SirSnookalot

At nearly 64 I would guess that I'm one of the elder statesmen. I have many of the same ailments, most notable would be my back and hyperextended elbow and copd. More than the aches and pain would be fatigue. Helping me to combat the myriad of maladies is being a non boater since moving to FLA for the most part, no more jarring of my back, I'm sure has eliminated additional problems. Not saying this would help others but it has me. I walk the beach nearly everyday and no longer carry a tackle bag just a small fannypack, saving my shoulder and some fatigue. My rods and reels are heavier but I got used to that and it has strengthened my upper body, added 20 yards to my golf driver. When I get a little tired or sore I pause a bit, do some stretches and look at the ladies in their bikinis hehe. Get home, have lunch then go do freshwater and walk the ponds or the canals. By the end of the day I have racked up some mileage. The walking and stretching has been most beneficial. Being more active and less sedentary is my adaptation Oh yea, my wife........she won't let me eat crap anymore, big big help.

Try pulling in a 50# tarpon with 4000 spinner that's spooling out over 100yards of 15# test, then we'll see if the walk matches the talk.

My abu spinners are every bit as smooth as my stradic fi and my pfluegers are smoother yet.

I use braid with leader. Bass see well they have rods and cones in their eyes like humans, they see colors. I don't know if they pick up on the braid or not but I prefer tieing a loop knot with mono or fluro, rather than braid.

Muddy my buddy, sorry to read of your misfortune. Some food for thought, try a medium spinning outfit. Take your shoulder out of the equation by using a wrist flick. I think you will put very little strain on the shoulder with that method and DON'T OVER DO IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a cardinal 804 & 802, the 804 is for snook on a 7'6 rod, I just moved the 802 to freshwater but have caught many larger species on it. I love both these reels but I don't care for the drag on the 802, it's fine for freshwater.

This is how I started fishing when I was a little kid. First time out I would fish just off the drop off rowing around the pit using live nightcrawlers on a crawler harness. If there are fish you won't have to find them, they will find you. Once I have ascertained that the fishing is worthwhile I would then start tossing lures. Good exercise too.

What golf course, I live at Polo Trace Got this one and several others on the E2 canal, next to the course.

Hurricane Redbone, on the spot over the counter lifetime exchange, what can be better?...........great rods too.

Well said Capt Todd. I have received my share of flack on this subject and my opinion hasn't wavered a bit. I enjoy catching lmb as well as the next man or woman but I prefer the options available to me living near the coast. IMO bass fishing is popular because you do not need sophisticated equipment, it's an abundant fish, when they are on catching them isn't really that hard and last of all the media. The media has done a wonderful job of promotion, I'm waiting to see "THE BASS CHANNEL" much akin to the golf channel.

I love jerk baits and I use something similar to an xrap. I do not cast and retrieve using the reel. I use an arm sweeping motion, then let it pause and reel up the slack, works for me and I use this method with spinner-baits and spoons. Yesterday I experimented in both a pond and a canal. I caught around 8 bass in about 90 minutes. After each catch I changed lures bouncing between 2 types of jerkbaits, a gold spoon and spinner-bait (avoids being to mechanical and keeps me more focused on each cast) I saw no reduction in the bite, every presentation produced results. Do you think this is just a lucky outing ?

Best deal...........Member of this forum, a wealth of information at my fingertips for FREE !!!

A sponsorship at 13 may be "cool " for a kid, but it does not replace an education. The sponsorship may end but an education lasts a lifetime. As in any sport 90% of the money is made by 10% of the people, one must have a solid backup plan. This is about sales for the manufacturer, not the child's future. Plenty of time to get into the fish biz after school.

Fished the last 3 mornings in 40-50 degree weather, strong winds from the bank, did surprising well. Caught everything on a rapala style lure on the pause, fish are extremely lethargic.

32 here this morning and went fishing around 11. the weather was decent and had some nice action, in fact the last 3 days have been good.

Caught a LMB this morning 21"and fat, best since the start of the year.

Under normal circumstances I don't use the spare spare spool with 1 exception. Drift boats really frown ( get darn irate ) on using braid especially when the boat is crowded that's the only time I put the spare spool on loaded with mono.

Muskie teeth are more like barracuda teeth, not serated as most sharks, btw a bull shark can be found in freshwater. Muskie, pike, cuda , mackeral, can bite thru braid like it's butter.

Wire leader for sure, but I wouldn't purchase one. The snaps on packaged leaders are not very good. The wire itself is fine just replace the snap with a quality one or twist on 6-12" of piano wire.

I hear ya, I'd love to catch the same peacock I catch in my backyard down in the amazon.

I absolutely agree with RW, as he knows my "love affair" lies elsewhere and in that area I do step it up a notch. As the post is aimed at largemouth fishing I was hoping only to simplify things from a basic standpoint with emphasis on not needing to spend a fortune to catch fish. The original post did say low budget

My freshwater fishing is exclusively from the bank. I use only 2 spinning rods and carry only one at a time as I'm in constant motion, I walk and cast. For pond or lake fishing I use a ml rod and for high banked canals I use medium rod (need a bit more spine to drag them up a side of a canal). I would consider my rods all purpose rods and I employ most techniques. I have not bought into the marketing ploys of the rod manufacturers. I carry about 4 lures in my pocket and sometimes a bag of senkos and I'm good to go and I catch my fair share of fish

Not the biggest but the most memorable Amberjack 99 lb,weighed, toughest fish I ever caught Jack Crevelle 25-30 # estimate Snook 35 lb, weighed, caught on 2000 series spin 15# test Lemon Sharks 150 lb,estimate, caught 2 back to back on spinning total fight time about 3 hours. The last 3 were caught this past summer, at age 63 I no longer have the physical strength I once had making these my most memorable catches.

Tally, there are some fish reserves in central Florida where barramundi are stocked. I believe in the Ocala area

Even though barramundi are related to snook I think they look more like a small tarpon. As it's on my list I haven't been up close and personal to one. I do not know what has the body of a yellow fin and a head of a barracuda