SirSnookalot

Enjoy !.............sweet outfit for snook off the beach.

If the knot was tied properly in the first place (a bad knot may hold a few fish for awhile), and if the line was free from any kind of abrasion, no 14" fish is going to break 10# line. When it comes to freshwater, I'm lazy, I don't change my leaders very often and use the same knots for days and sometimes weeks, my knots and lines do not break, and I use nothing but a clinch knot. B/C gear is not needed, I don't even own one. No question that b/c are very popular, but the question is need, for me it's not needed.

I have that tourney rod in 7' med, I actually bought that rod and used on drift boats with a 5000 Penn spinning reel. At present I have a 4000 spheros mounted on it and it's my frog rod for snakeheads. I've handled kingfish and bonita with it, but imo it feels bulky for repetitive cast and retrieving. I believe in the price range there are more comfortable alternatives with newer technology. I'm saving the rod for trade in at BPS next year.

I don't tournament fish but I don't think it's cheating at all. If it's legal, enjoyable and productive I don't see any reason not to use it.

I like those blackfins, perfect eating size. Heading offshore this morning for a few hours, our fishing here doesn't compare to the keys or further north.

10# wow...........wtg !! When I read the topic title I thought you were cruising the beach in Boca, hehe

Ribbon fish as far as I'm concerned are a real annoyance. The put up little if any fight, they total destroy lures, no real food value, except for bait. When they invade the area, I leave and go bluegill fishing.

I'm as anti gun as it comes, without a doubt I'm in the minority on this site, but on other sites and in my personal life I'm in the majority. I worked in the inner city of of Detroit most of my life and at 1 time I did carry a pistol, glad to say never had the occasion to pull it out. With kids at home the gun was locked up, I was uncomfortable with a weapon, I got rid of it. I've been mugged 2 times, in both cases I was somewhere that I shouldn't have been, had I had half a brain I'd have no problems. The perps were on me so fast, they probably would have shot me with my own gun, that said all I got was a blade in my gut.......lol. I fish areas here in Florida that are very seedy and I fish early in the morning, all kinds of marginal characters floating around, homeless are stacked up under many of the bridges. In 9 years no one has looked at me twice. What some else does is their business, but I don't want them around me. As far as I'm concerned there are just too many hot headed, irresponsible, untrained people walking around, IMO putting me more in harms way. If this country gets invaded, I have confidence in the army, navy, air force, coast guard, state and local police forces, much better equipped and trained than me. I don't see the need to arm myself against my own government, if I were living in Somalia I may view it differently. As far as hunting goes, I think it's a fine activity, but how many deer are walking around wearing a flak jacket, is there a need for a 30 round clip and an automatic weapon, that's like fishing with 65# braid for a 2lb bass. A true sportsman would go the best 2 out of 3 falls in hand to hoof combat, I put my money on bambi.........lol.

Tuppens does have a good selection. I have 3 Star rods, my handicraft is on my conventional offshore reel, real nice rod except I wish I would have bought 1 size heavier. My 2 spinning Star's are both steller lite's, my mh 10/20 ( fish above) is probably my #1 used outfit, with a stradic 4000. My Hvy 25 lb is used mostly used off shore, with a soron 60 is for light trolling, some jigging or reef fishing. The pros, very good back bone and excellent casting distance, negatives, reel seat does not seam real solid, I have a shim under the reel foot to shore it up and the tip has a hard feel to it, but I'm used to it.

How many times have you casted a lure, worm or whatever and the instant it hits the water a bass is waiting with an open mouth. I doubt if a bass can distinguish what is that fast. Some days it's easy and other days it isn't.

I think it's unavoidable.

They should hit anything, top water lure would be my favorite.

I met one guy that swore by the live target lures, for my kind of fishing I'd be hard pressed to spend that much money on a lure that I might own for 15 minutes, I have wanted to try the waxwing, but not at 19.99. I catch a lot of good sized fish on a $2.00 bucktail, that and DOA flukes are about all I use. I don't even use xraps anymore, when it's a hard lure I'm using a bomber windcheater for 8.00.

I've bought a number of reels on ebay, bought a set of golf irons too, never had a problem.

Probably the one with the best deal at the time, both reels will do the the job. As noted, for salt or brackish water I would not select either reel, a step up in quality would be cheaper in the long run. The sahara 2500 weighs less than the president 35 xt (xt can be used in salt), both have about the same line capacity. From both personal use and observation, there is less emphasis on weight of reels for salt water use. The sahara is graphite construction and the president xt is alum. I like the handle better on the sahara than I do on the president xt. Both reels are fairly smooth and have an adequate drag, imo it's a toss up.

I gotta admit it was one of the better fights I've had from a fish of that size, I didn't weigh or measure it but I don't think it was all that heavy, but it had a pair of shoulders. I had my pier net with me and if possible I would have netted and released it. You know how far it is from the tip of the south jettie all the way to the back sea wall, well after chasing it down my net was all the back on the jettie. One of the fisherman had a gaf, I gave him dinner, I don't carry an ice chest or ice with me and don't even have a filet knife to cut up on the spot. Even if I did filet it, I don't want with the fish wrapped in my car while I'm fishing.

We do get bigger ones here at the inlet. The people that target them use live or frozen crabs and fish for them at night using some serious conventional gear. You have read enough of my posts to know mh rods and 4000 spinning reels is my standard motis operundi, don't know how many more years I can keep doing it, age is creeping up. I have tried many times in the keys but that was my first permit.....ever ! I can see why it's a sought after gamefish.

A really nice fish !

I was watching badminton the other day, it's not played like we do in the backyard. I really enjoyed the doubles match I was watching.

Quite true ! Don't take my recommendations, my snoopy out fit is one of my favorites. All kidding aside, even before I go buy, I try and get a couple of weeks of home work in. I recently bought a reel sight unseen on line, something that I just don't do. I did very little research and bought strictly on stats, not that it's a bad reel, but it didn't pan out as well as I hoped. I made a mistake by being too hasty.

00Mod, your avatar fish looks 20#, lol...........state record? hehe

Hit the rif at 5:15 am, 2 nd cast and tarpon on, short battle as the hook was spit on 3 rd jump, too big to land anyway. A few more casts and I get another strike on my 1/2 oz feather, there was no quit in this guy. Drag screaming and line peeling off I was forced to chase it down on foot, from the tip of the jettie back to the sea wall (I later paced it off as 300 paces, like about 275 yds). I did the unforgiveable thing of nearly locking my drag down, still didn't stop it and I was lucky 20# braid and 30# leader held (hard to beat an improved clinch), finally with help we pull it up, the permit looks at me as to say " hey buster is that all you got".

First of all it's beautiful fish. You had the length and girth measurement, there are a number of weight calculators (one on BR that would put your fish about 7.7 lbs.) that will give a pretty fair estimation, no worse than a guess from a picture. Your friend had a scale and it read 4.5 lb, if the scale is in working order I'd be surprised if it was off by 3 lb, I could buy a few ounces off. Call it 8 and pat yourself on the back.

Your opening post was at 2:30 and it appears as if you made a decision by 9:30, 7 hours without seeing, fondling or putting a reel on rod to see how it feels. The best knowledge for me has been thru my own mistakes, it's only a reel and it won't be your last. My personal track record regarding line management, quality of construction, durability, drag, and how well the reel operates 6 months later, guides me in future purchases, not to mention customer support. I'ts pretty hard these days to get a really bad reel.

It should not happen with a rod used for the second time, either the rod was defective or your procedure wasn't good. No method guarantees 100% success in freeing from a snag, I use a few techniques that work fairly well. I was dead set against this method until a former BR member convinced me and he was right. Tighten your drag all the way and snap the bow. Another way is too tighten the drag, then pull straight back not allowing the rod to bend, the tip will not snap. If I can't free it with these 2 methods the last thing I try is opening the bail or put the reel in free spool taking all the tension off the rod, set the rod down and I wrap the line around my my shoulder and pull as hard as I can, either the lure comes free or the line /leader will break, providing you aren't using 50# braid, pull the line and not the rod This is a last resort measure, the lure can come flying back. With that long winded response, sometimes you are just better off losing a lure and some line.