BassinLou

Welcome aboard geo g. What part of town are you from?

I have been using FC as light as 10lbs and only go up 15lb on freshwater outfits. I use it as the main line on BC and as leaders on my Spinners, and I honestly do not not understand the difficulty many are having with FC. If I knew the name of the knot I use I would gladly share. I have searched for its name with no avail. When tied properly nothing will break this knot. The only other knot I use is the albright knot to join lines together. The times my knots have slipped was solely due to my error. I guess what I am trying to say is find a knot you are comfortable with, master it, and go fishing. It's not the fault of good quality FC that the knot slips.

X2 on what KSRonH said. 20lb max.

Jeez, now you are Tarzan too!!! Great fish.

No, I didn't, but I will now. Thanks for the heads up.

Sweet!! Awesome fish period. On a frog however? Priceless.

Yea! Google Earth.

Small frogs are ok. I prefer the medium size live targets, when the fish are on I do not have problems hooking up. The little frogs tire my arm out after a while casting on the BC. On a spinner no prob however I prefer frog fishing on BC. 40lb braid is fine. I personally use #50 PP. Stick with size that was producing for you the most.

Power of observation and power of catching are two different things

The power of observation. Nice job.

I forgot to mention. Due to the light or finesse applications I use a spinning outfit on a medium rod.

That pond looks similar to mine down here in florida minus those rocks. Is this in a park? Heavily pressured because its a community pond? Those questions are yes's to my pond. What I do is down size everything. Starting with your line. Go as light as you feel comfortable with. #6, #8, max #10. Me personally I use 20lb braid with #10 fluro or #10 mono leader depending on the application I am using. Hooks, as small and light that you are comfortable using. I go size 1 gamagatzu's. Weight, again as light as you can handle taking into consideration wind. I go anywhere from 1/8oz - 1/16oz. Lures, soft plastics I use zoom, swamp crawler, centipede's or small finesse worms. Color's, I use the watermelon colors. Small soft jerkbaits weight less, zoom fluke jr's and smaller. These techniques have yielded me bass upto 6-7lbs range at that specific pond. Maybe what I have shared with you will work for you in your neck of the woods.

Silas, to answer your question about casting with my other arm. Its not my casting arm that's the problem. Basically, fisherman's elbow is caused by the over use of the forearm muscles and those muscles are attached to tendons on the outside point of the outer edge of the elbow. The effected area is the size of a quarter and when it becomes chronic it hurts like heck. Unfortunately, it takes a long time to recover because that area does not receive a lot of blood flow which makes recovery longer. So for now I will read everyone's fishing stories and questions and become a backseat fisherman for a little while. Tight lines!!

I have never had a problem with P-lines fluro.

Snook!!! Awesome. Too bad you missed. Man your on a roll. Awesome. Pretty soon I will be asking you for advice.

Hot off the presses. I just got a knock at the door and it was the fed-ex man. I am excited and frustrated all at the same time. The rod is gorgeous. However I am frustrated because I am under strict advisement from the Dr. and wife to suspend fishing for a month because of severe fisherman's elbow. This injury is not to be taken lightly. People that know me laugh when I say I have fisherman's elbow. When they see that I am not laughing with them they know how serious it is. Anyways enough sad stories. I could not pass up the deal in the bargain room. For $120 bucks I got a rod that retails high $200's. I know because I have been checking around sites and they have yet to adjust their prices even with the new models in stock already.

I agree with SirSnookalot. Kristo, LiveTarget lures are great. I love their frogs. However, these lures are pretty expensive and with the amount of bank fishing you do, one bad cast or you get hung deep, game over. There are cheaper lures IMO that you can use and if you lose them they will not hurt the bank or your heart.

A spinnerbait with a trailer hook is annoying around wood, pads, and grass. Like the others have mentioned in the open they do great.

Sounds like your culprit is lack of wetting the line. Your wraps sound about right.

If you say the hooksets are not that hard, I would venture to say two things. Either the fluro is bad or something with your knot. Double uni is a good knot. I used to use it until I learned the albright. With the uni how many wraps are you doing? Are you lubing the line with saliva before you cinch down tight? Those are the only things I can think of on the leader side. Hope that helps.

Unbelievable. Cool Vid

Awesome advice from everyone. Columbia sports has a small/medium pack that you clip on your waist. It holds a fair amount of tackle. On the sides it has netting/pouches to hold two water bottles. I have a water bottle on one side, and carry my digital scale on the other. I like to pack it light however I stay versatile. I carry one rod which allows me to fish in several ways. Keep your eyes open and keep aware at all times. Terrain can get "iffy" sometimes. I almost fell completely in an urban canal once when the entire face of the canal where I was standing collapsed. Also, keep an eye on wildlife. Gators, snakes, raccoons. Yes, racoons. They are curious creatures sometimes.

Nice fish Kristo!!! I am so happy for you. Your persistence is starting to pay off. Bring on the Largemouth.

I just ordered the same exact rod LTB 7' MHXF/11, this morning from the bargain room. With a price reduction like they posted I could not pass it up. Now I have a pretty good spread. Premier, rage, avid, and now LTB. I guess I am brand loyal.

Speechless... Awesome fish.