flyfisher

If the justice system was perfect and the wrong person was never convicted you would have an argument but until that time it shouldn't happen. Anyways enough derailing for me and I am glad the second suspect is near being apprehended.

Nobody is shedding a tear for him at all and do your research, rotting in prison is cheaper than a death penalty.

I casted the "heat" rod at bass pro when the salesman was telling me it was easily as good as the sage Bass series....not even close in my opinion. You are right though that there are numerous rods out there in shorter lengths designed to throw heavier flies. One thing i have noticed is that having somewhat decent gear does make fly casting more enjoyable and easier to learn. When i used to guide in college I would prefer to teach clients on the fastest rods as the tendency for people is to speed up their stroke and faster rods shorten the learning curve and unfortunately, faster rods equal more cash in most cases.

Sorry but you have obviously not had much time with a Sage Bass series rod and from what i can find Fly Rods are legal in tournaments as long as they comply with the 8' length requirement. They are also easier to manage for me when fishing from a kayak. The bass series of rods is designed to throw heavier weighted flies more easily when used in conjunction with the line that is matched for the rod. The length of the stick makes it much more manageable to cast heavier flies given the equivalent line weight in grains than it would if you were casting say a 9' 10 or 11wt all day. I have used both the current version and the older version and both rods cast heavier and more wind resistant flies better than any of hte other rods i have used. Seems silly to me to fight a bass on the reel but maybe if it was a large one i would do the same thing but after landing smallmouth up to 20", largemouth up t0 21" and brown trout to 24" i have never used the reel to land the fish. I have used them to land carp before though but that was because i saw them tailing and only had my 4wt with me

thanks for the info. I guess next time i am in the tackle shop i will pick up a few just to have on hand in the old jig box in case the water clarity warrants a little more sound.

The one i actually landed was on a fluke oddly enough and when i took a look at him i realized why i missed a few as they have really bony mouths. One cool thing was the one i caught was tagged a few years before i caught him and when i contacted the DGIF i found out he grew about 2lbs and 4" and was basically tagged right across the cove from where i caught him.

personally i would rather see him caught and hopefully tell whay and give law enforcement the ability to figure out what group he is affiliated with if there is one. I would also rather see him rot in jail because killing him is not justice it is revenge and also a cop out. THe families of the victims have to live every day without their loved ones so he should be forced to live out his life and think about what he has done and the grief he has caused. Hell, he may even get a wild hair and decide to help out authorities in teh future should he turn over a new leaf in prison as many other people have done. No matter what though, they need to get this guy out of the population.

The recent snakehead thread got me to thinking about bowfin. I have caught one and had multiple others on that were subsequently lost but i would really like to target these suckers. I know of a few places that have good populations of them but i can't seem to catch them. ANy particular baits you guys use? Also have you guys ever seen a spawning bowfin coloration? If not do a quick google images search and you will be shocked. They turn almost flourescent green. http://www.fishingbuddy.com/photos/uber_bowfin

Anyone have any recommendations on what type of rattles for the rattle band jigs or does it even matter....

I love fly fishing for bass of both the brown and green variety. For largemouth there is nothing better than picking apart a Lilly pad field with a top water frog or diver and actually you can do it easier than conventional gear and faster since you don't have to reel all the way in between casts. Here is my set up for largemouth: Sage bass II largemouth rod (equates to about a 10wt) lamsom reel floating line and 12lb straight leader of either flouro or mono depending on if I want the fly to float or not. Smallies is similar with a sage 9' 7wt xp galvan reel with WF floating lone and usually a 6-8lb straight leader Favorite flies : Poppers Frogs Clawdads CK baitfish Rabbit hair flies Clousers The list goes on and on..... My advice would be set a budget on your first set up and spend about 70% on the rod 25% on the line and the rest on the reel. Nice reels are awesome and look spectacular but in all reality you will rarely use it more than storing line. Once you pick out your set up I would strongly advise to bite the bullet and get a casting lesson. This will dramatically shorten your learning curve and casting the heavier wind resistant files typical for bass are not the easiest to learn with. Above all, have fun and don't get intimidated and feel free to ask more specific questions as your knowledge and experience increase.

Well I got my plugs and planted them in about a 200 sq foot isolated area of my yard as a test. A few things I learned.... 1-no way will you get the number of plugs they say because cutting them into 1"x1" squares is ridiculous 2-ground should be pretty soft to make it easier to plant 3-the plugger tool....totally worth it 4-if I go with doing my whole yard it will all be dead and as close to bare dirt as I can get it 5- 2 people would make the job go a whole lot faster I'll post some time lapse pictures as things progress.

And Lannan is now on the 15 day dl.....probably from the 70 pitches he had in less than 2 innings. Phillies look so disjointed it is killing me...

Lets see brookie fishing I stopped counting at 50, smallies I have had a few 75+ fish days mostly smaller but still fun and largemouth my best day was 23 with 5 over 19" and 2 over 22". It was my only day catching two VA length citation bass in one day.

Had that happen to me before, not fun..... Also as far as removing them goes I have found the best way to pull them out is to get a good grab at their head, pull slightly and twist. The shape of their jaws causes them to break free much easier than pulling straight back.

I used to fish there as a kid......good times. Now I just keep driving past to hit the river instead

Deer ticks are super small and really hard to see unless they have already latched on and have a little blood in them but either way I wouldn't worry to much. I was fishing one time on a spring creek that ran through a field of waist high grass. I wasn't planning on fishing there but the smallie river I was going to hit was to high to wade. I was wearing shorts and as I was walking through I must have hit a nest or something because I pulled off no less than 40 of the little suckers and then another 5 when I got home and took a shower. Needless to say I never wear shorts out there anymore and I was just fine.

Just keep at it and you will do fine. All the guys here so far have given great advice so I won't add anymore other than keep having fun and try new areas. The James has lots of wadeable water near pretty much every boat launch and if you save up a little cash you can get yourself a kayak and be off the bank in no time. Welcome aboard and enjoy your new hobby

My jigs came in today......talk about a quick turn around time and great looking jigs for sure, almost to pretty to fish with, almost

And for the record, Bowfin are a severely under rated fish......they are a blast to catch and fight harder than any freshwater fish i have caught so far. They do trash baits though.

I guess sarcasm/humor is different in minnesota....

Isn't that the truth. Other than Brookies there aren't to many native trout (they are char actually but we won't get into that) on the east coast. I learned to fish for trout chasing browns on a local spring creek that was considered "wild" fish but they all started as stocked fingerlings and brookies in the mountain creeks. Man, all this talk about trout fishing might just make me go do that this weekend instead of chasing bass....

Good thing people didn't think that way when bass were introduced to pretty much every waterway..........

Ummm not only did Buster Posey complain abotu the hit but so did his manager. It even got to the point that Carlos Ruiz fro mthe phillies came out and when asked said if you don't want to get hit then don't play catcher and stop complaining (paraphrasing). I am all about safety and if they deemed it unsafe to fish then so be it. I would rather err on the side of caution than have one person get hurt in their effort to chase a little green fish. I also feel that if there isn't a full day of fishing that creates an unfair disadvantage to those anglers who may have pre-fished an area that is further away from teh ramp that they may or may not be able to get to in inclement weather.

I would go look at the website for the baits you want and see who is a dealer and try and find one as local as possible and see if they either do online or over the phone orders.

Nice job. I need to get out there and chase some shad myself.