Hawgin

Very pretty.

I don't have the HMG, but I do have a Falcon GT and two Techna AV's. I will only be buying Fenwick rods in the future, with the possible exception of a crankbait rod because I have not found a Fenwick that is specifically for cranks.

As long as I don't go down there and get skunk all over me I will share any information I have when I get back. Trust me, if I catch anything decent while I'm down there you are getting pictures, stories, etc.

Having owned both a triumph and a premier at one point I completely disagree with this. There is a huge difference in the quality of these rods. The Triumphs are heavier, less sensitive, and not nearly as well put together. They truly are the definition of fishing with a broom handle. The Premiers are quality rods for their price, the Triumphs are not quality at any price.

Fellas, I'm off to Fork first thing Wednesday morning and will be fishing Thurs, Fri, Sat, and Sun morning. Looks like the weather is going to be good, and hopefully we can get on several in their prespawning patterns. I'll try my best not to take to many sharelunkers out of contention for those of you making the trip in a few weeks. Hopefully I will have some pictures to post and a good story to tell when I get back.

For me it's my 7' Medium Heavy Fast Fenwick Techna AV with a Shimano Citica 100DSV.

I would recommend that you buy a small bottle of silicone line conditioner. Something like Reel Magic or KVD line and lure conditioner. Take and spray it on a rag, spool out your line and reel it back in by running it through the rag, stopping to spray more on the rag every 30 yards or so. I use hybrid 15# and I've had memory issues in the winter, but not during warmer weather. Hope this helps.

Of those three rods I would recommend the Fenwick as well. It will be the lightest and most sensitive of the ones you listed.

That's all well and good, but if he honestly didn't know what was going with his car that is poor on his part. If my name is the selling point, and a scandal like this would hurt my chances of marketing myself, my team, and my ability to make money you can bet I'm darn sure going to know what is going on with my car at all times. A month from now anyone who is not a super die hard nascar fan won't know his crew chiefs name. All they will remember is that Michael Waltrip cheated, even if he didn't know what was going on. If he truly wants to be a good leader he needs to stay on top of what his people are doing.

This is a really bad start to the NASCAR career for Toyota. First they only had 2 of their 8 cars qualify, and on top of that Waltrip had to cheat in an attempt to qualify. As much as Toyota joining is already looked down upon by the die hard fans, this certainly isn't going to gain them any credibility.

New Bass Pro Opening, What to get? Well, if you're like me you need to get a higher paying job so you can afford more stuff. Much like you guys I usually make 2-3 trips to Springfield, and I might still head down there a few times just to check out what is available in the catalog outlet store. However the store opening in Olathe has me pumped. When the one in Independence gets done I'm in real trouble.

I tie through the holes, and so far I've yet to have a fish run out my entire spool so you would probably be safe doing that. Chances are, if you hook a fish that will run out your entire spool, your 15# line probably isn't going to hold up anyway.

I will stand firm as the lone voice for Fenwick, although I doubt I will replace my St. Croix spinning rod because I like the higher power of their mediums for that rod.

I'm pretty sure that Rick Clunn uses his name branded BPS rods, and possibly his named branded reels. I know for a fact that KVD uses all Quantum equipment. He uses the Energy PT and Tour Edition PT reels and rods.

As a die hard Royals fan I can hardly wait for the season to start. >

Dodgeguy- I don't disagree with your assesment that those are comparable to the Johnny Morris line, but the JM line also falls in a pricing point similar to a lot of high end equipment. The Johnny Morris rods run in the same pricing category as Fenwick Techna AV's, Team All Star, St. Croix Avid, Kistler Magnesium, and the top end Quantums, Shimanos, etc. I consider JM rods to be a high quality product, and it is priced accordingly. GLoomis is a whole different story on it's own, and I even am of the opinion that they are overpriced for what they are. I think the Fenwick, St. Croix, and Kistler are very competitive with Loomis at a more reasonable price, however I won't come on here and try to tell anyone that fishes with Loomis that there is no difference between a GLX and and BPS Extreme.

I don't fish live bait often, but there are times and places where it is appropriate. A lot of guys on here have probably used live bait at one time or another for bass. I'm sorry if you feel like it is "cheating" but no one should feel bad about choosing that method.

Watermelon red 75% of the time. Black/blue flake the rest.

I should really let this go, but that's just not the type of person I am. I decided to round up the last two years worth of Bassmaster magazine's where they give tourney results and the tackle those pros used to win with. Let me just hit a few of the winners: Ish Monroe - Busch Shoot Out: Team Diawi Steez 7'1" MH baitcast, 6'6" M Steez spinning rod, Steez reels. Todd Faircloth-Table Rock Lake: 6'8" M Castaway rod, Shimano reel Mike McClelland-Sooner Run: Falcon rods, Quantum Tour Edition reels Peter T-The Memorial: 7'6" American Rodsmith, Okuma Nemisis reels Ike-Guntersville: Daiwa Light and Tough Rods, Diawa Advantage reels Ish-Amistad: Daiwa Celio rods, Daiwa Fuego reels Ben Matsubu-Wildcard: Powell rods, Shimano Curado reel Scott Rook-The Legends: St. Croix Legend rod, Abu Garcia Revo reel I could go on, but I think I've made the point I wanted. Of course a lot of them are free to the anglers, because they have earned those sponsorships through hard work, and they obviously approve of the quality of the sponsors equipment. I don't see any Bionic Blades or Extremes on those lists.

I've never fished live bait for bass, but I am going to Fork in 10 days, and with the weather conditions as they have been I have a feeling the bite will be tough. I've already told the guy I'm going with that if day 3 comes and we aren't having much luck I'm buying a bucket of shiners and I will have no shame catching my pb on shiners if I have to. Would I prefer to catch it on artificials? Sure, but I'm not against "cheating" if gets me a hawg.

I use Gamakatsu 3/0 and 4/0 EWG's for 95% of all plastics I fish.

Those are the only LC's I own. They always seem to be the ones that are available when Cabelas or BPS has a clearance sale on LC's. I know they are smallie baits, but the big mouths don't seem to have a problem biting them either. I love chartruese shad, shell white, and american shad.

When the waters here started getting hard earlier this winter I organized my tackle to ease the boredom, and my biggest project was gathering up all my randomly stashed bags of plastics and organizing them into plastic storage boxes by brand. I put all the powerbaits, and chompers in one box not considering the consequences. I opened that bad boy up this weekend and nearly floored myself.

Agreed. I am gradually switching all of my boxes over to the Falcon system.

I used to think exactly like you guys, and went out and bought $50-60 reels, and $50-60 rods. I was happy with them, and then a funny thing happened. A friend offered to sell me a high quality Fenwick Techna AV for a great price. I bought it and used it. Then the next thing I knew I was using it for most applications, and finally I just started carrying one rod with me most of the time. Now? I have a pile of cheap rods sitting in a corner of my garage unused, and I have a rod rack full of Fenwick rods, with Shimano reels sitting on them. I'm not saying that lower price point rods won't work, because they will and they will catch fish. If you are comfortable with that, then that's what you should use. But for me, now that I've used high end equipment I will pay the extra cost for the guaranteed quality.