SirSnookalot

I started gripping a spinning set up in the traditional manner, have no idea when my hand moved up to the foregrip. My pinky rests in front of the reel foot on the grip. I personally feel I have better leverage for a hookset, better leverage when I have larger fish on the line (not unusual to grip up on the rod shaft), less wrist and forearm fatigue especially for 10 or 20 minute battles, and moving up reduces the tip heaviness to some degree. Would never consider a rod with out a foregrip and never go back to a traditional gripping of a spinning outfit.

Common sense is usually one's best guide. Pretty simple if single get out if it isn't right for you, being married can be more complicated than that. My wife has no interest in fishing or golf, she has gone a few times just to be with me, even took some golf lessons. She much prefers to attend a book review or go to various lectures, when she has asked I've gone with her. A good relationship is give and take, each situation has to be evaluated on it's own merits and shortcomings.

Matthew I played golf over 50 years, mainly as a recreational payer with some club amateur tourneys. I've attending pro tournaments, Majors and Ryder cup. True in tournament play there are officials on the course, mainly to give their opinion for certain rulings. An example would be a shot with an obstruction that is not part of the course ( tv cameras, wires, grandstand seating, etc.), the official is there to tell the player where to take relief. A tournament golfer a pro or amateur and avid recreation players call penalties on themselves with out the official, at least they should be. To quote (paraphrase) Roger Maltbie, " You wanna play this game, you gotta know the rules". Whether a puff of wind moves the ball after the club has been grounded at address, or a fisherman hooking a fish outside the mouth, that isn't legal. There is not always an official on the sport or tv cameras around, this where the honor of the sportsmen comes into play. Didn't Dottie get hooked outside the mouth one time without credit being taken, did I recall that correctly?

I did catch a triple tail in the keys, don't remember much about it.

You may want to read what you wrote. You said fishing kept you from doing a lot of dumb stuff, now you say you did do a lot of dumb stuff. You said grades were good enough which may gave the impression of just getting by, now you say you went thru graduate school. I don't believe I missed anything based on what was originally posted. There seemed to be a blanket condemnation of non fishing students, like many aren't as motivated as you were. I had children in college that were very motivated, did they do dumb things, of course they were kids.

Couldn't disagree with this appraisal more. An event is not compared in difficulty to other events, it's people doing the same exact thing. Based on your thoughts would bass fishing be a sport if it were compared to the NFL or NBA? Probably the heaviest thing you lift is a 5# fish and how many times a day do you do that. You can sit and rest at will but liken yourself as being in a sporting event, if so I find it hard to diminish cheerleading as not a sport. If officials are only needed to keep the peace you may want to try golf, might be the only sport where the individual calls penalties in themselves. On the college level there are usually no caddies, carry your clubs up and down hills in the hot sun and see how easy that is.

I suppose the Grand Slam may vary based on region, for me it might be a snook, tarpon and permit. I did it once and it was from shore.

The bump is common on males.

Yep...........chicken rig. Butterfly jigging is a variation of vertical jigging which is older than the hills. Most companies today make something very similar. it's one of the hottest techniques going on now.

About 2 weeks ago I fish a dock with underwater lights, couple snook swimming around. 3 days and a few dozen casts no luck. I go back yesterday, snook on my seconds cast. Go back again this morning, first cast this time produced about a 24" snook, good chance the same one I got yesterday. Heard about an 8# bass, tried the place after the snook, not an 8 but 2 very nice LMB. Got to to stop off some peacock action on the way home, 15 minutes later as I was saying "last cast", pulled in this pretty one. Caught on yellow and chrome flat rap.

Spend what you want. A nice rod and reel certainly affects ego and makes one feel good. As Catt always says fishing is done between the ears, that's going to give you more pleasure than anything you might buy.

I share the same opinion as RSM 789. Both people have the option of doing as they wish, there is no financial commitment in dating, nor does it always last a lifetime. My wife is my queen. She raised the children, goes to the market, prepares the family meals, takes care of the majority of the household duties, and worked outside the home as well. A women's job isn't easy and financially less rewarding than many men. My wife comes first, her purchases do not justify me buying anything. Both my wife and myself are responsible with our finances, we don't have to ask permission. We know what we can afford and what we can't. My wife earned my devotion, there isn't a fish to caught or a rod and reel to be had that comes before my wife.

Cheerleading a sport why not, it's competitive and athletic. An event that is internationally popular, competitive, athletic and skilled is ballroom dancing. These dancers are incredible athletes, gets my nod being sport.

Just like bass fishing the rod and reel should match the conditions. Fishing off a jettie or sea wall I like a 7'-7'6 MH rod with a 4000 reel, off a beach or boat I'd be fishing a tad lighter. The little extra beef in the rod serves 2 purposes, lifting or springing a fish up and keeping it out of the pylons, which would be similar to pulling a bass out of heavy cover. Up and down the Atlantic seaboard spinning gear is most popular, many Gulf fishermen prefer b/c.

Pretty narrow minded opinion of non fishing students, they don't all walk around mindless and buzzed all the time. Kids are kids and will experiment, a college fisherman never took a drink or did drugs? Dumb people do dumb things. In today's world job competition is fierce, just getting by with grades good enough isn't good enough. You need the best college resume to get the best jobs. Not a thing wrong with being a pro fisherman, I don't see that much need for college in the first place. Fishing for a living is like any other business, start at the bottom and try and work your way up. Just about all businesses require an investment (usually means some debt) and the need to generate revenue starts from day 1, few people start at the top. I did not persue my college career, if making 6 figures from 1975 on was good I guess I did ok. That ok put me on the bottom rung of the ladder of many of my contemporaries. There isn't a day that goes by that I think my "good enough" was the best I could have done. I wish I would have taken my schooling more serious. It's more that income, it's about being the best you can be, I fell short.

WRB is right about loops, what causes it is slack line. A good method is to lift the rod first then close the bail, the line is straight and the chances of a loop is greatly reduced. Yes I get loops myself when I'm a bit careless especially with a lighter lure. When ever I spool up with mono or copoly the first thing I do is soak the new spool in warm water, doesn't take too long, the line gets limp and should not coil or spring off the reel. Before fishing I troll out the line, about 80-90% of the spool. If possible I prefer to troll out mono and copoly lines before each outing.

The recorded history isn't quite clear when Passover started, either at the Exodus or after 40 years of wandering the desert. At any rate it's about 3000 years old, Easter was first celebrated later in history. Passover is observed in accordance with the Hebrew calender.

Can't buy this. Myself and a lot of other people catch fish like this and bigger using med or mh spin 3 or 4000 reels. I used a mh as I fished from a sea wall, I use mediums when on the beach. Our rods have foregrips, I think a good advantage for fighting fish, much less wrist and forearm fatigue. I think spinning is easier to handle larger fish. There does come a point when a conventional reel will outshine spinning, that's approaching 3 digit fish.

Thank you & Happy Easter Do miss my mother's traditional cooking for the holidays.

They do that, called frolicking, different kind of a jump when chased. Btw , nice looking fish.

looks good to me

I don't use a metal leader too often, when I do I crimp 20# surflon, I think the lure works just fine. About the heaviest lures I use are 2-2.5 oz with spinning there is no backlash. I use 20# braid or 14# copoly for the larger toothy critters. Mostly using a mono leader I do get cut off, more from the smaller fish as the teeth are closer spaced and sharper. Not that I enjoy losing a lure but I feel I get more strikes not using wire. Shock is something I normally believe in, but in this exception I don't use it. I fish for barracuda using a barracuda tube. We make them with a wire leader, the lure is attached to the the braid using a duolock. The fish hit with enough force that line instantly pulls out, the drag is not set too tight and the strike sets the hook. For other set ups and species I use shock leaders always.

I use Outlet baits every now and then, get some nice buys on Kroc spoons, cripple herrings, cast champs etc,. When I buy it's quite a few items so the shipping isn't much of an issue, including a bag of senkos for 2 bucks sounds pretty good to me.

This identical fanny pack is with me 100% of the time inshore fishing. http://www.amazon.com/Everest-044XLD-Extra-Large-Fanny/dp/B001M5WQN6 On the belt is a sheath with my pliers, inside I keep 6 plastic lure boxes, for metal jigs, spoons, bucktails, top water jerkbaits, and plastic jerk shads with jig heads. I keep swivels and leader spools in the smaller pocket. I'm ready for about anything. In the trunk of my car there is a plastic 2'x3' apx with smaller boxes in it with all of my back up. there is also a box for my freshwater stuff kept in Rapala boxes that I just put in pocket when walking the bank. I feel I'm very organized.

I do think certain techniques may be easier with a b/c, but not impossible with spinning gear. Power comes from the rod, spinning rods are available to handle about any size fish and any size lures. The terms power and finesse fishing do not exist in my vocabulary, I use nothing but spinning. A b/c is lighter, with a spinning reel on the bottom I don't find weight or exact balance to be all that critical. Line capacity and max drag should't be much of an issue for bass fishing, either spinning or b/c works just fine. If you feel you need or want a b/c, try it out.