pbizzle

No, but I do keep a rod in my pants.

I know plenty of guys fish an Alabama rig with 3 hooks, but has anyone had any luck just rigging one hook on their A-Rigs?

I'm only 15 (16 in a week!), so I know I'm no expert, but I will say that I agree 100% with everything JT and Cat said. I'm the only one in my family who fishes, so I began by using a $20 Rapala combo I bought at Marshall's (yes the clothing store lol). Had a ton of fun with that so I saved up and bought what I thought was probably the greatest combo on Earth. A little $50 two piece Pflueger combo. I actually joined a bass club and fished my first 2 or 3 tournaments with just that reel, AND I HAD A TON OF FUN DOING IT! I probably had more fun with that then I do now with all my nice gear! Now I've got 6 or 7 combos, that I've put about $150 - $250 in. Not the nicest, but all good stuff (I find stuff on sale). I fish a lot of H2O Xpress rods, and they catch fish just fine. I actually won my club tournament last year against old guys fishing Loomis's and everything. So no I dont recommend getting the very best stuff to start fishing. I don't even think you have to get the best stuff once you're an experienced fisherman. I mean if Ike can make it to a Classic fishing with Veritas you can probably catch a fish on cheaper setup… just sayin'.

That was it! Thanks DVT you're awesome!

Okay, so a while back I lost the spool tension knob for my Daiwa T3B and I just now got the parts in from Daiwa. They not only sent me the knob but also 2 spacers they said I'd need. One of them's brass and the other is a little smaller and like an orange plastic. Does anyone know what order I should put the spacers in?

I've always used the single San Diego Jam knot when tying my fluorocarbon. As a matter of fact, I've done away with fluoro this year (replaced with copolymer), but I still use the San Diego jam whenever I'm tying a nylon based line. I've also tied it with braided lines and haven't had any failures. I imagine that the double San Diego Jam would be even more reliable if tied correctly.

As a full time Fishing Junkie, part time Sneakerhead, the Bait Monkey is by far the alpha male. However after seeing some of the new Air Max 1's and the retro color ways of the Air Max 95's Nike's releasing, the Sneaker Monkey will be putting up a pretty good fight!

I'd just like to know what they're doing with the 4 missing ribs aside from maybe using them for the child's portions.

To you guys talking about replacing hooks, Bill Lewis traps now come standard with Triple Grips which have been more than good enough for me…

FINALLY found some big flutter spoons at Bass Pro, but they have the cheap feeling Bass Pro treble hooks on them. What hook would y'all recommend replacing them with? Would y'all add a stinger hook?

I'm really wanting to try flutter spoons on schooling bass this year. What size is good? I'm looking at them in the 5" range (1-1.5 ounce). My rod can't handle more than about 1.5 ounces. What color? Chickamauga has slightly stained water, but I'm going to fish them in 20' FOW or more. I usually fish gold spinnerbait blades if that helps. What brands are good? I'm wanting to try some that a fairly reasonably priced, because I know they snag easily. How should they be retrieved? I know about the lift and drop, but how high? Is it a hard technique to learn? Thanks everyone, I'm hoping to catch some Chickamauga Pigs on them.

I never have a lighter with me so I just use fingernail clippers (AKA Line Cutters according to Rapala for $5 more). Works fine.

I was at a store one time full of left handed paraphernalia. Everything from left handed toilet paper, left handed drinking straws, and yes even left handed fishing rods. I was going to but one for my left handed cousin but I only had my right handed credit card.

How is Bass Pro's return policy? Last year I bought a 6' UL Micro-Lite Glass rod (I rarely use it) and it's been a pretty good rod… until yesterday. Yesterday I took it out for a little while fishing for bedding bluegill with a 1/32oz tube. Got one to bite, set the hook, and broke my rod! Last two guides just snapped off. It was just a $20 rod so I'm not super upset. I don't have the reciept though, do you think bass pro will take it back? Do you think I could get in store credit to put towards bass gear? If not I don't mind just buying another, but it will probably be a Berkley.

In my opinion the motion of the hookset is the most important thing. I know that's a pretty cliche answer, but hear me out. It doesn't matter how long or what power your rod is, the hook won't set if you're not setting the hook the proper way for that technique. For example, you could have a great rod for fishing crankbaits, but it won't make a difference if you're just swinging for the fences everytime you get a bait. The same goes for flipping. A great flipping stick won't make a difference if you're just doing the light side arm swoop and reel like a crankbait. Once you have that down I think it's a combination of length, line, power, and taper. The length and action both affect the speed of the hoookset. A longer rod takes up more line than a shorter one. A fast or extra fast action rod will also set the hook a little quicker than a moderate action rod would, because they get down to the power of the rod quicker. You're line makes a big difference. If you had to of the same rods (one with braid and the other with mono or fluoro) and you delivered the same hookset with each, I can just about gaurantee the braid would set the hook faster because of the lack of stretch. Power also makes a big difference because the more backbone a rod has, the more energy that you can transfer to the end of you're line. That's what I think makes up a hookset.

I and a few of my friends, have had a lot of problems with the guides. The first thing that happened to my rod was that the second insert from the bottom fell out. I fixed it on the water with some super glue, but it made me worried. Then I had two more guides twist to the right after I caught a 3 pounder on it. I loved the blank, but hated the guides. I don't want to scare you away from it, but I haven't heard of anyone having problems with the standard guide version.

The Citica just feels like a qaulity reel. More so than my Revo S anyway. I took it out Friday and caught a few nice fish on it, and it handled them really well.

Well after having trouble with my Daiwa Exceler and my Micro Guide Veritas 2.0 I took them back. I exchanged the Daiwa for a 7.1:1 Shimano Citica for $80 at Academy. I took the Veritas back to Gander expecting to exchange for the same model in standard guides. They were all sold out though, so after looking around I decided to exchange it for a 7'3" H *** Black. Now instead of a good all purpose set up, I've got an AWESOME pitching and deep jig set up! Not sure what line I should spool it on though. Tell me what you guys think!

Insurance covered the majority of my prescription Costa Fantails. I think I still had to pay like $20 out of pocket and a little extra for the green mirrorization, but overall it was A LOT cheaper for me than a standard pair would've cost me at Academy.

Sensitivity is a relative to you personally. One rod might be super sensitive to one guy but dead to the next. Sensitive rods can also be had for all sorts of prices. For what you're looking for I'd recommend the H2O Xpress Ethos 7'3" ML for $60. I have 3 Ethos and I love them. They're easily my favorite rod under $100, and to me they're more sensitive than my Vendetta, and about on par with my Veritas 2.0. The Vendetta's are also a good rod. However, I can't recommend the new Veritas 2.0. An insert (second from bottom) popped out of mine the second time I used it. Before I had even caught a fish on it. I know a lot of people who experienced this problem as well, so it's a pretty big thing apparently.

Last Friday I finally got fed up with the 50 pound spiderwire stealth on my flipping stick (i.e. I got tired of it getting hung up on my guides while pitching). I usually use P-Line CXX for my non-braid bottom contact rods, but Academy was out of 17lb test spools. So I picked up 20lb Sufix Tritanium Plus as a cheap alternative until I could what I wanted. Being a copolymer I thought it would have less stretch than standard mono, but it was only $6 per 300yrd spool. It's got a pretty good review on TT, and I know some saltwater guys swear by it, but I trust yall more than any one. So in your experience, how is it?

Rapala X-Rap 08 in blue/chrome

Dude! That's awesome! I'm still waiting to get something as big as one of you're top 3!

I like a 7' MH/F for most sqaurebills and lipless baits, but smaller baits like a Bandit 100 series get thrown on a M/M.

Heck, being 15, I have a completely different opinion on what a "cheap" lure is. I have to buy what I can afford, so that means even $7-$10 baits like Rapala's are out of the question at times. However, I never buy anything I don't feel like is quality. That means my box is full of a lot of H2O Xpress, Strike King, Norman, Bandit, etc. Not to say that I don't have some higher end baits that I enjoy fishing with, but I honestly can't say that they're "better" baits. I'm not so sure that a bass can tell the difference between a "hand painted" crankbait and a run of the mill Strike King lure, but it's fun to think that they can.