SirSnookalot

The moon phase isn't really much of a thought to me, weather and wind have more of an impact than the moon, conditions dictate where and what I'm fishing for. I feel I have had better success on the new moon, but that may just be a coincidence. I try not to get too high, lack of production breeds disappointment, I try and just take it as it comes. But I'm human and I hate when I get excited with perfect conditions and don't catch much.

Freshwater, spinning only 10 & 15# braid.

If I were to buy a b/c it would have a left hand crank, for me it's doubtful that will ever happen, although I have thought about only from the standpoint of just doing something different. Not to start a debate b/c vs spinning, but there isn't much that can't be done with spinning gear. As DVT has mentioned the blanks are identical, except casting rods are available in a wider and heavier range of sizes. Only time I jump up in size of my rod is if I'm throwing heavier baits or having to pull fish out of thick cover, if my 2000 reel lacks horsepower I use a 4000.

It does say targeting. I'm not really surprised, redfish is an excellent fish to both catch and eat, people do travel to locations to specifically fish for them. My son in law just got back from Venice La, ( he's from Indiana) fishing for reds. I do target certain saltwater species, for me it's the weather, the tides, the wind direction and time of year dictate what my quarry for the day will be.

Interesting. The saltwater survey participants may be heavily weighted from certain geographic areas. Do they catch redfish in the Pacific? Are there any targeted fish that don't bite?

I've had a bad spool, but it's been rare for me. As far as storage goes, I had a spool of Big Game 25# never used in my hot Florida garage for about 5 years, I needed to respool and it used it because it was on hand. The nearly 300 yds I loaded suffered no adverse effects, I used that line for about a month offshore. I will say I was nervous about using it, maybe I just got lucky.

I like what Alpster said. I fish artificial lures as well as live and cut bait. The only times I never feel a bite is fishing cut bait, I do it in the ocean but I don't think freshwater would be different. Every single time I'm out fish pick a hook clean of bait without you ever knowing it, happens constantly each outing. Both little bait stealing fish do it as well as some of the larger fish like kingfish, the size of the fish isn't all the relevant, braid, mono, hi end or low end rod, you just don't always feel the bite. What I do feel is the line getting taut just before it moves, pretty much the same kind of feel I get when fishing jigs for bass. Since bass inhale a bait, they don't pick a jig apart, you feel the fish as it starts to move. I don't believe they stop, sit down at the dinner table and dine, they inhale and move. At least that's my belief and I'm sticking to it. I think the rod plays a minimal part in detection and experience plays the major role. If fishing moving lures, strike detection is that much easier. I select my rods for comfort, construction, and how well they handle my target species (which I don't know until I've bought the rod, and I've made the wrong choice too), sensitivity is barely a concern. Hope I explained it well, I know what mean, but not sure how it reads.

I use pretty much the same lures for whatever species I'm fishing for, toothy or not. I do not use wire leaders and I do get cut off, it's the price of doing business. Some fish I target wire greatly reduces the strikes, top water baits don't work too well with wire, either do plastic flukes, I use them for tooth critters all the time.

I don't care to deal with any warranty that isn't over the counter, it isn't worth my time and effort to send it back. If it's a simple repair my local tackle shop can fix it quickly at a nominal price. If it's a major repair costing over $75 plus shipping, I'd toss the rod and buy a new one, not wanting my old rod back, but if the money went for a replacement I would spend the time and money. This "insurance" program is no different than auto or healthcare (let's not make this political) it's a pool, those that don't need repair or replacement help defray the costs of the ones that do. I've broken few rods, all my fault and the mistakes I made don't happen anymore, those rods were replaced at my own cost. The rods I use now, have exceeding the lure recommendation all the time, I use the line of my choice, have lifted fish out of the water, have flipped fish up to a jettie, like 8' high. The size of the fish is almost irrelevant, very large fish have been landed on very light rods. I do not mamby pamby my rods, I use them hard and they don't break.

I've been on the member map for quite some time, it isn't where I live, it's off by a few miles.

I did have a place to go out of the wind, sadly the bite was not on. Had I gone to the inlet 12-15# jacks made an appearance, so I blew that...lol. I went to the inlet yesterday and the jacks were back, wind down a bit but beach fishing was out. To my surprise the only jacks caught were on bait, they wouldn't hit jigs, plugs or spoons, pretty unusual. Did hook a couple of small snook, bite didn't start till after sunrise. I'll be back today with a bait rod, not my normal motis operundai, but a 15# jack ain't nothing to pass up. I do understand they are killing the snook at night there. With my wife going out of town I'll either be there at night or take a little trip to Sebastion, I want something different to catch.

Many freighters today can carry over 10,000 TEU's( 20' equvilent unit), each teu, aka as a container, may have over 10 tons of weight. If my math is right that is 200000000#, that's a lot of stuff.........Question is how much stuff is in one Walmart.lol........answer, alot !

I'f get the 30 for a 6'6 med rod, had it been a 7' med I'd go with the 35. In fact those are my set ups, except mine are supremes and presidents. Ain't that the truth.............backing isn't needed either, it's not a bad idea for cutting costs.

This is the best I've found for Florida. They have been having trouble with the site, so it will be down for a short while. Go to Managing & Protecting water on the top, scroll down to weather and water, then click real time. Every flood gate is listed, with map, and indicates open or closed. All kinds of great info thru out the site. http://www.sfwmd.gov/portal/page/portal/sfwmdmain/home%20page

Great catch, I loved it ! Should have put a tape on, that snook probably was a legal slot. A 31" snook will weigh between 10 & 12#.

We have a guy here from Finland, he pronounces Rapala by rolling the R. Mepps cyclops spoons have the gram weight embedded on them, not ounce fractions.

I've found nothing works better for me, I just use a short leader, same basic concept.

Yep ! I have an old timer here that fishes the canal behind my home almost everyday, he uses nothing but chicken livers and almost always scores........he eats them all the time out of these disgusting canals too, must be ok, he's past 80 and healthy as horse.

I'm sure a freshly laid egg tasted pretty good. When my dad has his market some 50 years ago he bought Page & Cox eggs. He sold them 2 ways, all jumbo eggs some with a single yolk and the others were all double yolks. He bought them by the gross, 12 dozen all doubles and sometimes triple yolkers were available, don't see this anymore. Another thing you never see are unborn chicken eggs still in the chicken, no shell and they are sooooooooo good, I miss those in my chicken soup. Back then we didn't buy chicken parts packaged at the local supermarket, we got them at a butcher and bought them whole, butcher would cut them up for you, my mother always wanted to cut them herself.

Less line capacity would be the only negative, but for most fishing you'll have plenty of line. IMO a lot people have gone to heavier braid because they see it used on TV, whether it's tournament or a fishing show. When I watch I see fish caught that are literally dragged in and boated within seconds, yes I know the object is to land them quick and make another cast, I'm not really interested in fishing that way.

yes it is http://www.walmart.com/

Sitting here wondering where should I go and what I should fish for, ate breakfeast, showered and I'm ready to roll. This is the weather right now. Monday East winds 19 to 24 knots. Gusts to 30 knots. Seas 6 to 8 feet. Dominant period 6 seconds. Intracoastal waters rough in exposed areas. Showers likely and slight chance of thunderstorms. You know I can't stay in..............gotta get my fix.

Time out of the water will vary with the species, carp, catfish and snakeheads for example cab be out of water quite a while without dying, bass, perch, panfish not so long. Feelings are an emotional response, I doubt fish get emotional, but I believe do feel pain. Ever hook a fish and have it swim towards you, imo that's the fish trying to relieve the pressure from the hook. I catch cuda and I step on these fish for hook removal because I don't want them taking a chunk out of my leg. I stepped too hard one day and this cuda let out with squeal that sounded like a pig. I think they feel pain, but this is a blood sport

I don't have a micronometer, is that the tool?, lol. Seems to me measurement #3 is wanted for comfort purposes, I don't think it has anything to do with performance. I do understand the concern, I have bought one reel over another regarding the same issue, but I've done in person. If push came to shove I'd buy the reel that may be more uncomfortable and get used to it if I liked the other aspects of the reel better.

Only time I would use a MH rod is if the vegetation is thick, otherwise I'd opt for a lighter set up. That being said not all mh rods are the same, some may fish lighter. I would personally use a 6'3 mh rod for larger species, 3/4 oz-1oz spoons should be perfect for that rod.