Marty

I agree with the opinion that there is no "best." Get the line with the properties that are most important to you.

You have my best wishes.

I don't know anything about that rod or where you fish or what kind of cover you're dealing with...but I've used a medium power, fast action spinning rod (6'6") which handles most lures and techniques very nicely. It's also a good all-purpose rod from boats as well.

I'm well into my senior citizen years and don't need distance glasses, but have needed reading glasses for years. I've had a number of polarized bifocals. Last year I bought a pair of Ono's. If your eye doctor says that all you need are drugstore reading glasses, then I'd get the polarized bifocals. Cabela's has a much better selection of these than BPS.

My sentiments exactly.

I've done a huge amount of bank fishing, but am not an "expert." There are exceptions, but most of the places I've fished offer better fishing closer to the shoreline, as a previous poster noted. Thus, I try to fish parallel to the shore most of the time and try not to think about the areas out there that I can't do anything about.

As far as my previous reply (curly tails), I misinterpreted your question. You're talking about trailers on skirted jigs; I answered as if you'd asked about fishing soft plastics on plain jigheads.

Have you used this line before on your spinning equipment? I've never used this brand, but this particular line is described as extra strong, possibly similar to Trilene XT. At any rate, some experts advise against using these lines on spinning because they're generally stiffer than others. Possibly a more spinning-friendly line would yield better results?

My wife and I have had more root canals and crowns than most people, I would guess, but I have no regrets, as I'd rather have teeth. The novocaine needles aren't a problem for me. My dentist is close to 80 and I hope he doesn't lose his steady hand while I'm in the chair. ;D

TBG listed some pretty good lures. Fish don't know the rules, though, and bass readily take walleye lures and vice versa.

Don't forget about the old-fashioned, non-sexy, non-exciting, seldom-talked-about curly tailed grub.

The last nine words prove that you were using it right.

I feel I just need two. Something muted like bluegill or shad and something louder, usually firetiger.

I'll talk about topwaters. You're already set with buzzbaits. I'd add something weedless, like a hollow frog, for working slowly in vegetation. Also a soft plastic for buzzing in weedy areas, such as Sizmic, Horny Toad, Ribbit or something in that category. For hard baits, poppers are good for keeping a bait in an area for a while by jerking and pausing. There are walkers for covering water, such as Zara Spook and similar baits. I use Jitterbugs almost exclusively when fishing hard baits on the surface, but I'm not necessarily recommending that you do that, I'm just mentioning my own blind loyalty and confidence in that lure. Good luck.

I don't have much rainbow experience, but I'm not surprised. I've taken a number of browns, lakers and cohos on lipless and I think rainbow would too if they were present where I catch those others.

I've never heard of them and can't find any pictures. But over the course of almost 40 years, I've caught fish on so many brands of crankbaits that I think there are very few that won't produce if you're fishing them at the right time and place. My advice: Get 'em wet a few times and you'll have your answer!!

I like horizontal presentations: crankbaits, spinnerbaits, Chatterbaits and the like.

Some conventional wisdom says not to use sinking lines while fishing topwater. I've fished a lot of topwater over the years, much of it, I'm sure, with the "wrong" lines. As Nike says, "Just do it!" Use your present line and equipment and see what happens. You'll know if your line isn't suitable. If your walking lure has that nice zigzagging action, great. If sinking line prevents imparting the action you need, then you'll have to change. Good luck. Topwater fishing is lots of fun and very rewarding.

Good luck. Why the five-month delay between enlistment and basic training?

Whether it's the thinnest or not, I don't know. And I've never used it. But Tectan from Cabela's is very thin. 26# has a diameter of .0138". http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0030000119135a&type=product&cmCat=SEARCH_all&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&Ntt=tectan&Ntk=Products&sort=all&Go.y=0&_D%3AhasJS=+&N=0&_D%3Asort=+&Nty=1&hasJS=true&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.form1&Go.x=0&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1

Those wall-to-wall rocks ate plenty of my jigs and crankbaits in my canal heyday at Locks 32 and 33. The fishing was good all year, but disproportionately good right after the canal was filled. However, I've never fished or even seen the section of the canal where you are.

I agree 100%. If you're on fish and they're willing to come up, there's no reason they won't strike a Hula Popper. Just make sure to use them at the best times, like low light conditions. As to retrieve, just vary things. Like different lengths of time between twitches, or different number twitches before a pause, etc.

The Erie Canal has a wide variety of species and good numbers as well. Species include both LM and SM bass, walleye and pike, as well as channel cats, suckers, sheepshead, carp and others. However, it's not consistent for the whole canal. For example, the two spots I successfully fished for years have gone virtually dead, yet other areas are productive. All I can say is to try it near your school and see how that section does. Good luck!!

Try them both, they're both great lures. I'd start with a tandem spinnerbait about 3/8 oz. and a crankbait that runs at the depth you want to fish. You can go nuts worrying about brands, especially since you're new to these baits. Countless brands work well, just get something and get them wet.

The biggest smallie I ever hooked grabbed a Mr. Twister curly tail on a jighead. It immediately went airborne, then headed down into the boulders. I don't know how long it took, five minutes or so, but it seemed longer. But I couldn't do a thing with it. Then the line went slack and I reeled in my jig and grub. I didn't cry, but I wanted to. Thirty-two years ago and I remember it like it was yesterday. :'(