flyfisher

I read everywhere that people prefer Flouro or mono for crankbaits. My question is if you have a crankbait rod, meaning parabolic flex, is the added stretch needed from the line or does braid do a good enough job. I picked up a kistler cranking rod and have been using braid on it and it is a night and day difference between using a non-crankbait specific rod but i was curious as to everyone's thoughts on if mono or flouro makes that much of a difference to switch up. Also, i am not cranking 20feet or anything more in the 6-14 foot range. Thanks

I like Ray Lewis and i think he is one of the top linebackers to ever play the position but that was a cheap shot. Much like the cheap shot master, Hines Ward.

Man, i cannot imagine spawning bass right now. Here in VA on my local lake the areas that are shady for a good portion of the day have skim ice on top.....although i am sure further up north people have full on ice now.

Drop shot worked for me the best last year. That and a rabbit hair fly of my own creation seemed to aggravate enough to get a few bites.

Sorry but taping someone's walk through on the Super Bowl and building a film of sidleine signals and the corresponding plays are crappy no matter what. And he is a confirmed cheater end of story. I have no respect for that and it wouldn't matter what team it was. Once belichek leaves I won't hold it against the "cheatriots" any more.

Well I have even more of a hatred because one of the years they were confirmed as cheating they beat the eagles in the Super Bowl by a measly 3 points. They did lose a firs round pick and were fined half a million dollars to both the coach and team but I agree way to lenient. They disregarded the integrity of the game.

I use a palomar for braid and an improved clinch on mono or flouro myself. Just be sure to tighten evenly and moisten the knot before tightening. I have used the palomar with everything with no issues but I think the improved clinch is easier to tie on mono or flouro.

The Baltimore game is the one i am actually struggling with. I am pretty sure it will be green bay and the seahawks out of the NFC and the Texans will beat the Patriots (my hatred of the cheating patriots overrides common sense) but the Baltimore game has me intrigued..... I will finalize predictions soon but i am not ready to commit just yet

I am refraining of my picks till later in the week These games are to close to call really even though point spreads may say otherwise like denver giving up 9 +/- to baltimore...

I agree that this season was strange for the Eagles but it wasn't as much about Reid for one season but really it was more about a culmination of years of bad choices. The eagles were not the same once Johnson died and they have been scrambling on defense ever since. It was also Reid to blame getting rid of Dawkins which was a horrible move. The Eagles needed a change and while i doubt they will have as successful a run as they did with Reid it was time for a change. He has done an incredible job with the QB position in his tenure and if he won one Superbowl then i can guarantee he would have been a coach in Philly as long as he wanted and most likely they would have put a statue of him out front of the stadium

If you are concerned about hunters the first thing i would do is check to see what is in season. I am not a hunter but i imagine that tent shelter thing will be gone now that deer season is pretty much over i believe. The second thing is if you are concerned then wear bright clothing. Spooking a few fish is better than being shot

Yeah i can see that too. Unfortunately i cannot remember the exact time when RG re aggravated his knee injury. I do agree it was more of a schematic problem for the skins for not preparing in case RG went own. Seems like an ego thing for shanahan and him not wanting to put RG out and not to mention all the controversy that surrounded the original injury and the doctor coming out saying he never cleared him to come back out and play. I also wonder if it would have mattered if they brought cousins in earlier. I mean he isn't that mobile so not sure how much different the outcome would have been but i guess we will never know. It was a good run for the skins and the confidence they built should help them next season. I don't see any reason why they won't be favored to win the NFC east next season. You are right in a loss is a loss, i just hope that RG can get healthy again because he is a pleasure to watch play even though he will probably dominate my team, the eagles, for his entire career which hopefully isn't shortened because of stupid coaching.

I hope i have better luck too Part of me did question if the only reason they were offering this freebie was because they were trying to unload the rods because of a redesign or canceling the line entirely.....guess time will tell.

The skins definitely came out with fire and the Seahawks came out flat for sure. It is impressive no matter who you play to turn that switch like that and hold them to zero points after pretty much walking down the field twice. I also think people are sleeping on Green Bay. They look motivated and ready to play. Next weekends games should be outstanding.

Seattle has a great defense. I would watch them this year as often as I could or st least flip back and forth between them and the eagles. I think they can seriously put a hurting on the falcons.

Looks like the game went just like I said.....Seahawks defense trumps the skins. 4 for 4 in my picks so far.....this next round of games won't be quite as easy to pick.

Yeah i can see that but for the same blank of a rod that is $50, give or take, less they have to make it up somewhere. I honestly haven't ever noticed guides making an increase or decreas in performance other than weight savings. To me if it is balanced and has the sensitivity of a higher priced rod then it makes sense. I know some people will probably not like the grip but it has worked well for me so far.

What difference does that make? I put around 75 yards on both spinning and baitcasters and it does just fine. Spool size & line diamter will determine how much backing you need but ultimately the last 75 yards is all you will need at the most for most applications.

I have done it two ways. The first is whatever mono i have laying around and then topping off with about 75 yards give or take of top line, generally braid in my case. On reels i had set up with braid straight to the spool i flipped the braid so the bottom part was now the top and then when i needed to replace the top 75 yards or so i would just leave the braid on there as backing. I figure it works on my fly rods so why not use it on my conventional gear as well. Then if by some strange chance i get into a carp or a catfish that really is testing the limits of my gear i don't have the fear of wondering if my cheap mono and knot will hold. A uni to uni knot with braid is pretty freaking strong.

Welcome to the board. There are quite a few people on here from the richmnd area so maybe we will run into each other out on the water

So in an effort to spend my Christmas gift cards, upgrade my current rods from my mojos and take advantage of St Croix's buy 2 get one rage rod free promotion in decmeber i picked up 2 rage rods. I figured with using the same blank, slightly cheaper components and about $50 less than an avid and i prefer a more split grip style so i figured they were worth a shot. Fit and finish on both rods is pretty good but i am not a huge fan of the color but who really cares abotu that anyways. The guides are interesting in that they don't have inserts per se and i thought they would be noisy with braid but so far i haven't noticed any extra noise. The first rod i picked up was the 6'8" MXF which i have paired up with a Shimano Sahara 2500 reel. I have owned this exact same rod in the mojo lineup so my comparisons will be to that rod. First impressions are that this rod is lighter, even though the specs say otherwise. It balances much better than the mojo and that "tip heavy" feeling of the mojo is not the same with this rod at all. The neoprene grip really hasn't made any difference but it does seem to have better grip when wet than the cork on the mojo series. I will be curious to see how this rod does in the heat of the summer though. Sensitivity seems better than the mojo when using weightless soft plastics. The power rating feels more in line with oher manufacturers rods i have used in the M power where the mojo seems to be about a half to full grade heavier than the rating. The micro guides haven't been a concern yet and i have used them with and without a leader. I have noticed that the guides do seems to squeegee off the line more than the larger guides but not so much as to be annoying. I also haven't noticed ay hinderance to the distance of casts. I have managed to catch two 14-15" bass on the set up and the backbone of hte rod seems solid and gives good hooksetting power. Overall i am pleased with the rod so far. The second rod i picked up was a casting 6'8" MHF that i was planning on using for texas rigs but i have only used it with 1/2 oz jigs. Tis rod will be replacing a 6'6" MHF Mojo series rod Much of the same applies as for the spinning rod as far as balance, weight etc so i won't bore you with repeating the same although i will say that in my hand this rod feels much more lightweight than the Mojo even with the slightly longer length. This rod is paired up with a Citica e series reel. Sensitivity on this rod is much better than the mojo IMO. I was able to keep better contact with the bottom without that dead feeling i had on the mojo. Not that the mojo is bad but i did notice the difference. This rod also has the backbone to be able to give hard hooksets without fear. I don't even notice the micro guides on this reel and casting distance is good but i have not tried this rod yet with a leader but i don't see it being a problem. I have caught 2 fish on this rod, one 22" and one 15" LM both on jigs. Overall i am happy with both of these rods and i definitely feel they are worth the extra money from the mojo series. I haven't fished an avid yet so i cannot compare to that series. I have my free rod coming soon hopefully which will be a 7'1" MF spinning rod and i am hoping it will perform as well as these two. All in all a good value and as long as the durbility is good i would not hesitate to recommend these rods to anyone not looking to spend in the $200 range but are stil llooking for a quality stick with good sensitivity. It also doesn't hurt that for basically only $150 out of my pocket i am getting three new upgraded rods.

The frontier is super stable. The coosa, which I also own, is very stable for the boat style but my commander is way more stable overall. The key to me is the high seat. In my coosa I rarely stand because I do not feel the need but I stand very often in my commander. Mostly because the flatwater I fish from the commander standing helps out more where the coosa I do not see as much an advantage.

I use my thumb to slow down the end of the cast to create a quieter entry. I have set up the BC to not have to use my thumb but I did not get the distance I wanted, especially when making long cast with crankbaits and other heavier baits.

Any sprain/strain takes longer to heal in my experience. 6-8 weeks sounds about right though. You would have been better off if you broke it

This is totally a guess on my part but maybe it is an access panel of sorts