SirSnookalot

To each their own, as long as my guides don't rust out I'm fine with any stock guide.

Good for bass and many other species are Storm wild eyed shad, sizes from 1/8- to over 2 oz. Not only have I caught bass of all sizes with them but they are one of my favorites for snook and tarpon, the 7/16 is my most used size.

I don't knock them they just aren't for me. Many of the places I fish are either too shallow or too much floating grass to fish lures with exposed hooks. My preference is ul or light spinning, bass 24" and sometimes larger are not un common in the ponds here, I like the challenge of landing fish in that range on lighter tackle.

You never know with international delivery. I have had shipments coming from Asia (Japan,China,Philippines,Indonesia) 2 times a month for the last 7 years, sometimes it's fast and sometimes it's not. Most packages arrive in about 2 weeks, I've gotten them as fast as 6 days and as slow as 4 weeks. Whether it's EMS, CP, or RR delivery a package can get held up at the local post office in their sorting facility. Once it clears the sorting facility the package goes into US customs which also can take some time. Once it goes thru customs the package then is at a US post office sorting facility, again the package can sit there too. At that point USPS delivers the package. I experience the same procedure for my European packages. I have had well over 100 shipments and they can arrive pretty fast, or it can be pretty slow too especially when getting close to the holidays.

I've seen it. First thing I would be looking is the line diameter, if thinness is what you are after. I bought some Zebco braid at Walmart a couple of years ago, the 20# had the diameter of most 30# braided lines. I'm still using it on a barracuda set up and it's been fine. Braid is not about strength, it's about line management.

Both reels are very close when comparing the technical data, at MSRP the Lexa is more a bit more expensive but not much. It may come down to what you can get the best deal on. I own stradics (4000) and a Daiwa tierra 3000, both reels are good. My own take is I wouldn't buy a Shimano less than a stradic, but I also wouldn't pay more than 100 bucks for freshwater spinning reel. Of the 2 I'd be leaning towards the Lexa and I would consider the 2500 not the 2000. A bit more line capacity, a little lighter and by your own admission smoother.

Not Boca, a gated community in Boynton.

^^ Nice looking fish ^^

I use flukes, Gambler big ez, few others and they work fine, only if I have to fish weedless. If the water allows it I will always use hard lure as my first choice, the pause on the popper gets me the best results.

I'm going to assume this is about Florida, it's getting cold up there in New York. I live minutes from the area Weld fishes, know the golf course ponds and the canals, you don't need heavy braid, not much vegetation. In his community there is some thick stuff near the shorelines, my son in law lives there. For the few times I fish over there I don't respool, I fish my heavy bass set up 15# braid on med spinning. Personally in his places I think a fluke out fishes frogs there. Heavier braid is needed more for the conditions in the water than the size of fish. I do more saltwater fishing than bass, in open water I use 20# braid for tarpon, offshore it's 30# braid for aj's.

I live near the turnpike in Delray, there were tons of peacocks in the canals around here, they all died off. The only places I can catch peas are east of the freshwater spillways, usually located around Military Trail. Right now I can't seem to catch them with artificial. I did get turned on to a pond claiming to have 6 pounders, I think it was true as I caught one about 4 on my second cast. Being private with no trespassing signs I haven't been back.

6?...........I think I surpassed that one yesterday, 7 or 8# would not have surprised me. I'm only hung up on the fight, not the actually size and the fight is exactly what I had. We have other people fishing here, they seldom catch anything like that, they focus on the numbers. For the most part the other fishermen fish plastic worms, they catch plenty of fish but they go thru a lot of small fish to eventually catch a 20" one. Don't think I catch good fish all the time, I don't, last nice one was about 10 days ago and I bass fish daily. What I do that the others around here don't is I fish exclusively with ul or light spinning and a top water popper, lots of times I go an hour or more without a strike. Yesterday it was the ul, as good fight as I ever had with a bass in my life, had to unhook the fish while still in the water, couldn't lift it. Strike is one thing, the hookset with a limp noodle is another, then the fight, I don't land them all this way, but I'm there for the challenge, not dragging in lots of small fish.

1 reel will need to be replaced in the not too distant future, a 4000 stradic fi. Not a bad reel just worn out from a lot of inshore fish over the last 6 years or so. Already put quite a bit of money into it, no sense investing any more. I'm leaning toward a Quantum inshore smoke 40.

Don't know about anyone else but my joy from fishing is catching them, my rods, reels, lines and lures are just tools. It's pointless to debate what is best or what I use, except to say I found my niche and I'm having a lot fun. I did view the Stella video 3 times, came away bewildered. Any manufacturer could have made the identical video promoting their product as the best. The issue is not whether the stella is a good reel or not, but if Shimano is trying to get someone to spend over $600 at least they could have showed catching some decent fish. They talk about cranking power, with those fish? C'mon Shimano you can do better than that.

Palm Beach County is a different ball game than Miami-Dade, the peacocks are not as aggressive as they are further south. It does take a bit more patience to catch them around Lake Ida, live bait is what mainly is being used now. When they do get active around here I mainly sight cast for them, when I go to Miami I throw any bass lure. A little tip, there is place here where the workers don't work lol, they fish for peacocks and mainly fish at first light. The lure of choice with every single one of them is a roostertail, yes it works I've used them myself. A plain 15 cent crappie jig is excellent as well. I got turned on to a place in Boca a couple of weeks ago for peacocks, just had to go. I ran into a couple of boaters that verified plenty of them were there, but only catching them on live bait now.

A guide with 3 different style boats is prepared to catch about anything, use his equipment it's probably better suited for the fish you will be targeting.

Never could really understand the fixation, tournaments or possible PB aside, of having to know the exact weight of a fish down to a fraction of an ounce. Once that legitimate 6# has been caught it seems pointless to weigh a fish you know is but 15". Keeping one for the table is measured in inches not weight.

Never know how big an unlanded fish is, photos can be deceptive as well. I personally don't weigh anything, I go by inches which are indicated by marks on my rods at 20" & 25", close enough for me. 6# or 22-23" here in a Florida pond is a nice catch but not that unusual, catching one on a ul or light spinning with a top water is still pretty cool.

I have a little bit of just about everything. Only 2 must have lures for me, flukes when I need to fish weedless and a top water chug a bug, I get the most enjoyment from them. The Storm is so banged up it has no color, haven't had the need to use a new one yet, lol.

I do like xraps but I have $3.00 jerkbaits that catch just as many fish. I also have jerkbaits that cost more than xraps, they have not caught any more fish. I'm using the lure that best suites the water I'm fishing on, more interested in the depth. Yesterday I fished a shallow pond, the original Rapala floater worked well, my xrap went to deep.

^^ Makes absolute sense to me. ^^ I may initially buy one reel over another for the IPT but once I'm out fishing I adjust my retrieval to work the lure. Fishing top baits I'm usually working that lure with pops and pauses or walking the dog, either way it's not a fast retrieve. I'm not quite sure how fast my lure is being retrieved using a reel with 30+" IPT, I've yet to see a bass not be able to catch it if it wants it.

Only place I don't use braid is on a head boat, they don't allow it down here due to tangling with other lines. Mates do not untangle they cut lines. One negative with braid for me is wind knots with spinning gear, this only happens when I use a very light bait like a weedless fluke. I can cast into a 15 - 20 mph wind with most lures and seldom get a wind knot, which is about 75% of my fishing, the other 25% is freshwater. I seldom fish contact baits, it's moving lures for me and IMO braid shines. I never fish without a leader for 2 reasons, untangling braid from a treble hook can be time consuming, secondly as RW mentioned it's the shock. Even a short leader with smaller fish the shock is noticeable and I feel I get a better hookset. Another advantage using braid for me (I only use spinning gear) is that when I get a good fish on the line 20# braid gives me a lot of line capacity and much more strength than 6# mono. I'm able to use more than 6# of drag to slow some of the fish down here without the worry of line or knots failing.

If I'm not mistaken hold'em is nothing more than Carioca poker, which we played 50 years. We called it Ron's game, because Ron always dealt it. Carioca can be played with any variation of pocket and table cards, dealers choice. Hi-LO Carioca is a wicked game, the pots can get enormous.

I don't think any scam was intended, it really looks to me as no more than a clerical error. Discussing liens and repos is getting way ahead of the situation. Used car vs new car isn't pertinent to this saga, or selling the old car on your own. I think everyone would agree that the old car should have been paid off and the new vehicle should be $43,500, with the buyer not owing 1 penny more. The resolve should be fairly simple, just a matter of the buyer meeting with business manager of the dealership, the wrinkle is Canadian law without the 3 days to think it over. All that being said, there just may be some facts we are not privy to and the sale is perfectly legitimate. I'm not so quick to condemn any one without seeing the paper work myself.

I prefer cork on my lighter rods. Hard to find boat rods today that aren't eva, I like them too.