SirSnookalot

Glad to hear it worked well for you, what I did not mention was actually grabbing the spool, I probably do that more than just palming. I have pulled some really hefty fish out of heavy cover by grabbing the spool, not to say it works each and every time, no one lands them all. I didn't make this up myself, I actually learned it watching Mark Sosin, a saltwater TV host, not only do I use this technique in saltwater but apply to my freshwater fishing as well. As far as using this technique with a b/c, I can't comment as I don't use them, there are not many fish I can't handle with spinning gear using 15# or 20# braid. Most 15# braids break at 30+ pounds, in essence you are using a thin 30# test line, works well for the way I fish. If I need a rod to handle heavier lures, I just use a bigger spinning rod, same reel and line.

Thoughts, yes.........advice, no. I've cut back my bass fishing the last couple of weeks, even though it's been a bit cooler the humid seems to be higher and the gnats have been out in force. When I do get out the fishing as had some very active days and dead ones, the fish have been puny. I won't get too focused with my bass fishing until the mullet run is over, hopefully that won't be until sometime in November. At that time I'll be fishing a lot more, about 4- 5 hours saltwater in the morning and 2-3 hours bass in the afternoon.

I jinxed myself, was dead today. Caught 1 snook and real nice ladyfish and that was it. West wind, calm water, no bait and fish.

Posting in this section as not everyone reads the other species. If some are looking for a change of pace, the beach and some of the piers and jetties are on fire, the mullet run is in full force. I can't begin to tally the numbers, but very impressive, at times a fish a cast. I've been catching snook, jacks, bluefish, pompano, ladyfish, sp mackeral and snappers. The fish don't run run as large as they were a couple of weeks ago, but it's great action on light tackle, if you have a young child it's a great experience for them. You don't need anything but a spoon, gotcha or a jig. Fair warning, not all places are equal, I did exceptional well off Juno Beach yesterday, drove up to Jupiter inlet just a few miles away, and never saw a fish caught.............I was really surprised.

Education is a major concern these days, at face value education seems to be not nearly as good as when I was a kid in the 50's and 60's. At that time Detroit was regarded as having some of the finest schools in the country, sadly that is no longer the case. Everyone tries to cast the blame elsewhere, and that can be one heck of a debate, but a MAJOR problem is the lack of direction from parents, especially in our inner cities. As a kid, my parents and the parents of all my cousins were involved, each and every one us have advanced degrees, with professional careers or business owners, some of us are now retired. My wife's kids (I got them late in High School) were given the same kind of opportunities, my wife is a wonderful mother, their father was a high school teacher, I take no credit. These kids now have kids of their own and education is first and foremost, I'm hopeful they will excel in life. My heart goes out to the children of 1 parent homes, or where both parents are working more than 1 job and don't have the time to devote to their children, gotta say some just don't care. No one ever said life is fair, many success stories have their roots in previous generations creating the right atmosphere along with financial support.

In Florida the FWC has no jurisdiction over private ponds, or is a license required to fish them. In most of the communities I have been to the number of people that fish are small in comparison to the number of residents that live there, HOA's seem to be more concerned with aesthetics. In my community the HOA has our ponds sprayed for weeds every couple of months, Palm Beach County and the LWDD do the same in the canals, this may retard the bite for a few days but there is no evidence of any fish kill. The state, I don't know what department handles this, stocks ponds in communities to create an ecological environment and aids in insect control. Both birds and animals are attracted, I saw a half eaten 20" or so bass yesterday, looked like an otter beat me out to the fish. The real issue here is not education, but whether residents or the HOA really care, my guess is they don't. Making waves most likely will result in a negative impact, meaning you can't fish there anymore. Stomping on any fish isn't cool, if anything it's cruelty to animals which is a Humane Society or police issue, but I really think that's kind of streeeeeeetch.

Couldn't agree more with this post and others Marty has posted. I've been giving this digging in issue some thought lately, from what I see the only difference between b/c and spinning is how the spools sit on the reels. The potential is there for line to dig in on spinning when something substantial is pulling out drag, it's happened many times to me. One cast after that fish has been landed and the line is setting on the spool as it should be, to me it's a 1 cast inconvenience. I do understand the desire to use heavier line if one adheres to the philosophy of "yank and crank", a fishing style I don't care to associate myself with.

Just as important, if not more so than line strength, is reel line capacity and good helmsmanship to chase a fish down, but that's for much larger fish. I would negate what I just typed regarding the average fish most of us catch on a daily basis, whether it be bass or inshore fish. I don't believe anything extra ordinary is of paramount concern, use your drag, play the fish, and fish can be landed with lines that are not the highest on the strength list.

55 minutes is pretty quick to get a fish in of that size, after reading the article the angler thought so too. Yokum fully cashes out when he's 105 years old...........could that be a typo and should have been 20 years?

Certainly nothing I would do as a resident, but he lives there and you are a guest. I live in a community and at least my HOA isn't all that interested in the fish population, mentioning it to them just could result in some kind of enforcement, it isn't worth the mention. HOA board members AKA condo commanders, best just to stay away from.

A hookset can exert more pressure on your line and knot, I'm not one that sets the hook real hard, I do not run into breakage problems. Most braided lines have a breaking strength greater than the number on the label, the strength does vary between manufactures. If I'm looking at 20# braid that breaks at say 35#, in essence I'm using 35# test line. If distance were an issue I might consider the thinnest line with the highest breaking strength, an example might be 20# Spider wire ultra cast that breaks around 50#. Never used the product so this is not an endorsement. All this said, a average 20# braid should be able to handle a minimum of 20 -30# of pressure, weight and fish pulling strength, I think using your drag correctly contributes to success as well, at least that's my opinion.

20# PP breaks around 36# which is pretty much in the middle of the pack and it isn't to break, I know nothing about Tuff Line. On my 30 size reel I use 15# PP, 20# would probably be ok too but that would be my max. I fish over lots of rocks and coral reefs, using a leader I seldom get my braid abraded. Sounds like going back to PP or some other well known line may be the solution, I personally don't favor 1 name brand over another.

Bad calls happen even with "professional refs" and we lived with it before plays were challenged and reviewed. I personally don't care for the red flag, but see the need with the plays being instantly replayed on the jumbotron. Unlike golf, football is game where the players do not call penalties on themselves, at least there are temps working and we have football, the alternative is no football until a settlement is achievement.

Better than even chance you don't have the time to pull a hand or stun gun, a perp is coming out of the shadows with no warning, you've been mugged before you have seen them. Bassn was telling me that a perp with a knife can get you faster than you can pull out your piece within 21 feet, my neighbor a retried Indiana state trooper told me the same thing, and these guys are under constant training, not just a class. I see lots of homeless here in Florida, most of the time they are just sleeping under a bridge or in the bushes and want to be left alone. The cases I have heard about where a panhandler grabs a purse out of car, they just run away, let them have it or the car, all that stuff is replaceable.

I agree with robdob, 65# braid is strong enough to lift the titanic or tie up your tomato plants. Bass fishing is just one of many species I fish for, they are the smallest I target. I use 10-15 and 20# braid for bass and all my inshore species, I do use 30# braid on a couple of offshore rigs, just about everything is done with spinning gear. Never is too absolute, so I'll say seldom do I have any line failure, or knot failure with the 3 basic knots I use, clinch, improved clinch, and loopknot. I do not search for the best line, best rod, best reel or best of any thing else, it all works, I just fish. Unless one is catching larger and powerful fish on every single cast, which I know does not happen, this digging in issue makes little sense to me. Yes 15 or 20# braid on spinning sometimes may dig in in after a 20 pounder is caught, but 1 cast and it's back to normal. If line or knots are failing, most likely it's some kind of user error, I've had but 1 broken guide causing my line to break in years of fishing and I do this 7 days a week.

A jig is probably the most universal artificial lure there is, will catch any game fish I can think of. There is almost is a limitless number of varieties, I stick with just few types. I use mainly bucktails for all of my inshore and bass fishing, very successful with them. This year I'll be going with some bass style jigs and trailers for a change of pace.

I've used both 4/0 ewg and worm hooks for my flukes, yesterday I proved to myself I like a worm hook better.

Why? I'm catching great bass and other species in January wearing shorts and a t-shirt.

I don't really understand what the need is for a flat sided fighting butt, especially on a light rod. Honestly I had to look it up, I never heard of one before, and after seeing the picture, it looks useless to me. Maybe the butt should be renamed, there is nothing fighting about. A fighting butt is a gimbal butt to be used with a fighting belt, hardly for panfish or bass. All of my Hurricane Redbones have hardloy guides and full cork fore and butt grips. The only negative to those guides is that I have had quite a few rust out, these are saltwater rods and used in SW. Fairly inexpensive and fast repair, so it's not a big deal. In fact I have no idea of what kind of cheap generic guides are the replacements, but those don't rust out, go figure. I can think of only 1 cracked ceramic insert on all the rods I've had, that was quite a few years ago, I'm not real picky on the guides. We have guys here using 18 oz reels on 30 lb class rods and casting them all day, weight is not our issue.

Yep ! Nothing wrong with the knot unless it's tied wrong. If a tooth critter hits either the knot will still be entact or it's gone, I don't think it's weakened. Line doesn't break unless there is something wrong with it, especially 65 lb braid or you hooked a 200# largemouth. I've caught many 100-200 # fish on 30# braid, only thing that breaks is my back.

The young man is working a job plus other activities, not to mention in high school there is always some kind of peer pressure. A 30 year college grad may look at college as being some of the best times in life, all ya gotta do is go to school, how many times have you whined about a test or a teacher ..........cut the kid some slack.

Message is clear, that line isn't for you, try something else. If the problem still persists I'd be going back to plain ole mono or braid and spinning gear, I doubt that the numbers of fish you catch will suffer. Sometimes a huge variety of choices and technology ain't so good.

Go for the wimmenz..........

Monday North northeast winds 8 to 12 knots. Seas 2 to 4 feet with occasional seas up to 5 feet. Dominant period 5 seconds. Intracoastal waters a light chop. Isolated showers and thunderstorms. Tide change is about 4:30, will be outgoing..........may be worth the trip to the inlet. Hopefully some groundswells, if that's the case snook should be present. I did hear the bluefish were in town up at the Juno pier Saturday, given the weather I'm not surprised. I may run up there in the next day or 2, I do like that beach.

Opposite today, west wind, flat water, no fish. A pod of jacks came thu the inlet for about 10 seconds and I nailed one on a top lure. With all that water pouring thru the inlet the current was incredibly strong, this 2# jack (if that big) nearly out muscled me.