Marty

I think you'll be fine.

It apparently does make a difference if you sharpie it at the end.

I'm not in restaurants often, but from what I read, what you witnessed is, unfortunately, not an isolated instance, but rather one of many.

"The new lightweight, more compact, Pro Angler 12 is the most versatile fishing boat we’ve ever designed." I think they redefined the word "lightweight."

I used the 14# Fireline (talking about the original fused line) on spinning gear for a few years and it held up well. However, I felt it didn't flow off the reel smoothly and cast less distance. For me, 15# round braid casts better, but the Fireline was the equal of braid in the other properties.

I used to have a baitcaster back in the days when you brought two or three rods with you at most. But I gave it up because it lacked the versatility I wanted and spinning serves me well for everything I want to do. You're not alone, but I don't consider myself to be in a "boat", because that implies a negative and using spinning is a choice I've made, not some misfortune that has befallen me.

I have no way of knowing for sure, but I think some grass on the hooks wouldn't deter fish from biting if it was just a small amount of grass that didn't affect the lure's action. As an aside, I fish crankbaits a lot and never get a strike after ripping the bait free even though conventional wisdom says otherwise.

I use 15# Power Pro and have never broke it. One of the linked-to articles said 20# broke at 36 and using the same proportion, 15 would break at 27. I've always had the feeling that I was fishing line much stronger than 15#.

Actually, I think people outside the industry do indeed understand and appreciate the advances that have been made. Most of the complaints and dissatisfaction that I hear or read about concern the system, not the actual medical care itself.

You will need options for open and weedy water. Buzzbaits are semi-weedless and frogs, both hollow bodied and solid, are weedless. For open water, in addition to your Jitterbug, consider walking lures, poppers and prop baits.

If your experience is anything like mine, you'll like that drag chain very much.

I hope you bring this to Strike King's attention and request either refunds or replacement lures.

You were on fish and tried a variety of lures. Not a lot more that I can think of except...you didn't mention topwaters, which I would've wanted to try.

Those are some impressive-looking fish.

To me, tuning doesn't involve changing the wiggle pattern on a crankbait, it involves getting a lure that runs to one side to run straight. Bass Pro has an inexpensive tuning tool which works much easier for me than pliers. http://www.basspro.com/Tuning-Tool-Key/product/52284/

I used a 5# dumbbell with my canoe until I made a drag chain using two feet of heavy chain. Since the chain I've never had to use the dumbbell. However, I'm fishing soft bottoms where it's easier to hold. A hard bottom probably would be a different story. For those who use retractable leashes, what do you do with the part that stays in the boat?

I used to do a huge amount of fishing from shore, but due to my personal preferences and the way I fish, I carried just one rod. Spinning with medium power and a 2500 size reel with 10# mono until I switched over to 15# braid. Rods of 6'6" and M power always worked well for me as a general purpose rig.

Obviously you're thinking about maximizing your chances to get that fish in through heavy vegetation and that rod appears to offer a very good chance. The other question to consider is whether that rod will efficiently cast the lures you plan to use. I don't know how think your vegetation is, but for what it's worth, I've pulled some good sized bass through heavy dense algae mats with 15# Power Pro on a spinning rod with medium power.

My one and only gar was caught with the line wrapped around it, but that's the only fish I've caught that way.

As a general rule, I'd start with the faster-moving lure because if the fish happen to be active you'll catch more. If they're not active then you switch to slower lures.

My experience is that all lure types work well in ponds, just as they do in lakes. The types of lures that I use the most are topwaters, crankbaits and soft plastics. I think you can't go wrong with Revival's list.

Surely, the aforementioned lures will all work well. Topwaters haven't been mentioned so I'll do the mentioning. My five or six largest bass all came on topwaters.

Same here, Palomar on my 15# Power Pro.

Keep in mind that the inventor of the unit, Dr. Loren Hill, said that the unit would tell which color had the highest visibility but that the one with the highest visibility wasn't necessarily the one that was most likely to generate a strike.

I don't use them, but I never saw plastics that wouldn't catch fish. Creme invented the worm but got passed over by companies with presumably superior marketing savvy. My gut feeling is that the product line isn't much better or worse than that of other soft plastic companies.