SirSnookalot

I started fishing around 1950 with my dad, he may have been a natural as no one taught him and he taught me everything. We started off in a rowboat with a 6.5hp Elgin outboard fishing inland lakes, Lake St Clair, Detroit River and Lake Erie. Even though he was a city boy and never fished saltwater he knew how to catch them there too, my parents were snowbirds form the mid 70's till my dad passed away in 92. I had friend that was a fly guide, learned a bunch from him. Down here in Florida I met a fellow named Wayne, maybe the greatest fisherman I ever met. Wayne is a commercial fisherman using only rod and reel as he does this for fun and not income. He taught me to snook fish, never saw any better than him. He lives on a freshwater canal, incredible bass fisherman too. I'm not a natural, just learned from some great fishermen.

NO ! I do check weather forecast, tide info, wind and surf conditions then decide where I'm going and what I'm targeting. If I don't like what I see I go freshwater fishing, which is what I've been doing the last few weeks.

If you want to learn what works for you then you have to experiment, your water conditions dictate what to use. Most people fish to catch fish, I fish to have fun. That eliminates quite a few lure and technique types that I choose not to do. This time of the year I bass fish everyday, mornings it's nothing but a top water popper. My afternoon session is a little different, I pick 1 or 2 lures (based on past experience of the places I fish) and stick with it, yesterday it was a roostertail in both ponds and canals, had there been more vegetation I would have made a different choice, I did pick a winner. I'll catch 1-3 fish then move on to another location, just the way I like to roll, yesterday maybe 8 different places.

Changing hooks, don't forget split rings, is a major project if planning on doing it to every lure you own. I do it only when needed with 2 exceptions. I use 2 lures that catch a lot of fish for me but the rings and hooks are terrible, those get changed right out of the box. Not unusual for me to use trebles with 2 hooks instead of 3, still get plenty of hook ups before I get around to replacing. My freshwater hooks do not rust, but my saltwater ones do. I carry a small diamond file in my fanny pack for a touch up.

Oil dropped about 4.7% yesterday and another volatile day on Wall Street. Until there is some stability in the price of oil, there will be market jitters. On the bright side, the bass were on fire yesterday.

The ground can't cause a fumble but that's after a catch has been made. Bryant fumbled the ball as he hit the ground before crossing into the endzone, he then secured ball after he crossed the line. According to the rules the pass wasn't completed.

I use about the same size that came on the lure, mostly use 4x Eagle Claw. For saltwater I use VMC 4x, about the same size for lures but with spoons I jump up a size, sometimes use a 2/0 or 4/0 siwash hook instead.

Turnabout is fair play, a reversal of a call is what helped Dallas advance to the GB game. Not saying Detroit would have won but they were driving, the game momentum may have changed. Also Dez Bryant was not called for a penalty being on the field without a helmet and not being involved with the play.

Hit 2 golf course this morning 6:45-7:30, about 10 bass, nothing bigger than 2 or 1.5 lb. Walked over to my peacock canal @ 7:30 and caught 2 tiny peacocks, they aren't big here. Getting ready to go to my community pond, great fish in there but with all this county water they are pumping in the fish don't bite like they used to.

My main criteria in a spinning rod is having a foregrip, I prefer inshore rods for my freshwater fishing. A further breakdown is light, ml, and medium, most lures I use can be handled on these rods. I can and do use a med spinning rod for not only bass fishing but inshore fishing as well. My rod decision is based on several factors, open water or heavy vegetation, fishing at waters edge or height like a sea wall or jettie, or the lure weights I plan on using. The species on the end of the line is an irrelevant factor to me, given the option it's always going to be the lightest rod for the conditions I'm fishing.

Glad I don't have less but don't need any more than I have. Forgetting the dust collectors and combos that get used a few times a year I use 3 spinning combos in freshwater. On a regular basis the lures I use can be counted on 1 hand, that's 5 and I catch bass 7 days a week 12 months of the year. My saltwater arsenal is larger simply because I fish both inshore and offshore, different rods and reels are needed plus I target a number of species. When it comes down to tackle like my freshwater fishing it's about 5 different lures on a regular basis. Yes, I already have enough tackle to catch fish,

Denatured alcohol will work but it pushes some of the dirt into the pores of the cork. Magic eraser IMO is a better option.

I probably spool my freshwater reels about 1/8" from the lip, just to get started. In short order either the line compress a little bit or I remove some, I like my reels to be about 1/4" or a little more from the lip. I don't see any difference in casting distance, usually not casting anymore than 10-15 yards anyway.

As a snook fisherman I will tell not to fish for them now unless you have a lot of time and patience, it isn't the season for them. In the winter I can go days or weeks without a snook strike on artificial (I don't fish live bait), summer time I can catch 4-5 snook every morning. This time of the year fish the outgoing tide, snook like stained water and current, the rougher the water the better. Jupiter inlet is a good spot for them, when I go up there I like fishing in the back at Dubois Park, not crowded and you can fish off the public boat docks. Snook will be looking for the warmest water they can find, the intracoastal is probably the best place now, they are off the beaches. Inshore there is no hot ticket now, some days mackerel and jacks may be coming, but not everyday. Palm Beach is known as the Jack capital, 10-30# are not uncommon there, try the sea wall just north of Flagler bridge at sunrise. For the most part these salt species swim around looking for bait, they seldom stay near structure, snook can be an exception to that rule.

I mostly use PP green. I do have yellow on 1 inshore set up, light green and orange on 2 freshwater reels, the color really doesn't matter to me anymore.

It may be too early to tell, my new style Cabo shows no signs of any wear on the finish. The reel is about 9 months old I use it 3-4 times a week, always in my hand and never placed down on the ground or used in boats. That definitely helps in it's preservation.

I have caught peacocks on just about every hard lure, jerkbaits, spoons, top water poppers, you name it. In my neck of the woods the 2 most prolific peacock lures is a crappie jig and a roostertail. Couple of weeks ago I was catching quite a few, can't buy a strike now.

Just the ebb and flow of business. Saudis are doing nothing different than a Home Depot selling goods cheaper than a local hardware store, how many Mom & Pop stores are left. The list of big box companies putting price pressure on small stores is never ending. Many American corporations make many products off shore simply because there is more profit. Economics is the driving force, civic responsibility regarding the labor force is not. It appears to me anyway the strength lays with the Saudis, they can afford to pump and sell oil cheaper than most other countries. They have deep pockets and can sell a product everyone needs at a cheaper price, that's pretty strong. As with all commodities prices will always rise and fall, in the end it's supply and demand.

The president is a good performing freshwater reel, it isn't meant to be fished in saltwater. The reel in the picture appears to be quite excessive. I see lots of people using gear not designed for salt, true these reels become coffee grinders in time but this is not your sophisticated fisherman. These are people going out there with a chicken rig looking to catch a few blue runners for dinner, can't tell ya how many of them have the tips missing from there rods too. Your angler that is basically a cast and retrieve fisherman will be using reels made for the salt. Even an inexpensive Penn Fierce should not deteriorate like the reel in the pictures with just minimal attention. On average my salt reels are 150-$200, occasional corrosion is the nature of the beast, constant...........no! A salt water reel does not have to be over babied.

Nice fish. Been doing a lot of bass fishing lately, my canal bite has been terrible, but ponds are red hot for me. Glad to see someone doing well in the canals, I've caught more larger bass in canals than ponds.

Yesterday CNBC reported that 18% of the Canadian drillers have closed up shop, that's some of your Keystone Pipeline oil, some Canadian unemployment now. So far here in the US a little less than 2% of the drillers have stopped pumping, not a big deal........yet. The Saudis have said they are NOT increasing the price, that being the case how long will it before more domestic drillers will decide if it's worth staying in business for minimal or no profit.

I guess I'm in the camp of "if ain't broke don't fix it". Back in the day when I was a bit more attentive to my gear I serviced my reels on a more regular basis, not always pleased with the outcome. There were times a reel was serviced for a cleaning, whether it be a local "expert" or the manufacture the and reels came back sometimes a bit geary, most of the time I was happy. Now a days a reel only gets serviced when it needs it, I don't want to kill them with kindness. My wife wonders why her plants die all the time, she is killing them with kindness.............over watering. A plant tells you when it needs water and plant food, a reel tells you when it needs to be serviced. I agree rinsing your reels after each outing is a good idea but what I see people doing is taking the wrong gear with them in the first place. I'm sure many people have caught 40# saltwater fish on bass gear, yeh you can do, but I wouldn't recommend making a habit of it.

Have had quite a few braid cutting pliers, cutters always fail with just a little bit of age, No Mas. At home I use Westcott scissors, in the filed a Walmart pliers for freshwater and a Harbor Freight (lifetime replacement) for saltwater, braid gets cut with a flame.

In my case the performance is the same with any size reel. Tangles or windknots happen when I throw a lure that's light. My saltwater reels 3000-4000-7000-8000 have 15 & 20# braid, since I toss near or higher than max rod lure weight I seldom get windknots. My freshwater reels from 25-30-35 using 10 & 15# braid get knots all the time when using light lures, seldom when a heavier a lure is used. PP, PPslick, Fins, Suffix performance and 832 and several other brands used over the years. About 6 weeks ago spooled up with 10# US braid not a knot yet, hmm......maybe something to it. Covering 1 more base, my Shimano and Daiwa reels have never knotted but I'm throwing heavier lures with those reels, but my ul is a trion and no knots using that reel. Question, is it the reel management or lure weight, this could get interesting.

I appreciate the information, I wouldn't bad rap that $40 reel until I owned one and was able to make my own determination. I'm not overly interested in buying buy that reel because don't care for the weight and the handle is a turn off to me. My Supremes are serving me quite well. Any time someone is anti Shimano on this site they're going to get a hard time. From personal experience as well reading numerous internet postings regarding stradics, they do have problems in saltwater. The biggest problem is line roller bearings and bails. I have replaced the bearings at least 2 times in both of mine as well as the entire bail assembly which is still is floppy. The spheros uses the same parts, yet that reel is way more solid, I have 2 of them. Despite the problems the stradic is a pretty decent reel, although for saltwater use the spheros fares better IMO but not quite as smooth, I think Shimano has discontinued the 3-4000 sizes. The stradic is a nice freshwater reel, approved for saltwater but doubt I'd buy another for specific saltwater use.