Todd2

This dude is crazy and this is not a defense but I stay away from docks if there are people there or if they have their boat in the slip. I see too many fisherman bouncing their jig off boats..not cool. You have a right to the water, not to damage someone's stuff.

Other than Zman..no problems.

"Water sucks, Gatorade is better."

I've been throwing a t-rig since the late 80's and was taught to make sure it's straight. Now I'm thinking that I don't need to be so particular with it.

I'm a recent 100% convert to braid from mono. I played with it on a few rods for a few years but I don't see me going back to mono. I like straight braid (hi viz) but I do color about a rod's length of line with the first marker I grab..green, black, blue, not sure it really matters to the fish. I could probably go straight hi viz in my stained water, but it's a confidence thing for me. An added swivel could be added on some rigs to help with line twists if that's a problem but otherwise I'd try out straight braid. I think you'll find that you'll catch as many or more fish. Lose less lures and retry less which allows you to fish more...and fishing more is never a bad thing.

Even when I use mono, the Bow & Arrow trick works most of the time. I think the braid allows me to load up the rod a little more without risk of breaking off and when released the lure pops loose. If that doesn't work I just go to the opposite side of the snag and try the same thing. If it still is stuck, which is rare, I just pull it loose. I still have the knocker in my boat, just in case but haven't needed it since going to straight braid.

The bow trick works for me 90% of the time, the other 10 I just pull it out with a dowel rod. My plug knocker is gathering spider webs, but I'm using braid. For Fluoro, I'd keep the plug knocker handy and it'll save you a lot of lures.

Ok, the when has been covered. How about the how? So here is the scenario, you make an average cast and watch the line till it goes slack, in the mean time your buddy is telling a story about high school football or whatever..lol..Some time has passed, you refocus on your T-Rig down on the bottom. You start to pull and feel resistance. Do you wait to see if it moves? Do you set immediately? Do you reel out the slack then drop the rod to slack set? Or do you reel hard until your load loads and sweep? Everyone has a style and some of this has to play in here too. I've been reeling fast and sweeping on tight line with pretty good success but I miss some here and there too.

This is one of the things that get repeated over and over, but this is not been my experience at all, especially with like diameters. I've been fishing 15lb braid (6 lb eq) and I can say for a fact that I break off less than 6lb fluoro. As far as retying and losing line, I don't. I retie before going out and thats it with braid. They are two camps here and mine seems to be the minority, just not sure why. When one of the arguments against straight braid is that its too hard to break, that tells me all I need to know.

If you guys missed this (like I did while fishing Sat night) do yourself a favor and read this. Good stuff Sam...

I keep a dowel rod in the boat, wrap it about 20 times and pull. It bends the hook out before line breakage and I'm only using 15lb braid. Don't use you hands....it'll be a bad day for you.

Strength, sensitivity, and low stretch are braid's benefits. Why give up strength by adding a leader?

I've switched to straight braid (no leaders) on all of my reels and I am having a better than average (for me) Spring. My water is pressured but heavy stained most of the Spring. I bought some cheap Ebay braid that I hate...it's too limp. I have Power Pro, Fireline Crystal that have some body and they really perform well for me for bottom contact lures. I haven't lost one rig or broke off a fish since switching and with braid, you spend more time fishing and less time retying.

This year has been a strange one for me. Every time I go out, I have a different thing that works. The Ned rig, one day in particular, was the only thing that seemed to work. I had a really good day when everyone else seemed to struggle. I've had days where they were only hitting a Mepps, one day crankbait, last night I was out until about 3 and found a pretty good C-Rig bite after dark. Next time, who knows? But it's fun trying to figure it out.

I'm going out tonight. I usually get there around 7, fish till 2ish. I have one spot that turns on almost like clockwork around 12-1. It's close to a busy ramp so my theory is it takes some time for them to settle down. That probably is not really why, but it consistently is a good spot. I don't get the opportunity to choose weather, moon phases, etc. I go when I can get away, and play the cards that I'm dealt.

Any inline will work...Mepps, Rooster Tails, Bang Tails. They are all skunk removers but dink magnets too sometimes. I grew up in the 80's hopping farm ponds with inlines and they caught me a lot of fish. I pull them out on the big water now and they still work.

Fan cast a Mepps at different speeds. If that doesn't work, move...lol

I wish I had that much patience. Maybe 30 secs for me with a little shake and repeat.

This is a good question, one that I asked a guide many years ago. His answer was, for example, to fish the channel swing banks and points because it's hard to fish that deep. They will suspend over those channels but I rarely have luck on those and when I do its swimming a grub through them. The Alabama rig guys might chime in here. Also, the thermocline dictates their depth in the summer if you have that. Our's sets up up at around 15-20 feet on our less stained lakes, 10-15 on the more stained one that I fish the most. Don't fish below it as a guideline. Hopefully others will give some better thoughts.

I wouldn't keep it out there on a daily basis..but when you go fishing throw it in. If it's always a spur of moment deal, you could take off the reels and put them in a little cooler in the summer. Doesnt take any time to pop it on a rod and thread it up. I think you could store Braid on top of your engine and it wouldn't hurt that stuff.

I've got 3 different braids/superlines on my spinning rods each with their own pros and cons. Fireline Crystal Ultra 8 might be my new line. Not as slick as the Nanofil but more durable it seems although I like Nanofil quite a bit.

Between April and November, it's rare that I get skunked but has happened. Jan and Feb are my skunk months, I catch very few fish in this time.

With like diameter, braid is tougher than mono or fluorocarbon. I'd go with a heavier braid and you'll have a chance. I switched to all superline this Spring and haven't lost one lure since doing so, but I haven't caught a gar either.

Not a lot of love...almost sounds like we're talking about a different line from what I experienced after one night..I'm gonna leave it on just the one rod for now.

I've got 3 spools of braid/superline to go thru, but I'll take a look at the Nanobraid, is it limp like normal braid or does it have some body like Nanofil? I dont like the limp braids. Thanks for all of the responses.