SirSnookalot

Glad it worked Zeny, I don't wet the lighter lines, only the heavier ones.

If I cared about the weight I'd have a scale with me. I guess them as I really don't care, my 5 pounders are probably really only 3........yours is too. As long as your having fun what else really matters?

It isn't the equipment ! Probably location, as the saying goes 90% of water has no fish in it. As mentioned I would go with some type of plastic worm, probably the best way to to break your cherry.

Don't buy too much, give yourself a chance to see if you are really "hooked". The vast number of rods, reels, lures and other baits can be overwhelming. I've been at this for 60 years and I just keep things down to basics, I keep it simple. As far as those surf lures go, use them. I flip flop all the time between my saltwater and freshwater stuff, I don't really segregate them. A predatory fish is a predatory fish regardless of where you're catching it. Don't think for a second that a senko doesn't work in saltwater.

I use Pline 20# floroclear offshore, have caught kingfish to shark, 10#-200# fish, line and knots hold perfectly. I attach my leaders via swivels using a clinch or improved clinch, seldom have the need to retie unless cutoff and that's the leader not the line. Try singeing the tag line with a bic, putting a bead on it, helps in preventing pull thru, works well on braid too. Any knot tied properly will hold, personally I never saw the need for a palomar knot, I use clinch and loop knot.........that's it.

My lite saltwater spinning outfit is almost identical to my most used freshwater set up. I use inshore rods for both, 7' med, 8/17 with 1/4-3/4 lure weight, bass sized reel(2000), both outfits have been used in both fresh and saltwater many times. You pick the brands, most will do the job. Inches per turn (IPT) is what counts, not the ratio, with that said, I get so many strikes on the pause that I don't burn that lure in anyway. I think I get my distance from the rod more than the reel, it's where you put lure rather than how far you can toss it that matters.

Verizon and their vendors have a 30 day return or exchange policy, I've used it. You can purchase insurance up to 30 days after the purchase, I didn't but I'm considering it, $89 is floating in my head.

In one aspect I think by hand is better. If getting a spinning reeled spooled at a tackle shop generally the spool is removed from the reel and placed on a spindle then fed onto the spool perfectly level wound. By spooling by hand you will know instantly if the spool loads top or bottom heavy (uneven), requiring a shim. Machine loaded will not show this imperfection until you're out fishing. I hope I explained it well. For my b/c which does not have level wind a machine at a tackle shop does a better job.

That's a mayan cichlid, not a peacock.

hand

Assume your scale is accurate until you buy one that you think is more reliable. Have you confirmed that your present scale is not accurate? You have your weight, move on and go catch another, that fish is history, you can't weigh it again.

I'll address spinning. First of all without actually being there it's difficult to know exactly what the problem is. For freshwater I use 10# braid, heavy cover I use 15# braid with a leader and I always use a swivel. I employ a saltwater set up as I use a heavier leader, 20# mono for my bass fishing. Lures get a loopknot, hooks get a standard clinch (these knots hold my snook, tarpon and offshore fish which are larger on a regular basis in saltwater). You may be stretching the leader and burning it,is it wavy, although I have never had a negative reaction when I've burnt it. I never make a hard hook set.

I have a Commando, one of the reasons I bought it was the earpiece, the clarity is almost as good as my flip phone, I offed my incredible because clarity was tick-poor at best. Display isn't great in the sun and the camera& flash could be better but overall it's treating me well.

What am I missing? There are number of people on BR that only use spinning gear and some of them catch some really great fish, me being one of them.

I'm in Delray and only bass fish from shore. As far as I'm concerned the bass fishing is very weak in this area from shore from May until about January, boaters do far better. I have a good canal behind my home, but the water level is so low now I'm hard pressed to catch anything, even my community ponds are not producing like they do in the winter. I might suggest looking for deeper canals like the Bob West or the one just north of Boynton Beach Blvd., off Hagen Ranch rd or 441, those 441 canals can be good too. Try the points where two canals are intersecting. Haven't caught a Peacock around here in over a year.

I'm not on the bandwagon for the most sensitive freshwater gear, I do not have any problem in feeling the slightest bump from a fish when using any type of artificial bait. Here is where I do find sensitivity very important, fishing cut bait. There are many species and I'm talking large fish that can surgical strip a bait without you ever feeling a thing, you may not even see your line tighten up either. A good quality rod with braided line will serve you far better.

Everything in freshwater is done with spinning gear and braided line, I mean everything. I don't own or would consider buying b/c gear.

John, this is a non scientific explanation. Tarpon and some other species like a Goliath Grouper bodies cannot support their internal organs when out of the water. I really think it's illegal in Florida but I'm really not sure about that. Catching them from boat or on the beach does make unhooking them much easier. From my experience most tarpon I see hooked never get landed, they either throw the hook because they jump and twist so much, jaws are incredible hard and it's difficult to keep them on the hook and their gill plates are as sharp as razor blade (snook too)and often times cut right thru the leader. Once you get past the size of the juveniles like over 50# or so having enough line on a smaller reel can be a problem too, it's a lot of fish for a 4000 series spinner. I'm in awe of the guys that catch 100#+ on fly rods.

We don't get catch fish or even but every day, but glad to say we are coming into the hot fishing from now until November. Caught only 1 today, Tarpon , not big maybe 20 or 30#, broke off as I was lifting it over the seawall. Wrapped my 20# outdated Power Pro around my forearm, line held but the 40# leader snapped. Frowned on to take them out of the water but I wanted a pic for J Francho

Didn't get the snook out of the water, so no pic and as a rule I don't walk around with a camera at 5am when I'm alone in the dark, no flash on this cell phone. Snook fishing is almost identical to LMB as far techniques and baits used (some call them saltwater Largemouth). I may go back to the same place this morning and jig with a DOA shrimp, hoping to get another Cubera, they can run upwards of a 100#, not that I would land it. This is a small Cubera I caught a couple of years ago.

Most of these lakes are private but not all. There on some lakes with public access on one side of the lake, a public park for example not a community park. If you have to access a lake by going on a residents property, go somewhere else.

Had the incoming tide so I knew my chances were minimal. I went to a spot in the ICW that I seldom go to and when I have, it's been luckless. Fishing near the lights I spot a huge shadow in the water, less than 10 feet away. I pitch my xrap and instead of reeling it in I used arm movements to lure the fish, it worked, fish on. Moments later i tried to lift the fish over the seawall, couldn't get it's head out of the water so it was a hefty fish, opened the bail and gave it it's head and before I knew it 40 yds of line was off my spool. One jump, fish gone, we both were happy as she swam away healthy and I got my xrap back. A few minutes later I hook a cubera and # for # made the snook look like a bluegill. Topped it off with a 30" cuda on a tube.

I only use spinning gear and braided line for all my fishing that requires me to cast lures, sometimes when I'm offshore drift fishing as well. I can do just about anything I can think of with spinning gear, pull fish out of heavy cover,flip under docks, fight larger fish in open water. Personally, I would't own a b/c.

If I were to be targeting bass, mono leaders for me. If targeting pike wire is really the way to, I generally do not use wire for any species, I take my chances on losing lures and getting cut off. When I do use wire I will not buy manufactured ones with snaps, I make my own either using piano wire and a haywire twist or coated wire and crimp it.

I use Eagle Claw hooks, from bass to sharks no failures.