SirSnookalot

As much of a budget purchase is a purchase for a beginner, I would suggest not getting too far ahead of yourself. Pflueger (other companies too) has some very decent spinning combos, some come pre rigged with line others don't, 8# mono is a good starting point. Learning how to catch fish is the most important thing, I'd start off with some senkos and worm hooks. Master that aspect of fishing then work your way into other lures and techniques.

We had cold front down here in Florida, went to the inlet made 3 casts then decided it was too cold and went home. Later in the day went bass fishing and did ok. Second day I just stayed home and went bass fishing and caught a few dinks. The 2 days I missed 20# jacks were all over the place so I heard. Yesterday the weather was ok, head out to the inlet for some heavy action and not a fished showed up.............

Maybe not the finish we had hoped for, but as thrilling a finish as I can remember, especially given the political atmosphere of the cold war. 1972 Munich Olympic games. http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/09/25/the-most-controversial-game-endings-in-sports/slide/1972-olympics-u-s-vs-ussr-mens-basketball/

I did stop and pickup a few but didn't take them out of the package. A few years ago I found husky jerk on the beach with a sardine pattern, never used so I gave it shot yesterday. Bass like sardines too............lol

Have bought nothing. This has been a bad 2 week stretch, lost quite a few jerkbaits, I may stop and pick up a few today.

I've done a lot of offshore fishing and have caught numerous triple digit fish, I couldn't begin to list them all. I've got a time share in Cabo, fished other Pacific locations as well the Carribean. I have pretty much given up fishing charters with conventional gear. Now a days I get more personal satisfaction fishing spinning gear for the likes of bull dolphin, tarpon, permit, amberjack, on occasion the triple digit mark is surpassed. A few years ago I caught 2 back to back black tip shark 6-7' with a 8000 spheros reel, that beat the crap out of me. Thankful at 69 and 135# I can still do it.

Very tragic...................

Pflueger trion 4520 gx, only negative for me is the slippery wood knob. It's a blast catching mayans and 3-4# bass, I wouldn't use it for peacocks let alone 3# jacks. At least for me a UL doesn't cut it for saltwater.

Being a Lions fan I hope NE wins, but I think the Packers will squeak by. I don't care how late Gronk is for practice, he will be playing. How about Brady being late, think he'd be benched?

The same exact situation happened to me again today as described in post #40, with the same result. Had I been fishing with no leader or heavier braid I may have had to cut the line. Just to throw this out, I was on a hot bite today. On one of my casts my lure was foul hooked, I didn't change my retrieval speed and got nailed by one of the nicer bass of the day. I seldom give up on cast even if the lure is flopping around, ya just never know when a fish is going strike. It happened a second time today, that fish I lost.

That's a good buy.

Just so you know it's been done already. First off saltwater fishermen have been known to replace trebles with single hooks. Yozuri has a circle hook series of jerkbaits and Shimano's waxwings are made with a double hook pointing upwards. The hooks are replaceable and can be pointed up or down. Don't think the waxwing would work well as the hooks face inward, but I think the circle just may work. Be an inexpensive test to find out.

I'm not interested in eating pond or canal fish in South Florida. We have plenty of gators, otters and birds that are better fishermen than me, in the canals I let mother nature do the harvesting. Fishing my landlocked ponds that are not regulated by the FWC, if I catch a good fish it's going back in hopes of catching it another day. Not uncommon having a fishing buddy with me, it being a blue heron or wood stork, it can have my 10 incher or less.

What about warranty on a JDM reel? Does it have to go back to Japan or will Shimano in California service it?

Spinning or b/c? With spinning there is no dig in issue so the mainline doesn't have to be 50# IMO. For me it boils down to the water I'm fishing, if it's open 10# braid and 10# leader, slop or vegetation I fish 15# braid with 20# leader. I'm not fussy on brand.

My question is what is the target species, second question is the rod. IMO a ul reel is near useless in the salt, not enough line. My ul holds 60 yards @ 6#, I love it for bass but I wouldn't consider using it for salt fishing. As far as the Penn goes, I'd either get a larger reel (3000 as small as I would go) or if it's for freshwater fishing I think there better freshwater options than a Penn.

I couldn't agree more. Creative artists quite often step out of their normal genre. So many of them have done Xmas and gospel recordings. Could not even begin to list them all, some of my favorites are Rod Stewart doing his American songbook albums, a track or 2 with Queen Latifah, that gal can really sing. Would never have expected this type of music from those performers. Willie Nelson doing "Stardust", pretty good stuff there too.

The so called Mom & Pops shops of all types of businesses have had a difficult time of making it since the advent of discount stores of the 1950's. It isn't easy for any small operation to compete price wise and stock ALL the wanted merchandise, they have all they can do just to crack their nut. I'm not so sure I can buy into the supporting the local economy argument, not that I don't like to see small businesses succeed as I was a small business owner myself. Big box stores employ more people, those employees pay taxes and spend much of their money locally. There are big box operations that are quite charitable as well. In all fairness they may not be charitable because they want to be, it's a tax savings and enhancement of their image. But the money does do a lot of good and that's a real good thing. From a personal standpoint we may not be getting the personalized service as we once did. I do have to say that the times I go to BPS I have dealt with some pretty savvy people.

This puppy was caught on my ul set up a few weeks ago using a Storm chug a bug. Quite confident it was bigger than 2# but no where near my biggest bass. May have been the most fun I ever had catching a LMB, the fish actually peeled off quite a bit of drag and took a considerable amount of time to land.

SirSnookalot, on 27 Nov 2014 - 02:53 AM, said: Yesterday I dealt with this scenario. Fishing an open canal with a hard jerkbait I got snagged on an unmovable object total hidden from view due to the dark water. Nothing I tried would free my xrap, so I had to break it off. Using 15# braid with a 20# floroclear leader attached with an 8 wrap up and 0 wrap down alberto both the line and knot was rock solid, neither the mainline nor knot would break. What did break was my loopknot, which actually took quite a bit of effort. I'm thankful I was using a leader and even more thankful I wasn't using anything heavier than 15# braid. Total loss, 1 lure and a few inches of leader, back fishing within seconds.

Around here there are but a few small shops, little if any bass related items. I fish with a small arsenal of lures and baits for both fresh and salt, catching fish on what Walmart and DSG has to offer hasn't been a hardship. I like the fact I can go into Walmart in the middle of the night and some of the small tackle shops at 5-6am, big box sores opening at 9 is later than I'd like. What is beginning to be of concern is rod and reel repair, doable but not quite as local as it used to be.

My favorite reel, Quantum cabo 40 is not on my favorite rod it's on a Star 7'6 mh, due to wanting different lure parameters, I'm still very happy with it. I'm at the point of not wanting to expand the number of combos I have but some of the equipment will be replaced, although there is no urgency. I have a few reels that are just getting worn out, have some money into them, thinking it's wiser just to buy some new reels. Most likely I'll be buying Quantum smoke inshore spinning reels. Most fun I'm having with a freshwater set up is a Berkley ul rod and a trion ul reel

What ever is working for you is the way to go, what works for me is always using a leader. Just the aspect of being able to break off is a good reason for me. I wouldn't be using an expensive hardbait to fish those kinds of conditions, breaking off a plastic bait isn't a heavy financial loss. In more of an open water situation where I am using lures with exposed hooks I still use a leader, I don't like braid getting tangled in treble hooks. Whether it's thick water or open, I don't use anything heavier than 15# braid, just the way I like it.

Loved it !!!!! Enrico Macias - L'amour c'est pour rien - Google Search My wife sent me this video yesterday, thought it was wonderful.

I don't do either, I do have a 20" and 25" mark on a couple of bass rods just for curiosity. I C & R everything, even slot snook, I fish strictly for the fun. I'm sure I've caught some really nice bass here in Florida as well as some great saltwater fish, just not hung up needing to know a fish to the tenth of an ounce.