webertime

Guess I'm a little late on this post. Our club, Chittenden County Bass Masters, has members from Montpelier and the Mad River Valley over to Bristol up to Swanton and North Hero. 33+ members, all great guys without egos. Our club is the oldest club in VT. WWW.ccbvermont.com I'm the president (and VP currently) . 8 "club" tournaments a year and 3 opens as well. Any questions pm me. HeavyD, there's a new club out of the Dover/Wilmington area if you are interested let me know and I'll get you in touch with them.

@How far up the lake are you coming?

Berkley Pitboss Jackall Sastuki Craw Yamamoto Fat Ika Zoom super speed craw

Doc Irving makes some great stuff. 10" senkos are great and I have 1 gallon bags of custom fat ikas. Red dirt baits is another.

It's a bulky, light bait with 50lb braid. It's not going to cast super far unless you have a fairly light/low power rod. What rod are you using it with?

Full sized spook in bone/orange belly. I saw (was net boy for) a 20lb bag of smallies all on that spook. They'll hit them. The weather was nasty (2-3' waves , gusty winds and sideways rain). Look at the Jackall Boil-Trigger too. Think of it as the love child of a Pop-R and a Jointed Rapala, it's loud, casts a mile, without being huge.

My predictions: Complaints, doubts, rants, excitement... You can take that to the bank.

normal reaction, don't schedule the amputation... yet. It's your left arm, do you lean on your left elbow when you sit in a chair or are on the phone? It's that sort of thing that stresses nerves sometimes. Add a new stimulus (holding a fishing rod for a while) and that might be a tipping point. Pay attention to what you do with your elbow and wrist on both arms and you'd be surprised to see the strains you put on that nerve. Do you give the rod/reel a "Vulcan death grip"? I catch myself getting so amped up that I am squezing the heck out of my reel. Try different grips on the combo. go spend a few $ on some tape to build up the grip Ice Stretch relax your grip a bit. Then amputate...

Bama55 nailed it, sore wrist and tingling ring & pinkie fingers are your ulnar nerve. I have similar damage from Mountain Biking and Weight Training. Lots and lots of ice and stretching. Make sure the grip on the rod (where you put your hand) isn't putting too much pressure on the "fat part" of the outside of your palm... The nerve ends there and just holding a set up that puts the grip against it "Just so" OR a grip that is too thin will set it off (my experience). I used Handle bar tape from a bike shop to build up grips that I found caused this reaction and it helped a lot.

Drop shot a 3" senko or 4" roboworm.

Put the frog on such that frog bows down a bit between the line tie and where you insert the hook. Use a heavy gauge (gammy superline) hook too. I use floating white ribbits exclusively, they fish the same regardless.

Go to a bike shop and check out the bar tape selection. The variety is amazing, from cork to vinyl to leather to foam to carbon. Durability is on par the tennis racket grip, lighter too.

I wouldn't bothering. They're reaction baits so stealth is sort of a moot point. It's just another knot to fail.

As far as tag length I personally leave ~3/8" and that's mostly out of habit. I fish with a guy (multiple time AOY in the club and on the Federation State Team yearly) that leaves 3-6" regularly, even on his tiny shakyheads. He also swears by Vanish but that's another story.

Mono and braid = Trilene Knot it has nearly no waste. Fuoro = San Diego Jam maybe an inch of waste.

I use 17lb Siege as a Carolina Rig leader, that stuff is tough! Coming through/over rocks with neary a wimper!

So the smallies are going nuts up here and my lucky crafts are feeling their rath. I've got 3 Pointers and a Flash Minnow either missing hooks or have hooks so mangled it's comical. For Pointer 100's, what trebles are you folks using as replacements?

There are a couple new Daiwa Zillions on that auction site in the range you are looking to spend. I'd go that route.

Rebel Redneck. Kind of a fatter bodied Rage Anaconda with a red skirt slid on to it. Meant to mimic a Hellbender.

To catch a bowfin: Find swampy backwater area. Tie on most expensive lure you have (add reciept to hook for extra attraction). Cast. Set hook. Land fish, release it. Take broken bait and throw it in the bottom of the boat. Repeat. My buddy and I were flipping a weed bed on Champ. He was on the front left and was in the rear on the right. We both hooked into 11lb+ bowfin at the same time. It was nuts... "You get the net! No! You get it I'm busy! Dude!!!! Dude, what!?!?!?! I'm going through the same thing you are!"

Great deal there!

Put the Advantage on the rod to try it. I have Zillions and Advantages/Tierras. The Advantage is somewhat wide and some feel it's hard to palm. I think you have to figure in the reel seat too to make that decision, on some Minima-type seats they are perfectly fine. I like the Advantage a lot, but a Zillion/Fuego/Alphas is in a different league. Now an Advantage compared to a Curado E... In my opinion is an equal preformer, with a better feel. If it was me though look at a used Zillion/Fuego/Sol. I got a Zillion with Orange Seals and Smooth Drag upgrade for $150, the thing was basically new. Deals like this do pop up.

Orivs Mirage (should be at most any fly shop) 0x sized Fluoro leader. The stuff is bomber in rocks and wood. Holds knots very well too. Tiny spools won't clutter up your bag too.

Had it before. Ketoconozole works well. To prevent it you need to allow air to easily pass over your skin. People get it on spots that their clothes often have constant contact with their skin. Go shirtless (or commando or barefoot) when you can, baggy fishing shirts with good venting are great at preventing it from coming back too often.

Did you catch anything? Looks nice and subtle