Goose52

One of my lakes is on a relatively busy road and I've had folks drive by and yell out the window..."are you crazy"! This as I've been standing there fishing in the rain, wind, snow, etc. .............. ;D ;D ;D

Congrats - I hope you get the lunker !

Yep - in-between ice-overs, and with some sunny days, the water gets back into the 40s for a while. Then it goes back down in the 30s (and I haven't yet managed to catch a fish in water below 39deg.) I fished yesterday - the water was 39 when I started, 40 a few hours later. However, we have some more cold weather coming through and water temps will probably be back in the 30s for the next week or more... :-?

I stick my rod under my arm pit while I unhook a fish. For that last one, I also do what BASSclary does. Notice in my avatar at left that even with the fish in hand, so is the rod. I never sat it down to unhook him. Also for the one I highlighted in pink, I completely disagree. I have reels that I've owned for years that look absolutely brand new without a mark on them and I've used them a lot. The rods also look amazingly clean and sharp but they do occasionally get a very slight mark on them from rubbing on various surfaces while in use or storage. But it's so small as to not even be noticable, and never below the epoxy surface into the graphite blank itself. I'm fanatical about how I take care of every rod I own. On laying the rod down - as I said earlier, I guess I typed too fast and shouldn't have used the word "you" which in context meant all anglers...I should have said "I" have no choice (because I measure all fish caught and it takes both hands - sometimes three hands ;D). Other reasons to lay the rod down are to weigh a fish, to work on removing a deep-hooked fish, to remove a slippery or toothy fish that you can't lip, when you need get something out of your tackle bag/box, to tie a carolina rig, etc. Hard to do those things while still holding the rod. In most cases, I can lay the rod on grass. When I'm on rip-rap, I can usually find an area to prop up the rod without laying it down. I have had very few blemishes from laying the rod down - my only concern is stepping on the cotton picking rod! I do need to follow J Franco's suggestion though and have a small towel as part of my kit. On boat rash, bank rash, and general wear - it's always a good thing to take good care of your equipment for sure. I try to do that - earlier I posted a photo of a rod and reel that I've owned for 45 years, they're in pretty good shape. They were only fished off-and-on over those 45 years, but there's still a few paint blemishes on the reel and some of the decals on the rod are chipped off (right where the hook keeper is) - wear will happen if you fish your gear. Below is a photo of a BPS PQ reel - it has only one season of use. Note how the numbers of the mag brakes are mostly worn off. I literally palm a reel, and this rod has had thousands of casts and retrieves...so, a lot of skin to reel contact - numbers nearly gone. The numbers will be all the way gone by next year. Wear happens. I take good care of my gear too - but no matter how good of care you take, wear happens... :

In 40 or 50 years or so, you'll know what we're talking about .... ;D ;D ;D

What's wrong with leaning your rods against a wall? IIRC, after extended periods of time It will retain that small bend in the rod where its leaning. I assumed that's what he was getting at, but I'll believe it when I see it. Like I mentioned earlier - I heard of the rod bending issues back when folks were still using split-bamboo flyrods...but I don't recall ever hearing it was an issue with solid fiberglass. hollow fiberglass, or graphite rods.. :

Send a PM to member "Hammer 4" - he fishes Los Angeles county and the surrounding area and may have some tips on where to fish.

I haven't (temporarily) lost anything yet...but just today I picked up a rod and thought - I didn't know I had a MH rod in that brand! I guess I got more stuff than I can remember.... ;D

I have the KVD Bass Stratagies book...but I've already read it so it's not on my 1300 page reading pile! ;D

Maybe that was in the bamboo fly rod days.... ;D ;D

In my case, you're absolutely correct! I do have some Fireline braid (bought on your recommendation - you finally got me with the famous photo ;D) ready for when the PP finally wears out... trash it now. Ha - I knew you'd say that! ;D However, my frugal nature requires that I use things until they are "used up"; I've caught 423 fish so far on that 150yd spool of PP and lots more fish to catch before it's used up.... After that, the Fireline braid goes on.

I have GOT to start doing that... :

Mine came in today as well - 5800 yards of 10lb; something about that amount just gives me a feeling of ... security! ;D Yo-Zuri is still fibbing about the diameter of their 10lb line though - they list both the regular Hybrid, and the Ultra-Soft at .012" but it actually "mikes" at .013" - about what other manufacturer's 12lb is often listed at.

I try to follow that philosophy as well. Below is my 1965 vintage Garcia-Mitchell Conolon rod and 408 reel. I can't say it's been fished continuously for 45 years...but it's been fished off and on for 45 years...and survived through at least 12 household moves!

I stick my rod under my arm pit while I unhook a fish. Good point. I guess I should have said that "I" usually end up with the rod on the bank. I measure everything I catch, it takes two hands and involves having the fish on the bank. Then, I sometimes have to climb back down a steep bank to get the fish back in the water and in most cases, I'd rather have the rod at the top of the bank rather than trying to carry it with me...:

I handle them with utmost care when taking them from the trunk of the car (just about the most dangerous event for a rod). I handle them with great care when putting them in the boat, and taking them out of the boat. I handle them with the "best care under the circumstances" when actually fishing with them from the boat or the bank. No matter how careful you are, you will end up with some type of boat-rash (or the shorebound equivalent - "bank-rash"). In my canoe, I have a Scotty rod holder right next to my seat that I place the rod in as soon as I boat a fish (so I'm not laying it across the gunwale or just plopping in down in the bottom of the canoe). From the bank, you just have no reasonable choice but to lay it on the bank as you're removing the fish from the bait and returning it to the water - and you hope you don't step on your rod... ;D

Goose bought shimano reel? I can see Mr. BPS crying at the corner... ;D Well, the numbers are still WAY in the BPS corner - 10 BPS BC reels and 3 Shimanos (and 2 of those are 25 years old) ;D

The Bait Monkey is very ferocious here in Tennessee - I actually bought a Shimano bc reel today!

We're always looking for the value deals.....

BPS XPS flouro has a good rep, is relatively inexpensive, and could be a candidate for your initial foray into flouro line. If you end up liking flouro, you could experiment from there. I've used the 12lb XPS and it was good for me... : I know that you will want to spool that new reel right away so you can't wait...but XPS is an extra-good value when it's on sale..........

Sounds exciting - have fun! I'm excited too - my surface water temps are holding at 40deg ...but will probably be back in the 30s by the end of the week... ;D ;D

Gosh - I have 10 bc reels with DBS - I'll have to remember that formula ! :)

maybe your bearings are shot. No - it's practically new. It's just that with the light baits that I throw on that reel, my standard 2-pin setting was just too much braking. The usual mantra is to have balanced pins so I fished that reel for a while with what I thought was the minimum centrifugal (besides no pins of course). Anyway, one day I tried 1-pin to see what would happen. One-pin was the sweet spot...

In my case, you're absolutely correct! I do have some Fireline braid (bought on your recommendation - you finally got me with the famous photo ;D) ready for when the PP finally wears out...

I usually try to use "balanced" numbers on a 6-pin system but occasionally I set just 1 and like everyone above, can't feel any kind of unbalance or any negative effect on casting distance. In fact, I have one BC reel that just "came alive" on 1-pin on as compared to 2-pins.