Darren.

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.

Hmmm. Interesting info, webertime.

Ha ha. Nope. They're "pets", we collect 'em. But we were raising rats for a while, for feeding. My wife wasn't a fan of that aspect of snake keeping.

Repeat after me: Snakes are our friends. They keep the rodent population from rising and taking over the world... LOL. But seriously, I can understand fear of snakes. However, in my house we have 20 of them. Of course we do not collect venomous snakes. My brother was bitten by a Canebrake rattlesnake back in the early 80s, we almost lost him. I was a young teenager, but learned a valuable lesson from that. Wise to avoid areas where water moccasins/cottonmouths bask. They're one of the more belligerent/stand-its-ground snakes out there.

Welcome aboard, Chad!

An FJ 2500 for $90?! No question, scoop it up. And welcome to the forums.

I'm done looking at your posts, Big-O. Done, I tell ya!

1) 4" Bass Pro Stick-O in Watermelon Magic and Hot Pepper Frog (second up would be GYCB Senkos in 4"). 2) GYCB Yamaminnows rigged wacky, mojo, split/drop, and TX in Green Pumpkin Red flake, Watermelon Red flake, and Watermelon Gold Flake 3) Zoom Finesse worms in Green Pumpkin + chart tip, Black, watermelon gold flake