.ghoti.

I would NOT be insulted, were I required to pay a membership fee to be a part of the best fishing site on the planet. This is a priviledge I would gladly pay for. I realize this could be a problem, particularly for some of our younger brothers and sisters. A voluntary donation scheme may be a good way to go. Let those who can, donate. Having said that, I'd hate to see any kind of "status" or extra priviledges awarded to those who do step up to the plate. This is a marvelously democratic place. Everybody has an equal voice here. Loosing that quality would be a tough pill to swallow. Glenn, it would not be "tacky" to ask for donations. The best things in life are not free. You have a large group of people here who are willing, able and would be happy to help. And now I'll shut up about it. As for bandwidth, we could sort of police ourselves. Does adding a smiley help to punctuate a point? Sure. One is definitely required when yanking someones chain. Does adding thirty of them do it better? Welllllll? How about not automatically opening pictures. Just post the link, with a good description of what the picture is, and let us all open just the ones we want to see. That would serve to speed things up a bit. Cheers, GK

Wow, that's a long time. You've got what my grand-dad called, "stick-to-it-iveness". Gots to admire your persistance. Cheers, GK

Don't know if you're a spinning rod guy or not, but here goes. Long rod. light line and either a shallow Shad Rap or original floating Rapala. Cast way upstream and twitch it along with the current, letting it pop back up on top every two or three twitches. If you can bring it back to you so that it swirls into an eddy, hang on. Cheers, GK

For got to add this. If you run into snakes a lot while out fishing, you gotta get one of these. http://www.coldsteel.com/95sseries.html They work extremely well.

My wife and I have both caught snakes on soft plastics. I got a 4' diamondback water snake on a 5" senko. She got a 5' copperhead on a 4" senko. The copperhead was a bit more exciting. Cheers, GK

I find that a pistol grip is the best grip for topwater use. I also like one for jerkbaits. I wish there were a larger selection to choose from. Cheers, GK

I have two L&T rods, but none of the S series. I can't give you a field test. I can say that I liked the feel of th L&T rods much better in the store, bought one, and then bought another. I rate these rods at the top of my "best bang for the buck" list. Unless you're a short guy, I'd go with a 7' rod. More leverage for them big stripes. Cheers, GK

If you want to buy your little guy, or gal, a tough rod, that's the one. Good rods for kids to learn on. Otherwise, I agree, there's not much to recommend them. Cheers, GK

If you're just going to use it as a leader, you don't need to spend the extra cash for Transition. It changes color in sunlight. That's why it costs more. Both are good lines. You can hear them being bashed a lot. The early versions of both were not good lines. They are both good lines now. Cheerws, GK

Good for you. More time to fish. What's not to like? I sometimes wish I could do the same, but my part-time gig makes me about $25k a year. It's kind of hard to leave that much money on the table.

You may also take a look at the Team Daiwa light & Tough series. They are precisely that; light and tough. Around $120. Never seen one on sale. They have a rather large handle, even bigger than the BPS powerhump design, so if you have small hands, you might not like them. I like them, myself. Cheers. GK

I like clear green line for cranks, jerks and spinnerbaits. I don't use it for plastics and jigs. It's too hard for me to see. I like to line watch when fishing jigs and plastics, so I need something a bit easier to see. Cheers, GK

I used to use that for all my muskie fishing. I switched to Spiderwire a few years back, and tried PowerPro last year. I like both of these much more than dacron. You might give one of those a try. They're both a bit pricey, but will last for more than one season. Well, they will in fresh water. Don't know about the salt. Cheers, GK

Quote "Which one is better?" Yep.

7" Power worm, 35 cents each. The last for more fish than senkos or ikas, are cheaper, and I use them for spinnerbait trailers when they are too torn up to use on a t-rig. Lots of bang for the buck. Cheers, GK

My big bass ( that's anything over 5 pounds in my neck of the woods ) have bit on one of these baits: 10" Power worm Super Spook Buzzbait Power hawg Norman deep little N crank I think that's about it, and that's just about the right order. The most by far were caught on a 10" Power worm. Cheers, GK

I like BPS and Cabela's about equally. Gander Mountian is down on the list. Never seen an Academy. Dick's isn't even on the list. They are not a tackle shop, in my opinion, they're a sporting goods store. I probably do more online business with Cabela's, with BPS being a close second. I buy more in-store at BPS because of location. With the new Cabela's opening in a couple of weeks about 5 miles away from the BPS at ST CHarles, Mo, this will change. The new Cabela's looks to be at least twice the size of the BPS. Can't wait. We're planning to be there for the opening weekend. Cheers, GK

Rattletraps. I used to just kill "em on a trap, now I can't catch a cold with one. My newly re-organized tackle bag doesn't even include any of them. I remain convinced that the fish have become conditioned to that sound. I catch a lot more fish on cranks without rattles, as hard as they are to find these days. Cheers, GK

I haven't used minnows sice I discovered crappie nibbles. My number one crappie rig is a tiny bass assassin on a 1/32oz jighead, tipped with a nibble, and fished below a float. Sometimes I pull it about a foot and stop, letting the bait swing back down. Sometimes a very slow crank, keeping the bait moving along slowly works better. And every now and then you just have to let it sit. Cheers, GK

These baits have been one of my "secrets" for muskie. I use a big Gammy superline EWG hook and a tygerwire leader. Never caught a bass on one. Cheers, GK

I use mostly Power craws and Power hawgs, but just about any soft plastic will work. I've been saving torn up senkos to use as jig and spinnerbait trailers. About 4 inches of a "used" senko makes a good jig trailer. Gets you a little more for your money. If you use a lot of senkos, the trailers are free. Cheers, GK

I accomplish the same thing by texas rigging the tube with a wide gap hook, and putting the weight inside the tube. You get the same spiralling fall that you get with a jighead without the hangups. Cheers, GK

Rapala Skitter Pop is probably my favorite, followed by the Pop-R. The Frenzy popper is the best bang-for-the-buck.

I quit using any kind of snap a couple of years ago. I use light line, either 8 or 10, for cranking, so I re-tie often. Adding a snap doesn't save me much time, so I figure why add another potential failure point. I have started using oval split rings. When I find a crank that catches fish ( not all of them do ) I put an oval ring on it. One of my goals for this year is to put down the senko and ika and use a crank more often. I hope to have my selection of cranks weeded out by the end of the season. Probably won't all get done; I have about two gazillion cranks, but I'll make a good start on it. I'd like to end up with a couple of boxes of cranks that I know catch fish. Cheers, GK

Lightningrod, we can always depend on you for pics and info on the really cool, high-end stuff. Thanks, GK