burleytog

I (as well as a couple of friends) are fishing them here in VA. At first I was just using trout patterns in lakes that get regular stockings. Gotten bit a few times, but no hookups yet. One of my friends slayed them on a Castaic Platinum last summer and fall. I've been experimenting with shad patterns in a couple of other lakes and have gotten bit on them as well. IMO they'll work anywhere.

I've accumulated quite a few of these huge things and I just can't seem to come up with an adequate storage solution. I've taken Plano boxes and cut the dividers out. Decent enough storage, but hard to get a clean cut along the bottom of the box. The remaining plastic tends to leave impressions in the plastic (IMO creating a weak spot). I've tried leaving them in their packages, but I end up messing up at least one package every other trip. What do you do?

Those fish are so big they almost look fake (not saying they're fake, just that they look almost fake). I'd love to have the problem of skipping 5-7 pounders. :'( You never fail to impress Chris!

Megastrike if I can ever remember to get it out of the truck.

Fish haven't been biting the last few evenings thanks to the cold snap we had last week. Got one decent smallie yesterday evening. This evening (high today was in the low 60s) they were a bit more active. Stuck two, both on a brown Bitsy Jig. Got a ton of bites though. This one came first, deadsticking the jig. About 14" or so, put up a good fight. Prob. around 1.5-1.75 lbs. Good fish for this river. Next (and last) one came while hopping the jig through some chunk rock. I haven't fish anything but a jig for the last 3 weeks and I've been killing them on it. Catching fewer small fish and getting a lot more bites. I truly am jig-verted.

What if you're a mid to high budget hooker?

RW will be so disappointed in you.

Call Cabelas?

If you keep posting photos like this, I might have to move to California.

Well, you can't really go by what they say. One brand's 10 lb. might have a diameter of 0.011" while another brand's might be 0.012" or 0.013". Which is to say that you can't really go by what any package of line says. I buy based on the diameter, not the manufacturer's stated rating.

My works at Wal Mart and you would not believe the stories she tells. Sad thing is that it isn't only the customers who sometimes come up with stupid comments, it is also quite a few of the employees.

Ari and Drama.

Last night was the first show I've watched. Now I find myself wanting to watch the whole thing. Thank goodness for Blockbuster Online.

One more reason for me to hate all you Californians.

Sustained, not very much. But they've got a terrific burst. One thing I'm glad I don't have to worry about.

Can we all take up a collection and get avid a good digital camera? Good story avid.

If I keep watching Hank Parker's show, I'm going to be forced to buy one pretty soon. :-/

Photos only affect the site if they are hosted on the site. If you host your photos at Photobucket or other photo hosting site, then they do not affect the bandwidth usage here.

Only braid I've used and I've been quite happy with it.

I have no idea as I don't know how much bandwidth this site uses on a day to day basis. The other site I referenced accepts donations from members. Those members then have use of a special private forum as well as get entered in several drawings a year. The site also has an extensive advertiser catalog. I know I pay around $200 a year to maintain the two forums I own. And those forums don't get anywhere near the traffic that BR gets.

Lightninrod makes an excellent point. Slack is your enemy. I got an explosive hit last summer, swept the rod and the drag just sang. > In the span of the second or so it took me to tighten the drag, the fish was gone.

A jig is a jig is a jig. If you want to call it a jig, then by all means call it a jig. As long as it catches fish, who cares?

You would be surprised just how much it costs to keep something like this going. I am a member of a rather large internet community that has 125 000 users and regularly has 5000-7500 members/guests online. The yearly bill to keep that forum & site open is in six figures. Contrast that with this forum that has around 200-300 members/guests online during peak usage.

That is what keeps me going. I know people who get PO'ed if they don't catch a fish during their first 5 minutes on the water. I have a friend who pretty much gives up after an hour. As I said in my initial reply, IMO confidence is the most important factor in fishing, be it competitive or recreational.

A win is always a good thing! As is someone willing to share a little info.