hooah212002

Is that difference only noticeable when wacky rigging or is there significantly different action when texas rigging?

It comes with experience. the best sensation via words is like a "tap-tap" that eventually is distinguishable from the other crap you run into, provided you have quality gear (sensitive rod and line).

It could just be small fish that aren't taking the bait. Drop something small down there like a small jig and grub or a crawler on a small hook to see if it's some bluegill (you say you're on a dock, so I will guess they are bluegill).

Braid: Power Pro, but I have yet to try Sufix 832. PP is good enough for now, so I save $8. Fluoro: Invizx hands down. I doubt I ever fork over the insane asking price for Tatsu, but I probably will because the bait monkey controls my every whim. Mono/Top water treble hook stuff: Yo-Zuri, Yo-Zuri and some more Yo-Zuri. Ultra light: Sufix Elite is excellent mono for spinning gear. It is supple beyond belief, cheap and strong.

I've never been one to fall victim to hype surrounding a particular product or a particular brand for brand sake and this causes great many problems when it comes to fishing since 99% of anglers will tell you what BRAND rod/reel/bait to get instead of what TYPE or even why that brand. The suggestions and reasoning behind why so many of "you guys" recommend Mega Strike sounded solid, so I took the plunge. I did this mainly because my strike to hook up ratio with my flukes this year is abysmal and figured I could use an extra little kick. So today I went out to put my new gear through it's paces in an actual fishing session rather than setting it up, as well as to test Mega Strike and see if it lives up to it's hype. I set out to my difficult as heck to fish, but guaranteed at least one 4+ pounder spot. Not so fast, I guess, since they were clearing the weeds in the lake right at my spot (the weeds are what makes it so good!). So it was on to spot #2: Congdon Park in Delavan. Just a smallish pond that is where I go when I get skunked looking for bigger fish because I know I can get bit with almost anything I throw, just not any size. I have had VERY good luck here this year with both watermelon and pearl flukes. However, like I said earlier, I have been missing a lot of bites. So today I set off with ample time to do some good fishing and hopefully find out where the bigger fish are (I normally only have an hour or so and hit one spot). I started out working over the spot I normally do. I got nada. So off I go, hoofing it around the entire pond. No easy task, mind you, as most of it is lined with 5 foot tall reeds which are inhabited by vicious monsters that think they are birds (ok, they're just birds, but by god are they mean!). I spent a couple hours walking around, jumping spot to spot and came up empty. My bait options were limited to weedless applications because it is a very weedy body of water and I don't have my jig rod set up, so I stuck with flukes (why mess with what works?). I decided to go back to the spot I always catch fish at and attack the entire water column. I start working a green pumpkin senko nice and slow. Ding Ding Ding! We have a winner! I start getting bite after bite and the fish get progressively bigger, but only topping out at about 3 pounds if I'm lucky. Here is where Mega Strike earns it's accolades. Every time I missed a hookset or lost a fish, I slathered on some MS and the very next cast got a strike, and every time I had a fresh app of MS, the fish would not let go! So much so that one time, I get a birds nest and something tells me to wait before starting to clear it out and see if I get bit (since I had gotten quite a few bites on the initial fall), but didn't so I started picking it out. As I was reeling in the slack, I noticed some resistance. Meh, just some weeds due to the bait settling in. Hmm, weeds don't move around like this..... You guessed it: there was a fish that sucked down that senko and took off without me setting the hook! For me, this is unreal because I have been plagued with missed hooksets and lost fish. I know this sounds like an infomercial or that I am somehow affiliated with MS, but I assure you I am not. I just wanted to put this out there for anyone on the fence. I have learned a lot from bassresource this season, the main thing being: if enough BR members recommend it, you'd do well to buy/try it. All of my purchases this year are a testament to that whereas before, I was of the mindset that budget gear is good enough and all this "stuff" doesn't actually help you catch/land fish. Oh how wrong I was. Also note that my selection sample is tiny and I make no effort to say BUY MEGA STRIKE BECAUSE NOTHING ELSE WORKS! Instead, I only mean to say that: based solely on my anecdotal evidence, Mega Strike works as advertised. Take that as you may.

A fresh pond stocked with bass? You could probably throw a plain hook and catch something, Like junkyard said: use it to experiment. Get to know how all your baits feel and what the different strikes feel like.

One time isn't enough anyway. You should do it the night prior as well as right before you get on the water.

Yes, go ahead and spray it. It leaves zero residue and zero evidence other than the line being awesome to work with.

Wow. Bassresource finds a way to turn ANY topic into a peeing contest. inb4 lock/OP suspension.

Good on you for having an open mind. Don't see that often enough.

I picked up a Citica 200E today and it only served to further my feelings for this topic. It actually makes my PQ feel like a heavy, cumbersome tank lol. And just to rile up Bassresource, I have it on my Veritas and boy oh boy is that a light light light combo. I can throw weightless flukes with it farther than my PQ throws weighted baits (I do need to adjust it some, though). On a side not, Invisx is VERY deserving of the praise it gets. That stuff doesn't even need line conditioner!

Having just went through this sort of search, I came to the conclusion that one is likely to beat themselves up far too much over reel choice. At this price point ($100 and higher), there really isn't a "bad" choice. It's not like the difference in the uber low end models where $10 means something that lasts one season to something that doesn't last 2 fish. I went last night with the intention of grabbing a Speed Spool ($99 model), but they were out. Compared to other reels in it's price range, I think it is a bit on the heavy side and the Citica and Revo S are more low profile. I realize I may not be the best person to say this, but you should take the few in that price range that come highly recommended and pick the one that picks you. It really comes down to personal preference.

How do you think he is still able to get on the ice? His injuries heal themselves.

If they play 7 games like that, Jagr might have to retire before the series is over.

If you think braid is sensitive, just wait until you try tungsten weights lol. I was skeptical at first, but I used one for the first time a couple weeks ago. Even with Yo-Zuri Hybrid I could feel the difference between when I would come across a rock or a stick or if I was dragging through mud/muck or weeds.

It also helps in re-tying and break-offs, imo.

The only thing with that, though, is if something happens to the reel, I am hosed with no recourse. If I am spending this kind of coin, I would rather be able to have a brick and mortar to return it to. The flip side is that I would like to save some money and used is a good way to do that. At any rate, I was hoping this wouldn't be an "advice for me" thread.

I handled a smoke yesterday at Dicks and didn't much care for how it felt. I have, however, had my eye on the EXO series and they look nice, but I don't want to drop that kind of coin. An easy answer is "just spend a bit more" but that can keep going and keep going until you are in MGX territory. I've set my limit for this particular purchase at no more than $120/130 (I am eyeballing new Citicas and Revo S's, so that price range).

This is mainly aimed at those of you that don't have disposable income and have to really think about that next rod/reel purchase. What process do you go through when selecting a new reel? How much info can you really glean by holding it in the store? What if you are leaning towards a reel that you don't have access to? How can you really know you will like a reel without actually spooling it with line and getting it on the water, thus making it too late to return if you don't like it? I don't lean one way or another when it comes to a particular brand, so I am in a bit of limbo with this next purchase because there are a number of options at the price point I am looking at (~$120 for reel). The key differences are brand, obviously. But with that comes differing braking systems and how they handle. Each has their pro's and cons and each has reports of unhappy customers. What I am NOT looking for is opinions on what reel to get. I AM looking for a discussion on how to make as informed a decision as possible even when that decision is as informed as you can get.

They've been on sale for a while, but just went back to normal price maybe a week ago. Any idea how frequently they go on sale?

A different (see: better) reel will most certainly make a world of difference. A combo under $100 is a tough sell, but not impossible. At that price point you could find an Abu Garcia Black Max combo at Wally World or Dicks and that would be fine, but not have that great of a rod. However, I would suggest saving even a little bit and getting a Bass Pro Shops Pro Qualifier (regularly on sale for $80) and *** *** Black rod for $100 or a Powell Diesel for $70. You also have an H2O Mettle at Academy for $50, but on sale right now for $40. American Legacy fishing has a $25 coupon for subscribing to their newsletter and they carry the *** rods making one only $75. Pair that with a Mettle and you are just barely over your $100 limit. Save a bit more dough and it will make a world of difference. I say that as someone who utterly despises that answer. It's just the truth. Cheap baitcast reels will make you dislike all baitcast reels, but high quality ones will make you love fishing even more. edit: You should also note that if you are just learning on a baitcast reel, a good one won't backlash as much. I can throw my Pro Qualifier with virtually zero thumb and not backlash and still get good distance. My other reels require me to actually fish properly. My old old reels (el-cheapos) regularly backlashed even fishing them right. You won't ruin the reel, just learn with cheap line (spiderwire mono is totally sufficient, as is Sufix Elite and Trilene Big Game. All are cheap too) bathed in line conditioner.

Quenneville's stache in 6. Kane will help a little, as will Bickell, but ultimately Joel does it. Bahston doesn't stand a chance.

The event went off without a hitch. There was a huge thunderstorm in the forecast, as well as cloudy overcast conditions (in hindsight, I wish it was overcast as the fish would have cooperated more). Instead, we got a beautiful day with perfect weather (aside from the wind). I did not expect it to be as big of a deal as it was, but there were 70+ vets that attended. My "guide" was Lance Waite (they paired the vets with a volunteer with a boat). Most all of the other guides were actual professional guides, so it did them a good bit of public relation to do this event and get their name out there. Lance was just a volunteer. Just a guy with a boat that offered his services. He gained nothing from this except the knowledge that he did something good. Kudos to you, Lance. He was an excellent guide and a gracious host for me, a non-boater who has virtually no boating sense or knowledge (I found out I had NO idea how to drop a trolling motor. They taught me though). He brought along his good friend Don who is a Lake Link aficionado and did our best to get on the fish. Now for the underwhelming fishing report. I got first fish of the day, but it was not at all picture worthy and I assumed we would be nailing 'em all day (based on MY confidence alone, we would have won all tournaments for all of WI ever even though this was an event, not a tourny). The lake seemed to be in the midst of turning over and was very green and mucky on one end, the first side we fished. The carp were having a freakin blast all over the lake, though. We then went to what I believe they call mud lake (note: Waubesa is the southernmost lake in the Madison chain) which was just the northern part of the lake and it was bass/pike heaven. I hooked into a decent bass on a rage toad burning it across a group of lily pads (first topwater fish of the year, heck yea!), but I lost him when he made a run towards me. The muck got thicker and my rage toad kept turning over due to bad rigging, so I tied on my spro. I got another hit on that coming off yet another set of lily's but I yanked it away from the fish too soon. Lance caught a nice little 2-3 pounder on a frog of his own shortly after that. That was all the action for while. We did notice A LOT of dead crappie and bluegill floating around. We then went to a weed patch and floated through it. I tossed my nice dual willow white/chart War Eagle (my ONLY spinnerbait) and hooked something tooty first cast. It breached the surface and I reel in empty line. There is now a toothy fish with my spinnerbait in his face roaming around badgering carp. And that was basically it for any luck fishing. We hit a drop off towards the middle of the lake, but the only thing we accomplished was me picking out a backlash and completely negating to realize where my line was going in relation to the boat and ended up getting A LOT of it tangled in the prop. Kudo's again to Lance for being able to pick that out and having the patience of a thousand monks while doing so. We headed in at around 1100, along with all other boats. As a note, they launched I think 45 boats in approximately an hour that morning. I doubt my picture of the launch in the morning does that any justice. What followed was a very well put together picnic with free hot dogs, brats, burgers, pop, chips and even a keg. They raffled off a bunch of items, to include a St. Croix rod donated by St. Croix as well as.....a week long all expense paid guide trip to Temple Bay lodge in Canada. They even included picking you up with that package. You paid NOTHING. Suffice to say, I am very jealous of the guy that won that. A big THANK YOU (if any of them read this) to the VOLUNTEERS that helped put this together. That's right, everything was volunteer driven. The food, pop and beer was donated. The people that organized it did so out of their own good graces. At the top of it all was Jay Garstecki who did an excellent job making it all happen. I WILL be attending next year and I implore any of you to do so as well. It was an excellent time. (please note that I never know what to take pictures of and I viewed this as a fishing trip, not the event that it was. I was genuinely shocked at what it turned out to be so I really did not realize what was truly going on around me until I got home. I apologize to all for not capturing what a big, special event this was)

Typically you would use it for treble hook lures, clear water or when fishing stuff that will tear up braid (mussels. rocks). For example: I learned the hard way that mono is better than braid for fishing a spook because braid gets tangled up really bad when you pop it due to how limp braid is. I imagine jerkbaits would have the same problem. Also, a lot of people don't like fussing with fluoro because it has some memory, whereas braid has virtually zero. If you want the benefit of workability with braid, but the invisibility of fluoro, use a leader. I don't have a million rigs like a lot of people here, so I have one BC that is straight braid for jigs, heavy T-rigs or frogs, one that is straight fluoro for crankbaits and the like, and a third that has Yo-Zuri for everything else. My spinning rod has braided mainline with a fluoro leader because the lakes I fish are clear and when I use spinning gear, it is finesse-ish. Plus, braid is a pain in the butt to cut off and re-tie when you swap lures.