holeshot

...Definitely the Brian's Bees....I have watched him make those and trust me they are quality and work perfectly right out of the box... Big bass just love'em....I use them around piers and floats and big girls will come up in 6-8 ft of water & kill'em...IMHO,no choice here...

Gotta love those Ika's....I use a 4/0 EWG and have not had a problem on hookset....I mainly use the 4 inch IKA and rig it upside down :....with the tentacles pointing up near the hook eye and zero weight... mainly fish in in relative shallow water (2 to 6 feet) and it seems to fall at the right speed...plus yu can cast or pitch it a mile...lotta big girls have fallen to that little jewel... ;D

THE Bait Monkey lives in my garage....!!!....when we built our house some 12 years ago, we added a 3 car garage....of course the Ranger is in one bay, the riding lawn mower is in the middle bay and now THE Bait Monkey has occupied the 3rd bay complete with cabinets and peg board and rod racks.....and would you beleive that now my wife has the audicity to complain about having to park her car outside...lol >

Coming for late 2010 and 2011...Micro guides for casting & spinning rods...(you won't believe how small they are), and of course you will not be able to catch a fish unless you have one of the new micro guide rods....lol....new problem arises for getting a braid to fluocarbon leader knot to go thru these guides without snagging....this is for those of us that enjoy the strength of braid & the sensitivity of fluocarbon ...In that light, here is a link to a video to show us all the proper way to tie a micro-knot...yes you read it here 1st (a micro-knot)...not real sure about the finger saver..????...I am sure that the knot has to be snugged down really tight....this knot works on the same principle as the old "Chinese Finger traps"... http://tackletog.com/cal/2010/08/07/connection-knot-for-micros-demonstrated watch, learn, & enjoy...BTW I do not receive one penny for this knot endorsement..!!! : : :)

I have been chasing these old green fish (and occasionally the brown ones) for the past 60 years and have enjoyed it immensely....for about 30 years I was an avid tournament fisherman, but now have slowed down to really enjoy fishing...Tournaments are a whole lot like work..lol...travel 2 days, practice 2 days, & only fish 2 days if you don't make the cut... then repeat process...but with the fellowship and getting to fish most days, I sure wouldn't trade it for any other job...lots of pressure though... ...anyhow, retired to SW Florida to watch our grand-daughter grow up...she is 13 going on 19...lol still get to fish most days..we are very fortunate to have an endless supply of places to fish....miles & miles of canals, Lake Okeechobee, Lake Istokpoga, and thousands of smaller ones, most holding double digit bass and our weather lets us enjoy this passion 365 days a year if you so choose....A true paradise..!! and if you tire of the freshwater, then there is always the Gulf to fish the salt...never did enjoy that as much as the freshwater....about the time I had something figured out the tide changes & I'm clueless again...lol Experience is a dear teacher and I have found that there is no magic bullet, the equipment I have is good enuf to get the job done, never leave fish to find fish, somehow quality family time has to at least equal time on the water, dock talk is worthless, success is largely due to attitude, attitude controls your altitude, what goes around, comes around, and most important....Keep God # 1 in your life..!!

in the run-off areas...ditches, gullies, pipes, etc.....weightless trick worms tex rigged will usually do the job....if water is muddy, you may have to use a spinnerbait.....if you have rip-rap on your lake, then use a shallow running, square bill, rattling crank and cast it parallel to the rocks and bounce it off those rocks and hold on.....also if water is muddy, fish will be 1 to 3 feet deep..... ;D

Most wrap deals are different, depending on who you are and how well known you are....some guys get a certain $ figure worth of the sponsors products, others get a check once or twice a year ...some sponsors require you to bring vehicle or boat to tackle shows or grand opening of Joe's Takle Town, etc ...... the more you do for the sponsor the more yu get from the sponsor....Downside is sometimes it takes a lot of time from you and your fishing & family and someone is always making up stories ..."that xyz boat was speeding thru the idle zone"... or that guy gave me the bird...& etc.....you become a marked man and have to be nice to everyone...no more flying the bird :...!!...lol

IMHO, try your best to fish the day before the front...as said before, it is usually fantastic ....after the front...???? :-/

Been here almost 2 yrs now. 8-)..Live in Naples 8-)...our only lake (lake Trafford) was filling up with muck and preventing the fish from spawning...they dredged it for a year (spent umpteen million dollars)...now they are dredging around the shoreline....they expect to start stocking it in 2007 >....we have to fish the canals and golf course and condo lakes.... some monsters in there though...only several canals large enuf for a boat...our only other choice is to go to the Big O about 2 hours away or hit the mangroves in the back country of the 10,000 islands for snooks and red and tarpons...which I find out is a whole new ballgame...bout the time you find the fish, the tide changes and no more fish. >..come back next day to really slay em and the tide never comes in because you have an easterly wind..!!! :-/ Whats up with dat..!!!