper but not reliable. Being gone for quite some time, I have no handle on the prices of rigs today, my last purchase was in the mid 90's, tractor was about 85K (not an over the road which are more expensive) and trailers run all over the map, our 6 axle dump trailers were about 65K.

Yes it is, we have 2 jetties there and both have been reconstructed within the last 2 years. Prior those jetties were 2' lower and no guard rail, just flimsy wire cable, we much preferred it. As you can see from this photo taken yesterday, it can rough here, the new guard rail helps to prevent people and gear getting washed into the the water. What the purpose of 4'x8' steel plates bolted into the cement is for I don't know, but one exploded yesterday, no telling how long this jettie is going to be closed now. FYI, the piers around here are at least 2-3x times higher, I never fish them , it's too high for my taste.

Don't give me more credit than I deserve, that fish was caught Tuesday, windy yes, but very fishable. Today the jetties and piers are closed, it will be a freshwater day.

I fan cast with the emphasis closer to shore, I prefer shallow running jerkbaits.

As a consumer I owe it to myself to by a product that best serves my needs in both price and quality. Whether it's fishing gear, appliances or a car, I want my money well spent. If an American company can give me what I want, I'll take a good look, if they can't I'm shopping elsewhere. As said "Made in America" goes just so far, if they don't stack up to the competition, in time they will go by the wayside.

Only time I pay attention to the prices are when I'm in the market to buy. I love a deal and will look around a bit, but if I want something I'm not shy to pay the price when I want it.

For me it's all about the fish and water conditions, not single or treble hooks. In open water situations fishing for a smaller species it's a med 6/12 spinning rod fast tip. No longer in Michigan but have caught countless S/M when I lived there, the closest thing down here to compare is a peacock.