Darren.

Well done, and congrats on a new PB!

Agree with you on the leader knot. I never worry about my leader knot anymore -- unless I tied it in a hurry (rare) and didn't give it a pull test first (a MUST!). If I break off, 99.7% of the time it is somewhere in the leader. LOL, I can't really put a percentage on it, suffice it to say, if it breaks at the knot, it is extremely rare.

Welcome aboard!

Leader length can vary on what you want. Gary Yamamoto uses 15 or 20 foot lengths. I use 1, 2, or 3 arm length stretches (line from hand to hand, arms stretched out), 2 and 3 if I know I'm going to be retying often. Sometimes I'll go all the way down to 12" of a leader, but I usually retie at maybe 18-24" or when I feel kinks and such in the line. Another way to tie a leader length is tie the line-to-leader knot first, then reel it in but leave the knot about 1" in front of the top guide (in other words, don't reel it past the first guide). Next, cut the length down to about where your hook keeper is - or a few inches past because you'll be tying on a hook here. Now your leader won't come through your guides and get "bent" when storing the rod, hook in hook keeper. And that's another reason to use a leader. Braid is phenomenal as a mainline, but expensive to replace if you go through it rather quickly (constantly tying new lures on, etc.) With a leader, you only cut a short section of braid when you need to retie a new leader. Otherwise, you're only cutting your leader... The albright, modified albright/alberto are some of the best. Uni-to-uni is solid, and pretty easy to tie as well, although the Albright is stronger in my experience.

Welcome aboard, John!

Sweet catch!

Excellent! And congrats to your fisher-wife!

Allow me to say: I'm simply impressed you know how many fish you caught on the rod!! I have no clue with mine, LOL.

Welcome aboard!

Congrats on a new PB!

Always feed thru and spool that way. But I know places like BPS will take the spool out and mount it on a machine - at least they do with spinning gear.

I'd help out if I were in my yak and they were shorebound. Sure. What those guys did, as flechero said, will come back to them someway, somehow. And you were smart for controlling yourself and walking away. Never know what kind of crazies are out there, even on the water. I've met them, too, and they're downright rude, mean. I confronted some once, but fortunately nothing escalated, and I caught a 3lb bass right in front of them. So justice was served

Welcome aboard, Branden!

My wife recently shot and killed one. I really liked that monkey.

I've hooked so many sunnies through the eye socket. Probably has something to do with the way they attack the bait then dart away. You did the right thing by gently removing the hook (as best you could). I can't remember ever having one lose an eye as I remove the hook; usually they're hooked in the socket, not the eye specifically. But that's not gonna be the case every time. But anyhow, water birds, bigger bass, toothy fish (pickerel, pike, etc.), turtles, catfish, will all be potential eaters. Nothing goes to waste.

Do you have otters in your neck of the woods? We've got river otters here in our reservoirs. Scared the daylights out of me one day when it surfaced and splashed, showed it's big 'ol head only 15 feet from my kayak. I immediately grabbed my iPhone, called the reservoir folks and confirmed they did have otters around.

Much better! Nice size bass there off the bottom left of the gator.

Do you have a bigger pic, Lou? I can barely make it out...

Great fish! Can think of no better way to break in new gear than with a PB.

Quite odd. Seen some strange malformities (sp?) in bass, most, I think, due to injury from water birds. Just don't drink that water, eh? LOL

Anyone who names a song "Constipated Duck" gets my vote! LOL Dude's got chops, no question about it.

Phil Keaggy, Tommy Emmanuel, Joe Satriani, Jeff Beck... Geez, I almost forgot Leo Kottke, Adrian Legg, Al DiMeola... just too many favs for me to name one.

While my ideal is to own the Boga, my econo-scale is actually pretty darn accurate. I've been pleased with it for the past 3 years. Also have a digi-scale. Both are extremely close to each other. Periodically test both with dumbbells, and known weights.

Nice deal!

Appreciate your insight on this, Snook. FWIW, I own 2 Stradic 1000FI reels and one Lexa 2000 spinning reel. The Lexa, so far, has better line management, IMHO, than my Stradics. Now granted, the Lexa is new, hasn't had the time on the water my Stradics have. Don't know if the X-Ship on the FJ models would eliminate the current Daiwa advantage. One of the Stradics is having issue with the bail, the other is 100%. I've used them in brackish and fresh, always rinse off after salt exposure. There's a review of the Lexa 2500 by an Aussie, who used it in salt, which was instrumental in my purchase. Would I buy another Lexa? Yes. However, given my elbow issues, lighter gear has my eye these days....