BassThumb

Same here. I often fish clear lakes with braid, with and without fluorocarbon leaders. Here's my observations: Using straight braid with no leader with result in slightly less bites and very few breakoffs. Using braid with a leader results in slightly more bites, and a handful of breakoffs each year.

I would recommend a 9' - 8 weight rod with 9 weight, weight-forward, floating line. It's very easy to cast bulky bass bugs when you use line that is one weight heavier than your rod. This will make learning to cast easier as well, it is very forgiving. This is what I use. I used to use a 7 weight for mostly SMB, and it was a little too light for LMB flies. 7 wts are better suited for large trout and smallies. If you are going to be casting mostly big bass bugs around weedegdes as I do, a 9' - 9 wt with 10 wt line would be worth considering. I almost wish I had done this, then I could cast large northern pike flies more easily. In that price range, I would recommend a St. Croix Triumph combo, if you can still find them. Cabela's had them cheap last month, and they sold out quickly. I think they've been discontinued. You don't need to go with a crazy expensive and sensitive rod with LMB fly fishing since you're mostly watching you flies and your line for strikes, rather than feeling them. Nice, crisp rods are easier to cast, but using heavier line on a decent rod is pretty easy to cast, too.

As far as casting rods go, I prefer a 7'+ for almost all applications. There are exceptions, though. I like using 6' 6" for close quarter roll-casting around docks and emergent weed edges, and also for lures that perform better with a downward snap of the rod, like jerkbaits and topwater. This has a lot to do with what's comfortable, and that's directly related to a persons height and arm length, IMO.

A few people chipped in when I recently made a thread asking about them. http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1270499491/12

Like a spinnerbait, or skipped under docks.

3/8 oz All Terrain. Junebug/watermelon trailer, or black/blue with pumpkin/green fleck trailer.

+1. 8-) Chrome, gold, olive, bone, chartreuse, craw...

That's a steal!

If you try the slower creature baits or stickbaits first you won't be able to cover very much ground. But if that's what you're comfortable with, go for it. Personally, I would throw smaller search lures to get a feel of the place. First off, I would probably try a 1/8 oz Strike King buzzbait, 1/4 oz spinnerbait, and a small to mid sized lipless crankbait fished slow with the rodtip high to keep it shallow. You can cover a lot of water with these lures, and hopefully find some fish. After that, if I had some luck and found a few fish, I would start in with the jigs, T rigs, and heavy spinnerbaits, so you can begin working the bottom and probing the structure, trying to find out why the fish you caught chose that spot. Once you found the structure, it's game on. Then you can start dropping Senko on 'em. Good luck.

I've fished mainly Spro BronzeEye frogs with good results, but I picked up a few Snag Proof Bleeding Frogs recently that I'm excited to try out. They might not be as pretty as a Spro to the human eye, but after I put one in my hand and squeezed it, I think it will have a better hook-up ratio than a Spro. I was instantly upset at how much I've spent on Spros.

Thx for the vid, Glenn. They look great, and it they actually float, they'll make a fine slop lure. Bobby, I'll take 4 packs, ASAP. Black/blue, white, watermelon/red, green pumpkin.

I haven't had much luck on copper blades on spinnerbaits, and they tarnish very quickly if you don't clean them regularly. My best luck with copper has come when fishing inline spinners for trout in the rootbeer colored streams that flow into Lake Superior.

That's good stuff, bona fide Darwin Award material. How could he not realize the lamp needed to be unplugged in order to remove the pen? Seriously.

Really Burley? Did you have to put your troll costume on for this one? You do know that a troll is someone that uses an anonymous ID to post and not their regular ID and their regular persona. I'm not sayin, I'm just sayin. Not true. Regular posters can troll without resorting to an anonymous ID. This is true. Anyone can do it. I think some don't even realize that they're doing it. Trolling is all about the intent to provoke people or to disrupt and derail topics.

Well said. It happens. That's why I'm not risking my health to go after them. 30' trees!?! That's craziness.

Your buddies must treat those rods like garage sale Ugly Stiks! Why was that fella denied? I witnessed the aftermath when local guy who I chat with at the landing drove over the entire length of his older GLX rod with his trailer. He packed the entire splintered rod into a 1 gallon ziplock bag and had a new one two weeks later with the Expeditor program. He was happier with the new one because it had Recoil Guides. If they'll accept a crushed rod in a ziplock bag full of graphite dust, I don't see them turning many people down.

Those colors only seem to work in Louisiana. Orange/Blue works well in certain parts of Florida. Crimson works well in Alabama. Orange/White in Tennessee...etc....Not sure why it works but it does Nice. It crossed my mind because of the Geaux Tigers! line.

There might be some cheap tackle being liquidated from that store soon, unless it's a health hazard to sell that stuff. I don't know.

Man, thats a shame. I don't mean to sound callous, but that's what happens when you have boats with hundreds of HP flying around in the dark at 10 and 11 pm. The deceased were all young men and women in their twenties. I hope alcohol wasn't involved, but I wouldn't bet on it. There's a lot of this weekend partying going on around here in the summer on the bigger lakes. I've seen and been involved in situations when things got out of hand. Some even jetski and waterski at night, and many come dangerously close to docks, bouys, swim platforms, and swimmers. Too often people don't realize the gravity of situations until a tragedy makes in all too clear. I'm wondering the same questions, how fast were the boats traveling, did the boats have lights on, was alcohol involved?

Cinder blocks will work better because you can loop the rope thru them.

If it's not really what you want, then don't get it. It's a good price, but not good enough for impulse purchases IMO. If you talk him down to $700 or less, then it's a different story. $815 http://www.compuplus.com/Gps/Humminbird-798c-SI-Combo-with-1048971.html $856 http://www.amazon.com/Humminbird-798c-SI-Combo-GPS/dp/B001DTRMXK A quick Google search: http://www.google.com/products/catalog?client=safari&rls=en&q=humminbird+798c+si+combo&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=10008468284258614570&ei=qgTdS9e_I4O4Naz4pcQH&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CB0Q8wIwAg#ps-sellers

Thats some good info, Sam. I'm planning on dropping a few fish attractors in a little bowl of a lake that I frequent that has almost zero structure aside from docks, and very little cover in water deeper than 2'. I'll be using a combo of blocks and nylon rope, heavy brush, and chopped up logs with holes drilled in them. I'm considering maybe a piece or two of 2" ABS pipe to offer some overhead cover. I'm curious about this claim, "If you use purple and gold plastic you will attract more bass to your structure." Have you tried this, or heard about it? Why do you think it attracts more fish than a more natural color? Thanks

Make a WTB thread in the flea market. You'll find some.

Are you guys using standard shaky jigs with 2/0 hooks for these big baits, or custom? I was having some bigger baits ball up on my Spot Removers last year, costing me some fish.

I have enough to last me until 2013, but I don't let that stop me. ;D They'll keep fresh for a long time if you store them air tight in a cool, dry, and dark spot.