flechero

Funny question... because there are two answers. A weighed fish and a guessed fish. An actual weighed 5 pounder is a very nice fish (IMO) anywhere, except maybe in a trophy hunter's boat. For me, I'll gladly catch 3 and 4 pound fish- Belton is more famous for "bullets" which are 14" +/- ;D Lots of people "say" a five is an average fish but as hard as I try and as much as I travel, I can't ever seem to find an average lake. And the fishing is alway "off today" when I fish with those guys. ;D But they do light up when they hook an actual 5 pounder. :

I have a box full of ledgebusters, ranging from 1.5 oz. to 2.5 oz. You need a light swimbait rod for the big ones. (Now that I think of it, I might have a couple 1 oz. in the "night bite" series) You can comfortably work them in 30' of water.

I'm still in a ball cap most days but do load the sunscreen on my ears/face/neck. Most people find it hard to believe that a good fishing shirt in long sleeve is cooler than a t-shirt in the blistering heat. People ask me all the time, aren't you burning up? I say nope, probably cooler than you. The technical fabrics available these days are worth every penny! Not to mention they last. I have a couple orvis shirts that I bought before I got married... that was 8 yrs ago and they are still worn every week. Although, they are starting to shrink in the middle! ;D

and then you can be "BigE7" or "BigE5" ;D

Hmm... because health care has been fixed and the economy is strong again?

did you backlash? One of the few complaints about hybrid is that if you get a kink (as often happens in a backlash) it will break there on a subsequent cast.

That's really not much different than having the stereo blaring, is it?

You are right, but since this build is a "one-off" for me, I had to order some stuff anyway and thought I might try something new. :-/ All is well- I'm going to like it even better now, knowing I used the better components.

That's about the same argument that people are using to try and up the minimum age to 18/21 (depending on which group) the only difference is substitute the word young for teenage, in the quote. I agree that limits should be set on the top end but also that it should be more difficult to get a license at 16.

Gary, For those of us that are already on the "dark side" we prefer to call it partly cloudy... as in- the fishing is better this way. Welcome home, brother.

They make some cool fly 'window' reel seats also. Sadly, I read a bunch of good things about the titans at RBO.. I can only assume I got into a bad batch. BUT since my mistake batch consisted of 3 guide types and 5 different sizes, I think I'll stay away from now on. Here is the rub- I "saved" about $30 by going with titans... but now I've given back $15 in shipping charges, and time spent working on the feet, plus the re pack and ship and now the new layout with Fuji's once they arrive. So if you count time, and I do, I've lost money and build time.

Maybe you should track the days/hours you stay late to show that you aren't taking advantage of anything. If nothing else, maybe you'll be working more OT than UT and they will drop it.

pardon my ignorance, but is a halibut a giant flounder? (or a different species altogether?)

No, haven't used the gold cermets yet... I will at some point but that will be a higher dollar build so it will need to be something "special" for me. I have a few utility rods left to build to fill gaps. Plus, I'm not really a fan of the color gold so I'll have to take the time to spec something out to color coordinate.

Moloch, Have you tried shimano yet? : ;D ;D

Could he just be using one of the smaller hollow body "swimbaits" as his drop shot bait?

In actuality, I don't know of a single company that docks a salaried employee for serving. Now, the hourly folks get screwed, most of the time though.

Depends on the company, the job you are in and your specific contract or arrangement... If my projects are on track or ahead of schedule, I can come and go as I please. The flip side is that when we are real busy or behind, I may be here on the weekend or in the evenings. Contrast that against my last employer, who expected us to be seen at our desks during business hours. You'll find that most companies have an allotted number of sick days and holiday/vacation days you can take, and they usually track them since they are paid days. I think you only see people keeping track of being late, when it becomes an issue or regular occurrence.

a better description of where and how it broke or pics will help. Hopefully you can re-epoxy it in place... since replacing a reel seat is a lot of work. (you have to strip the rest of the rod)

Oh man, you are in for it now... Once I built that first rod- no factory rod was good enough. And off I went replacing every rod I used. And then had a blowout sale in the flea market section of the forum. ...lol Looks good as far as I can tell, I bet it fishes better than any factory rod you have. Does your camera have a macro setting? That's how you can get clear close ups. Welcome to you new winter sport! ;D (it becomes full time when the weather is bad!)

I think you consider the source, if you care... If I say I dropped a 5 at the boat, it was probably closer to 6 or 7. When you catch enough fish that go over 5 (on a scale), you will easily recognize a fish over 5. I give some people 100% credit for "I lost a XX pounder at the boat"... and with others I can't even get close to the number when I see pics. But what do I care? unless they really talk smack and bring others down, I just shake my head. It's like cheating in school, you really only cheat yourself and your own credibility.

I can say they vary by fabric and brand, pretty dramatically... the megellan from Academy will roast me but certain orvis and columbia shirts I find MUCH cooler than even a short sleeved t-shirt. (even within columbia's line up there are a couple very cool and a couple not so cool fabrics!)

Jay, Go serve, be honest and hope that you get to selected... if there is one thing we really need, it's decent jurors. I would love to serve... been called several times and never got close to being selected. They seem to want to strike the educated, logical thinking people first. And God forbid you know a police officer or judge... I got struck once for simply knowing a judge (who was retired at the time). And what scares the crap out of me is that if I ever have to face trial, knowing that all the "good" people are tying to get out of serving. I sincerely doubt they would end up with a jury of MY PEERS to decide my fate.. Any one of us could be caught in the wrong place at the wrong time... it happens every day.

When near a computer, the internet is quicker... but when I do grab a phone book I almost always go for the white pages. If I need yellow it's because I'm looking for ideas or don't know who to call.

FC, I can't say which baits but since you are not opposed to spending some money on good baits, buy the best bait for your depth and situation and have one of the crankbait guys custom paint them to your specs or to match a local craw pattern. Just thinking out loud.