BassinSoldier

With all the BCS mess aside I only have two words: GO GATORS!!!

I have the red limited edition zillion and simply put, I LOVE IT! My brother in law has the standard 7:1 zillion and he loves it as well. I have used his and guess what? I love that one too. I haven't used the 6.3:1 but I am guessing that you'd love it.

Just what we needed...another Marine is born...Kidding of course! Congrats on finishing boot camp and welcome! Good to have some more service members around!!! What lakes you fishin out there in trout land?

I own neither, but have heard nothing but good things about the new citica, so I think you'd do well there with the price range you're looking at. Might wanna do some research on the rod though. I've seen mixed reviews bout the carrot stix. Some people seem to love them, others not so much.

Wow that is a monster gill. I bet that was a blast on ultralight tackle!

Every once in a while I'll eat a couple, not very often though. I tried smallmouth for the first time last year and found they taste ALOT better than largemouth. I still find it hard to kill such a pretty fish to eat it so for the most part I just stick to catfish, crappie, and shell crackers. (And store bought tilapia fillets..mmmmmmmm )

Love to chase bream with my 6yr old daughter. I have a 1yr. old waitin for me at home now too and shell be getting her first trip this coming spring! I sure can't wait!!! Can't beat a can o' worms, a lil ultralight, and my lil girls to keep me smilin!

Hey Paul, I sent you a PM with 2 of the other guys I know of that are on the forum that are over here, one of which is in my unit. BassinSergeant is in my unit(my buddy Bryan), and fishhard (another buddy, Shannon, who is in Afghanistan). I am gonna try to get in touch with MSG_AL and see if he knows anyone else, since he got home not too long ago. I want to thank you Paul for what you're getting started, and I thank this forum as a whole for being the great folks that you all are. I have received packages from Rondef and TheRooster while I have been here, and one of my buddies Roger from the FloridaBassForum has sent me a package as well. This is one more reason why I love our sport...there are so many good people. Thanks again & See ya'll in '09!!!

Aw c'mon now Master Sergeant...I still had "the touch" when I was on leave back in Aug/Sept. It's like ridin a bike! ;D I finally get outta here in Jan. sometime and can't wait to get back on 'em myself. Good to see ya gettin out there and I can't wait to see some pics. -Joe

Along with small twitches make sure there is more slack in your line than when walking a stick bait. It took me a few casts with the spro frog to get it right. Small twitches with more slack than usual. You can darn near walk a frog in place if you do it right. If you are new to froggin make sure you wait a while before you set the hook too, you are gonna miss some till ya get the hang of it. Braided line helps too. You're in south FL man, you can frog 'em all year long! Get to it!!

Flechero made an excellent point in that you work the fish with the rod, more so than your reel. I do prefer a burner, however, for toads in the slop cuz its easier to get them kickin' up on top with the 7.3:1, also makes buzzbaiting a lot easier too. I also love it for fishing shallow cranks aggressively, crashing them into things at high speeds. I have never owned a reel slower than 6.3:1 come to think of it, and never had any issues with anything, deep cranks included. I don't claim to be a deep cranking aficionado but I have caught a good number of fish with deep cranks with 6.3:1 reels. I guess that I too agree that it's easier to slow down a fast reel than it is to speed up a slow one. Just my .02...Get yourself a burner and enjoy it!!!

I pulled in around 40-45 LM and 1 SM in 3 trips wading my late summer honey hole on Kentucky Lake while I was home on leave back in late Aug-early Sept. One fish around the 4lb(ish) mark. Just enough to keep me chompin at the bit to get the *&^@ outta here!! Better look out in '09!! Kentucky Lake's bass are in big trouble when I get home ;D

That is one perdy mudfish! Sure are fun aren't they?

My family's hookin me up with some money for Christmas to drop on a new spinning outfit. I've pretty much made my mind up that I am getting a Pflueger president for my reel, but wanted suggestions as far as rods go. Right now I'm checking out the Shimano Compre 7' med. action. I wanted to hear what you guys liked and why. This combo will be used for basically anything too light for my bc gear (esp. shaky heading). Basically looking for an all around good spinning rod for 100 bucks or less...so lets hear it fellas! Thanks!

I'd guess 7 or 8. Great fish either way man, congrats! Been a while since I have caught one that big.

Great deal for somebody lookin for decent entry level casting gear!

I like all of the ones mentioned, but like Primus said...The RC 1.5 IS a must have! If you do pick up a moonsault 100cb, try it during the summer at night. I have had bone jarring hits on that sucker at night.

Why did I have a feeling Redlinerobert (Raul too for that matter, Japan junkie, hahaha!)would chime in on thise one, lol! ;D Thanks man, I have heard that too, about how they're quite similar to the steez rods. I really like the way the reel seats are designed on these sticks, and with all the features they seem to have you'd figure they'd cost at least 50-100 bucks more than what they do. I'll definately be sending the natural a PM. Thanks again for the input guys.

One of the baits I had snap at the wire was in fact a strike king pure poison. Although I do agree that the action is quite nice on these, I just can't bring myself to use one anymore without the fear of it breaking.

In the summer I never leave home without one set up with 50# power pro. I have used the palomar pretty much exclusively with it, and never had a failure. If it ain't broke, don't fix it...Do what works for you!

For the price, is there a better stick out there? From the reviews I am seeing everywhere the answer seems to be no. I'd like some feedback, especially from the guys who actually own a zillion casting rod, compared to others in its price range, as well as maybe some slightly below its pricetag. I'm in the market when I get home and the zillion is my front runner as of right now. Thanks!

What kind of idiot allows an 8yr old child to fire ANY fully automatic weapon? I would love to see this "instructor's" credentials, and if he indeed has any such credentials they should be taken from him immediately. I am a soldier with the 101st airborne and I have fired many fully auto weapons and size is unimportant. It says the father and the "instructor" let him fire the uzi because it was 9mm?? C'mon people!! I have fired a 9mm MP5 and I am 6'3", 225lbs, and the weapon will still try to walk up on you. This was totally preventable and so stupid that I don't really even know what else to say. The father is being punished enough just watching this nightmare unfold, and the so called "instructor" in my opinion should somehow pay as well. What an dumba**. Even though the father was an idiot for allowing this to take place, my heart goes out to the family of this child, father included, and luckily nobody else was hurt, which easily could have happened. Lets have some common sense folks. The gun law activists just got some gas thrown on their fires...I could go on all day about this but I guess I will cut myself off right here...What a nightmare... > :-[ :'(

Looks like good times man! GOTTA love those mudfish!! LOL! ;D

Your wife apparently has a good eye for productive lures! You should thank her...The guys have pretty well covered how to fish them, just follow what they said and enjoy. I love me some super flukes! To add to what was said I also like them as spinnerbait trailers and I have taken the skirt off of some of my buzzbaits and used a superfluke instead. They work great for these two applications too.

OH AND I ALMOST FORGOT! Like Senko77 said, the problem with chatterbaits...I have caught a few fish on them and think they are good baits in certain situations BUT I sort of have an aversion to them after having 2 of them break at the clip where you tie it on. They need a better material or stronger wire where you tie on those baits.