SirSnookalot

hmmm very interesting. I've always found that the stretch allows you to send more of a "shockwave" back at the lure which gives it an immediate change from taught to loose that allows the hooks to come free. What I thought too, I have tried the bow method on other peoples snags who had mono on and it didn't work too well. Best course of action, try everything.

See, I've had the opposite experience. It always seems to me that the stretchiness of the mono allows for more of a bungie effect that shakes the bait free with the bow and arrow method. Although I've also found that braid on a moderate rod will work better than braid on a fast rod with that technique. I argued with Muddy on this issue, he was right and I was wrong, I started the bow method little better than a year ago and it's been very effective, nothing is perfect. Yeh I double the leader but I use a max of 15# braid for freshwater, even in the heaviest slop and lily pads down here, I just can't understand using 65# braid for small fish, fishing a tourney and getting them into the boat faster, I'll buy that, but for recreational fishing I'll go with the challenge of trying to pull them out on lighter set ups. My maximum braid is 30# gorilla braid which is my shark outfit, I use 60# leader. I'm not all that fussy on the brand, cept PP can be bought anywhere so I buy it out of convenience.

I have several Pflueger reels and can't say there is a bad one in the bunch. I have 2 supremes I use for fresh and supreme and medalist I use in the salt. As far as ugly sticks go, I see more ugly sticks used for pier surf and even offshore than any other brand. great spine and long casting distance, I have friends using them and see them in action all the time.

Getting a little ahead of yourself talking shark fishing, how ya going unhook then release back into the water a 5 or 6' shark, seen a few bitten hands trying to do that. I've caught smaller sharks 50- 70# sight casting with soft plastics, but so many other species I would rather fish for. BTW if fishing for bluefish use a wire leader, I've had blues bite my lures and hooks in half, extremely powerful jaws.

Hardest fight I ever with a fish was a 100# amberjack in Puerto Vallarta. Totally different kind of fight than a marlin, not that the marlin isn't awesome, but they are runners and jumpers, the amberjack you gotta pull off the bottom. Big ray may about the hardest fight of any of them. I'll stick with saltwater as my primary venue.

Hardest fight I ever with a fish was a 100# amberjack in Puerto Vallarta. Totally different kind of fight than a marlin, not that the marlin isn't awesome, but they are runners and jumpers, the amberjack you gotta pull off the bottom. Big ray may about the hardest fight of any of them.

Bit premature to be talking dynasty, a dynasty is more than 1 ring and they have yet to hit the court. Will they play as a team or be individual stars, when injured will the Heat have a good enough bench, never saw player play thru pain like Isaiah Thomas. Jordan, Bird and Magic ( he had Kareem ) not only were fantastic but had well rounded balanced team behind them, that's what makes a dynasty. Being a Detroiter and going to many Pistons games back in the Bad Boy era, they won with balance and great 6 th man ( Vinnie Johnson ), yet with 2 back to back rings they fell well short of being a dynasty. Lebron is a wonderful player but has yet to prove he's a champion. I'll sit back and see how plays out.

Snook fishing is all about hitting the window of opportunity at the right time. I was fishing one of my go to spots and right from the first cast I get a bump, that bump led into 8 -10 snook pus 2 tarpon, 2 of the snook were in the 40" range, rest dinks 24-28". On one cast I hook a snook, lose him, crank 2-3 times and hook another, lose that one then crank a few more times and I got a tarpon on the line, which I landed. I had 1 on the line and was getting spooled, batten the drag down, big mistake, and snapped my braid like it was thread, lost half the spool of line...nature of the beast out here. Went out today, same conditions, not a strike.

I always open my bail, to avoid breaking a tip, which I've done, then I wrap the line around ,my shoulder and walk, lure comes loose or line breaks. The bow snapping method works exceptionally well with braided line, doesn't work as well with mono due to the stretch.

Kent, I had tons of problems when I first used braid, then realized nothing is perfect and just dealt with short comings. I use braid on everything ( I only use spinning) and always use leader regardless of water color and my simple rule of thumb is to double the braid, 10#=20# leader. I learned to cast using braid, my technique is to slightly pinch the line as the lure hits the water, can not remember the last windknot I had in freshwater. I use 10 and 15#, even in heavy slop. Saltwater I use 15 or 20#, get a few more windknots but nothing I consider discouraging. What I like is the strength and sensitivity, using cut or live bait for fish like kings, you don't always feel the bite with mono, but you do with braid. I don't have to do bone jarring hooksets and many fast swimming fish set themselves with braid. I could never go back to mono. Still boils down to personal preference.

Yes you can. Use a casting bubble or a split shot up the line a couple of feet. I have fiies with little bb's for eyes, I can cast those far enough to be effective, med 7'6 rod, breeze at you back doesn't hurt. Drop fly rig, jerkbait and a fly at the same time

Like wearing plus4's on the golf course, you better have the game to back it up.

Beat me to the punch on that one. I fish everyday, some days I catch nice fish other times I don't and it really makes no difference to me, I don't even compete with myself. Fishing 60 years from bluegill to marlin I know there is so much that is totally out of my control, I just go with the flow. That being said I think there is a difference between success and satisfaction, no doubt I'm more satisfied with larger fish. I haven't caught a bass in days and the ones I have caught are less than a pound, but I have been catching snook and tarpon daily, am I more successful.......no, just more satisfied.

For me it's too expensive for a freshwater reel. Staying in the Abu line up, I'm perfectly content with my cardinal 802, which I moved from saltwater, plenty light for me and it's exceptionally smooth. I caught a 35# snook with it before I made it freshwater.

Depends on the weight of the bait,

I've caught peacocks on just about any LMB lure, plain old gold spoon is probably my favorite. Some claim to have caught them on plastics worms, I never have.

Bowflex definitely is not a gimmick, the real deal. Along with my bowflex I had a nordic track, great cardio workout.

Don't sell the beach short, it's my favorite place to fish. You can fish lighter too if you want from the beach as you can beach them and not deal with a sea wall to lift them. I generally use a 4000 spinning reel, 2000 will get the job done, med or mh rod. Without doubt the best lure is a silver spoon, I'd eat dinner any where in the world with one. Storm swimbaits are every good too and most of you bass lures will do just fine. Tip: cast parallel to the shore, unless bait is breaking further out. Walk the beach and look for bait and fins swimming, it's hunting. I like to get out there an hour or so before sunrise, don't worry about the tide as you are going to fish any way.

Outstanding, you look great. I bought the first generation bowflex back in 87 or 88 ( still have it ), far cry from the new ones. 4 times a week for an hour I was totally ripped.

By shore do you mean a pier, jettie or beach, live bait, cut bait or casting lures? For a short trip I agree, use what you have. I was out this morning, exceptional hot action for 45 minutes then it was dead, pretty normal. I fished from a cement jettie about 6' above the water. Caught about 8-10 snook, 2 of which went about 40" and caught 2 tarpon as well. I was fishing with 7'6 mh 10/20 rod with a stradic 4000, 15# braid. Needed a bit heavier rod to lift them up, my preference is really a med 8/17 rod. Word of caution, cause I screwed up. I had my drag too tight and had my line snapped like it was thread, lost nearly my entire spool. Use your drag and play these fish, take your time keeping pressure on them.

I would go on a salt water board for that area, I have one but I won't mention the name on this forum. More important than the equipment, I would never use bass gear it's like taking a knife to a gunfight, is learning what fish are active during the incoming and outgoing tide cycles. IMO saltwater inshore fishing is much harder than bass fishing as there is a window of opportunity to catch fish and outings of 50 or more fish as I see some bass posters claiming is rare. You may fish for hours just to have a 5 or 10 minute window to catch fish, then wait for the next tide to bring bait in.

Misery loves company. For me complaining is bad karma, I go with flow and just deal with it.

no fishing superstitions

Ya can't catch bass on salt water lures Question or statement? I catch bass all the time on saltwater lures and vice versa. Predatory fish are pretty much the same, I don't think fish are as near fussy as many people seem to think.

Original Flatfish, still around but never see one in a tackle shop. Agree with Catt, if it worked 50 years ago it will today. I've been turned on to a Wahoo redfish gold spoon for bass, not saying it's better than the j-spoon.