Missourifishin

I used the Plano box with now problems.

I use 12 pound mono on a Mitchell 300 Pro, which is just under 10 ounces. I'm a big fan of Pfleuger spinning reels as well. If you look around online I think you'll find a Pfleuger that fits all of your specifications.

I'd give it 6-8 hours.

I know a guy who has a lake about an acre in size, maybe a little bigger. You can sit on the dock, throw out live bait and catch about a fish per minute if you could get them off the hook fast enough. All of them are stunted bass and bluegill. Generally, after taking about 90 of them of the hook I'll catch a good sized channel cat though. I believe not harvesting is the reason. He doesn't let anyone fish it except me and a 12 year old girl who never keeps anything. I occasionally keep a catfish to eat. But I feel bad when I do because they are the only good fish he has in there.

If I had 12k to blow right now I'd pay off my student loans and credit cards and spend a few hundred on a rod and reel that I would be perfectly happy with. Might even have beer money left over.

That sounds awesome. I have never heard of one around here.

I'm going to heed your advice and break out my jerkbaits. I'm still trying to figure out how to have success fishing them. And I've been frustrated by them in the past. But I have a couple of Lucky Craft Pointer SP's that aren't doing any good still sitting in their packages.

I agree with both Sam and Bigfruits. I'd teach him about bass lures and have him start there. But live bait and beer isn't a bad backup plan.

I know KVD is an awesome fisherman. I'm not even half the bass fisherman he is. But on any given day, I think an amateur could catch a couple of hawgs and beat a pro who had an off day. Now, to consistently have success like that? No.

I've met a few pro athletes over the years. Bass Pro shops are a fun place to shop if the timeshare/vacation package people don't harass you. I'm lucky to basically live right down the street from one. Most (or all) of them have spring seminars along with their spring sales. They have people giving educational speeches and whatnot, and they usually bring in some pros. Last year I got to meet Rick Clunn. He gave a speech about crankbaits and jerkbaits. I went and bought two of his signature squarebills. I got him to sign on of them, and kept the other one to actually fish with. That latter is in a tree somewhere. '

I don't disagree. But I use a lot of treble hook lures, etc with the stock hooks that came on them. I've lost MANY of them in the last few years. I can't help but think the number of lost lures would be less if I had straightened some of those hooks off rather than snapping 12 lb mono. I do understand that there will be times when heavier line won't save a lure, and some hooks such as on jigs might not bend. But I fish from the bank and I get snagged a lot. It's just a shame to lose so many 5 dollar crankbaits, etc.

I believe braid is more likely to fray on things like rocks, but I could be wrong. Overall though, it should be less likely to break. 50 lb braid is about the same diameter as 12 lb mono. So much more bang for your buck as far as strength goes. One of the reasons I like the idea of braid is that I think I will lose less lures to snags than I do now using 12 lb mono. So for those of you who have mentioned or asked about the leader situation, wouldn't a mono or fluoro leader be just as vulnerable to breaking off on a snag as straight mono?

Thanks for the replies. Evan has a good point about a little extra stretch in the line. I'm not sure if I need it though. My dedicated crankbait rod is a glass st croix mojo bass, 6'10" which already has a lot of give. I suppose switching from mono to braid with it might throw me off on my hooksets though...

Exactly. I rarely buy more than a couple inexpensive items in person. I spend much more money online. But I enjoy going into a store with a lot of gear just for fun, and to actually handle reels and rods, etc.

I don't like to go the combo route. It seems like a lot of them sacrifice quality on either the reel or rod to lower the price and make it seem like a good deal. As for the reel, I noticed someone suggested a Lews speed spool, and I love Lews baitcasters. The last 3 baitcasters I have purchased (2 Lews and 1 Pfleuger) have been on ebay, brand new in the box and waaaay less than retail.

I've never spooled one of my reels with braid. But I'm going to put some on 2 of my baitcasters and I have some simple beginner's questions. First of all, about how many yards of cheap mono backing do you use, and then how do you tie on the braid? Also, speaking of tying on, I have always used an improved clinch knot when tying my mono line to lures. Is there any reason why I might want to change that for braid? In other words, are there knots better for braid than with mono? Also, are there certain techniques/lures you guys do NOT like to ever use braid for? Spooling up with braid will be new to me, so I was thinking of doing it on a combo that I got mostly for A-rigs, and maybe a crankbait combo. But I'm not sure. I may think of more questions later. But for now my last one is this: Does anyone have experience with XPS 8 advanced braid from Bass Pro, and if so how do you like it? I went ahead and got some because I got it cheap. Thanks.

There is nothing wrong with online shopping. If you know what you're doing you can probably get some of the best deals that way. That being said, I do enjoy being right down the street from a Bass Pro.

Snag it. It should be salvageable.

I'm not in your area, so google would be just as good at answering your questions as I would. There are plenty of sites on the internet to shop on if you would prefer that over a long drive.

I don't see any need to bring politics or personal beliefs into this guys. I personally am guilty of it because I responded to a statement I STRONGLY disagreed with in this topic a day or two ago. I thought about it and quickly came back to delete what I said. But a moderator (Doing their jobs well) had already deleted my post and the posts of a couple other guys who got too political. Regardless of where any of us stand on political issues, I think we can all agree to just hope the perpetrator is brought to justice in this case.

So when you turn the handle it isn't moving back and forth from right to left like it's supposed to? The first Lews I ever got came with that problem. I ended up mailing it to them to fix.

So it was a robbery? If anyone hears any updates on this story please post them here. I would like to know if/when they make an arrest. This story made me angry as well as sad.

I love St Croix! But I treat all of my gear pretty well. No matter how cheap or expensive it is, I would hate to have to replace something like a rod because I handled it poorly and/or made an easily avoidable mistake.

How much gear do most of these kids have? If they have a bunch, like most of us on these forums do, I would think it would be pretty easy and fun to go through it all and separate out the lures they have a history of success with.

Just based on my personal schedule, the majority of the time I am able to get out in the late afternoon and fish until dark, sometimes even a little after dark. It seems to work well for me in the fall. And from my personal experience, it seems like that last hour or so before the daylight starts to decrease has been my best time.