Desultory

I won't try to be fancy with some sort of analogy, but to me your attitude is no different than the person who thinks it's ok to leave one can on the beach, throw one wrapper into the water, drop a single Styrofoam cup in the river, or do any other small thing that can't possibly harm the environment on it's own. That thinking is so flawed as to not be worthy of debate any more. I don't even know you, but that statement alone makes me think you're kind of an...well, I can't say what I think. While you're post would be deemed ok me telling you what I think would probably get me a ban. :

I don't care who ya are...that's funny right there.

X2, especially the bit about getting a hotel after the tourney if you find yourself having a hard time staying awake on the road.

Yeah Really!!! Over how to get paint outta hook eye. Some of us must be B_O_R_E_D!!!!!! Speak for yourself! I for one found this discussion poignant and quite riveting. Especially RoLo getting slightly huffy on the eye gouger thingy. Booyah! ;D

So what's a good Snakehead recipe? How did you prepare them?

Gotta admit...this is the last place I thought I'd ever see that meme punned. Made me choke on my beverage!

10 beers....You want a medal? How about a purple Jelly Bean? Wait if I drink 10 Beers, can I become a cool guy to. Wow...sit in judgment much? Relax man...he wasn't bragging or claiming coolness, just relating a story.

Wow man...you do great work. Those are seriously clean.

I lol'd.

Seems to me that since the OP hasn't responded to this question yet has found the time to post several other places that there really wasn't much to boast about and was instead just being...well, I won't say what he was being. I'm new here, after all. Thanks anyway, "Dave".

For anyone who didn't read the article I linked above, they did a test on various types of hooks and two methods of leaving the hook in. The first was leaving the line connected and the second was clipping the line close to the shank. The results, quoted from the article: "After four months, 78 percent of the hooks were still imbedded. Cadmium coated hooks poisoned 20 percent of the fish, and production of these hooks has been stopped. Bronzed hooks were less likely (70%) to be retained than tin-cadmium (80%), nickel (83%), or stainless steel (100%) hooks. In a second test, the line was clipped at the eye of the hook, as advised by most existing C&R guides. One-hundred percent of the stainless hooks were again retained, while 56 percent of tin, 76 percent of bronze, 84 percent of tin-cadmium, and 88 percent of nickel hooks remained. Fish mortality was greater when all line was trimmed. Foster theorized that the lengths of line hanging from a fish's mouth kept the hook-shank flat against the side of the esophagus and allowed food to pass. Without the line, food could move the hook and close the throat. " Also, this was done in half-strength saltwater, not freshwater. I'd imagine the time to rust out would be significantly longer in freshwater.

I'm sorry, but what's the point of boasting about a "new finish" if you're unwilling to share anything specific about it? I don't get it.

I gotta be honest...that surprises me. :-?

And reuse?

That's definitely the nastiest thing I've heard this week.

I would think it's probably be better to take a lot of pictures and have a replica made than to keep it for mounting. EDIT: I'm slow.

When I was researching C&R I found this article which I thought was interesting and talks about hooks rusting out. http://www.***/articles/manns/hook_in_out.shtml

I don't have a boat, but if I did I wouldn't drink and drive. Depending on what type of fishing I'm doing on shore (like fishing for anything but bass) I may knock back a couple of beers. I find that when I'm trying to bass fish I don't really have time to drink a beer. I might bring a couple in the cooler and when I take breaks have a beer but when actually fishing I don't have a free hand to hold a beer. Maybe I should get one of those beer helmets.

We'll have to agree to disagree. Regardless of the motivation behind the program, in the end it is, at least in part, promoting fishing. Perhaps the primary purpose is to help addicts but the method he chose does involve the promotion of fishing, by your own definition. He's attempting to get more people involved in it. In any event, it seems the discussion has evolved considerably from your original post and has gone much further into the psychological benefits of fishing and it's impact on society than a simple question of "how does promoting fishing benefit the casual/recreational angler". In short, I'm out of my depth.

I'm a righty. I only have spinning gear and I cast with my right and reel with my left. I just bought my 5 year old a Barbie fishing pole with a closed-face reel (I don't know what they're called). I was trying to teach her how to cast it and it was driving me nuts to have to switch hands to reel because the handle is on the "wrong" side, lol.

Could you define what you think a casual or recreational angler could do that would be considered "promoting the sport"? I've been thinking about a lot of the responses and it seems that there isn't a clear definition of what you mean when you ask what's in it for them by "promoting" fishing. To me, there are a couple of possible answers. One is that anytime you introduce (or re-introduce) someone to fishing, you're promoting the sport, albeit on a small scale. The other, which isn't really something a casual angler would do, is widespread promotion of fishing in general. This type of promotion is for the primary benefit of the companies making the money. I think the benefit from the first form of promotion is quite obvious. You can make friends, teach children to have respect for nature, and maybe even save a life, as in Muddy's case. It can bring friends closer together and, by helping guide these new or returning people, you end up with anglers who respect the sport, the fish, and their fellow sportsmen. There's very little downside to this IMO. The later method is far more difficult to justify for the casual angler. The negatives are that the companies trying to earn the money may not necessarily promote responsible behavior along with fishing. They may not teach newcomers how to respect the waterways, the fish, and their fellow anglers. I still think there can be an upside. You never know when someone brought in the fold this way will turn out to be a great friend and fishing companion, who will learn to respect the sport and even contribute to it's positive promotion in the future. For that reason I think along with acknowledging that companies who will profit from promoting the sport will continue to do so, those anglers already "doing the right thing" need to continue to try and teach newcomers to do the right thing as well. Not all will listen, but not everyone who doesn't get it will stay with it anyway. Sites like this one, and discussions like these, are an integral part, IMHO, of the healthy promotion of the sport. Were the sport not promoted, it's unlikely sites like this would exist. That alone is a benefit for the casual angler. Anyway, my 2 bits. Sorry it ran a bit long.

Sir, you have exceeded the bag limit for !'s and ?'s. You must practice C&R for all !'s and ?'s for the remainder of the day or I will be forced to write you a citation. ;D Oh, and the answer you're looking for is "42".

Another awesome post I missed. I see now my mistake was not being clever enough in my word choices when searching, or maybe being too specific. Thanks!

You da man! I love step by step instructions.

I'm actually feeling really encouraged since it seems I've been on the right track even though I'm not catching many fish. The hardest thing for me is after I've been working a spot for 45 minutes to an hour, trying my best to be patient, I waffle between trying a different color or method and just hiking around to another spot that looks promising. I guess I just need to stop expecting to catch fish and be happy when it actually does happen. Thanks for all the great tips!