SirSnookalot

Without visually seeing the problem can't really know for sure what yours is. I am not fan of mono on a spinning reel, on a bass sized reel 10# mono may be too heavy. I would opt for braid 15 or 20# (not whole a difference) and about a 15# leader, that should solve the problem, whatever knots are used just make sure they are tied correctly. Cost wise the braid may be cheaper in the long run, it doesn't need to be changed as often, minimal line twits, no coiling, no need to condition the line, no need troll the line out after your outing.

I agree, but wouldn't be concerned if or when you run into problems. When using mono I troll my line out after each outing which is a big help in controlling line twist.

If it's salt water striper I'd be using a plastic fluke or shad on a jig head. Size wise I like 5" and above, I have a snowbird friend from Maryland gave me some that were about 10" long on a 1 oz head. I believe he said they were Bass Assassin, at any rate it's a nice bait.

Spin or b/c is choice only for you to make. I would pay little attention to ratio for spinning, most of the small ones are in the 6 range anyway but IPT is more important. Even so not always when using spinning is one using a constant retrieve, so much is pausing and twitching, jigging or moving a bait slowly on the bottom. There are times when IPT will play a factor, if that were the case I'd have more than 1 outfit.

I could give a long winded response, but I'll keep it short. Leave your bass gear at home if it's expensive. Plain and simple this isn't bass fishing and there is no comparison to the fight. I would suggest a mh rod 3-4000 reel and 30# braid, that should cover most fish under 15#, bigger jacks or tarpon you probably won't land, does take some acquired know how. Don't need much in lures, flukes on a jig head, bucktails, spoons, don't need any thing else. A little variety use a top lure. As said rinse off your reel and rod.

I fish with only 1 rod, if I don't get a hook up I complete my retrieve all the way in. In this aspect not a fish are created equal, quite often a bass misses the lure and it's gone. Peacocks don't give up till they have the lure, they keep chasing it. Not unusual to get 4-5 strikes before a good hook set with some species. I've caught 10 pound fish in water not much more than ankle deep, I always complete the cast. Missing a fish never bothers me, it's just a matter of time until I get another, that's why it's called fishing and not catching.

I'm desensitized to size and don't weigh them, for me it's fun and fight. I'd just as soon catch a 2# bass or peacock on a light power rod in a pond, than an 8# bass loaded up with 5# of weeds using heavier gear, which I find to be no fun at all. Even in saltwater the fight isn't the same with all species, I target the ones that give me the most pleasure.

Links upon links telling her story, yes it's true.....give google a try.

I wouldn't do it either.

More difficult in my opinion to flip them up from a boat than from certain shore positions. In a boat I think you are too close to the water to "spring" them up. When I'm fishing a sea wall or jettie that are around 6-10' high I can spring them up pretty easy. I only use a mh rod when I do this and not all mh rods spring the same, there is a limit of course. Our average snook is 26-28", 6-8# fish, heavier than that I use a pier net. So far so good with 10 years of doing it under my belt.

This is how they do it here. Get an empty 1 gallon milk bottle, put a glow lite in it as the the better shark fishing is at night. Use the bottle as a big bobber using a breakaway knot, either paddle or swim your live or cut bait out a couple of hundred yards. Swim back and wait. Your chances of catching a shark from the beach casting artificial lures is remote but doable. If perchance spinner sharks are in the area they can be caught, I have friends that fly fish for them off the beach. A great aerial display from a 100# fish, hence the name spinner. I've caught lots of sharks but not from land, sight casting for them in the back country of Florida is a trip. Not all sharks are legal to harvest, know your species and know the law, I am no expert in identification. Be very careful as they can be dangerous to unhook, they can make a 180 turn and bite, they have no bones are very flexible.

FYI, Dr Ruth was a sniper in the Israeli army, she was noted to be a crack shot. Her army career was cut short due to a cannonball injury, she admits she never killed anyone.

Prior to FMC buying Jaguar the cars had a reputation of being constantly in service, if it rained just leave it in the garage, lol. Once FMC bought them that all changed, went from an unreliable car to one the more reliable ones. I think Jag is now owned by an Indian company. I do believe the parent company often makes a difference on the product, both good and bad.

Give me a hard fighting so called trash fish over a not so hard fighting gamefish any time. Since I don't keep much for the table, it's all about the fight. Luckily I live within a few minutes where I have the potential to catch both hard fighting game and trash fish any day. Moving from the north to a coastal region there are fish I have no interest in catching anymore, down here it's not about catching 50 1 pounders but catching 1 50 pounder, it don't happen every day........lol.

So is Fin Nor. I'm not real crazy for Van Staal, IMO it's a heavy reel and far from the smoothest one I have had, especially by freshwater standards. The strong suit is line capacity and the fact that sand can't get into it, making it very popular among Northeast surf casters. For my uses both Fin Nor and Quantum are better options at a more reasonable price.

I did go back and read that you are buying the reel for pike and muskie, at face value the battle wasn't a bad choice. I do not believe the bad press on the battle is an across the board situation, either a few isolated incidents or embellishments, I just see far too many of them that work perfectly. You can review about any reel and someone is going to be unhappy. Getting back to pike and muskie, I personally do not see a need for a 6000 size reel, they are heavier with more line capacity that I think is needed. I'm not going to recommend any thing specific, your money your decision, but there are reels that weigh less than 20 oz with enough line capacity and plenty of drag, not that it should be cranked down anyway.

As I said I see a lot of Penn battles, I think you have a lemon just like my conquer is but I'm not condemning Penn. Referencing your comment about "slave labor" I don't think is true, China like Mexico is starting to outsource because of their growing middle class. Wouldn't surprise me to see more items being manufactured in places Haiti in the years to come. I'm on my second Korean Genesis, I will be getting 3 rd in November, compares more than favorable to anything I've had from any other country including European. I look at the product, not the country where it's made.

I see quite a few battles down here, I don't think your reel is functioning properly. I would return or exchange it. I do believe that a BR member is a Penn tech. I own a Penn conquer 7000, it is not one of my favorite reels. Liked it better than anything else when I bought it but it became geary, still smooth. I've had serviced a couple of times, I really need to send into Penn to see what they can do about it.

Am I influenced from some one else using a reel and rod, yes but not from TV. A good chance on TV that reel is brand new and if there were a problem it would probably be edited out. I have seen and casted Quantum smoke sl pts spinning reels, I liked them. I do own 2 cabos and a boca, don't have a negative word about them, but who knows what I'm going to like next time I buy, glad to say I don't need a thing.

This year has been the most disappointing since I've lived in Florida, there just isn't much going on yet. Bait is staring to show up, 2 months late, but not many fish coming in. A west wind every morning, flat and clear water is not ideal for snook. On the bright side I have probably caught more 40"+ barracuda than I normally do, that's even slowed up this past week. Any day now it should break loose, I've been saying that for a month, lol. I just bought about 10 spoons, 8 metal jigs, couple dozen bucktails and 4 packs of DOA jerk shads, so I'm ready.

I'm sure this can be done today, being a fishing site this may be a nice adventure. Some 40 years ago I had a friend, very interesting fellow, among his many exploites he was a fishing guide in the Algoma region of Ontario. Being a veteran of ww2 I'm not sure he is still around, his name was Wight Cooke. I wanted to go on a wilderness fishing trip with 2 friends, Wight drew me a map from memory of the area, it was perfect too. We drove to Hawk Junction, Ont from Detroit, stopped at the Soo to pickup our canoe and tent at an outfitter. We launched on the shore of Lake Anjigami, as none of us had any canoe experience we flipped it within the first few minutes, my clothes were damp for a week, lol. Once we got the canoe down pat we paddled then portaged few a streams and lakes, don't really know how far off the main road we were. Surprisingly each body of water held it's own species of fish, we finally get to a trout lake called Little Dozier. Never watching a survival show on TV it's a wonder how we got back alive, but we fared pretty well. Biggest mistake taking the trip over Memorial day, black fly season plus it snowed almost every night, the days were spectacular. It was a little scary hearing all kinds of noises at night, so dark couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Scariest part of the trip was a doe moose walking thru our campsite at daybreak. I made the trip 2 more times with my same friends, it got easier.

Burn it

A 2# line that has the diameter of most 4# that breaks in excess of 8#, being realistic calling it a 2 is a real stretch. Diameter is about manageability, despite the label marking this is an 8# line with a diameter of .008. Have no comment on whether the line is good or not, never used it. I have use p line floroclear and it served me well.

The latest episode of being hooked was last year. Fishing off the beach I catch a bluefish, they can be pretty feisty. The fish is jumping around before I can grab it, one 4x #2 VMC hooks is in the fish and the other treble from the Poppa Dog gets embedded in the back of my calf. I manage to unhook the fish, wasn't easy with all the flopping around, now I have to deal with my leg. I push the hook all the way thru, my pliers were not strong enough to cut the barb or flatten it down. About 10 minutes later I get help, that person was able to get down lower for better leverage. The exact same scenario with the same happened 1 year prior to this, got help with that one too. I get nervous every time I use a Poppa Dog.

Cardinals come in different models, with each step up you get more refinements, I have about 7 or 8 of them. My most used are my sorons which are the updated version of 800 series. I've caught many fish on my cardinal 177 and 172, still perfect but I've upgraded them to sorons sxt. My 40's have been great performers, in fairness my 20 has fallen out of favor with me. I don't think the drag is up to the standards of the other reels in this series and I'd prefer bit more line capacity. I've moved that reel from saltwater to freshwater, can't say I recommend it.