SirSnookalot

Abu Garcia Soron

I agree with J Francho and SoFl-native, I get my fish back in the water quick, most aren't measurement or camera worthy. I don't kiss them, caress them, stroke them or revive them, I toss them back and they are eager to swim off. I don't mistreat them but if I were that concerned with their welfare I'd quit fishing and join PETA, I'm not about to do that anytime soon.

With modern 2 piece rods I don't think much if any sensitivity is losed, I'm not referring to department store inexpensive combos, I really have never had a sensitivity problem going back to the "phone poles" I learned on in the 50's.

No fresh water snook in my immediate area, at least I can't find them. The s41 lock is loaded with snook, tarpon and permit when the gates are open ( only accessable by boat ), but have yet to find any landlocked fish on the fresh side.

Old timers use nasal grease.........if you don't know what that is you ain't old.

I wouldn't be overly concerned for the moment, personal problems may have arisen. Do you have the phone number?

Old farts don't need a license in Florida.

129 feet of water, no oil rigs. Amberjacks fight different, may have been a very large cobia, they are running now. This cobia ran 61# and brought it in on a party boat with a fresh water spinning reel and rod, but I was 30 at the time, lol.

Was offshore this morning, caught a few kings. I get slammed on a sardine and almost as fast as I could blink my eyes over 300 yds of 30# braid flew off my spinning reel, soron 70 with 30# of drag. I cranked the drag as tight as it would go and still could not even slow this thing down. Finally my 60# leader snaps, it's gone. Wasn't a sailfish or wahoo, it didn't surface, my reel would stop any king, too fast for a shark. My guess a nuclear powered submarine.

Staying within the Shimano family the stradic is a near perfect freshwater reel, I'd be looking for a good deal on one of those. Other manufacturers offer performance at a good value also.

The round handle, which seems to be getting popular, kills the deal before it even gets started. Hard for me to understand why some weekend warrior would spend $300 to catch smallish fish when a reel half that price would do the job just as well and have as much fun. Making a living from fishing is a different story.

The aforementioned cardinal is a 4000 series reel, usable for bass but most people would opt for that reel in a smaller size, the 402, if available at the sale price. I have owned both Shimano & Abu spinning reels, but not those models. I don't recommend something I have never used. If it were me the decision would be pretty simply just based on physical evidence. Either way there isn't much to lose as both reels are inexpensive.

Gable and Bogart

K_Mac, back in the day ss was real cheap and cash was no problem, things are different today. Prices are high and many companies are disposing of the scrap themselves. The type of metal shops you sold the scrap to are referred to as 'junk shops ". I knew a guy that opened up at 5 pm and worked till 4 in the morning, he mostly bought hot merchandise, back in the 80's when I knew him he was spending 10-$20,000 a night, can you imagine how much money that would be today. When dealing with industrial accounts, payment by check is by far the popular method. Can't say cash is never involved, someone always has their hand out, I won't get into that on a public forum..lol. Scrap dealers know every trick in the book about creative accounting.

I was a registered company in Michigan, I did business in other states, selling them my scrap, no license was ever needed for me. Each company has it's own items they specialized in, I never handled junk cars. Ran across just about every industrial metal, I handled quite a bit of sintered metals ( powder metals), ni alloys, tin clad copper and serviced a number of steel stamping plants and heavy fabrication plants. I started off as a peddler, then had a yard and shop, finally finishing as a broker.

In Michigan papers have top be filed with county, D.B.A., partnership or corporation to do business. I'll say most cities in Michigan, I don't know about other states, require a city license or permit to conduct business in scrap metal. An individual picking up scrap, known in the trade as a peddler, does not need a city permit or license. I'm not as familiar about autos and junk yards, a different facet of the scrap business. Prices are very high,they vary from region to region. This recession was unusual as prices did not plummet but they normally do in a bad economy. Whatever goes up, always comes down.

Tin, I was typing my post before I saw yours posted. I could give many types of stealing done in that biz, both from petty thieves to the dealers themselves who are by far the biggest thieves, it's the nature of the business, not an honest one anywhere in the world. I love these ads on tv buying gold , I call it the scrap business with a tie, many are real predators as the average Joe knows nothing about gold and how to weigh it properly. It isn't the cash business it once was, dealers are required to record transactions and limit cash purchases to $50, not everywhere but becoming more common.

I owned a scrap metal company for 35 years. Scrap is a large business that flies under the radar, most have no clue as to the inner workings of the business. Sounds like your intention is to obtain scrap, then sell it to a dealer. People always come out of the woodwork and try and get into the biz when commodities are at high prices. My first bit of advice is to get a magnet. My metals and iron ( non ferrous and ferrous) were purchased from industry, either by canvas or bid, then sold to mills, refiners, smelters and users. There is a lot to say, by the way ripping out insulated wire from abandoned buildings is against the law , but someone probably will have beaten you to it. Not to be smug, but there isn't much I don't know about buying scrap metals, precious metals ( the latest fad) plastics and paper.

You start catching tarpon over 50 -60# and you need heavier equipment with lost of line capacity. I prefer the juvies from 15-40#, I caught one last week about 6# on light spinning(2000 real and med rod) and it was a lot of fun.

Nothing out of the ordinary, countless numbers of people that are into health & fitness have been on this bandwagon for years, Chris you have only joined a new crowd. Some 30 years ago I knew a guy that was close to being a world class squash player, he was consumed with it. Gave up his prosperous business to work out and play squash 24/7. You would never see him with out a backpack full of dietary supplements and his "special foods", no longer had a car as finances dwindled. Wherever he needed to go he just jogged regardless of the distance( did some marathons as I recall ). He didn't hunt, fish, take photos, work, date, he just worked out. This guy was unlike anyone I have ever seen before, but I'm sure there are others just like him.

same here

Not much of a fight

Yes it's a fish ( trumpet fish ) ! One of the strangest I have ever seen, in fact I have caught 2 of them.

My dressed hooks always get discolored badly, I don' t keep them separate. When it's hook replacement time I seldom put a dressed hook back on, I say hooks instead of treble as I do prefer a single hook ( siwash) on my spoons. As far as nail polish, it isn't needed on all spoons, I just know from experience which ones to put the polish on. Toothpaste is an excellent cleaner for spoons, especially for freshwater ones, Brasso sometimes removes too much of the plating.

I do buy more expensive spoons on occasion but my mainstay spoons are generics I buy at my local tackle shop for about $2.50. I actually like the movement from them best of all, but in reality it doesn't make all that much difference to the fish. There is a time and place for each type of spoon and I do use several types depending on the wind or if I want more penetration into the water ( Mepps cyclops). Before use I apply a couple of coats of clear nail polish, aids in rust prevention. 50% of my fish are spoon fed.