K_Mac

I really wanted Ryan and company to win it all. I like his style and his team. Yes, there were a couple of bad calls, but Duke was the more confident and better coached team down the stretch. They earned the title. Like him or not, coach K is a great leader.

I have played with an 893 with a Revo Rocket on it. Palming the reel made the combo a bit tip heavy.If it were mine I would add few cents worth of change to the butt and enjoy. Modifying a high-end rod to get exactly what YOU want is why most spend the extra money. It doesn't really matter what anyone else thinks. Enjoy!

Some of the most judgemental people I know are the ones who are critical of anyone who spends more money on anything than they do. This often has less to do with the ability to buy than an attitude that says my judgment is superior to yours. It is an attitude that says it is foolish to spend your money that way, and is often based on ignorance and prejudice. Hang around any local tackle/bait shop very long and you will hear things so dumb it will make you talk to yourself!

Welcome aboard Ford Motors! Your support is appreciated by the thousands of pickup driving fishermen who make up this site. Thank you. WTG Glenn! Your little website is getting the support it has long deserved. Thank you.

I am with Chris on this. There are many abrasion resistant alternatives to fluorocarbon. I have tried fluorocarbon on a variety of top water presentations. No thanks.

I have found that the Walmart brand works just as well. Who doesn't want to save $.12? No need to pay the big bucks for name brand floss. That is only for floss elitists!

This topic comes up a least once a year, for good reason: Fishing at night is great! My personal best and over half of my "big" bass have come night fishing. The quiet and solitude that can't happen on most public lakes during the day makes night fishing a fantastic choice even if the chance of more and better fish wasn't so good. Catching good fish on a cool, bright moon lit night during the heat of the summer is as good as it gets IMO. My favorite quote regarding bait choices for night fishing comes from Road Warrior: "Night fishing is just like fishing during the day, only darker!" Getting stuck on one or two baits or techniques will limit your success. My favorite way of catching bass at night is on a big worm or jig. It takes real concentration to feel a subtle bite at night, but it will get the adrenaline pumping. The times when they try to take your combo away from you are good too!

If tied through a hole in the spool it can't slip. Some just cinch a knot down on the spool. Line will sometimes slip when done this way.

First thing that comes mind: Is the line slipping on the spool? You would not be the first to have this happen, especially with braid. Mike with DVT will be along soon with a helping hand. Good luck.

I like the way you think and expect 112 IPT reels to be available soon! I also think that from an applied physics view fishing lines may be the most interesting. The changes in materials and processing methods in lines, reels, and rods have certainly changed the sport for most of us.

I use many of the BPS plastics. Some I really like, others notsomuch. They are cheap enough to try for yourself. My advice, worth about you paid for it!

One size fits all.

That boats float and water freezes from the top down are two biggies, but the physics of putting your bait exactly where you want it is my first choice. It is a very complex equation that most of us don't give a lot of thought.

This is my favorite way of fishing them. As John said, any way you would throw a spinnerbait works for a chatterbait. It is a big fish bait this time of year for me. You will lose a few in wood, but an occasional pig will ease the pain.

Retiredbosn sounds like you are getting treated right by your dealer. That is worth a lot. Your story reinforces for me that it often takes time to work out the bugs in most any boat purchase. I am leaving Friday for a week-long fishing trip to Ky Lake. The other boat in our group is a new Z9. It will be picked up Thursday evening by the owner who has never owned a performance bass boat before. I am glad I'm fishing in the other boat! A brand new untested boat with a brand new untested owner, fishing a couple of hundred miles from home on a brand new lake (for him) with a cabin booked for the week seems like a real gamble... Congratulations on the new boat! I hope she gives you many years of enjoyable service.

I have always fished inexpensive baitcasers. I have never had to crank down hard on a spool tension knob to set a reel properly. The reel may need serviced. If the tension applied to the spool is set correctly based on controlled fall of the bait, the tension is not excessive regardless of the torque required to turn the knob.

I have caught my share of things both animate and inanimate. Some of them have taken real issue with it. Catching anything during the cast while using a baitcaster is always a good reminder how quickly a spool of line can be ruined. More on topic, one of the most memorable incidental catches was near the end of a brutally hot tournament when one good fish would have taken home all the money. I pitched a beaver into some standing timber that was crushed at about 5'. I yelled for the net and we soon landed a very nice channel cat. We didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I think we actually did a little of both... Another favorite was a big carp caught in the mouth on a big spinnerbait while fishing at night. The sounds and expressions made by my wife when she reached to grab the thing was priceless. You would have thought it was a cottonmouth. I thought it was hilarious-she did not!

Hootie I will use my savings from buying Red Label (I like it a lot for the money) on terminal tackle and oatmeal. Steak and Shake is too pricey for a poor boy.

I do like cake.

When in close, in heavy cover I want a stout rod with a moderate action. It gives me power to keep serious pressure on the fish with more of the rod engaged. This allows for a little more cushion on a short line. I use an XFast medium power in more open water and a Fast medium heavy in moderate cover. It is by trial and error that I have found what works best for me.

Zoom Trickworms and Finesse worms with Spot Remover jigs have put many fish in my boat.

I think tearing down a reel that has been dipped is fine advice. I do not. When my reels get wet I dry them at the end of the trip and service them at the end of the season. I have had reels on the deck in all kinds of weather for days at a time. If being wet from lake, river or rain would kill them I would be doing a lot of flipping...

I would not give it a second thought. Reels get wet. Mud or sand is destructive, water notsomuch.

Happy Birthday JT!

Your friend needs professional help. Help him get it. Without help this doesn't end well. Good luck. I will keep him and you in my prayers.