.ghoti.

Not my cup o tea, but flipping awesome anyway.

No tackle for me this year. Didn't even buy any myself. My sweetie did get me an iPad. This is day two with it, and I'm liking it. A lot.

RW, Long Mike and I just did a trout trip to Taneycomo. We had two decent mornings before the water was shut off. That will kill the bite on a river system. Not as many fish as we wanted, but we didn't get skunked. What we did get was good company, great food and good drinks. Gents, we need to do this more often.

One more word. Aero press. Try one of these and you will discard your French press

can't accuse Big O of not havin a pair

I'd be interested in knowing what you would consider a finesse jig. I rarely throw a jig heavier than 1/4oz, and this rod is good for that; pitchin or casting.I also use mine for rage rigs(3/16oz), jika rigs(1/8oz) shakey heads(1/8oz) and light t-rigs. The heaviest thing I've thrown was probably about 1/2oz. I would not recommend this rod for much more then that. The first bait you mentioned; swimjig/impact is going to close to an ounce. That's way too big for this rod, in my opinion, but give it a shot. Just don't try to cast it into the next county. Never thrown a spinnerbait with this rod. I don't like an XF tip for spinnerbaits myself, but I know some who do. Try that too, but again, I wouldn't go over 1/2oz. I have 8 St Croix rods; an even split between Avids and LTBs, and every one of them is a step more powerful than it's rating. Except this particular model. To me, it is a true MH rod. I debated a while about puchasing this rod. I expected it to fish like a heavy power rod. I have two heavy power rods; one of which sees very little use, so I don't need another. But in the end I decided if I had a "better" heavy rod, I'd use it more often. ( a fine example of the type of rationalization one employs when the bait monkey is perched on one's shoulder ) Over the course of this season, this has become one of my fav rods. When I go out in my yak I take two rods. This is one of them on most outings.

Hedgehog Studios tool http://japantackle.com/Tuning_parts/tuning_bearings.htm One of the best things I've bought in the last five years.

Just so you know,in addition to the requisite fishing tackle,food and adult beverages, I'll be bringing my portable cold-fusion powered chrono-synchlastic infundibulum generator. If by chance the world goes all apocalyptic on us, I'll fire that bad boy up and step through a worm hole into the parallel dimension of my choice. You're welcome to join me, but if you go to Arkansas while Kent and I are fishing in Missouri, I doubt you'll have time to get there.

know

Any time, any place, any conditions, any depth: tube.

I didn't know your attention span was that long.

It's good to have friends back you up when you're right.

Better check with them on that. I'm pretty sure the cabin Mary and I had was a one bedroom unit. I've slept a couple of times since than, so I could be confused.

While the ceramic balls need no protection form corrosion, the rest of the bearing does. It's called stainLESS steel, not stain FREE steel, and does need lube if you expect your bearings to last very long. Its been stated that worn bearings should be replaced because they will be noisy because 301 & 321 is a dry lube. If you place a period after the word replaced, I would agree.The remainder of the statement is nonsense.

go here http://www.tackleservice.com/Consumer/SeriesListings.aspx?BrandID=6&ProductSeriesID=531 click on your reel

Amen, brother.

Brother Kent; congrats on turning 29. for the 32nd time.

Normal? Probably a Barney What's-his-name "wide stance". That species of brown is not kept, simply dropped and released.

American made knives are becoming harder to find, and pricier when you do. If you get one that says Seki City, you most likely got a very fine knife. I have Benchmade, SOG, Spyderco, CRKT, Cold Steel, Kershaw, Boker and Buck knives; fixed and folders. My every day carry for years was a Kershaw. It disappeared about a month ago. I'm fairly sure it slipped out of my pocket while on my yak. Looking for something a little smaller, and more discreet, than most of my folders, I ordered a Mcusta. Japanese made, damascus blade and grips, very sleek and smooth operating. If you're truly concerned about where your new knife is made, check out the Knife Center, online. When you select a knife to look at or order, it will tell you where it's made.

My worst case was on trout trip in southere Missouri, at the Rockbridge Rainbow Trout Farm & Gun Club. Cool name, eh? Neat place. Fishing a run downstream, drifting a San Juan worm into a nice bunch of fish. Had my legs a little farther apart than normal, balancing on two rocks, with the hem of my shorts about 2 inches out of the water. Felt something hit my shorts, looked down and a cottonmouth fatter than my wrist swam right between my legs. I froze, scared spitless. Still gives me a major league case of the willies thinking about it. He kept on going downstream. A very big brown snake in the water in front of me, and almost a big brown trout release behind.

OK, now I have some time. We had a great trip despite the remnants of TS Ike. Fishing in rain all day Saturday, the spinnerbait was hot for me. Got 2/3 of my fish on it. Got most of the rest on a tube or Fat Ika. I had a real reminder of the importance of rate of fall Saturday. The tube bite was on. I had a Poor Boy's tube with HP internal weight on a 3/0 Rig-N hook. Lost my last 1/8oz HP weight, and tried with a 1/16oz. The bite turned off that fast. With an 1/8oz weight they were tearing it up. Nothing at all on the lighter weighted tube. That was when I switched to the Ika and spinnerbait. Got a few on the Houdini shad, but the bite on that was so light it was hard to detect. A good day of catching, soaking wet, followed by the load-out from hell. Had clay mud (clud) all the way up to my kness from sliding and tripping on that slope. Even had clud in my freakin hair and ears. I must have also stepped in something that was not mud. Got in my car the next morning and it smelled like somebody had crapped out something dead. Sunday was another great day of catching. We fished all day on Long Lake. I had the idea we might fish two lakes, but the bite was too good to leave. The spinnerbait bite was dead. Not one fish on it. The Ika was hot, Houdini shad was hot, jigworm got hot later. Mike went on a rip with a fluke. No rain Sunday.That was nice. The sun made an appearance which put the fish a little deepr. That was when the jigworm started working. The sun came out to stay around 4 and put an end to the bite. My brother Mike and buddy Steve fished Friday afternoon, all day Saturday and Sunday morning. They got completely soaked Friday. It rained a lot harder Friday that it did Saturday. They both looked, and smelled, like drowned rats when they showed up at the cabin. But, they had a fine three days of catching too. Good fishing, good friends, good food, it doesn't get any better. Kent, you shoulda been theree.

It won't be stocked with smallmouth. It will be stocked with the smallmouth / spotted bass hybrid, known as a meanmouth or tiger bass.

If you're giving the Cumara any consideration at all, go to a store that has them and mount your reel on it to see if you like the feel. I have one. Bought it when they first came out. Fished with it three times, and its been sitting in my rod rack ever since. I don't use the term "hate" very often, but I hate the way this rod feels in my hand. I'll be kind and say only that the grip / seat combination is seriously under-sized.

"The Blind Mike" or One-Eyed Julie

ROFLMAO!!!!!!