SirSnookalot

The only thing I like about summer fishing is that the fish are out there. The no seeums and high humidity have not been reel comfortable. I prefer winter with high surf and strong winds, but way fewer fish out there.

I think about my dad every day and especially when fishing, he was an avid fisherman, his comments and tips are always in my mind. Born in 1916 a child of the depression, quit school in the 8 th or 9th grade to support his family, my grandmother was an invalid and my grandfather had already passed away. They called him 1 shirt Harry in those days, he only had 1 shirt, and always managed to find work and bring home the bacon(kosher bacon), lol. Eventually opened a business, he was my mentor. I miss him everyday. Passed away in 1992 and my mother just celebrated her 86th 3 days ago. My wife's parents went thru the holocaust, and my wife was born in an internment camp in Italy. Came to the U.S. in 1950 and in those days sponsorship and a job were needed before immigrating. I'm most thankful not to have been alive until 1945.

Casting or spinning ? Ugly stick is a good choice I see a lot of guys using a 15-30 standard ugly stick for larger fish, I'm buying one myself for a larger spinning reel. I use a shimano sojourn 10-25 lb and it has great back bone too, cheap 29.95. You don't need sensitivity, you''re gonna get slammed.

Honda, Toyota, BMW, Mercedes have plants here and employ American workers. I know profits go overseas, but the Ford or Gm you buy employ oversea workers with profits coming here. Buying American does not mean more Americans working, did I here recently that GM wants to start employing Russian workers. Buy what you want, a good chance your uncle lost his job due to the poor economy. Other countries have layoffs too now.

Most are made in China now, even Penns. Shimano has some made in Malyasia, not for the Japanese market. I have an Avet.....made in the USA.

Sold my business in 97 and gotta admit most of the people working for me at the time had no computers and also had iq's slightly higher than an amoeba. Had any of of the office staff been on line for personal reasons, they would have been seeking employment elsewhere. Time is money and if you're stealing time, you're stealing my money. It's nice to be the King.

At 24 I have great memories of those days but I didn't make it to Woodsock. I did get out to Gooselake in Jackson, Mi. a year later and with about 200,000 people there it was awesome. Somethings from the past are best unsaid on a public forum.

They don't like snook fisherman?..............haha

I think some may take this or any online forum a bit too serious, hardly worth the energy imo to get bent out of shape. BTW Muddy, I got hooked on a rock this morning and did the bow thing, fist time in my life it worked.....I'll give ya the nod on that. First try too, lol.

Only you can answer that. I'm strictly a recreational fisherman and get as much joy watching a friend(or anyone for that matter) catching a nice fish as I do catching one myself. I've fished with a few poeple that I choose not to fish with again, but for the most part when I fish with other people it's more for the socialization than catching fish. Makes no difference who catches more, anything in my tackle bag is theirs to use and I'll even bait their hook, I just go to enjoy myself.

No gimmicks or gadgets and every time I get a scale for a gift it gets stored for eternity in a box buried under some junk that I won't use either.

I'm in Delray and last year the peas have taken over lmb territory, I caught 4 peas to every bass . Not this year, winter kill and haven't seen a peacock since January.

I started playing golf young, played competitively in H.S. and college, also always fished as well from age 4, I'm 64. I always played golf and in my adult life was a member of a club. Retired 6 years ago and moved to FLA, played almost daily for 2 years and bass fished in the afternoon. One day I strolled out to the pier and saw these guys catching these Jack Creveles, went right over to Sports Authority and bought a saltwater outfit and went back to the pier..........wow! Said to myself if I this out here why would I fish for bass, haven't picked up a club in 4 years. Limit my bass fishing to the afternoons and Jan thru March when the ocean bite is dead.

Let me add this, I have the stradic and the clarus both about a year old, I don't recommend anything until I've used it for at least 6 months, reliabilty and durability are important to me. I bought an abu 704 lx last week, nice reel but not enough time on it to recommend it. I did not mention the pflueger president for a reason, it does not have a sealed drag, which I prefer. However the pflueger supreme does have a sealed drag and it's lighter, that's what I have on my clarus and it's a very good reel( I love the outfit). I gave the nod to the stradic because it really is an outstanding reel, also has a sealed drag.

Maybe some do, but I don't and can't say why.

$ 200 isn't chump change, it's a respectable amount to pay for a nice outfit and no real need to spend more. Stradic fi 2500 is as good as it gets and good deal on a combo makes it better. If not buy the reel and take in someplace and saddle it up to some rods and see which feels good. A shimino clarus for about 60 bucks would keep you under 200, you would not have POS.

I enjoy the Tour de France, it's liking watching a marathon. I dislike France for personal reasons.

You don't..........if you're targeting 3 or 4# fish, but the reasons to carry one far outweigh the ones that don't.

Won't hurt unless it's saltwater and water can run into the reel from the line.

A tip I received from an authorized Shimano repair center (also authorized for other brands as well) is use Corosion X or Corosion Block, and yeh it's the best, I wouldn't use anything else now. BTW PB blaster will "eat" your bearings..........Professionally serviced once a year is mandatory for me.

After nearly 60 years of fishing in many different environments I have a real good idea of I want . I do respect the opinions of some and find the reading interesting, but take them with a grain of salt. My best recommendations are from the people I see and fish with on a daily basis, also the local tackle(repair & service) shop. Personally I'm not going to give a review of a reel or rod I've had for 2 days but only after months of use.

Went out for some drift fishing on my buddies boat, kings and dolphin were nowhere to be seen. I hooked and landed 3 good sized bonita, 15-20# range, pound for pound I rank them right up there with the great ocean fighters. In the inlet, 5mph limit, I trolled a sppon and got slammed by a cuda maybe 30# right in front of the marina, all in all it was good.

Not when you soak it hot water first. Case in point, last year I spooled a large spinning reel with 20# Shakespere supreme, about as cheap as you can go and I can't even tell you why I bought it. Soaked it, went on the reel just fine and for the last year I have had no coil issues, line twist yes, but I troll out each time I take this reel out. No need to add additional success stories. Spooling and coiling are issues I don't seem to have, I learned by own trial and error. I'm not saying one line is better than another, find what works for you.

Great fish Chris, I heading out this morning for kingfish and dolphin.

Fishing plastic worms........"so easy a caveman can do it". I hardly ever use them, except when the fishing is bad and I'm hard up for a catch.