Darren.

Welcome aboard, Ian!

Nice to have you aboard, Geg!

I'm voting both in the top 10. Both are great. But there's no way you can leave this one out:

Welcome aboard, Bob!

Welcome aboard!

x3 on the LifeProof. Which is now owned by Otterbox, FWIW...

You really want to get your hands on the various GX2 rods in your local sporting goods store. I've got some Ugly Stik Lite rods we use for salt water, and live baiting, so looked at the GX2 for same purpose. Personally, it is way too heavy for my liking. I can't stand heavy rods for bass fishing. Kills my elbows and wrists with all the subtle bait movement I do with soft plastics. But that's my MO when fishing. You might be a beast of a man with Popeye forearms and the GX2 feels like a feather in your hands

LOL. I tell ya. I've never caught anything trolling from my kayak. But on occasion, I will troll a crank or something while moving from spot to spot. Nothin'... But no big deal. I usually nab 'em with soft plastics anyhow.

Good gravy, man! That's an amazing specimen!

Welcome to the forums!

Welcome aboard!

Welcome aboard, and may bass no longer avoid you!

The money involved if this has to be rescheduled is staggering. The weather may be exciting, but the fiscal aspect is an entirely different matter.

The tone of the question is not a big deal. I, too, find the prices absurd. But I am not the target market. I also find the price of a Lamborghini absurd, but there's a market for them, and I am most undoubtedly NOT in that market. Fantastic car, fantastic engineering, fantastic looks. Same with some of the high-end lures. Somebody will buy them, otherwise there'd be no market.

Welcome aboard!

Welcome to the forums, Sam!

That place has quite a reputation in the field. I've never been there, but believe my brother has, and knows/knew the founder (if it's the right FL serpentarium I'm thinking of)... Some great knowledge to be learned at places like that. I've been to others, and there's a great place in Luray, VA - the Luray Zoo - that has a rescue operation, tons of venomous snakes, massive crocs, tigers, etc. As far as the anti-venom for my brother's bite had to be flown to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, NY from Pennsylvania as they experienced far more rattler bites (Timber) than Western NY. Believe my brother was the first, or one of the first bites there. Bet your son was in wide-eyed wonder at the operation there!

This! I've only dealt with St. Croix over the phone to discuss my options for rod replacement. They've been quite pleasant to talk with. Have not done the warranty replacement yet, but so far so good.

Do whichever feels better to you. I happen to do left for spinning, right for casting. Just the way I learned and prefer.

Don't eat 'em myself. Did a couplet times when I was a kid. Though I love fishing, there are few fish I will eat. And seafood in general is avoided in my house. Especially after my wife had to use her EpiPen last fall in a major scare following dinner out with friends at a steak & seafood restaurant. 4.5 hours in the ER. Exceedingly grateful she's still with me and our sons. Yeah bass isn't "sea" food, but still... Just gimme steak and I'll be good-to-go.

She's in the 45 pound range right now. Need to get her back to the vet soon where I'll get a better weight.

I think the issue came mostly with the change of the Curado and Chronarch, the latter being more like the previous Curado but with a white paint job...etc. The other issue with the spinning reels was the change of certain parts from alloy to plastic. And yes, a lot of Shimano fans were upset over the perceived cheapening of the reels. If you read another form (TT), there's a Shimano rep that explains some of the changes made. A friend of mine, and huge Shimano fan, BPS fishing manager, really likes the new Stradic FJ, said his Shimano rep assured that if the new plastic piece (can't remember what that piece was off hand) ever fails, Shimano would fix it free, they're that confident in the construction and parts used. Just my take on the issue. I'm a Shimano fan, but also a Daiwa fan now. I don't have the money to throw around to every brand and manufacturer out there to be able to compare and contrast quality differences, etc. So pretty much found two I really like and will probably stick with (so long as the bait monkey stays in its cage where my wife put it).

Got 3 dogs in our household. Latest is Oakley, she's now 7 months old and a complete knuckle headed black lab. Don't have any online pix, but she's a lot like yours. Crate trained, non-hunter (we don't hunt), just a great family pet.

FWIW, and this is a technicality, but worth knowing: snakes we're mentioning are "venomous" not "poisonous". A lot of people get the twain mixed up, but venom is usually injected, poison is ingested. (see below) Similarities abound, though, hence the confusion:

In agreement, no way that's any more than 5.5-6 pounds. My avatar fish weighed in at 6.6 pounds, 22 ¼" long.